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From: zeez on 24 Oct 2009 14:18 On Oct 24, 11:07 am, zeez <blinkingblyth...(a)gmail.com> wrote: http://consumerist.com/5388705/consumer-reporter-keeps-buying-things-... The Handy Switch, pitched in infomercials by the late Billy Mays, is theoretically a cool product. It's a wireless light switch that you can install and plug in anywhere. It would be very useful were it not for its unfortunate tendency to burst into flames. Consumer reporter Mitch Lipka, who buys and tests products for WalletPop, managed to get a Target Halloween flashlight yanked off shelves earlier this month when his caught fire. Then his Handy Switch was recalled for similar reasons. Luckily, it wasn't in use in his home because the thing didn't work in the first place. http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/10/01/halloween-flashlights-ignite-target-pulls-them-from-shelves-aft/ When you put a battery in a flashlight the flashlight shouldn't start burning. One my son brought home from a birthday party did. It came from Target -- three for $1 in a package marketing them for Halloween. I dropped in a new Energizer battery, screwed on the top and the flashlight got warm right away. I shut off the flashlight and placed it on the kitchen table. A few minutes later a sizzling sound could be heard that we couldn't identify. The burning smell quickly led us to the flashlight, which was now smoking and melting from the heat. I grabbed an oven mitt, grabbed the flashlight and went out on the balcony and shoved it into a pot of dirt. |