HEOS 1 Go Wireless Speaker Lithium Ion Battery Pack Recall: Overheating Risk

Several thousand rechargeable lithium ion battery packs designed for HEOS portable speakers have been recalled, due to a risk that the batteries may overheat, posing a burn and fire hazard. 

The HEOS 1 Go Pack rechargeable lithium ion battery recall was announced by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on September 20, after the manufacturer learned of the potential for the battery packs to overheat, which may result in consumers burns or fires. To date, no incidents or injuries have been reported.

The recall includes Denon’s HEOS 1 Go Pack lithium-ion rechargeable battery packs for wireless speakers that are marked with a 10-character alpha-numeric serial number beginning with “5” or “601G91” and ending with the numerical sequence “3517” or “4004”. The portable battery packs are white or black in color, hexagon shaped, and have four clue LED lights and a power button. Customers may locate the model and serial numbers on the bottom on the battery pack.

The manufacturer stated only the rechargeable lithium ion battery packs are included in the recall for overheating hazards. Speakers sold along with or separately of the battery packs are not included in the recall.

Since lithium ion batteries were introduced into the market in the 1970’s, countless recalls have stemmed from overheating, burn, and fire hazards. The first stream of lithium ion battery recalls to really impact the market involved laptop battery packs. However, over recent years more and more recalls for popular products such as hoverboards and e-cigarettes, or vaping devices that use lithium ion batteries have caused severe burn injuries and millions in property damages from the devices overheating and catching on fire.

Experts have claimed that the difference between lithium ion battery products that work properly verses the overheating and exploding one’s can be linked to its manufacturing process. Safely manufactured batteries are designed with safety features that prevent overheating or short circuiting and will shut the battery down before it can become dangerous.

However, many lithium ion batteries are cheaply made overseas and can malfunction due to damage to the battery, recharging the battery too fast, and being left in high heat areas. Cheaply designed batteries often experience what experts call thermal runaway, which causes the battery to explode because of a short circuit or when the materials inside the battery ignite. Typically, batteries that experience these thermal runaway episodes are ones made without a high degree of quality control or safety features.

According to the CPSC, an estimated 3,400 battery packs were sold throughout the United States and another 240 were distributed for sale in Canada.

The recalled lithium ion batteries were manufactured in China under Denon Electronics (USA) LLC, of Mahwah, New Jersey where they were sold across the nation at Best Buy and Brookstone stores and also online at www.BestBuy.com and www.Amazon.com from May 2015 through June 2016 for about $100.

Customers are being asked to stop using the recalled rechargeable lithium ion battery packs immediately and contact Denon Electronics at 844-759-1987 or visit them online at https://usa.denon.com for information on how to receive a free replacement battery pack.