Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30; Flight Crew Total 7000; Flight Crew Type 400
Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor
Equipment / Tooling
5 minutes prior to departure I put a cable into my EFB backup battery. I noticed the lights flashed and never recalled seeing this before. About 2 seconds later I noticed smoke coming out of the battery. I tried to turn the battery off; but the lights remained on. Multiple attempts to turn the device off were not successful. We decided to leave the battery with the supervisor so we could depart. I realized after takeoff that we should have contacted dispatch prior to block out instead of enroute. Both EFBs had a high charge and the Captain had his fully charged backup battery on board.
Air carrier First Officer reported a smoking external battery when it was connected to the EFB prior to departure. Attempts to turn it off were unsuccessful. The battery was disconnected and left with a company agent.