"authorities should act"; That is also what I think, on the other hand, haven't they totally lost control? I read/see enough general stories in the news that there is no way to check every piece/variant of electronics. From sample checks at customs (EU country), one gets the idea that the largest part is 'illegal', or at least something wrong. In addition, UK is own market since brexit, so extra customsThe last two posts say it all. Some HAT UPSs may be badly designed. That does not make them all unsafe, unless it can be shown that there is a common design fault.Here is a possible (probable?) issue, but what do we actually know about the design issues on HAT UPSs? Is there a general problem, or is it only certain brands? Or are the designs okay, but another issue (LiPo manufacture?) is causing random failures? In either case, the consumer safety authorities should act, either to get products withdrawn or to reassure consumers. But any statements or actions need to be based on informed, technical, factual information backed by accident statistics. Or is it that the failures do not actually cause serious consequences? Maybe the message is just that any LiPo/Li-ion system should be placed in a fire-resistant housing?From the description it would appear to be a LiPo pack, using Li-Ion or LiPo in a UPS is bordering on suicidal unless they limit charge to 80% which is unlikely. Even the robust Lead-acid AGM batteries have a high failure rate in UPSs, using the more delicate Lithium technologies is nothing but dangerous.
tl;dr: Let us have factual information which we can all use to stay safe around LiPo/Li-ion systems.
The whole issue with HATs is that it is mainly only RPi, which is a small market compared to various other where some computing or so is in the device.
You can also have a closer look at SBC makers: They provide a component, so not a normal end-user product like a Samsung smartphone or a Dell laptop. Those companies are held- and feel responsible (i assume) for their 'UPS', so the various electrical currents that go in- and out of a LiPo essentially and also the LiPo is their responsibility. Defacto RPL is not, maybe they feel responsible, but I do not know. It is more like '35 USD for a Pi' but we don't tell you what you need more, that will be done by external shops and after those externals tend to give the Pi a bad name because overall system setup unreliability (e.g. phone chargers as PSU), we make the extra component ourselves and sell that. So most people will go with that flow and blame others who did not buy 'official' if things crash or parts go up in smoke. It is not strange, modular has many advantages, but if the separate components are not rocket science anymore but rather part of a race to the lowest price bottom, it will become a problem in various ways.
Then back to opening post: I read: "I need to do this ...." The person has not come back to the discussion here. My impression: There is some boss or so who ordered/requested something. Maybe just a pre-study as it is called formally in tech companies, to see if there is some money to earn. Maybe all HW works fine now and OP has got their money for the work done. Who knows.
Statistics: Posted by redvli — Sun Jul 27, 2025 10:07 am