Bloated battery

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.

WD encourages users to update their Passport Wireless to the most recent firmware version 1.05.01. The firmware update improves battery charge profile.

In order to understand some changes we made in the led settings on the device, please review the following KBA articles.

http://support.wdc.com/KnowledgeBase/answer.aspx?ID=13833
http://support.wdc.com/KnowledgeBase/answer.aspx?ID=13162

So your confirming that users that update to the latest firmware will not suffer this bloated battery issue?

I don’t think anything is being “confirmed” by the moderator’s announcement, other than it states there are two new important KBA articles from WD regarding the MPW battery, and how to better take care of it. If you have a MPW you’d better read them. I presume if any user ends up with a bloated battery, WD will take care of them. So rest easy.

As mentioned in the KBA, there are a number of factors that can affect a battery’s performance. This includes operating your device within the recommended guidelines and conditions, and yes, customers have reported being able to take advantage of the new FW to enhance their battery life and profile. Please contact WD Customer Service if you have any further questions about your specific use case.

Anyone got a direct URL to the KBAs?

About 5 posts before yours.

Western Digital has released My Cloud Mobile App 4.4.3 for iOS and Android devices.

  • Mobile app version 4.4.3 introduces a new firmware update message for My Passport Wireless device users.
  • Select “Wi-FI” settings to connect your device to the internet and update the firmware.

Reference KBAs:

WD Customer Support and Services

I had the very same problem today. I was present when it happened. I thought my drive was about to get burst. It poped completely. Because I needed to protect my data from burst I disconnected it immediately . After removing the battery I plunged again… and my data was there :sweat:

…I think the battery is not designed to be competed all day as I have it.

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