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The Million Dollar Battery Problem
In today’s surging mobile phone market, many
batteries are returned to mobile phone carriers before the
ink on the invoice has dried. The most common consumer complaint
is ‘less than expected’ runtime.
The reasons for this failure are multi-fold.
The battery may not have been properly formatted at the factory.
Perhaps the packs remained on the shelf too long or have been
discharged too low. Incorrect customer preparation is also
to blame. The true reason for such failure may never be known.
 Dealers
are not equipped to handle the influx of returned batteries.
To fulfill the warranty obligations and satisfy the customer,
the dealer hands out a new battery and sends the faulty pack
to the manufacturer. Truckloads of ‘worthless’ batteries are
transported, only to be stockpiled in warehouses for eventual
testing or recycling at the manufacturer’s expense. The cost
of exchange, time lost by retail staff, shipping, warehousing
and eventual disposal amounts to a million dollar problem.
On a recent visit to Europe, a Cadex staff member
learned that a large phone manufacturer had received 17 tons
of failed handset batteries in one year alone. The batteries
were stockpiled in large barrels for recycling. He also discovered
that 15,000 NiMH batteries were returned to the manufacturer
within weeks after the release of a new phone. When spot-checking
the failed batteries with a Cadex 7000 Series battery
analyzer, most packs appeared to be operational.
On another occasion, a total of 14,000 Li-ion
batteries were returned to a North American mobile phone provider.
Of these, only 700 (or 5 percent), were faulty. Of these,
ten random batteries were sent to Cadex for further testing.
The Cadex lab reported that each of these failed packs indeed
had genuine faults.
A European service center sent 40 Li-ion
polymer batteries to Cadex for evaluation. These packs had
failed in the field and were returned to the service center
by customers. When servicing the batteries on a Cadex 7000
Series battery analyzer, 37 units were found to be
fully functional with capacities of above 80 percent
and impedances below 180mW.
Phone manufacturers report that 80 to 90 percent
of returned batteries have no faults or can easily be repaired
with battery analyzing equipment. The remaining 10 to
20 percent, which do not easily recover with basic service,
can often be restored with extended programs. Only a small percentage
of batteries returned under warranty exhibit non-correctable
faults.
Not all batteries and portable equipment under
warranty fail due to manufacturer’s defects. A service manager
for a major mobile phone manufacturer hinted that submersion
into a cup of coffee or soft drink is a sizable contributor
to equipment and battery failures. Apparently, the acids in
the beverages manage to corrode the electrical conductors.
Submersion into coffee occurs when the user mistakes the coffee
cup for the phone cradle.
In an effort to salvage returned batteries, a
leading mobile phone manufacturer segregates battery packs
according to purchase date. Packs returned within the thirty-day
warranty period are marked as type B. The batteries are then
sent to a regional service center where they are serviced
with battery analyzers. If the batteries are clean, (have
no coffee residue) and regain a capacity of 80 percent
or higher, the packs are relabeled and sold as a B class product.
Over 90 percent of their returned batteries have been
reclaimed with this program.
On the strength of this success, some battery-refurbishing
houses have extended the service to include batteries of up
to one year old. The service center experiences a 40 to
70 percent restoration yield in repairing these older
batteries. The battery-refurbishing centers are said to make
a profit. Equally important, such programs reduce the environmental
impact of battery disposal.
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