XPS 15 9550 Puncture Battery

What would puncturing a hole in the plastic around the XPS 15 battery do? Perhaps it would help let some gas out, which is causing the swelling issue.

 

It's a good way to release very toxic fumes and potentially start a fire.

If your battery is bulging, get rid of it (in a safe and environmentally friendly manner). Dell issued a recall of 9550 batteries for a reason.

 

Even better: Dell will take back the old battery at no cost and replace it with a new one.

John

 

Puncturing a powerful battery is very dangerous and can harm you and your property seriously.

Also, swollen batteries are unstable so you need to get that sorted out ASAP.

The following video gives the idea of the danger. The video maker is an engineer at a British electric utility so, despite the foolish content, he knows what he is doing.

 

Complain to Dell, they'll send you a replacement, even out of warranty. They contacted me and replaced my battery even thought I had no symptoms. If they had your contact info, they would have already contacted you, they're really serious about this issue.

Also, NEVER puncture a battery unit or cell, they will (not can, definitely will) catch on fire or possibly even explode.

 

I bought the laptop in the US, is there a good way to get a battery replacement while traveling abroad?

I think in the video the guy pokes the actual cell, I was wondering what would happen if one punctures just the black plastic around the battery.

 

just dont. Unless you want to win a darwin award.

The pouches within are bloated, the black plastic is not airtight itself. Puncture that and you puncture the pouches underneath and introducing an impurity within the battery which might cause a fire.

 

I don't think you understand. A swollen laptop battery is unstable. Now there is a much higher probability of a fire which could seriously injure you or burn down your house.

There is a lot of energy stored inside modern laptop batteries so you need to use extreme caution. You want to handle this battery as little as possible and as gently as possible. The idea of puncturing the battery is silly. I don't want to sound mean or condescending but you need to get this battery out of your life ASAP.

 

It's possible to both understand the risks and at the same time be curious about effects of holes in battery enclosures. I don't think these two things are mutually exclusive. Looks like I found the answer to the original question:



However, the risks appear too high. So, now I'd like to find the best way to get a replacement battery form Dell while traveling abroad.

Is it possible to limit charge level to something low while I wait for replacement? I'm assuming that reduces risk.

 

I thin kyou do not understand the construciton of a laptop battery. The Dell bqttery has 6 of those pouches underneath the black plastic wrap. You cant just stick a needle inside of that to hope to deflate the battery packs. Also it is enormously risky. Not all batteries are the same and you might just puncture a layer and cause a reaction that burns our fingers off. Just order a battery and let it be shipped overnight.

 

I think it is much more risky to punch holes like this than to leave as is. What you can do is drain the battery slowly (laptop idling) to minimum charge (mind this is still not zero charge), then remove it from the laptop. The laptop should work on AC power without the battery until you get a replacement.

 

I don't think you understand. Swelling of batteries isn't a sign that your battery is failing. It is a sign that your battery has already failed. The swelling is a last-resort protective measure before combusting. Batteries are designed in such a way to allow for the swelling, so the gasses have a place to go without venting out of the battery. You shouldn't charge it anymore, as heat allows for more gas which expands the battery further. At some point, you are going to reach the maximum swelling capacity and it will blow up and combust.

You are just playing with a timed bomb here that WILL destroy your laptop and potentially hurt you or someone else.

Open the laptop. Get the battery out. And I would seriously advise you to do this immediately. We are not talking about a small pop here, the 9550 battery contains enough energy to explode like a grenade.

youtu.be/V482lvMRXUg?t=1m41s , the first pop you see here is a single cell. We have 6 of those.

 

Follow Dell's instructions at this link for the battery recall.

John

 

Oh my gawd dood... Swollen lipo batteries are the absolute worst. Talk about a ticking time bomb. I wouldn't go near that thing. Basically that means the internal chemicals of the battery are bridging the layer that keeps the anode and the cathode separate...this causes internal self discharge at a high rate and causes there to be massive amounts of heat and gas to be created. I would burry that battery in a metal box full of sand because it's about to go critical. I store a lot of li-ion batteries at my apartment but those are all 18650 cells. I've had a few old ones self discharge and create heat. Those immediately get discarded outside after I've ensures they've discharged down to 0.00V. Just an FYI. If you puncture the battery without shorting it, the electrolyte will likely leak since it's a fluid. The electrolyte in a 18650 easily melts plastic...not sure what exactly is in it but it's nasty stuff...

I've had a electrolic capacitor blow up in my face and vent gasses out the top and it was like a gun going off at 58v...when it was rated for 16v...lol I can't imagine how much energy the lipo would be.

 

I called dell and they sent an engineer round next day to replace the battery.