Have spent the day cracking open laptop packs, with some great success so far- however one I just opened a single 18650 started bubbling in a small 2mm area of it.
It is currently sitting out on the concrete driveway, what exactly should I do with it- is it safe to move/take it to a battery recycling drop off??
I carefully touched a multimeter to it and it reads 0.01v
Yikes, that’s very dangerous.
I say you could very carefully bring it to the recycling center.
You should be prepared to toss it (literally) when it gets hot. The damaged cell may vent.
Dump it in a bucket of salt water, and leave it for a week.
Shit... Ok, stay away from it and do not approach it for a long time, preferably atleast a day. If what you said is true it is venting extremely dangerous fumes that permanently dissolve your lungs.
You could send it to one of the members here who profess lithium-ions to be harmless...
Wow appreciate the quick replies!
I did think of taking a video in case it exploded lol, but I’m too scared!
So salt water- um can I just dump a cup of normal salt into a bucket of water for this?
After 15mins it has stopped bubbling and now reads 0.13v (tested with a full body suit, gloves and goggles 8) )
Please stay away from it...
@FMS, that may be the thing to do later, but now is it's most active/dangerous phase, just leave it out there for a bit.
Thats my plan short term, however it looks like it’s about to rain so I’m guessing that won’t help
Yes, probably better to leave it for a few days.
Any idea how this might have happened?
While the rain won't help, either way it sounds like this cell will vent so there is really no harm.
The evil part of me says to try shooting it
DON’T do that though!!
No idea myself, I’m 100% positive I didn’t puncture it as I’ve perfected pulling laptop packs apart at this stage.
I took a pic (using a big zoom lens so wasn’t near the battery), the arrow points to where it was bubbling (shiny spot), I circled what looks like a dark discoloured patch that was on this cell and the adjoining cell when I removed them.
The four other cells are not discoloured like this and measure above 3.5v- on that note does anyone see any reason I shouldn’t use these cells that measure well?
Oh I have to say again thank you all soooooo much for the very quick replies :bigsmile:
Actually, the electrolyte solution in the cells isn’t that nasty. It is a flammable solvent, though. Once a cell is discharged to near zero, the chances of it having enough energy left in it to ignite the electrolyte is rather small. The salt-water douche is a good way to discharge the cell fairly slowly and safely. I prefer a, uhhh, more direct method. J)
@Texaspyro, I may be mistaken but I read somewhere that they can vent hydroflouric acid, or was that only for lithium primaries?
If there was HF in there, the shell and copper and aluminum electrodes would be dissolved. You might get some HF if the electrolyte torched off… would depend on the electrolyte.
I have a friend that tortures batteries for a living. He would be long dead by now if there was something really nasty going on.
Well of course it is not actually in the battery, but I know there were a few HF incidents on CPF due to vents.
Scaru, I believe it was a CR123 primary cell in the thread at CPF.
Here’s the thread: Inhaled vapors from battery!!! | Candle Power Flashlight Forum!!!
Edit: More info about HF:
HF is produced at burning. No flames/smoke, no HF