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Is it still safe to use a laptop after a battery ruptures?

I purchased an IFIXIT battery back in October 2024, and the battery suddenly started smoking during the midst of my class. After picking it up and leaving it alone outside until the smoke stopped, I was wondering if its safe to use it? Based on what I can see where it ruptured, there is a small black area of residue left on the frame of the device and on the board, where on both sides a black/brown residue remains.

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@squillur It's been my experience that iFixit does a pretty good job of sourcing quality parts, but nevertheless there are always a certain percentage of failures even in the best-engineered devices. Given their batteries are warrantied for at least a year, you shouldn't have any trouble getting a warranty replacement from them.

That being said, my best guess would be that the discoloration on the motherboard shouldn't be an issue. It looks to me like the BMS on the battery is what burned up rather than the battery itself. You'll want to check the battery connector on the motherboard and the components around it for any sign of heat damage; if you don't see any then I'd definitely be inclined to go ahead and try a new battery.

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Thank you so much for helping me out!

Based on first glance, that seems to be the only sign of damage in the entire system (including the battery connections and the most proximal components) , but I'll have to take a deeper dive to look underneath everything when I get some spare time.

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NOOOOOO

It is NOT safe. I cannot stress how dangerous that is!

The computer is always drawing on that battery if it is on, and if it is smoking then it means whatever coatings and insulators inside the battery have given away. Lithium Ion batteries contain so much energy. If you google lithium ion battery explosions you will see how much energy is contained inside those batteries.

If it is smoking then it means that something has caused a battery failure, and the battery is shorting internally. If it's stopped, it most certainty doesn't mean it won't happen again, it's only a matter of time before it does, and if that battery fully ignites, it could burn the room down. I would strongly recommend that you remove that battery and get rid of it as soon as possible.

It is no longer safe to use. The insulators inside have burned away and it is extremely likely that a short will occur again. Please, for your safety, remove that battery. I know there are warning signs everywhere nowdays, like on a hammer it tells you to wear 6 different protective things, but this is a serious danger. Lithium Ion batteries, when they pack in, can literally burn houses down.

Please, replace that battery.

On a second note, a replacement battery should last a lot longer than half a year. Knowing iFixit's standards, I doubt its a quality issue. If there was a reason to replace the battery in the first place, and something fried the old battery, and you put a new one in and within half a year its fried to smoking point, it points that there is a problem with the computer. Either something is drawing way too much power, like something is busted on the motherboard and is shorting power, or there is some little piece of metal that is shorting a contact. Usually its when batteries get shorted that they fail in style(going up in smoke counts as failing in style). So I would recommend that you get your computer checked out.

Let me know if this answers your question!

Cheers,

Falcon

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Thank you for your answer!

I replaced the original battery because it had begun bloating after about 2-3 years of use. My original question was mis-worded, where I had actually meant to ask whether it would be safe to use assuming I had bought a new battery and replaced the burnt iFixit battery with a new battery.

As seen in the attached photo, the battery has already been removed and moved outside (onto concrete)

Is it possible that this is a 1/1000 chance that this battery was made poorly? Or is it not worth chancing?

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Ah okay.

Nothing is made perfectly. There is a chance that it could be faulty, but you can still claim your warranty. If you bought a new battery it *could* be okay, but its not worth chancing. Because those batteries are a menace when it goes wrong. Paying for it to get checked up is definitely what I would do; just ask yourself, what are the up-sides and the down-sides? Yeah the motherboard could be okay and I might lose some money in the checkup, but if its not, what is the loss if you didn't find out there?

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