Database Users

Swollen Battery, Battery Level Somewhat Erratic

Hey everybody,
So I think that my HTC Wizard's battery is about to go.
When I look at it, it feels a little swollen. I think that it was flat when I first got it, but honestly, how many of us actually need to look at the battery that often? Got it about five months ago, and it was refurbished at the time.
Another thing that seems to indicate that the battery is dying is that when I'm playing a game like Spb Quadronica or Skyforce Reloaded, the battery level takes a deep dive (like 30 - 40%) after about 30 minutes of playing. These battery levels are from Spb Mobile Shell since I removed the T-Mobile application from startup that shows an icon in the system tray.
When I first got this, I was able to play Skyforce Reloaded for probably two hours before it reaches the same drainage. The battery looks like it was also refurbished since the black metallic coating was coming off on the end opposite of the battery contacts.
When it's at some inexplicable power level like 24% after playing for a short time, I restart the device (sometimes it does this automatically without warning) and it's back to like 78%, which is more or less what it should be at for that length of usage.
On a seemingly random restart, it will be stuck in a restart cycle going from the T-Mobile splash screen to the Windows Mobile boot screen and then restarting before it makes it to the Password window.
I try to use the same techniques when taking care of my battery as I do for lithium ions in laptops, such as power cycling (complete drain and full recharge) once or twice a month.
Should I be worried about the battery? Should I just get a new one since they're not that expensive? Is there something else that might be causing this?
Thank you for your time. Any help is greatly appreciated.

you should replace it. a battery gets swollen if the heat boils the chemicals inside it. that happens due to inequality in material density (which is caused by other electrical issues). if you keep using it it might pop if it heats up too much and spill all over your phone.

The battery is a goner,replace it immediately,before it leaks or bursts and create further mess.Yes! one more thing,don't buy a refurbished batteries,as you can never be sure about the condition of the battery,spend a little more and get a new and warranted,it'll save further complications and expenses.

Thanks for the replies.
Well, I got the refurbished Wizard as a gift. It was purchased from TigerDirect.ca. I guess that a refurbished phone also means a refurbished battery to them.
Have either of your used Global-Batteries.ca or any of the other their localized sites for batteries before? Are they reliable? I've never really been big on purchasing things online. I don't even have a PayPal account.
So I'm a little wary about using them to buy a battery online. Pretty good price though.

Asin said:
Thanks for the replies.
Well, I got the refurbished Wizard as a gift. It was purchased from TigerDirect.ca. I guess that a refurbished phone also means a refurbished battery to them.
Have either of your used Global-Batteries.ca or any of the other their localized sites for batteries before? Are they reliable? I've never really been big on purchasing things online. I don't even have a PayPal account.
So I'm a little wary about using them to buy a battery online. Pretty good price though.
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I do not know where you are at, but in america you can go to any batteries plus and they have the battery for the wizard. I recently replaced mine with a new one. I think it was about 30 or 40 dollars. Not bad considering that I use it alot. here is a link to their website.
www.batteriesplus.com

Well, it's only $18 CDN on Global-Batteries.ca, so I was hoping for that.
Just to confirm, I should be looking for WIZA16 if I only want the standard capacity battery right?

Strange but true

Something really weird happened to my O2 mini s. I just saw all the LED lights flash and then the phone vibrated and went blank. I did a soft reset it restart but then the same thing happened. I did a hard reset it was all ok, then when the O2 software began installing it did the same. Flashed all LEDs including the flash led vibrated and went blank. I though it was the battery. Changed the battery and it would refuse to wake up, just switch on all LEDs and keep vibrating. This kept happening for several times, and then suddenly all was ok. Re-installed an all, all is fine now. But I wonder what happened? And will it happen again? Any explanation by anyone would help. Thanks in advance.

This sounds like a hardware fault to me.
Can you think of ANY outside influences? Things like extreme temperature exposure, exposure to high humidity, or very fast changes of temperature or humidity could all cause shorts or low resistance conditions. I don't know that any of these historically lead to the type of fault you experienced specifically in Wizards, but from an electronics standpoint, anything of this nature could cause bizarre but temporary faults. Even dropping it could cause you problems of an unusual nature.
If the answer to any of the above (except dropping) was yes, do this:
Gather up all the desiccant you can find. This stuff can be found in bags of jerky, and in just about any electronics box ever packed. Sometimes I find little "jars" of desiccant in medicine bottles (long-acting antacids, in particular). Put the phone in a plastic zip-top bag in a warm, dry place with all of the desiccant inside and seal it up tight. Leave it for at least 12 hours, but 24 would be better. Throw away the desiccant when you're done.
If you can't come up with an outside cause for the fault, you may just have to chalk it up to the age of these phones. They are far from new. Even if you just bought yours, chances are good that it is refurbished, and electronics, like fruit, will go bad eventually.

Thought so...
Thanks for your detailed reply. I think the temperature would be the reason. I am in India and that too in the Southern part and its been awfully hot these last few days (40 deg. C or more) yesterday I was in my room and had switched on the air conditioning, the phone was near the ac for a while. Then I did switch off the ac, probably this fluctuation caused to form moisture? It was behaving weird but its ok for the time being... for the last 12 hrs or so. I am waiting for 3G services in India before I decide on my new phone, so I hope this lasts for another 6 months. Hope! Thanks again, will try your method if this happens again.

The problem is back and won't go away. Should I bury my phone? Or is there hope? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

If dessication didn't work, you can also try swapping batteries with someone (best to do this while the problem is presenting itself).
You can also try doing a hard reset as a last resort (remember to backup your PIM info!), but I doubt this will do you any good. However, it doesn't cost you anything, and is therefore worth a try.
See if your service carrier offers insurance on your phone. If they do, sign up, and turn it in a week later for replacement. Just remember to wipe out your personal data and remove any HardSPL/Unlocks you might have done.
If insurance fraud is distasteful to you, hit eBay. You can usually score a decent condition Wizard for around $120 USD.

I haven't really tried dessication, but I think its gone beyond that. Batteris I have 3 and none of them worked. Is it easy to open the phone and try and "air" it? Will that help. Unfortunately carriers in this country don't have insurance plans. So that leaves out that last option. And if I have to buy another phone then why... the same one... ;-) Thanks anyways..

[Q] vibrant overheat icon

Yesterday morning I woke up to my vibrant battery, charged maybe 25% with an exclamation mark that looked like a road sign and a thermometer icon over the battery. The phone was very hot. I let the battery drained then charged it the night before. Is that normal was the battery over heating? should I exchange it for a new one? I got the phone on saturday and that was the first time i charged it.
Btw is anyones vibrant making creaking noises on the edges where it's painted metallic?

I personally have never heard of an overheating indicator on this device so this night be news to many. The issue of heat being generated from this device while charging has been brought up. For me it happens rarely now but when it does I pull the charger, let it cool down and then plug it back in.
Try charging it again and letting it drain again completely and see if you can get it to occur again. If so a battery replacement may be the only thing you need.
Sidenote: No my Vibrant doesn't make and creaking noises. I am just plagued with a loose volume rocker lol
Sent from my awesome Vibrant using XDA App

I've had the thermometer road sign come up before. I left my phone on the charger in the car. Realized I did it and went to get it and it was HOT! I put it by an AC vent and let it cool before using and haven't had any issue.
Are you using the charger that came with the phone?

Over heating when I first got the phone it would run super hot and even hotter when charging but never got that overheating symbol. However over a few days my phone barley gets hot anymore.
Creaking yes I am experiencing it as well as a loose volume button. It is annoying but it does not bother me that much.

Isn't that the under 30 % symbol . .

Last week my phone became super hot. I feel asleep while I was listening to music and while it was on the charger. When I woke up the phone was muy caliente, literally. It wouldn't turn on so I took out the battery to let it cool down but my battery was hot as well. I let it cool for a bit and put the battery in again and it still didn't work. So I plug it back into the charger and the battery charging icon booted up. I went into the OS and it said the battery was at 0%. Now it's working fine and never happened again. Weird though.

I called tmo and they said to go ahead and go get a new one from a retail location, since its still within the 14 buyers remorse period, so I did. But looking by the comments I think I didn't need to, but now I have no more creaking on the edges . Thanks guys for all your help and comments.

Ya. mine gave that symbol while charging the other day. I unplugged it and put it far away in case it was some defective battery or something. Nothing exploded and haven't see it since. Was mildly disturbing though.

wow, my phone doesn't over heat thankfully.
Glad you returned the phone.
Let us know if the new one does the same thing.
thank You.

fearmonkey said:
Ya. mine gave that symbol while charging the other day. I unplugged it and put it far away in case it was some defective battery or something. Nothing exploded and haven't see it since. Was mildly disturbing though.
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Haha the thought of it might exploding was in the back of my mind also.

I had that problem too once. My phone got too hot one morning and got that symbol. I had an app that told me what the temp of the battery and it was at 144 f. I went too look at what was causing it, it said display at 90%. I had too remove the battery, let it cool down and than charge it. Every time I make sure that brightness is at 0% and that no other app is running in the background. Because when I wake up that morning, my phone was on before I even touched it. I wad thinking an app was not letting it sleep and it was on the whole night.
Yes, I did have screen turn off at 1 minute.

144F = 60C.... You could BURN yourself touching that lmao! That's high even for my computer processor...at least its on the high side I mean.
No wonder an icon popped up. Most I've gotten it to is 54C and that was with GPS navigation, music, screen on, and the phone being in direct sunlight sitting in the car while navigating me. And touching THAT it started being really uncomfortable/burning-like. Can't imagine what 60 would be like lol.
Glad it actually WORKS at such a temperature though. And that it TELLS you "Cool me down please" lol.

}{Alienz}{ said:
144F = 60C.... You could BURN yourself touching that lmao! That's high even for my computer processor...at least its on the high side I mean.
No wonder an icon popped up. Most I've gotten it to is 54C and that was with GPS navigation, music, screen on, and the phone being in direct sunlight sitting in the car while navigating me. And touching THAT it started being really uncomfortable/burning-like. Can't imagine what 60 would be like lol.
Glad it actually WORKS at such a temperature though. And that it TELLS you "Cool me down please" lol.
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My Overclocked core i7 at 4 ghz does not even hit 60C (idle) on 100% load yes it does.
60C for a phone is unbelievably hot.

Your core i7 is one HECK of a chip then. My friend's corei7 that I helped overclock with a gigantic copper air cooler for $80 hits 70C at 4.00Ghz under load. I told him if it ever hits 73C to clock it down since that's the limit.

scrizz said:
wow, my phone doesn't over heat thankfully.
Glad you returned the phone.
Let us know if the new one does the same thing.
thank You.
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I'm happy to say that I charged it before I went to bed. When I woke up, the phone was at 100% and cool to the touch.

}{Alienz}{ said:
Your core i7 is one HECK of a chip then. My friend's corei7 that I helped overclock with a gigantic copper air cooler for $80 hits 70C at 4.00Ghz under load. I told him if it ever hits 73C to clock it down since that's the limit.
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Mines under water

[Q] HELP!!!!! TMobile No Help

Basically whats happening. Me and my wife have exchanged both of our Vibrants through T-Mobile 3 times due to overheating and the proximity sensor acting up. My wife literally burned her hand this morning when she grabbed her vibrant off of the charger. We only replaced the phones yesterday and are already getting the same issue. I called T-Mobile and they said they can either give me another Vibrant or exchange my phone for the original Motorola Cliq or the Blackberry 9700. When I was with AT&T they gave us the option to select another phone within the same price bracket of what our phones were worth. I paid full price for both vibrants. Do I have any options or should I work through the BBB to solve this?

Tell t-mobile that you are ready to file with the BBB, see what they do, if it comes to the worst, actually file a claim or complaint and hope for the best. Good luck mate !

you need to get out of 1st line support. You can easily get the email address to the executives of Tmobile easily. And write them a professional email stating your case and you will be taken care of.
My brother did this a few times to get out of contracts, to get a free phone and to get out of a ETF. It is effective.

So you're saying that all SIX of the Vibrants you've owned have had the same issues? Either you are the unluckiest people to walk the Earth, or your expectations are beyond reason.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

I mean, LITERALLY burnt her hand? That's lawsuit worthy if you have hospital bills bud. I think you're overreacting, get a battery app and see how hot its getting. It should only get abnormally hot under heavy use while charging, like tethering or something. I mean, 6 vibrants? You expect them to keep sending them to you on demand? Obviously they're trying to stop you having to exchange your phone so often, not screw you over. But yes, use one of the above methods.

Crazy thought, but maybe it is the batteries and not the phones?? How about Tmobile replaces both batteries?

kponti said:
Crazy thought, but maybe it is the batteries and not the phones?? How about Tmobile replaces both batteries?
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My thoughts exactly, especially since this is not a known problem with the phones. In fact this is the first time I think I've ever heard of it happening with the galaxy S line in general.

Actually it takes a fair amount of heat to damage tissue. I expect that plastic would be melting around that point.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Have you talked to tech support or just customer service?

the only time ive heard of anything like this is with cheap chinese knock off batteries. did you buy a pair of high cap batteries and a charging station on ebay or something? If so consider putting stock batteries back in cause every replacement you get is a manufacturer refurb meaning they have been fixed and tesed to be running. I have 4 Vibrants on my T-Mo plan and none have had any issues, minus the first set being hardware locked but that was a long time ago.

Lol six phones.... only in America

Now this is interesting. I actually had this happen Saturday, my story is that the wife was doing the updates and things, it froze as usual so instead of messing with it then, I told her to put it on charge and let it go (We didnt have time to screw with it then). Later on, she took it off charge, it burned her hand and she dropped the phone (Not really burned, but more of a shock it was so hot). The screen cracked, I called tmo and was told in a rude way that it was samsung's problem, not theirs and that they didn't care. I had to do a warranty exchange on it due to it being damaged at that point.. I told them it wouldn't have been damaged had it not been so hot.. blah blah, again, it was like talking to the wall.

I like to trust people on here, but when i hear SIX phones have the same problem.... I know it is NOT the phone.
same battery in each phone?
what apps are running?

A friend of mine experienced this but it was not due to the phone but the fact he was using some non-OEM extended batteries that were overheating instead. Once he went back to using OEM battery, it's been fine ever since.
The only reason he went with the extended battery is because of the unsatisfactory battery life. After getting him setup on Bionix and reconditioning his battery, he's no longer complaining about battery life.
If this is case with the OP, I actually feel sorry for TMO / Samsung. So much waste in hardware, time, etc.

Are you using a crappy ebay charger?

mrsbelpit said:
Are you using a crappy ebay charger?
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That's reminds me...
I've seen "crappy" chargers that don't seem to stop charging after the phone is at 100%. So, it just keeps charging until unplugged. That can't be good...
I've also seen so-called generic micro-usb "quick chargers" that claim to charge the battery up to 50% faster. Even if it's not a "crappy" charger I imagine doing so might make the battery unnecessarily hot as result of the increased speed of the charge.

rpope904 said:
Now this is interesting. I actually had this happen Saturday, my story is that the wife was doing the updates and things, it froze as usual so instead of messing with it then, I told her to put it on charge and let it go (We didnt have time to screw with it then). Later on, she took it off charge, it burned her hand and she dropped the phone (Not really burned, but more of a shock it was so hot). The screen cracked, I called tmo and was told in a rude way that it was samsung's problem, not theirs and that they didn't care. I had to do a warranty exchange on it due to it being damaged at that point.. I told them it wouldn't have been damaged had it not been so hot.. blah blah, again, it was like talking to the wall.
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The fact is that it wasnt abnormally hot. it just surprised his wife. I've touched cold things and twitched because I thought they were hot.

Yes the battery/charger may be the problem
I have had this problem on my HD2 But..... it was a result of an aftermarket battery. The probability of 6 phones having the same internal problem....is like winning the lottery, so I'd be looking to the charger and battery as the issue.
FYI, for temperature reference hot water in commercial building is usually set @ 112-120 f unless it is a building for kids then set @ 108 max. At 120 to get a real 2nd degree burn you would need your hand in it for 15-30 sec. depending on the person.
Most plastics we use in building phones, electronics and consumer goods range resisting deformation until 150-180 degrees but with a protracted long heat source can become malleable 125degree depending on the plastic.
Anyway some trivia for reference. I'd would look to the battery

My first phone died due to overheating. But this was from using a car charger that was not meant for the exact phone model.
I picked up a $0.98 charger from amazon and no more overheating issues when charging in my car. When you charge with the wrong charger it will heat near 120 degrees.

[Q] Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant Dies.....Overheated...

I am new here but just wanted to know if anyone else has had issues with their Samsung Vibrant overheating???? I have had this phone for less than 2 months from my carrier and now it is dead and in for repair!! I went to go grab the phone and the screen did not come on; however, the buttons at the bottom were lit up so i tried the buttons on the side of the phone (on/off switch) still nothing. The top half of my phone (not where the battery is) got so hot that it burnt my hand. Then I noticed blue, red, green pixel stars on the screen (which by the way burnt the screen). I don't know if it is a faulty battery/charger? Or what. When I spoke to my carrier, they told me that this is the first they have heard about anything like my case. It has been in the shop for more than 1 month now and I am getting very annoyed..as they gave me a loaner Galaxy to use and I HATE IT!!! Anyone have any suggestions??? I did not game on this phone or anything...
Thanks so much,
Pam

Happened to an HTC Aria I had, and had to get a new replacement to AT&T. The digitizer went (burnt?) out, and since it's a touchscreen only phone it became unusable because I couldn't really do anything on it.
What kind of charger did you use? Especially car charger...

I have never had it on with a car charger. I have heard that one should put the phone on plane mode as the green charge battery light will not come on. From what I hear they are replacing the screen (which they have no choice as it is burnt) as well as the board. Why is it taking soooooooooooo long? I usually have it on WiFi all the time; however, this should not do anything. It makes me mad....I have waited for this phone to come out and when I got it, I thought there was no other...until this happened. I did notice it acting kinda slow and I realize some phones do get warm...but should NEVER get hot enough to burn one's hand!!!!

I'm guessing you didn't OC the phone or anything.
Yea, I keep mine on WiFi basically 80% of the time, but the phone (in stock form) turns that off when the phone sleeps. I have brightness set to auto.
I notice my phone gets very hot when I have it on a car charger, and I'm using a charger from T-Mobile. It doesn't happen when I have it charging from an outlet in the wall through a USB Extended cable.
That's the only time I notice my phone getting hot.
Also, using the phone on WiFi tends to keep the phone cooler than using it on a data connection - I've noticed that for a few phones I've owned.
The overheating issue was also a big problem with HTC HD2s (except those phones would just go into a reboot loop/lock up, instead of burning up ).

No I did not overcharge the phone; however, I do notice that the battery life is almost nil on this phone. Full charge does not last 2 long on the phone and I only use it basically to text my daughters...and a little texam holden lol. But I have noticed with this galaxy (the loaner phone) the battery stays good for 2 - 3 days! Although I really hate this phone so I do not use that much! How would they be able to tell if it is the battery?? From what they have told me, they are only replacing the screen and the board....Well something made it go hot!! Battery or charger...When I took the phone back to Aliant I was going to give them everything including the charger, but they just sent it away with the battery. How do they know it was not the charger?? Getting very frustrated....I have always owned a Samsung phone and have never had any issues until this phone....makes me want to go back....but I do like the Vibrant when it was working....esp the screen.....

Only things I've ever come across that have made a Vibrant overheat is using cheap non-oem extended batteries, overclocking the CPU / GPU or leaving it a car in a 120+ climate then expecting to make heavy of use it without allowing it to cool down first.

I have never replaced the battery...it is brand new (less than 2 months old)....Thank god I had insurance on it... One would think that it would not take this long to come back from being fixed!!! Have never left in car....don't have to worry about the 120 degrees we are INTO snow now!! LOL... I am disappointed with Samsung. How can they tell what made it go that way?? Battery? Home Charger? They should replace the battery in my opinion as well!!

How often does the Vibrant overheat? Is this a common issue?

not sure.....it only took one time for me that fried the phone...Now they are supposedly replacing the screenh (they have to it burnt an image on it) as well as the board.

I have never heard of this happening with the vibrant. They claim they have not heard of this issue??!! I cannot believe this. I would like to know what caused this. I thought perhaps it was the WiFi being on all the time, but I do not think this is why. I do not game on it....I do not overcharge it (only charge it via home charger when it shows battery getting low - which might i add says it is almost drained at mid day??!)

Seriously, I have never heard of a phone overheating. I mean, sure they get hot when talking on it, but never overheat.

my phone has gotten really hot gaming on it while charging (stock charger and moto cliq charger), but it's never died or even decreased performance from it. even when oc'd.

Mine has gotten warm twice: once, I left Google Maps w/ GPS open when I put the phone in my pocket, and didn't realize it until I felt the heat in my pocket; the other time, I left ScummVM running (which apparently doesn't suspend properly), draining my battery over about two hours, again in my pocket.
Both times the phone was only warm to the touch. Nothing like you've described.

So do you have T-Mobile or Bell? If you have Bell (sounds like you do, I'm 99% positive) this is limited to the Bell i9000m Vibrant and not the T-Mobile T959 Vibrant.

heygrl said:
So do you have T-Mobile or Bell? If you have Bell (sounds like you do, I'm 99% positive) this is limited to the Bell i9000m Vibrant and not the T-Mobile T959 Vibrant.
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There are threas on T-Mobile's official Vibrant forum about this issue.

My vibrant gets very very hot from time to time. I keep it on a usb hooked up to my computer at work with wifi on all day. Sometimes it will get super hot and not want to charge. I restart the phone and it usually fixes the problem. But its not the battery that gets hot, its for sure the yup part of the phone.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Sounds to me like you had a bad battery...this can cause the battery to overheat while charging. I work in construction and when the batteries on my power tools fail you can cook an egg on them when they are charging.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

my phone goes to 120plus with me playing while charging. Why don't they just replace thw phone?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

stoanhart said:
Mine has gotten warm twice: once, I left Google Maps w/ GPS open when I put the phone in my pocket, and didn't realize it until I felt the heat in my pocket; the other time, I left ScummVM running (which apparently doesn't suspend properly), draining my battery over about two hours, again in my pocket.
Both times the phone was only warm to the touch. Nothing like you've described.
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OMG there is a ScummVM emu!!!! BRBBRBRBRBRBRBRB.....

Did u happen to have anytype of case on your vibrant. I notuced when I charge my phone with the case on it got prety hot. Not to where it would burn my hand, but hotter than I really thought my phone should be while charging. So I take the case off when I put it on the charger.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App