Repair specialist iFixit has released a new one video of himself stabbing and ultimately nailing a series of batteries to teach the world about battery safety. The takeaway? Despite the high-profile examples of battery explosions that occasionally pop up in the news, modern lithium-ion batteries are generally very safe as long as you follow a few best practices.
Another takeaway? Shooting a giant battery with a nail gun is cool as hell.
The biggest piece of advice from technical writing team leader Arthur Shi and teardown technology Shahram Mokhtari is to always discharge a battery to less than 25 percent before doing any teardown or repairs. That’s because while a battery bloat is the most obvious sign that something is wrong, it’s actually the amount of charge a battery holds that determines whether a short circuit can create enough heat to cause “thermal runaway.” cause (what you or I might call a fire). or explosion).
To demonstrate this, Shi and Mokhtari stabbed a series of batteries to see which would explode. A battery on an iPhone 12 Pro Max that’s running out of power emits a bit of smoke and some small sparks when stabbed with a metal screwdriver, but stabs the same model when it’s fully charged and you’re treated to a full blast. “Remember, these were identical batteries,” explains Arthur Shi. “The only difference between them was the state of charge.”
Other advice is to use a non-conductive plastic spudger instead of metal to further reduce the risk of punctures and shorts when removing a battery. And the video also directly calls on manufacturers to stop gluing batteries into their devices to make disassembly and repair safer in the first place.
iFixit’s video comes just over a month after tech YouTuber Arun Maini (aka Mrwhosetheboss) drew attention to the fact that a number of Samsung phones in his collection had swelling batteries after sitting unused on its shelf for several years. iFixit’s video doesn’t directly address Maini’s report, but the implication is that these batteries aren’t necessarily dangerous as long as you dispose of them properly and Surely do not attempt to charge or use them.
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