yes the batteries are safe. we believe that the chargers are spitting out a noisy electrical signal, which is causing the battery charger IC on the WakeMate to overheat, thus causing the problem. We have only seen any incidence when the unit is plugged into the black USB charger bricks we shipped with. To date we have logged over 20000 hours of sleep on our system, so we're certain that sleeping with the Wakemate is safe, and that the batteries on the WakeMates are safe as well. This is in addition to the testing and certification we had done on the unit as well before we began shipping units.
I am curious how you were able to assess this situation so quickly.
Thomas posted the original email 11 hours ago and prefaced it with "From my email just now."
Very shortly thereafter (also 11 hours ago as I write this), you commented that
1. WakeMate sent the email within an hour of hearing about the first issue.
2. WakeMate believes they know the cause of the problem (noisy electrical signal from defective chargers)
3. "[WakeMate] have only seen any incidence when the unit is plugged into the black USB charger bricks we shipped with."
So over the course of a couple hours, you (WakeMate) became aware of the _first_ report of overheating (and were previously unaware of this problem), you were able to determine that the cause of the issue is a noisy electrical signal being produced by the charger, and you also indicate that you have now observed additional incidence of overheating.
I am curious, does your certification and testing involve anything with the FDA?
I worked at one of the big sleep companies before and we always had to adhere to FDA regulations even though we were careful to be 'monitoring' and not 'diagnosis/treatment'. The FDA also occasionally randomly popped in as a part of their standard monitoring process.
I think they are careful to say "this is not a medical device", which exempts them from regulation. They can market it as a fun toy or fashion accessory or whatever, and then it has nothing to do with medicine.
