November 29, 2025
Battery gossip, duct tape glory
An update on the Farphone's battery
Worried about a phone fire? Owner yanks the battery, internet cheers and bickers
TLDR: After readers warned about fire risks from a constantly plugged-in phone, the site owner removed the Fairphone 2’s battery and kept the server running on cable power. Comments split between safety warnings, wild anecdotes (a “Fire Tablet” in a wall), and fixes like solar panels and avoiding heat.
The internet turned a tiny DIY web server into a flaming debate—literally. After running a site off an old Fairphone 2, the owner saw Lobsters and Hacker News warn that keeping a lithium battery plugged forever can be a fire risk. French blogger Korben amplified it, and our hero did the most internet thing ever: popped the battery out, duct‑taped the charging cable, and boom—the site was back in 40 seconds. Crisis averted, drama ignited.
Safety-first folks warned against cooking lithium, while the “it’s fine” crew flexed anecdotes. One bragged about a “Fire Tablet” walled into their house, always plugged in for five years—cue nervous laughter. A tinkerer pitched a solar panel for gentle charge cycles. A veteran said the real killers are heat and deep discharge: don’t park it in a hot window or run it to zero. Then came the confusion brigade: “what the hell is a farphone?” Misprint or Mandela Effect? Either way, duct tape got crowned patron saint of uptime, as safety vs. scrappiness duked it out. Meanwhile, the original poster thanked the crowd for possibly preventing a spicy little server fire.
Key Points
- •The website is hosted on an old smartphone, specifically a Fairphone 2.
- •Community feedback on Lobste.rs and Hacker News warned about fire risks from continuously plugged lithium batteries.
- •The author removed the Fairphone 2’s battery and secured the micro‑USB cable to power the phone externally.
- •The device rebooted in about 40 seconds and the web server resumed operation.
- •The project credits include author Louis Merlin and a CC BY‑NC‑SA 4.0 license.