I have an Anker Car Jump Starter (Model a1501) that I have used many times. I charge it the first of every month and noticed this month the battery has swollen and is splitting the case open. Obviously, I will need to dispose it properly. What would cause this?
A1501 Battery Swelling
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Age of the battery, charging and discharging can cause issues, too high of a current being drawn or used to charge. Any number of reasons can be the reason for the battery to swell. Most places have battery recycling such as Lowes, The Home Depot, some cell phone stores, hobby shops all have battery drop offs.
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Dispose it correctly please, and try to replace it.
I believe I saw a battery recycling bin at Best Buy. Check with them.
Do.you charge it regardless of whether it’s been used or not?
It’s possible to over charge. If you keep charging but not using, your not allowing the battery to go through its proper cycle.
By continually charging when full, is a real possibility for this to happen, due to the battery already being full… Like keep blowing up a balloon that hasn’t gone flat.
This battery is intended for jump starting a car in an emergency. In order for it to be able to provide enough power, it must be between 50-75% charged. It was never intended to go through a normal charge-deplete cycle and the instructions never indicated one must do so.
When I charged it, it indicated it was over 75% charged. It may have been plugged in for no more than 30 minutes, so I was not leaving it charging overnight. I guess there is no safeguard against overcharging and my diligence shortened its life.
My local garbage company picks up and recycles batteries as part of their weekly service.
That model is an older jump pack, so I chalk it up to age and charging cycle. I have one of the newer packs and I charge mine every 3 months as stated in the instructions, although sometimes it gets charged more because it has USB-C and that’s what my phone uses. So in a pinch it gets used for both car and phone as needed.
@ian40 given the improvement of battery tech, I would just invest in a newer pack, all good things come to an end at some point.
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This is very likely to happen when the car gets too hot during the day. The lithium batteries in jump starters as well as other devices are not meant to be stored at temperatures that can easily reach over 100 degrees inside a vehicle. They can swell for lots of other reasons also such as being worn over time and damage within the cell.