Hyper officially recalls its stackable (and overheating) GaN chargers after all

Hyper officially recalls its stackable (and overheating) GaN chargers after all

The chargers were designed to stack to offer up to 1600W of charging power. | Image: Hyper

Hyper is officially recalling its stackable 100W and 65W GaN chargers and a 130W battery pack, following reports that all three devices can overheat and may pose a fire hazard to consumers. Recall notices for the HyperJuice Stackable GaN USB-C chargers and HyperJuice 130W USB-C battery pack have been posted on the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (US CPSC) website, and the company is emailing its customers directly to ask them to return the devices in exchange for store credit.

According to the CPSC, Hyper has received seven reports of its stackable GaN chargers overheating “resulting in damage to the changing units,” plus two reports of the battery pack overheating and causing “smoke, melting, and property damage.” No injuries were reported as a result of defects in either device. According to the government agency, Hyper sold over 18,200 stackable GaN chargers in North America between October 2020 and August 2022, and over 13,800 of the battery packs between October 2018 and April 2022.

Turns out I apparently wasn’t the only one having to get multiple replacement units for this charger. They all smelled like burnt out electronics and stopped working after a few months.

"Voluntary Recall of HYPER HyperJuice GaN Charger 65W (HJ414) and 100W (HJ417)”: pic.twitter.com/2r0qGvCcGY

— Holger Eilhard (@holgr) September 29, 2022

What’s strange is how Hyper responded to initial reports of its stackable GaN chargers overheating earlier this year. At first, the company told The Verge that it had identified some issues with both the 65W and 100W units, had removed them from sale, and was offering to replace devices within warranty with alternative units to anyone that requested one. But shortly afterwards, the company’s CEO Daniel Chin got in touch to deny that the products had been intentionally pulled from sale because of any defect, and instead blamed a parts shortage. Chin downplayed the complaints, admitting that while there had been some issues with early versions of the 65W charger, any reports of problems with the 100W version were simply “part of the normal defect rate.”

“We’re not issuing a full recall because we’re not seeing a systemic failure,” Chin told us in June.

We were very excited by Hyper’s stackable GaN chargers when they were first announced in 2020. As well as working like a standard USB charging brick (the 65W version offers two USB-C and one USB-A ports, while the 100W model has an additional USB-C port), each charger also has an additional power outlet on its top. That’s what allows you to stack them to get even more charging ports, up to a total of 16 bricks for a maximum combined 1600W of charging power.