cracked lithium battery safe to use?

[Deleted member 2707986]

i have an old nokia phone and i recently noticed that the plastic on the top of the lithium battery is slightly cracked.

the crack basically look something like this (see red line in photo)

https://imgur.com/BcVQRWN

View: https://imgur.com/BcVQRWN


maybe i squeeze the lithium battery too hard, or maybe its because i dropped it recently....in any case, generally speaking, is it common sense to stop using the lithium battery once a crack starts to develop on the outer plastic?

thanks for letting me know.

 

[boju]

Once air gets inside or potentially getting inside the battery will be a fire hazard and combust in the device.

Wouldn't attempt it.

 

[Deleted member 2707986]

i see, thanks so much for letting me know

 

[jsmithepa]

Haven't seen video of exploding vapping pipes? LION unlike old battery types dangerous when damaged.

 

[AllanGH]

Oddly enough, my wife informed me, on Thursday evening, that a worker at her office had an alkaline cell vent-off inside her wireless mouse and blistered her hand; so, evidently, other battery chemistries--previously thought to be relatively safe--are also subject to nuking themselves.

But, yeah, never ask anyone if it's safe to use a damaged Li-ion cell or battery. It's not, and nobody would stick their neck out to advise you otherwise--implied 'expert' advise, being an opener to a liability lawsuit.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I have a laptop battery with a slit in it. Still works, but im not 100% comfortable with it.

If in doubt, throw it out.
Lithium batterys arent to be messed with. They combust easily and burn hot.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I dont know why much safer lcb cells arent more commonly used.

You can drive cut one in half and once your done cutting it will still work, but with a reduced capactiy of cource.

 

[AllanGH]

Well, laptop battery assemblies are generally Li-ions in a plastic case. The plastic of the case can be split, and completely and safely usable; however, once the question is actually posed, the only answer to give is "stop using it". You are the best judge as to whether or not you can live with it.

 

[AllanGH]

As well as LiFePo4 cells......very, VERY safe; but I would imagine that it boils down to energy density.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Well, laptop battery assemblies are generally Li-ions in a plastic case. The plastic of the case can be split, and completely and safely usable; however, once the question is actually posed, the only answer to give is "stop using it". You are the best judge as to whether or not you can live with it.

Yea it felt like plastic and the cell still works, so i figure its not a problem. Its used as a htpc so it is on wall power 24/7.

 

[AllanGH]

I still have a few laptops that can be used without the battery installed. Any chance that your will tolerate that sort of thing?

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I still have a few laptops that can be used without the battery installed. Any chance that your will tolerate that sort of thing?

Yea it works without the battery.
I just dont wanna get rid of the cell since its a massive capacity.

 

[jsmithepa]

an alkaline cell vent-off inside her wireless mouse and blistered her hand

Oh ya, ANY battery chemicals will have some corrosive effect upon skin contact, they just aren't known to explode or catch on fire like modern LION.

Boeing 787 LION fires incidents.

Airlines nowadays demands that your bag with a LION charger built-in, the battery must be removed as a carry-on, otherwise they won't take your bag, les the bag catches fire in the cargo hole and well maybe too late when discovered.

 

[AllanGH]

Airlines nowadays demands that your bag with a LION charger built-in, the battery must be removed as a carry-on...

A decently cautious requirement, since Li-Ions don't deal well with reduced pressure environments--probably a key flaw in Boeing's earlier design, as I understood it at the time.

 

[AllanGH]

I just dont wanna get rid of the cell since its a massive capacity.

Understandable. Likely not a problem, as long as the cell cans and seals are undamaged.

 

[AllanGH]

For the OP's cell, there's no way to tell, so the component is likely best replaced--and cell phone Li-Ions are dirt-cheap these days, so there's no cost disincentive on that count.

 

[Deleted member 2707986]

For the OP's cell, there's no way to tell, so the component is likely best replaced--and cell phone Li-Ions are dirt-cheap these days, so there's no cost disincentive on that count.

yeah you're right, its probably not worth having all 5 of my fingers blown right off my palm over a used phone. it looks like there's a couple of supposedly 'new' genuine nokia battery in undamaged condition for sale on ebay, so i'm going to buy one of those instead and see how it turns out.

i've learnt alot from reading all your posts here, so thank you very much for sharing your knowledge with us and for all your help!

 

[Azzyasi]

It is safe to replace anything you are not comfortable or knowledgeble with to better asses the danger. That nokia battery has the pouch cell type. Now if the top plastic is cracked it's no biggie since the pouch cell is way below that. But if the battery is bulged and the cracked plastic is in two parts that are now slightly misaligned (noting a momevent of the parts that could damage the pouch cell) or a dent.. well that begins to be into unkown and risky teritory. Better change it, but if just a hairline crack on the plastic due to aging.. idk, it might work fine, but don't if you are not comforatble about it.

Metal casing for li-ion li-po batteries is the king. As the metal is stronger in case of anything, and the standardization involved makes 18650 cells be one of the safest type of Li cells (they have vents and valves in it), and a lot of regulation went into them (unlike pouch cells). Also the 18650 and few other variants are heavily researched since most laptops, flashlights, drills, battery powered tools, electric bikes, scooters, and even cars and buses (tesla uses them) use the 18650 Li cell with this reasearched and tested containter type.

Now the standard 18650 cell is out of the question for a cellphone/tablet battery, but good to know if you have an option between a device with propietary pouch cell or standard 18650battery and variants (like in some laptops with integrated batteries, or powerbanks where both options exist)