LangaList: “What will happen if I don’t replace immediately a swollen lithium ion battery?”

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Fred has a video to show you what’s at stake. New on Langa.com.
[See the full post at: LangaList: “What will happen if I don’t replace immediately a swollen lithium ion battery?”]

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GreatAndPowerfulTech, Elly

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I got stuck with one of these time-bomb batteries. It literally pushed the back of my phone outward. Thankfully it did not damage the screen. Actually the first sign of trouble (before the swelling started) was that the phone would get extremely warm (hot) when charging. Also, it would drop like a rock from 70% or so, to completely empty. Battery was never dropped or abused, I think some are just defective from the get-go. I got another battery, and it lasted six months, before the run-time likewise became drastically reduced, though it didn’t overheat or swell up like the first one did. Now I’ve sworn off batteries from that particular brand forever. I won’t say who, but they had a defective line of phones that were literally pulled off the market, precisely for battery issues. And my friend had a phone like mine with the same battery, and hers failed in under 2 years as well. Now I got us both using third-party batteries for our devices and they have been trouble-free ever since; this all happened 3 years ago. Our phones were prior generations to the ones that got pulled from the market; before they decided to make it so that the user can’t change the battery himself.

Another time I experienced this, was with a Bluetooth audio adapter. It mysteriously quit working. And all the charging in the world and mashing the buttons wouldn’t make it work again. Then one day I saw that the case was practically blown apart from the battery expanding! It looked kind of like an art project. I would have kept it if it weren’t for the fact that it was dangerous at that point.

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Speaking from VERY personal experience:  not only do you want to replace that battery, you want the swollen battery turned into an acceptance site ASAP – i.e NOT in your home nor car.

 

Fire hazard.

~ Group "Weekend" ~

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GoneToPlaid, Elly

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woody wrote:

Fred has a video to show you what’s at stake. New on Langa.com.

That video was posted here on a “Patch Lady – the battery problem” thread more than a year ago:

WHEN LITHIUM BATTERIES EXPLODE… | VLOG0121

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A few months ago I dug around in one of my desk drawers for one of my old digital point-and-shoot cameras. I had not used the camera in years. Both of the extra Wasabi Power brand batteries were swollen. What is scary is that these batteries have not been charged in years, yet they still puffed up over time.

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Puffing up over time is something that happens to even basic non-rechargeables. Alkalines typically do that after they’re empty.

But yes, this is particularly nasty on devices with rechargeable batteries that aren’t user-replaceable.

Oh and there was a particularly badly designed “premium smartphone” battery once. (Might have been a HTC… anyway ca. 2010 or 2011 vintage) …that thing had a replaceable battery, nice largish flat pack… that was supposed to slide out of the side of the flat but sturdy metal casing.

Well, that battery was obviously completely stuck the moment it exhibited any swelling at all. And since that’s usually the first sign you get from the battery starting to show its age… I mean, not like the charge measurement is all that accurate with these, what with variable temperatures, usage patterns (constantly changing because of software updates, etc) and all.

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