Bloated battery

This was the one thing I worried about with this drive. Its like the iPhone,  a sealed unit. 

What happens when the battery fails.

I hope the important people at WD are reading this. I would be seriously hissitant to buy an portable wireless drive where the baattery was sealed in.  A previous Nokia phone I had had it’s battery changed 5 times before the phone fullly died.

Here the bettary dictates the life of the unit. :frowning:

In the latest firmware, out recently, WD changed the battery charging profile. Perhaps to address this issue.

The MPW is quite serviceable if you have the skills. It can be opened, and if you can find a suitable replacement, the battery can be changed,

Well, the MPW that was photographed with it’s top popped off by the bloated battery is of good use. We all know where the clips are holding the top of the case down and what sort of clips they are. It looks like taking the top off is going to break some of those clips so once opened there may be a requirement to use cellotape to keep the lid down.

It looks like it’s been manufactured so it would need a new cover if opened.

I will continue to state that it’s a bad design with the battery in the case and would this have ben a battery speficically manufactured for this purpose or maybe it is something that can be purchased.  I but not one-off purchases.

What I want to know is which intellectual ■■■■■ made the decision to design the MPW so the battery is not a user replacable part.

Well I did say “if you have the skills” it was quite serviceable.

If you don’t have the skills, which is apparently the case given your posts, and you are concerned about the battery being internal, don’t buy one of these drives.

Personally I think it is a brilliant design, even if not quite perfectly executed. So I think you will be hard pressed to find an "intellectual ■■■■■’ involved in the design. It really doesn’t help to start insulting people either. Particularly people who don’t read these posts, and when you don’t know the design brief for the MPW.

FYI, the tabs are broken in the picture because the top was forced open. With the correct tools designed for opening such devices the tabs would not be broken. Such tools are found in many kits available to end users, such as this one: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Opening-Repair-Tool-Kit-Pentalobe-Torx-Phillips-Screwdriver-for-iPhone-4-4s-5-5s-/171458757667?_trksid=p2141725.m3641.l6368

A case could have been designed to use a fully enclosed battery, which would have been custom made to requirements, like the original small Nokia batteries. WD could even have designed it to accept spare batteries to swap over, extending the useable life of the unit in the field. But that can be done now using an external battery and the USB port. So yes, a user replaceable battery design could have been done, but it would be more complex, and make the MPW more costly.

There is a huge range of batteries available out of China these days. I would be surprised if a replacement third party battery could not be found for it. Or WD may make them available at some stage.

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Firstly, apologies for the “educated ■■■■■” comment. That’s out of my own frustration. The idea and design of the MyPassport Wireless is awesome. It’s the design of the case and the inability for ther average user to be able to order a replacement battery from Western Digital when the one that’s in there finally gives up the ghost.

As to the pictures presenter by the person with the problem, it’s actually the battery that’s forced the case open as it started to become fat.

I’m quite competent at getting into these sort of cases and disconnecting and reconnnecting stuff. I’m just trying to walk in the shoes of people who don’t.

Interestingly, in the UK there is a consumer law where if the item purchases fails on a part that should last then the UK citizen has up to 6 years to get the problem solved.  The time limit is 5 years if in Scotland.

Thanks for that link. :wink:

its better only the batterey, im not make modification or anything with my passport but,… my passport blow up by self

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Sorry, Roderick, but you’re condescending and misinformed. The tabs were broken because they were forced, but not by the user. They were broken when the battery inflated. I know, because it happened to me, too.

I rest my case. The battery should be a user-replaceable part.

Whatever.

Short answer: the battery is broken, the case is broken, and it’s going to WD for repair. There is obviously a quality control or design problem with the battery they’re using in this product and should not be trusted if left unattended when connected to USB/AC power.

How long was the drive connected to external power after it completed charging?

Hello all.
I had the same issue after 6 month of usage. Do anybody know the range of serial numbers of devices with bad battery?

I’m curious. How many times has your MPW been stored with a discharged battery and if so, how long stored with it’s battery discharged?

Drive was connected to power supply almost all time and I connect to them thru wi-fi. Some times I was disconnect it from power supply and connect to laptop thru USB. Issue happened after 6 month of usage.

I have some battery devices that are plugged in 24/7; i.e. a few different laptops during the past 15 years I have had with no problems.

But, in the case of my MPW and a another brand of wireless drive I have, keeping them plugged in always eventually caused problems. In the case of the MPW, the charge on battery drops over 5% day if not plugged in anymore, and in the case of the other drive, it would only keep a charge on it for a half hour for portable use (if not kept plugged in).

So, on my replacements of these drives I do NOT keep them plugged in 24/7 anymore, and I check the charge every 2-3 weeks to see they are keeping their charge when not used, and they do.

I use drive to store photos from iPhone and want drive to be online all over time. It is not really comfortable to plug/unplug drive to power supply and check battery status. It can be more useful if iPhone app can push notification when battery charge less 10% for example.
Sometimes I use drive as portable storage in the trip to drop photos from camera thats why I choose them instead of table format like My Book.

I have the similar problem with my WD wireless passport 2TB. The battery bloated and force the cover open. Damage the lock tap.

I m so worried it will catch fire or explode and damage the HDD inside which contain important data.

Immediately ply open the cover and disconnect the battery out. The battery feel a bit warm.

I plug the drive into the PC and it running normal without the battery. Brought it 7 month ago.

Question: I already take out the battery. Can I still able to claim the warranty?

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It’s looking like there needs to be a better revision of the MyPassport Wireless WITH A USER REPLACEABLE BATTERY.

I cannot believe that no one from Western Digital has responded to these post and a recall of the product has not happened. These batteries could potentially be a fire hazard.

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Actually, we did respond to the above user, and we’re currently going to follow up on this now. I’ll get back to you as soon as I have something more to share.