Swollen Battery

[SnoopsterJ]

Hi, to jump right into the story, I tried turning on my H320 one day and the hard drive just sputtered and I got the "ATA error: -1" in the Rockbox bootloader. As expected, I also got the HDD connection error on the regular iRiver firmware. So, I took it apart to take a look and everything seemed fine. I started it up and it worked flawlessly. But everytime I put it back together, the hard drive would die again. Before long I would figure out that it was the battery putting pressure on the hard drive, due to swelling.

First of all, is there any way to fix the battery? Is there any way to squeeze what seems like pockets of air out of the shiny silver pocket? Oh, this is a new 2200 mAh iPod battery by the way and I just replaced it recently. I searched around and either couldn't find the answer or just didn't put in the right keywords.

Second of all, what could have caused this? I've read that maybe overheating causes batteries to swell, but I don't remember suscepting my player to that. Come to think of it, it's getting pretty chilly up here in Canada. I just charged it until it read "Complete," and immediately unplugged it. Given, I didn't use it for the next couple of days but I don't see how that would affect it. It was just charging on my desk in my room at room temperature.

I don't know if it's this "swelling" I hear about but I compared it to my old battery and the newer battery does have air pockets in it. Right now I'm player-less and quite frustrated actually - it was already bad enough that I broke probably over half of the clips trying to force the battery in, and then realizing later that I could have removed the padding (which I did). And now it's come to this. Any help much appreciated.

Snoopster J

[saints]

if it swells its a dud, BUT another guy popped the bubbles and said nothing happened, but come to think of it i havent seen him post on here for a while
What brand is the battery? a no name?
Newertech and Cameron Sino are the good ones

[SnoopsterJ]

Hit it right on the head bud, it's a no namer. Another brilliant Chai-Knees product . I'm really tempted to open up the packaging (it seems like it's just a sticker that wraps over the top) and smooth them out. Does anyone know if that's safe? I have no idea what I'd find inside, so... What do you mean by "popped the bubbles"? Like literally puncture the silver wrapping? My battery is working perfectly fine - I still have it running right now outside its case (benchmarking...and hoping that the battery deflates...somehow).

[baobab68]

There was a post here a few months ago of someone whose battery *caught fire* while they were trying to solder new wires onto it. That suggests to me that Lithium Ion and Lithium Polymer batteries are not to be toyed with.

The guy said the the smoke from the fire was really acidic too.

[saints]

Originally Posted by SnoopsterJ

Another brilliant Chai-Knees product . What do you mean by "popped the bubbles"?deflates... somehow).

The newertech are made there too and Cameron sino hong kong, but seem to be better made

His battery balloned and he poped it with a pin

[Richard_UK]

I am a frequent traveller and having replaced the battery in my H340 with the (larger) 2200mAh product, I started to get HDD connection problems every time I used my player in a pressurerized airplane cabin (ever noticed how water bottles (and feet!!!) expand dramatically in a plane??). Mysterioulsy the player would work OK when I was back on the ground but after a while, even on the ground, I was getting the HDD connection problem.... I opened the H340 up and noticed the swollen battery problem.

About 4 weeks ago I carefully put several small slits (with a modelling scalpel) in the the foil packaing that surrounds the 2200mAh battery and the player (and battery) have worked faultlessly since - both in the air and on the ground!!

From my experience, if you are careful, then puncturing the foil surrounding the battery is not difficult and doesn't' harm the battery. But.... it has only been 4 weeks since I did this...... but no HDD connection problems either!!
Richard

[Dunno]

Originally Posted by Richard_UK

I used my player in a pressurerized airplane cabin (ever noticed how water bottles (and feet!!!) expand dramatically in a plane??).

err, pressurization of the cabin doesn't affect your feet, your feet swell due to your bodies biochemistry (to much Sodium-salt), not because the aircrafts CABIN is at 5000ft. I work at the front on freighter aircraft and my feet don't swell, thats because we move around a lot during the flight, being immobile also contributes towards swelling your feet.

I have replaced batteries in my two H140's three times and I fly approx 75 hours a month, not one of the batteries was swollen.

[Blyth]

I had the same problem, the Newertech battery swelled and it totally killed the HD, I the HD replaced under warranty after changing back to the original battery.

I then purchased one of these off ebay.

I also now dont keep the H340 on charge all the time, I Plug it in, charge it, then pull it out of the dock. I think this contrubuted to killing the battery and in turn the HD.

Mind you, the H340 I have is and ex display from where I work and I did leave it running all day for about 3 months.

When the HD's go in these they vibrate badly.

[SnoopsterJ]

So as long as I'm careful slitting the cover I'm fine. I already have a feeling it's going to be a frustrating process (I broke sooo many clips trying to force the battery in when I first changed it), and it doesn't help that the swelling isn't that great, diminishing the distance between knife and battery from the get-go, not to mention not knowing how thick the foil-y stuff is. Wish me luck. *gulp*

[SnoopsterJ]

Uhh I just did exactly that a couple moments ago - cut a small slit in the center of the battery, on the side facing the back cover. I squeezed some of the air out, but is it supposed to smell like rubbing alcohol? Now I'm feeling really paranoid.

Edit: Okay I just put it back together and it seems to be working fine. Can someone reassure me that I won't wake up dead one day?

[saints]

Originally Posted by SnoopsterJ

Can someone reassure me that I won't wake up dead one day?

Ok if you wake up Dead, you can sue Richard uk, the rest of us voted dont do it

[SnoopsterJ]

To erase any future paranoia, I just added a piece of electrical tape over top of where I cut the slit. I'm just hoping that the evil smell of lithium/alcohol will evaporate soon. I'm always half expecting it to just light on fire (like those Sony laptop batteries), and imagining my brain cells dying from smelling it. Oh and I've also noticed something interesting. After closing the case and smelling my player once more (call me weird, I don't care), I realized that the lighter smell of lithium resembles that of the so-called "fruity" smell of the data ports on the bottom. The puzzle pieces are slowly coming together...well I'll be glad to know that I'll be sorely missed on MR once my H320 implodes, taking me and everything else in my house with it, possibly swallowing up the entire universe.

[saints]

Hehe, well i hear its got cold earlier in Canada, it will help keep you warm at least! Which part do you live?, my sister lives on Van Island.

[Richard_UK]

There are different causes for the Li-Po battery's foil packing to swell - one thing is for sure, and that's that if you are in any doubt as to the integrity of the battery you need to discard it safely. Given that there was a smell of 'rubbing alcohol' when you punctured your foil wrapping I would be VERY wary of using it and, more importantly, charging it. When I made the punctures in the foil wrapping on my battery there was NO smell.

The swelling in your battery may be caused by defective cells - mine may have been caused by air pressure variations. My advice would be to discard this battery, try and source the back cover off a defective H340 which will provide more space for the (new) 2200mAh battery and in the meantime use the battery intended for the player.

If you are in any doubt as to the battery's safety do NOT use or charge it. Slitting the foil can be OK if done safely and if the swollen foil is not caused by defective cells but in your case, SnoopsterJ, I would NOT use this battery.... Li-Po batteries can be very explosive if defective or charged incorrectly >> http://www.utahflyers.org/movies/Lipo2.wmv

Be safe my friend!!

[saints]

Originally Posted by Richard_UK

If you are in any doubt as to the battery's safety do NOT use or charge it. Slitting the foil can be OK if done safely and if the swollen foil is not caused by defective cells but in your case, SnoopsterJ, I would NOT use this battery.... Li-Po batteries can be very explosive if defective or charged incorrectly >> http://www.utahflyers.org/movies/Lipo2.wmv

Be safe my friend!!

Im worried he hasnt been back since his last post

[SnoopsterJ]

Haha I'm still on solid ground in Vancouver. Other than the ports smelling funny, I haven't realized any problems. However, I don't want to be doing this for an extended period of time so I think I will get another battery. The last one I got was off eBay for around $15 CAD - I'd like to avoid this happening again, so does anybody have any ideas as where to get a good battery under $20? I'm getting rather tired of continuously shelling out cash for my player. Most of the eBay sales are no-name, or at least I'm assuming they are since there's nothing on the battery's label, package, and the sellers don't say.

[saints]

Go with this seller, the cameron sino is the last brand standing that hasnt had some sort of problem, the ebayer is Canadian too, but ship from hong kong.

ps we are happy you are still with us, my sister said its snowing like crazy there

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Replacement-f...QQcmdZViewItem

[SnoopsterJ]

Yeah, thanks a lot saints, it's been quite the white (I'm not being racial I assure you ) late-November, and plenty of kids are complaining that we haven't had a snow day from school just yet. Fiscal issues on the school board's part, and deadlines for teachers on top of that, in exchange for safety. However, that's quite off topic. I'm looking outside right now and it's drifting abit, sometimes snowing harder sometimes not. On and off. I just bought that exact one from the link, thanks a bunch. I'll keep you posted on more alcohol-smelling shenanigans - but hopefully not .

[saints]

No worries, my mate bought from them and had his for 8 months and still gets his 20 odd hours of playback
They actually mixed up his order and sent two out seperately for the price of one
Just to let you know its 730pm here and 30c yeah..............