By Patrick Avenell
On the day that Hewlett Packard announced a new range of products, the manufacturer has also announced the worldwide recall of lithium-ion batteries used with certain HP and Compaq notebooks.
This recall is due to the batteries presenting a fire hazard if, under certain, presumably rare, conditions.
“There is a risk that under certain operating conditions, cell electrode material defects may create an internal short and cause the battery cell to overheat and, depending on state of charge, rupture the individual cell, emit smoke and melt or char the plastic case of the battery pack and/or notebook, posing a burn and fire hazard,” reads the Australian product recalls guide.
Batteries affected by this recall were sold between December 2004 and July 2006 either in PCs or as a separate product. They will have a label incorporating code starting with AO, LO, LI or GC. Notebooks that may be affected are the HP Pavilion dv1000, dv8000 and zd8000series; Compaq Presario v2000 and v2400 series; and HP Compaq nc6110, nc6120, nc6140, nc6220, nc6230, nc6110, nc6120, nx4800, nx4820 and nx9600.
Affected consumers should enquire to HP about its battery replacement program. This can be done by visiting this website.