Can your wireless headphones explode? This is a question that has arisen due to the news reporting of several cases of these devices exploding during use, causing great damage and injury to users, and in a few cases, the death of the user.
Yes, while extremely rare, there is a tiny possibility that the lithium-ion battery in your wireless headphones explodes.
Let’s take a quick look at how and why a headset could explode and what we can do to prevent it if possible.
Why Do Wireless Headset And Similar Listening Devices Explode?
Let’s take a look at why these headsets can explode. Wireless headsets have their freedom and great convenience to thanks to their portability and the fact that no wires are needed to use and enjoy them. This is all made possible by the use of a battery. The battery is what powers the whole device and allows it to receive and transmit sound without any connecting cables.
But which batteries are used in wireless headphones?
The type of battery and its relative stability is what matters when it comes to the possibility of headsets powered by them exploding. Most of the batteries we use and know in our daily lives are carbon style batteries. The usual AA or AAA batteries we have lying around the house and those do not explode randomly.
Those, however, are not the types of batteries used in these wireless headphones. wireless headphones use Lithium-ion batteries.
These batteries have come a long way and are now super popular for use in devices of all sizes. They do however have very temperamental attitudes and must be taken care of to avoid any chance of them exploding.
What can cause a lithium-ion battery to explode?
The chemical composition of these batteries means they are constantly in a temperamental state. Usually, this does not progress farther than this. Only in a few cases do these batteries exit this state and escalate into a thermal runaway state.
Here are some of the reasons why these batteries can explode and what to do to avoid this:
1. Short circuit or shorting.
This is one of the main causes of these batteries entering their thermal runaway state. If the positive and negative leads of the battery touch each other and remain connected. The battery enters a state of short circuit. The energy is too great to flow through itself without being consumed by a device, so the battery can’t contain this and explodes. You can see examples of shorted lithium-ion batteries causing a fire that continues to burn for a long time.
Shorting in headsets that can cause explosion usually is the fault of a production defect. There is little we can do from outside the headset to prevent this if the device is badly produced. Watch out for no-name cheap headsets with these types of batteries to exclude bad production as a cause for explosion.
2. Over-heating the battery by overcharging or using the wrong power charger.
Most of the headphones today come with a USB type c charger and this technology allows you to use most USB c chargers to charge most devices. Thank’s to this standardisation, there is little chance you overcharge the battery with too much voltage or current. Make sure to use the correct chargers to charge your headset to avoid them being overcharged. You can also try to stop charging before the battery actually fills up. This will not only prevent overcharging, but it will also extend the life of your battery in general.
3. A faulty or badly produced low-quality battery.
A lithium-ion battery that is badly produced or not of good quality can also contribute to a device using it exploding. This can be avoided by buying a headset that comes with all needed certifications for its electronic components.
4. Headset damage
If your headphones are not well taken care of and regularly fall down or get stuck, there is a chance you damage the battery inside or cause it to short itself. Make sure to take care of your headset and avoid it falling or being hit.
Wrapping up.
So, it is possible for an earphone or headphone that has one of the above issues to explode. This is a highly rare occurrence though, so in the grand scheme of things, the possibility of your wireless headphones exploding is tiny, it is still good practice to take care of your headphones.
Make sure to buy reputable brands, or brands that guarantee they meet all the safety certifications needed for a functioning headphone.
Thanks for reading and best wishes.