ROMOSS is recalling 490,000 units. The power banks have been severely affected by the "extreme involution." Where is the way forward?
On the evening of June 16th, Romoss officially issued an announcement, announcing the recall of over 490,000 power bank products with potential safety hazards. This news also provides a temporary conclusion to the days - long controversy over Romoss' product quality.
Image source: Shenzhen Market Supervision and Administration Bureau
Over 490,000 products are being recalled this time, involving three models. Two of them are different color versions of the same model. Lei Technology has collected the corresponding product pictures to facilitate self - inspection:
Image source: Lei Technology
The specific production batches can be confirmed through the labels on the bottom or side of the power bank:
Image source: Xiaohongshu
As for the safety of Romoss' products, since Lei Technology is not a professional testing institution, it cannot give an accurate evaluation. However, Romoss has started self - tracing, investigating products with potential safety hazards and issuing a recall announcement. It only took less than 3 days from the occurrence of the incident to the recall, which shows that the handling was very timely.
Therefore, in the view of Lei Technology, people can temporarily relax. Regular enterprises all have an effective safety tracing plan. If there are safety issues reported in the market, the enterprise can quickly locate the batches of problematic products and recall them.
Furthermore, although there is a probability of a power bank exploding, it is not very high. Generally, there won't be major problems under normal use. Seeing this, some people may say, "Did Romoss hire you to whitewash the situation?" Not really. Because today I just want to talk with you about "power banks". As a must - have item for most people when traveling, why do they often become an unsafe factor?
Is safety the price for being lightweight and portable? Not necessarily
"Nowadays, power banks are getting thinner and thinner, and they heat up easily after just a little use. It feels less safe than before." This is a comment from a netizen that I saw in the hot search about Romoss. From the perspective of product design, it does make some sense. Being lightweight means a more compact internal structure. If the heating components are too close to the energy - storage components, the possibility of overheating of the battery cells is naturally greater than that of ordinary "bulky" power banks.
However, it is not absolute. At present, many lightweight power banks use gallium nitride technology. This new material has many excellent characteristics, such as higher voltage breakdown resistance and better thermal conductivity. These characteristics enable the relevant components of charging devices to be smaller in size while ensuring the same level of safety. Combined with polymer batteries (lithium batteries), the "lightweight power banks" we see today are finally created.
Image source: JD.com
In terms of safety, as long as the design is reasonable and the quality meets the standards, these power banks are almost impossible to self - ignite during normal use. Even if they are damaged by impact or dropping, the internal flame - retardant materials can prevent continuous combustion and cause greater damage.
Therefore, the statement "the thinner and lighter, the more dangerous" is not entirely correct. To be more accurate, it should be "for non - compliant products, the thinner and lighter, the more dangerous". Because with a compact internal hardware structure and insufficient safety measures, the possibility of overheating and other problems is obviously higher than that of ordinary power banks. Considering the cost of raw materials such as gallium nitride, those lightweight power banks that are cheap but marked with "large capacity" and "fast charging" are likely to have forged data or be inferior products.
In addition to being lightweight, in order to meet the needs of different users, today's power banks are also starting to pile on various functions, such as fast charging, magnetic attraction, and wireless charging. Although it is indeed much more convenient from the perspective of user experience, from the perspective of product design, complex functions undoubtedly put forward higher requirements for design and materials. It can be said that simply piling up materials is no longer enough. If the design experience is insufficient, it is also easy to have problems with thermal runaway.
It is worth mentioning that many netizens said that power banks are prone to bulging because they use polymer lithium batteries, and they think the quality is not as good as before. In fact, this is not the case. The bulging of polymer lithium batteries is actually a warning mechanism. The battery cells wrapped in aluminum - plastic film can give the battery cells more buffer time and space in case of thermal runaway, and let users know that the battery cells have malfunctioned through expansion, so they need to be discarded immediately.
Image source: Xiaohongshu
On the other hand, in the past, power banks mainly used cylindrical metal lithium - ion batteries such as 18650. Although they have stronger impact resistance, if there is a problem with thermal runaway, there will also be problems such as explosion and combustion because the metal shell cannot effectively relieve pressure.
In fact, in terms of the product design and usage requirements of power banks, polymer batteries are an inevitable trend. Even if thermal runaway occurs, they will only self - ignite instead of exploding. As long as the flame - retardant materials are qualified and there are no flammable objects around, generally there will not be serious consequences.
Therefore, we cannot simply judge whether a power bank is safe based on screening conditions such as being lightweight and multi - functional. Instead, we need to consider the materials, design, and various aspects. However, ordinary people obviously do not have the ability to easily judge the quality of a power bank. If you want a multi - functional and safe product, then spending more money to buy a first - tier mainstream brand is the most effective way.
One year after "mandatory compliance", the power bank market has become more competitive
First of all, Lei Technology wants to ask a question: "Do you know when the mandatory CCC certification for power banks started?" The answer is that it was announced externally in March 2023 and started to be implemented in August 2024. Before the official implementation of the 3C certification, there was no mandatory national standard for power banks. Only recommended requirements were put forward for power banks, such as the flame - retardant grade of materials should be ≥ V - 1, and it should have protection functions such as over - charging/over - discharging/short - circuit/over - load/incorrect operation.
Image source: National Market Supervision and Administration Bureau
This answer may surprise many people, because in people's perception, power banks, as energy - storage devices with certain safety hazards, should be subject to mandatory 3C certification. In fact, the early regulations for power banks were only limited to battery cells. The relevant recommended national standards were implemented in 2014. In other words, the time when the power bank market was truly comprehensively regulated is actually less than one year from now.
Therefore, you can also understand that before August 2024, it is not an exaggeration to describe the power bank market as "chaotic". Lei Technology checked the relevant spot - check reports of the Shanghai Market Supervision and Administration Bureau. In the quality supervision spot - checks of power bank products in 2023 and 2024, there were 7 and 1 non - compliant products respectively. It can be seen that after the implementation of the mandatory 3C certification requirements, the number of non - compliant products in the market has decreased sharply, and the non - compliance rate has directly dropped from 23% to 3%.
Note: 2023
Image source: Shanghai Market Supervision and Administration Bureau. Note: 2024
Maybe you think a 23% non - compliance rate is already scary. Then, take a look at the spot - check results of the Shanghai Market Supervision Bureau in 2020. The non - compliance rate was as high as 36.7%, and in the spot - check in 2019, the non - compliance rate was 41%. There were also serious safety problems such as non - compliant flame - retardant materials. The non - compliant products in the 2024 spot - check only had a discrepancy between the effective output capacity and the conversion efficiency. Simply put, it was false capacity marking, and no defects were found in terms of safety.
Flame - retardant materials are the last line of defense for the safety of power banks. When all the safety measures inside the power bank fail and the battery cells are still in a state of thermal runaway, the lithium battery will inevitably enter a self - ignition state. At this time, the temperature can reach several hundred degrees, which is enough to easily ignite non - metallic polymer materials.
Therefore, the latest mandatory 3C standard requires that the non - metallic materials in direct contact with the battery, the electrical circuit, and key components should all have V - 0 level flame - retardancy, that is, "after two 10 - second burns, the flame goes out within 30 seconds, and there is no dripping of burning objects", while the shell needs to meet the V - 1 level flame - retardancy, that is, "after two 10 - second burns, the flame goes out within 60 seconds, and there is no dripping of burning objects (the minimum requirement of the national standard)."
Image source: Bilibili. Production: Lei Technology
If the flame - retardant materials are qualified, the flame generated by self - ignition will go out automatically within 1 minute. As long as there are no flammable objects around the power bank, there won't be a serious fire. It can be said that the most important thing in the mandatory 3C standard is the compliance of flame - retardant materials. Therefore, most power bank brands won't cut costs in this aspect. After all, everyone knows the difference in the public opinion pressure caused by burning a power bank and burning a house.
Brands dare not cut costs on flame - retardant materials, but it may not be the same for internal design. Although the state has mandatory requirements for protection measures such as over - charging, manufacturers can always find a loophole. For example, some manufacturers omit or reduce the configuration of the heat - dissipation module, only ensuring that the power bank can pass the certification test. Some manufacturers even barely meet the passing line. If the subsequent usage scenario of the user is relatively extreme, it is easy to have problems with thermal runaway, and then the power bank will be damaged and self - ignite.
In addition, the cost of battery cells in a power bank accounts for more than 60% of the total cost of the device. Some manufacturers tend to purchase cheaper battery cell sources to save costs. If there are battery cells made of inferior materials, they are undoubtedly like time bombs. Some media have estimated the cost. If an enterprise uses inferior battery cells to manufacture power banks, the cost can be reduced by about 30%, which allows the manufacturer to sell at a low price to seize the market or make higher profits.
Image source: Taobao
If you see a power bank whose price is significantly lower than other mainstream brands of the same specification, you should be more vigilant. Even if the product is completely compliant when it leaves the factory, the redundant space left in the design to save costs will be smaller, and the probability of an accident will be higher.
Lei Technology also hopes that power bank manufacturers won't compete by lowering prices and thus reduce the safety of products. As electronic products that are often carried around or stored at home, the potential safety risks of power banks should make everyone actively resist non - compliant and shoddy products.
The power bank industry can only have a future with high - quality development
Finally, let's get back to the origin of this article - Romoss. According to the latest news that Lei Technology has found, the recall announcement issued by Romoss on the evening of June 16th will recall some Romoss brand PAC20 - 272, PAC20 - 392,