Yikes! My micro-starter batteries broke out of their cases

[Old Crow]

Yesterday I thought of checking the micro-starter battery I keep in my truck's glove box.

It had four of five lights when I turned it on so I thought it was down a bit. The manual says that's 80 per cent charged. My voltmeter measured 11.69 volts between the terminals and that didn't seem right (but then again I'm not familiar with lithium battery characteristics).

When I went to charge it, I realized the rubber outer case didn't seem to be fitting right. I slipped it off and was astonished to find the battery had distended enough to push the black plastic inner case apart. I then realized I should also check the one in my wife's car...


(Click to enlarge)




You're looking at two batteries. The one on the left is the one from my truck with both the outer rubber case and the black plastic case inner removed (you can see part of the plastic one in the background).
The one on the right is the micro-starter (without its rubber case) from my wife's car.

The next photo is a taken from above the battery and I hope gives some sense of how swollen it is. The top was originally flat and about three-quarters of an inch wide with the sides dropping straight down from the edges.




-Old Crow

 

[MarkBC]

-- Indeed! That can't be good...

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Eek! Not good at all!

 

[hebegebe]

That is considered toxic an should be an immediate replacement. That same thing happened to my iPhone
Some say it’s an overheating issue

 

[Old Crow]

I'm just catching up on this subject of LiPo battery swelling. Here's what I've learned this morning....

This Puffed LiPo Battery: Why They Swell and What to Do About It article appears to describe what's going on. It's from the RC (radio-controlled) hobby world but I believe it also applies to the lithium polymer batteries in my micro-starters.

I also took a look through the manual for my micro-starters and called the number it recommends for battery recycling (800-822-8837). That turned out to be an automated service that asks for your zip code and then starts reading out contact info for businesses that will take your batteries. In my case, that included my local Staples and Home Depot so I stopped listening at that point.

I called Staples and the guy said they will take the batteries. I told him they are from micro-starters and are swollen and asked if I was supposed to discharge them before bringing them in. He said that would be nice but it's not necessary. He also said I might call the Batteries Plus store near his location as they might offer something for them.

I figured those guys should have more experience with the subject. That guy told me they do indeed take LiPo batteries but when I told him they are swollen, he said they charge $15.50 per battery to take those.

Mine have LED lights on the cases so I turned on the lights and am waiting for them to drain down before taking them to a recycler. I'm curious as to how long they'll last.

I also have another micro-starter, this an AntiGravity XP1 I bought nearly a year before the ones you saw in the photo. That one shows no signs of swelling and doesn't have the soft feeling of the swollen one. But it doesn't hold a charge any more. I last tried to use it about this time last year and it wouldn't turn over a Honda Civic. That was in near-freezing weather, though, so I thought it might do better in warmer weather and kept it. It's now completely dead and not responding to the charger.

 

[Backroad Joe]

The AntiGravity XP1 is an excellent unit. It appears the two you are having trouble with are cheap knock offs.

I work in the electronics industry and know first hand about the trouble with modern batteries from China. I've seen container loads of consumer electronics rejected from the Chinese factory because of swollen batteries. And these were of higher quality, name brand products.

Battery technology has advanced so rapidly recently that it is not fully understood except by the developing entities. Overseas reverse engineering just doesn't cut it here.

 

[GT-Jim]

The AntiGravity XP1 is an excellent unit. It appears the two you are having trouble with are cheap knock offs.

Watch where you purchase also. When I was researching a jump start battery I was informed that there are AntiGravity branded chinese knockoffs on Ebay. I bought my AntiGravity battery from a local auto parts retailer for peace of mind.

 

[rando]

A quick question - do you leave these in your car parked outside in PA? Really cold temperatures can also lead to LiPo batteries swelling. I had my Mac Book Pro battery swell up inside the computer in Antarctica one year in my backpack at ~ -30C. I was wondering why the touch pad was popping out of the computer, and it turned out the battery has swollen to the point where it pushed it out of the case.

The other thing to note is that pretty much all the LiPo batteries available are made in China, but that doesn't mean some aren't better than others, just that you shouldn't dismiss something because it it made in China.

 

[Old Crow]

A quick question - do you leave these in your car parked outside in PA? Really cold temperatures can also lead to LiPo batteries swelling. I had my Mac Book Pro battery swell up inside the computer in Antarctica one year in my backpack at ~ -30C. I was wondering why the touch pad was popping out of the computer, and it turned out the battery has swollen to the point where it pushed it out of the case.

The other thing to note is that pretty much all the LiPo batteries available are made in China, but that doesn't mean some aren't better than others, just that you shouldn't dismiss something because it it made in China.

Hi, Rando--

Yes, I just left them in the vehicles year 'round. I hadn't thought about the effect of cold, perhaps because it's fairly rare to get below-zero (F) temperatures here.

I'm starting to think the swelling is more related to aging than anything else. In post 5 I said the XP1 hadn't swollen but since then I disassembled it and found its battery had also swollen. I could see its case was built stronger and I believe there was some expansion room for the battery in there so I didn't notice that swelling before taking it apart. The expansion of that one wasn't as bad as my others.

That led me to call my brother and he checked two of his and found those also pushing open their cases.

So to summarize, my brother and I have six micro-starters, 5 Whistlers and the XP1. Five of the six (and probably the sixth) are swollen. It is important, however, to realize that these are all three years old or older.

As to the China-made issue, I found this article at Sebastian's Garage which says the XP1 and XP3 are made overseas. But I also see it's a 2013 article and I know Antigravity came out with a re-design of the XP1 since then. So I called Antigravity Tech Support earlier this week and the tech told me the XP1 is indeed made in China.

The Antigravity versions of these do seem to be superior in quality, regardless of where they're made. That does come at a price, though. My brother and I made a conscious decision to buy the Whistler (Walmart) units after I had several successes with one and my brother had the same experience with his first one. We bought them for half the price and they had twice the warranty---(a two-year, no-questions-asked return guarantee from Walmart). They had somewhat lower capacity but worked fine for jump-starting cars for two years. But they--- and the XP1--- started to show signs of decline after that 24 months of occasional use.