Lithium-ion battery bulges

[flashfan]

Within the past couple of weeks, I had the following experiences with lithium-ion batteries, and am looking for feedback from those more knowledgeable than I, and/or with similar experiences.

Situation I: My spouse's cell phone (about three years old) seemed to have sporadic problems with charging, so I removed the original battery from the phone, and noticed a slight bulge on the back of the battery. I have a spare battery that was purchased at the same time as the phone, and it is completely flat. I installed the newer battery and the phone seems to be working fine.

Question: Has the first battery reached its "life," or is there another cause for the bulging?

Situation II. We have two batteries for our digital camera (about four years old)--one in the camera itself, and the spare in the camera bag. A few days ago, my spouse had left the camera (in the camera bag) in the car for perhaps a whole day, maybe even longer.

Upon bringing in the camera, my spouse mentioned that the battery had died. A little while later, while removing the battery from the camera to charge it, the battery did not "pop up" out of the camera as it usually did. I didn't think anything of it until I re-installed the battery after charging. I had to use a little pressure to get the battery back into its slot (used to slide right in).

Thinking that I might have installed the battery backwards, I carefully removed the battery to check. It was correctly installed. Upon closer examination of the battery however, while I could not see any bulge, when running my fingertips over the battery, I felt a very slight bulge in the center.

I took out the spare battery to compare, and it too, wouldn't slide easily into or out of the battery slot. The camera seems to be working fine on both batteries, and as far as I could tell, the camera/battery slot itself is not "deformed."

Questions: Is heat, or something else, the cause of this seeming battery bulge in both batteries? Is it "safe" to continue to use these batteries?

If you're still reading this post, thank you! And thanks also for any replies.

 

[Patriot]

li-ion and li-po can both swell from heat or over discharge. I don't know much about the protection circuits for phone batteries so I won't speculate as to what happened there.

Sometimes li-po batteries can be revived after over discharge and swelling with a couple of careful charges with a hobby charger. I've brought several li-po's back to life for RC flying buddies.

With regards to the camera it seems strange that both batteries would be snug unless they were both left in the car and it got extremely hot inside. I'm going to have to guess that someting flexed or warped in the battery compartment even though it's not visable to the eye. If the camera is a common type you could always take the batteries to a retailer and insert them in the same model there at the store to diagnose the problem. If it is indeed just the batteries that have swollen, again that's usually the result of over discharging, heat, or even improper charging.

 

[VidPro]

mostly sounds like an AGE problem (assuming your times listed are the age of the battery itself also) . old li-ion that are dying will gass sooner , and develop gas internally even just parked sitting there.
and the crappier the battery is the sooner age will effect it. canned or bagged inside the plastic case is a cell, and usually if it is bulging its got gass.
rectangular canned ones will seem to bulge more in the center, because the form of the cans edge , it will just be easier for it to move out in the flat center area.

any battery that is starting to bulge like that, of that age, should not be used. it will eventually be worthless anyways.
they say the life of a li-ion is about 2 years, but i cant place any specific numbers like that on them yet. some will last only 1 year, and some will last as long as 6-8 years , and still be working "ok" but not wonderfully.

Yes heat, yes i can actually re-integrate gas in a li-ion, yes overcharging, but the first thing you mentioned is they are to OLD to mess with.
and when you get new ones to replace, do whatever you can to get good stuff, and fresh stuff, or you will be right back there again to soon :-(

safe, hmmm, well many puffed up stuff exists that doesnt exhaust or flame, but it doing that is one indication that it is bad, and bad should not be charged anymore. most likly nothing will occur , because most likly nothing ever occurs but why risk you and the expencive device with a battery that is doing what it shouldnt be doing. no "manufacture" would tell you to keep using that battery. if you were subjecting it to extreeme conditions of heat and cold, then stop that

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Flashfan,

When Li-Ion or Li-Po cells bulge, there are gases forming inside the cell. This is not a normal condition and indicates damage.

In the RC world, many have continued to use these cells, but they accepted the risks involved.

Using damaged cells can cause unexpected results, but there is a lot more risk involved in charging damaged cells. It is best to recycle them and replace them.

Tom

 

[flashfan]

Thank you Patriot, VidPro and SilverFox for the very informed and informative replies. Wow, didn't realize that the expected life of lithium-ion batteries is so short. It's time to get some new cells...sigh. On the bright side, I guess our batteries have actually had a pretty good life span.

Thanks again!

 

[Kestrel]

they say the life of a li-ion is about 2 years, but i cant place any specific numbers like that on them yet. some will last only 1 year, and some will last as long as 6-8 years , and still be working "ok" but not wonderfully.

FWIW I used the bejezus out of the LiIon in my Canon point&shoot for 7 years before it finally became useless by not charging / holding a charge. Pretty amazing considering what I got out of it. It wasn't bulging, I wonder if these can get unsafe without bulging when they are this old?

After pricing the el cheapo ($5) replacements (which claimed ~2x the capacity, BTW), I went for the new Canon cell @ $30. It worries me when things get that inexpensive.:sweat:

 

[VidPro]

yes an old battery can get in a situation where it no longer "accepts" (all of) a charge, then more of the charge come out as waste heat. and heat can cause a thermal situation, many devices dont really try and charge FAST though, so the heat doesnt cause a full meltdown or ignition.

you can tell these things are happening, based on the heat you feel, and the voltage of the battery. one that wont hold a charge, or self discharges rapidly.

 

[etc]

I have experienced that exact same condition on a 7-year old AW 2600 mAh cell. It worked pretty well all that time however.

Last year I had AW's original 2200 mAh cells die, finally. I think they were about 7 years at the time.

I've also had one Eneloop buldge from age, the original 2007 or 2008 vintage cell.

I discarded them all.