…at least when they’re not exploding.
We bought a new living room couch several years ago, seating three, with the rightmost seat an electrical recliner with a battery-powered motor. (We could have plugged it into the floor if there were outlets in the floor here. There aren’t.) Carol and I have not used the recliner feature much. When we want to recline, we typically lie down on our bed. But whether the recliner feature was actually used or not, the battery would discharge every few weeks to the point where it wouldn’t move the seat. A week or two ago, I pulled out the battery to charge it up via the charger that came with the couch, and…I saw what you see above.
Note well that I did not unscrew or pry the case open. What you see above is exactly what I saw when I pulled the damned thing out from under the couch.
The battery consists of seven flat lithium cells in a stack, with a charger board on one side. The cells all inflated like cushions until the pressure of their expansion popped the plastic case.
When electronics die, I often pry them open to see what’s inside. Not this time. I exiled the pack to our patio just as I found it, and set it atop a thick travertine slab just in case things got…hot.
Our local Batteries & Bulbs store (where we have occasionally recycled dead 18650 lithium cells) won’t take it. So now, with a possible firebomb sitting on a fat tile on our patio, I have to scan around and find somebody who will take it. So far, nothing. I’ll add a coda to a future Odd Lots when we finally get the damned thing out of our hair. And no, we are not going to buy a replacement battery pack for the couch.
I had a similar problem with a very old 3rd party battery for a 2008 model MacBook Pro. Initially, it was not obvious that the battery had expanded. The touch pad was not responding to touches at times. At other times, which occurred more frequently, the touch pad was responding to touches even when I was not touching it. After days of trying to determine and resolve the problem, it finally dawned on me that perhaps the battery, which sits directly below the touch pad, had swollen. I removed the battery. It had swollen. With the battery removed the touch pad problem was solved.
I think the term the kids today refers to those as “spicy pillows”.
Maybe the local fire department could make a PSA video about lithium fires
Put it in a firepit and poke holes in it and watch the excitement? Poke holes in it and drop it in a bucket of salt water? I’ve read that neutralizes the chemistry.
UPDATE: The city told us that we should buy some kitty litter and a box big enough to fit the battery and a few pounds of litter, which is basically little chunks of clay. We did that, and Carol set up an appointment for the city to come by and pick it up. They didn’t say how they deal with lithium batteries, and although I was mildly interested, I mostly want to get the damned thing off my property.
I’d say you dodged a nasty fire. There are a lot of different lithium chemistries, each with its own dramatic failure modes. Most are made in China, with little safety testing. Most get used until they fail; then the *customer* finds out what the failure modes are!
My sister-in-law suffers from arthritis, so we bought her a motorized recliner several years back. It is AC powered but also has a backup battery in case the power fails. Surprisingly, it is just two normal 9v “transistor radio” primary batteries. They are barely enough to run the chair up and down a couple times. Pretty feeble; but at least it’s safe.