What to Do When Your Phone or Laptop Has a Swollen Battery
When a lithium ion battery fails, things can go
south very quickly. If you open up your phone to find a battery swollen to
twice its size, proper care and handling is critical for both your safety
and the safety of others.
What’s aSwollen Battery?
The
vast majority of modern portable electronics, including laptops, smartphones,
tablets, ebook readers, and fitness trackers are all powered by lithium-ion
batteries. As far as compact batteries go, they’re pretty great. They have high
energy density, low self-discharge, and a very tiny memory effect:
all features that make them perfect for inclusion is everything from MacBooks
to Kindles.
Unfortunately
there’s no such thing as a free lunch, so to speak, and all that high-density
energy goodness comes with a trade off. Compared to its predecessors, the
lithium-ion battery is less stable. Lithium is more reactive than previously
used compounds, the batteries have very small partitions between the cells and
the outer covering, and the entire battery is pressurized.
Whenlithium-ion batteries are over heated, over charged, or simply failing due toold age, it’s possible for the inner cells of the battery to outgas a flammableelectrolyte mixture. This is where the swollen battery effect comes from: the
batteries are designed to contain, as a fail safe measure, that out gassing so
that it doesn’t cause a catastrophic fire.
If
the swelling is minor, you might simply notice that something seems a little
off with your device: the back of your smartphone might seem slightly
distorted, the frame of your Kindle might have an unusual gap, or maybe the
trackpad on your laptop seems sort of stiff. We were recently preparing a pile
of old smartphones for recycling, for example, and when we removed the back of
the phones to double check for microSD cards, one of the batteries was swollen
and the back of the case popped off like it was spring loaded. We happened to
have a spare identical battery on hand for comparison.
Although it’s not
extremely dramatic to look at, the little smartphone battery has clearly failed
and the center of the battery is swollen to roughly 150-200% the size of the
healthy battery and the case could no longer be safely closed.
On
the other end of the spectrum you’ll find extreme examples where the expansion
of the battery outright rips the surrounding electronics open. In the photo
below, courtesy of Reddit user iNemzis and/r/TechSupportGore, you can see how the expansion of a MacBook
battery was so powerful it actually ripped the trackpad right out of the frame
of the laptop.
Now, before you panic, we do want to emphasizethat for the most part lithium-ion batteries are really safe. There are
multiple safety measures built into them (like over-charging protection
circuits, temperature gauges, and so on) and even though the batteries in both
of the above photos have clearly failed, they did not burst into flames.
The safety measures worked and no one was hurt.
Let’s take a look at how
to safely remove and dispose of a swollen battery and, in turn, what you can do
to prevent swollen batteries before they start.
How to Remove and Dispose of a SwollenBattery
DoNot Charge or Use the Device
Once
you notice the battery is swollen or compromised in any way, you should
immediately stop using the device. Turn the power off, and above all else, do
not charge the device. Once the battery has reached such a point of
failure that the battery is swollen, you must assume that all safety mechanisms
in the battery are offline. Charging a swollen battery is literally asking for
it to turn into an exploding ball of noxious flammable gas right in your living
room.
Removethe Battery
Whenit comes to removing the battery, there is one very important rule:don’t further compound the problem by compressing, distressing, or compromisingthe outer casing of the battery. If you puncture the swollen battery, you’re in
for a bad time as the compounds inside will react with the oxygen and moisture
in the air.
If
your device is user-serviceable and you can easily open the case or a service
panel to remove the battery, then doing so is in your best interest: it will
prevent the expanding battery from (further) damaging your device and it will
prevent any sharp edges inside the battery compartment from piercing the
protective layer around the battery.
Once
you have removed the battery, you should do two things immediately. First,
insulate the contacts of the battery (if exposed) with a piece of electrical
tape. The last thing you want is for something to short the terminals out.
Second, store the battery in a dry cool place away from flammable things until
you can safely transport it to a disposal facility.
If
your device is not user-serviceable, and you can’t easily remove the battery,
then you should take the device to a service location, specialty battery shop,
or an authorized battery recycler (see below). There you should find someone
with the tools/skills to help open your device and remove the damaged battery.
The
same general rules apply even when you can’t remove the battery yourself: take
the whole device and store it in a dry cool place to minimize any further
degradation of the battery cells and keep it away from anything flammable.
Disposeof the Battery at an Authorized Recycling Center
Whether
they are damaged or not, lithium-ion batteries should never, ever,
be thrown away. Not only is the battery the kind of environmental hazard you
don’t want sitting in a landfill, but even a brand new lithium-ion battery is a
fire hazard if it is punctured or shorted out in the trash can or garbage
truck. The risk of starting a fire in your own home and injuring yourself or
starting a fire in a sanitation truck and injuring the workers is simply too
high.
Lithium-ion
batteries–new, used, or damaged–should only be disposed off via authorized
recycling centers. To locate recycling centers near you, your best bet is to
use a recycling location index like Call2Recycle or to call your local
city/county hazardous material disposal center.
When
disposing of a swollen lithium-ion battery, we strongly encourage you to call
ahead and ask if the facility is equipped to accept a damaged battery and to
check what the protocol is for bringing the battery in. Do not simply
toss a swollen battery into a general battery recycling bin at your local
big-box electronics store.
How to Prevent Swollen Batteries
You may have read the
preceding sections with interest, but thought “Well I don’t have a swollen
battery right now but I definitely don’t want one in the future”. In your case,
then, the goal is to keep your batteries happy and avoid premature battery
failure.
Fortunately
for you, you can accomplish this by following the same rules for extending the generallife and happiness of your lithium-ion batteries.
KeepYour Batteries Cool
Lithium-ionbatteries hate heat. While it’s impossible to keep them perfectly cool all thetime, you should make it a habit to avoid leaving your electronics wherethey’ll get roasted. Don’t leave your laptop in your car on a scorching hot
day, don’t leave your phone charging on the kitchen counter where the afternoon
sun bakes it, and otherwise do your best to keep the battery cool.
When
you aren’t using your devices or spare lithium-ion, store them in a cool and
dry area of your home.
Usea Quality Charger
Overchargingis a serious threat to the health of your batteries. If the official battery
charger for your laptop costs $65 and the generic knock-off charger you found
on eBay costs $9, you might want to reconsider. Quality parts and safety
certifications cost money and what you save on the charger you could lose on a
damaged laptop and battery (at best) or in a fire (at worst).
ReplaceOld Batteries
If
you notice that your battery is no longer holding a solid charge, then you
should consider replacing it. If you used to get 5 hours off your laptop
battery and now you get 30 minutes, that’s a good sign that the components of
the battery are degrading. Not only will replacing the battery give you that
nice multi-hour battery life back but it will ensure that you’re not using a
battery on the verge of failure.
Don’tLeave It Plugged In
This
doesn’t mean that you can’t leave your laptop plugged in while in the midst of
a marathon work session, but you don’t need to leave it plugged in all day,
every day.
By following some simple rules to keep your
batteries healthy and then properly disposing of them when they fail, you’ll
avoid injury to yourself and your electronics.
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