A Michigan family arrived home one night to find that one of their Wii remotes had exploded, sending pieces of plastic around the area and engulfing the room in smoke.
Reports from WXYZ Action News (via Kotaku) claim that the family had replaced the supplied alkaline batteries — the recommended type for Wii remotes — with lithium batteries, a big no-no according to the user manual.
When glancing at the Wii remote instructions, included with the usual “do not mix new and used batteries” clause is a line of text reading “Nintendo recommends alkaline batteries. Do not use Litium ion, nickel cadmium (nicad), or carbon zinc batteries.”
The instructions warn of no immediate threat with rechargeable Ni-MH (nickel metal hydride) batteries, but recommend that users “follow the manufacturer’s guidelines for safety and proper usage.”
So lesson learned: avoid lithium batteries at all costs. Nintendo makes it pretty clear that regular alkaline is the best way to go. And though instructions warn of the potential “leakage” that could occur, there doesn’t seem to be any warning containing the word “explode” or even “combustion.”
And of course, don’t ever neglect the fine print.
Source: WXYZ
Rian Quenlin
*facepalm* How can anyone be that stupid? Honestly!