Phone suddenly infalted and backcover went off

[Naweo]

Hey

I have had a samsung s8 edge I used basically as a tablet permanently connected. Now suddenly after it has become a bit irresponsive, I took it off the wall and suddenly notice the cover has gone off in the back of it. My initial thought was that the battery, for some reason, has inflated.

I then immediately took it outside on the ground and it is still there.

1. Should I be afraid to go touch it? Like can it explode? lol. I heard stuff about samsung phones.

2. I want to go shut off the phone. Should I be able to do that, and if yes, can I then try to safely investigate what is wrong with the phone?

Thank you!

[SxM Designs]

Most likely the battery is too old and needs to be replaced. If you want to be careful wait till the charge is completely done and then go to a repair shop to replace the battery.

[Naweo]

THe phone has been charged 100%. Is it safe to touch it?

What would be your step by step approach to a 100% charged inflated Samsung s8 edge phone?

Appreciate the fast reply.

[suicidal_orange]

I think the exploding batteries just go without warning, old batteries swell up.  My mum ran an old Nokia for about a month with the battery gradually swelling only complaining when the back cover wouldn't fit on...

Looking at this teardown it seems it's not the easiest to open and the battery isn't the first thing you see when you open it up so I wouldn't go there in it's current state.  If you want to try when it's dead do so.

I'd suggest turning the backlight up and disabling the screen off timeout to drain the battery ASAP without making it do stuff and getting hot and put it outside in the shade preferably under something big and heavy like an inverted metal dustbin just out of paranoia.

Edit: from the title the back is already off?  A couple of screws and it's safely disconnected - go for it

[Naweo]

The back cover is opened by maybe 2-3 mm. It has not swollen a lot. And only in one corner. I suspect its a swollen battery but I do not actually know.

Can I just touch the phone with my fingers?

I will call up a repair show tomorrow and hear what they say.

[jamster]

It's a common problem with bad quality or mistreated LiPo batteries, sometimes I happens to good ones. Could be off gassing.  Safe to touch, turn off the phone and never try to charge it again. Get the battery replaced ASAP.

[Naweo]

You recommend I just go turn it off or let it drain power?

[tp4tissue]

[jamster]

Google "swelling LiPo" and decide on a course of action. It's a pretty common thing, which is not to say it's an entirely safe thing.

[Naweo]

I got the issue resolved at a repair shop.

Now I have two questions:

1. I have three tablets on 24/7 charge and use. Similar to a tablet mounted on a wall. Is it safe to charge tablets 24/7 without risking battery implosion within a few years? I am talking about Samsung 10 inch Tab A

2. Is it safe to charge my phones (HTC 1 M8 and Samsung S8 Edge) 24/7 without risking battery bloating?

3. If answers = no, how often should I pull the cables out and let them run power overnight, to avoid this issue?

Thanks

[jamster]

The batteries stop charging when they are full, they don't charge forever.

These are normal use cases, you're fine.

[tp4tissue]

charging to 100% is also very stressful for batteries, because it spends more time at higher voltages. This greatly reduces the total cycle capacity of the battery.

Keeping the charge between 25-87% is a good balance for durable battery life.

That said, obviously no one does this, because they'can just buy a new phone or a new battery.

But it's very relevant for Laptops which spend most of its time plugged in

[Sintpinty]

Spicy pillow?

[Leslieann]

Lithium batteries like to be at 50%, the further you stray from that the less it likes it.
They get shipped and stored at 50%, 100% all the time is bad, 0 is deadly to them but safe for you. Some laptops and apps let you set them to only charge to 80%, others do not, but better laptops/phones/tablets should be doing something to help them last, either letting it dip up and down a bit a bit further before recharging and/or simply not trying to eek out every last bit of power.

I'd just let them manage it, while it noble and all, trying to do it manually is just a hassle that isn't even guaranteed to work as they can balloon for reasons you had nothing to do with, this is why they don't even like flying with them charged at 50%. Ballooning is bad, but if it's slow it's usually just venting and not likely to go bananas. It's when they expand fast you need to really worry. That isn't to say a ballooned battery is safe, it shouldn't be charged and should be replaced asap but it's not necessarily going to explode just because it ballooned either.

Just keep an eye on them.

[tp4tissue]

Dell's laptop bios is really nice these days, they let you set both charge and stop-charge based on battery %