As first reported in a Breaking News Alert this morning, supplier firm AP Specialties (asi/30208) is recalling about 172,000 mobile power bank chargers. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and AP Specialties said that when the items are being charged or being used to charge a mobile device, they can overheat and cause a fire hazard.

“AP Specialties is recalling certain power banks sold after November 1, 2013, due to the potential for the device to overheat while charging or while being used to charge another device possibly causing the device to melt or cause a fire,” the company wrote in a note on its website. “There have been no reports of injury as a result of their use of the power banks under recall.”

In the CPSC’s notice of the recall, the organization said that “there are three reported incidents of the [products] overheating. One incident resulted in fire damage. No injuries have been reported.”

The recalled chargers were given out as promotional items at meetings, trade shows and conventions between November 2013 and August 2014. “The unit is rectangular in shape and measures approximately 3.6 inches long by 1 inch high by 1 inch wide,” wrote the CPSC in its announcement of the recall. “It has a white top and the sides are either black, dark blue, lime green, light blue, orange, pink, purple, red, white or yellow. On the white top of the charger in black letters are “OUT DC5V” and “IN DC5V”. Units with a period after the lettering – reading “OUT DC5V.” – are not involved in this recall. The name and/or logo of the organization that gave away the charger as a promotional item appears on the side of the power bank.”

Mobile charging products that have been sold at retail and given away as promotional products have been heavily scrutinized by the CPSC in recent months. Last month, supplier firm Tectron International (asi/90699) recalled about 55,000 USB charging cables due to a fire hazard. Prior to that, in July industry supplier Jetline (asi/63344) recalled about 31,000 mobile power adapters because of a possibility they could overheat. And, in April nearly 100,000 mobile phone chargers sold at retailer Five Below were recalled after complaints of melted parts, leaking batteries and fire.

In this latest recall, the CPSC said consumers should immediately stop using the charger and contact AP Specialties for a replacement. AP Specialties has set up a specific web page at www.powerbankrecall.com for more information and a phone number (888-877-7221) for distributors or end-users to call with questions.

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