Cracked case because of puffy battery? Help me fix it please.

[gdap]

Hey guys,


I have been a very happy pandora user for over a year, but this week I found a crack on my "first 500 batch" Pandora. I noticed this week that the battery wasn't charging, and if I plugged it in without the battery still wasn't working, unless I squeezed on the back of the unit...thats when I noticed this hairline crack running from the usb port to the tv out. It is similar to other cracks I have seen posted over the year.


Here's a picture of it:

Just as a side, I have kept very good care of this, never dropped it.


I then noticed that the battery seemed "puffy"...can't quite remember if it was like this before or whether it has gotten "puffier". The battery always did fit a little snuggly, but I'm wondering if the extra puff factor is causing the case to slowly split open.


This is it:

Is my battery messed up?


Should I attempt fixing the case by myself or try getting a new case?


To the OP team, this is past the warranty, but can I send it back to be fixed for a fee?


Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks fellas.


:mellow:

 

[Prometheus]

Is my battery messed up?

My understanding is that your battery is indeed very messed up, and that you should stop using it and be very careful with it.


Absolutely contact your distributor about the battery and the damage it's seemingly done - warranty or not, it shouldn't be doing that, and they'll know what to suggest.

 

[DaMummy]

this has happened to people who have their pandora constantly charing, somebody else, i cant remember who, always had their pandora plugged in, for like 4 months straight, and the battery looked like it doubled in size

 

[relapse808]

Puffy li-ion is dangerous. I have seen them catch fire. Be careful with it and get replacement asap.

 

[Prometheus]

Puffy li-ion is dangerous. I have seen them catch fire. Be careful with it and get replacement asap.

It's not li-ion, it's li-po, which I understand makes it even more dangerous.

 

[gruso]

Just to repeat the warnings, stop using this immediately, contact OPT and organise a new battery. Looks like they could even send you a new bottom half of the case - very easy to replace yourself!


(Are you sure it's out of warranty? They started shipping in May 2010...)

 

[gdap]

Thx for all the replies guys!


I have not switched on the pandora since I discovered the battery like that. It feels like a stick of C4 too. Any ideas how to safely dispose of it?


Shooting an email off to team pandora now.


I can honestly say over the year I have had this, I have not kept it on the charger longer than I would normally keep my phone on the charger (i.e. overnight).


Are there any battery alternatives out there to the stay-puft battery?


Thx again chaps.

 

[Prometheus]

Any ideas how to safely dispose of it?

None, but if you have a local recycling/disposal centre or something of that nature, it may be worth contacting them as I would guess that they may know how to safely deal with batteries like that.

 

[ibisum]

Oh crap, me too ..

 

[Bosbeetle]

Ive always found these soft batteries kind of weird, I hope this won't happen with regular use. (I thought my previous unit had it albeit very little)

 

[WizardStan]

I can honestly say over the year I have had this, I have not kept it on the charger longer than I would normally keep my phone on the charger (i.e. overnight).

This is important: when you charge overnight and wake up in the morning, has it always been at 100% with the red charge light still on? Or have you noticed the red light being off with some consistency?

 

[Bosbeetle]

I can honestly say over the year I have had this, I have not kept it on the charger longer than I would normally keep my phone on the charger (i.e. overnight).

This is important: when you charge overnight and wake up in the morning, has it always been at 100% with the red charge light still on? Or have you noticed the red light being off with some consistency?

Mine used to always be on, but my new unit goes off :blink: ive wondered why? Is that a bad thing?

 

[WizardStan]

Off is a good thing. On means it is still pumping energy into the battery even though it is full. With newfound knowledge on lipo batteries, this is a bad thing. I suspect that even a few hours every day over the course of a year will result in puffy battery.

 

[Bosbeetle]

Off is a good thing. On means it is still pumping energy into the battery even though it is full. With newfound knowledge on lipo batteries, this is a bad thing. I suspect that even a few hours every day over the course of a year will result in puffy battery.

ah now it goes off so I hope this one wont puff

 

[gdap]

I can honestly say over the year I have had this, I have not kept it on the charger longer than I would normally keep my phone on the charger (i.e. overnight).

This is important: when you charge overnight and wake up in the morning, has it always been at 100% with the red charge light still on? Or have you noticed the red light being off with some consistency?

I can't say I remember the state of the lights. In any case, unit is being sent back for RMA.


Maybe someone can make a sticky or update the wiki on battery care, or what to look out for such as the red indicator lights not being consistent, battery puffiness,etc.

 

[mhadf]

Ouch, looks painful. Glad you got it sorted with the RMA.

To the OP team, this is past the warranty, but can I send it back to be fixed for a fee?

There is a 2 year warranty on any goods within the EU. This is provided that it is provable that you didn't cause the fault and it is an inherent flaw with the goods.


I know that OPT are really good to us and none of this is a problem with them, as they are very upfront about any issues that arise. and actually want to keep us as customers.


But don't just write yourself off without even checking the law in your area. I've had my TV replaced for free (by the shop) a couple of times due to known manufacturing failures at around 18 months.

 

[the_marshal]

The situation about those puffing battery is definitely a little bit worrying. Not trying to be dramatic of anything here, but I am pretty sure this shouldn't happen. It doesn't seem to be a single isolated incident either.


If a number of battery start to show the same problem in months / a year then the team would have to replace them... that's going to hurt them.


I would really like to hear from the team and from MWeston. Maybe it's the charging (software) that isn't properly adjusted for lipo battery (?). I know someone mentioned once that lipo shouldn't stay at 100% while charging at the same time. But I have no idea if that's accurate.


For now I'll try to disconnect my Pandora when it reaches 100%. The fact that the standby only last ~24h is definitely a bit of a pain. I should probably shut it down more often.

 

[EvilDragon]

Well, the charging chip from TI as well as the battery has an overloading protection AFAIK, so it won't pump energy into the battery forever.


The speed of charging, etc. could be a bit more optimized for Li-Pos maybe, yeah, definately something to look into, but AFAIK Michael was very thorough about that.


My battery is still going fine, and I've been using it regularly since end of 2009, so I don't think this is the charging itself.


In the same time, two Motorola V600 batteries puffed up


Well, one thing to remember is that those batteries are from 2009 - it might be some had been damaged by not keeping them charged. I am recharging them every few weeks, but it might be one gets overlooked, etc.


The new ones are already on the way though, and they don't have to wait for Pandoras as long as the first ones had to.

 

[WizardStan]

My battery is still going fine, and I've been using it regularly since end of 2009, so I don't think this is the charging itself.

Question: How do you charge? Do you leave it overnight, or do you do it during the day and occasionally check it and remove the charger when it's 100%? If you do leave it overnight, have you found that the red charge LED is on or off in the morning?

 

[EvilDragon]

My battery is still going fine, and I've been using it regularly since end of 2009, so I don't think this is the charging itself.

Question: How do you charge? Do you leave it overnight, or do you do it during the day and occasionally check it and remove the charger when it's 100%? If you do leave it overnight, have you found that the red charge LED is on or off in the morning?

Randomly. I connect it to AC at some time and get it one time later.


Some times after one night, sometimes after two day.


My charging light stays on.