STU9000
Level 1 (5 points)

Q: What should I do with an expanded battery?

Just noticed my old MacBook's battery has/had expanded... probaby some time ago without me realising. I just discovered it doesn't work anymore, and so I had a look and it's just been sitting there, waiting to burn my house down next time I pop out to Sainsbury's...

 

So I've taken it out.

 

What should I do with it. Should I put it somewhere, wrap it up in case it leaks? Could it still explode even though it's not connected?

 

How do I dispose of this, can I take it to a Store and hand it in?

 

I'm not looking for a replacement. My old Mac is on it's last legs, I have it wired up to an ext monitor now and just use it for iTunes. $1,250 I could have better spent on a more reliable laptop with better performance.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Mar 9, 2016 4:03 PM

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STU9000

Q: What should I do with an expanded battery?

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  • by seventy one,

    seventy one seventy one Mar 9, 2016 4:15 PM in response to STU9000
    Level 6 (15,175 points)
    Peripherals
    Mar 9, 2016 4:15 PM in response to STU9000

    Good question.

     

    In the UK every council has a disposal area for batteries of every kind.   You were right to remove it and right to check out what to do.   Phone your local council.    No-one could fairly anticipate if it will explode or not but you should get rid of it as soon as you can.

     

    I notice your old mac runs 10.5.8 Leopard so it must be 6 to 8 years old..   Provided the battery didnt break open it is just possible it will still work with a new battery.   I don't think it fair to blame the machine because you admit to virtually abandoning it which may well have contributed to your battery problem. 

  • by STU9000,

    STU9000 STU9000 Mar 9, 2016 4:26 PM in response to seventy one
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mar 9, 2016 4:26 PM in response to seventy one

    Sorry, but I had nothing but problems with it since the word go. Noisy fan has always been noisy, and hours, days, week, months and years spent trying to get to the bottom of it achieved nothing. When I took to the genius bar in Glasgow to have the ODD replaced, and the screen which had turned dark at the bottom the staff were extremely rude and unhelpful and returned a machine to me that wasn't repaired and had some cosmetic damage left on it due to the repair. In hindsight I should have written to the company and complained about all this, and they'd probably have sent me a new one which may have worked a lot better than this one, which I beleive was faulty at manufacture.

     

    So Apple have lost my custom. I will never buy a Mac ever again.

     

    I don't know what you mean by abandoning my machine, I have used it constantly since I got it but for the past few years I have used a Sony Vaio for everything else other than listening to my iTunes library, such as watching a film. It's nice to be able to watch a film on a computer without the inevitable noise of a fan blowing almost as loud as a hairdyer, constantly in the background. It was doing from the day I bought it and so I went out and bought a stand for it so it could cool down, thinking that was the problem. Thing should have been returned as soon as I bought it, not least because one of the keys on it intermittently doesn't register either. Oh and the ODD noise when inserting and ejecting disks, what's that all about, sounds like R2-D2 running out of power.

     

    Anyway....

     

    I'm not sure disposing it is the best option since it could leak, and maybe explode? I don't know.

  • by STU9000,

    STU9000 STU9000 Mar 9, 2016 4:34 PM in response to STU9000
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mar 9, 2016 4:34 PM in response to STU9000

    I mean. I'm sure leaving the battery in, and plugged in for a long time has probably contributed to the battery expanding like this, so I'm not blaming anyone but myself for that.

  • by seventy one,

    seventy one seventy one Mar 9, 2016 4:38 PM in response to STU9000
    Level 6 (15,175 points)
    Peripherals
    Mar 9, 2016 4:38 PM in response to STU9000

    Well, I formed the impression by the words 'some time ago' and as you now explain, it was in error.   Naturally we here can't get involved with the unfortunate experience you have had as we are users, like yourself, and try to help entirely voluntarily.

     

    My advice about talking to your local council is sound.   Councils know how to handle these things and I don't think your battery is likely to blow up in any serious way.   I use the Kent Council facilities exactly for the same purposes.

  • by STU9000,

    STU9000 STU9000 Mar 9, 2016 4:55 PM in response to seventy one
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mar 9, 2016 4:55 PM in response to seventy one

    They have a pretty good recycling service in Edinburgh these days, you can put out your old batteries for collection every two weeks, just not sure if I should dispose of this particular battery in this way seeing as it might be a potential risk. I suppose I can just ask the bin men, or leave it out with a note and they can decide what to do. I'll call the council tomorrow ahout it and ask them.