Summary
- Casely recalls almost half a million wireless power banks due to battery overheating and catching fire.
- 51 reports of overheating and burns led to the recall, affecting 5,000 mAh units sold since March 2022.
- Users should dispose of the recalled power banks following local laws and upload pictures for a free replacement.
Technically, everything with a battery in it is a potential fire hazard—so when a specific set of batteries starts catching on fire, it’s a cause of worry. Now, a bunch of Casely batteries are catching on fire, so the company is issuing a recall on almost half a million units.
Casely has officially issued a recall of a number of its wireless power banks. The units in question are 5,000 mAh wireless units that you could pop to the back of your phone using MagSafe, providing at least one full charge. According to the recall listing, the recall follows “51 consumer reports of the lithium-ion battery overheating, expanding or catching fire while they were charging their phones, resulting in six minor burn injuries.”
51 reports are a lot, and it gets even worse when you consider that roughly 429,200 units of this power bank were sold. This is almost half a million. It makes sense because it’s a power bank on the cheaper side, but it also means that there are almost half a million potentially defective units out there. As per the recall, anyone in possession of one of these power banks must safely dispose of it. Don’t throw yours in the trash, but rather, dispose of it in accordance with local law on how to dispose of lithium ion batteries. Take pictures of it and upload them to the company’s website so it can provide a free replacement. Issuing free replacements for almost half a million units seems like a tall task, especially when they’re not getting the units back. But it’s probably not possible to send them back, considering they are legally a fire hazard, even if you haven’t had yours overheat or anything similar.
The Casely power bank in question was first released in March 2022, and was sold through the company’s website as well as on retailers like Amazon. It was apparently discontinued as of September 2024, however, but in the 2+ years it was available, it sold a lot of units. I don’t think Casely will be able to get to every single one, especially since a lot of them were sold years ago, but if you happen to have one (or you know someone who does), make sure to safely dispose of it before claiming a replacement.
These kinds of recalls are relatively common. Just last December, a similarly huge recall was issued for a power bank that sold hundreds of thousands of units—that one was for a brand called Charmast. Even reputable brands such as Anker have had to recall units every once in a while. It’s a given that if you have a product whose sole point is having a really big battery cell, some of them are bound to be defective. After all, batteries, and by extension, everything that has a battery inside, are constant fire hazards. Some of them are just safer to use than others.
If you have one of these batteries, make sure to head over to the official recall website to check all relevant details and see if you can get a replacement. You can also look at the CPSC listing to look at more details on the actual recall.
Source: CPSC
