S7 Active Battery fail

[FLTimmyB]

Just got this in my inbox today, thought I would pass it along. It doesn't say if he was using fast charge or not but lets all be careful out there

Note 7 Recall: Battery Problem Also Appears With Galaxy S7 Active | BGR

 

[bryanmsi]

I saw that too, and my first thought was not a happy one. It doesn't appear to be the same scenario as the Note 7. The Active was fast wireless charging which does result in a very warm/hot phone, and the battery swelled but didn't burst into flame.

Still, Samsung has already acknowledged a manufacturing flaw with the Active (supposedly corrected) so who knows? The Active has not sold in the same quantities as the Note 7 so a flaw impacting a small percentage of units wouldn't be as obvious in the Active.

 

[sdardoin]

I traded my N7 for a S7A.... saw this yesterday... not overly worried. To me, the N7 issue is likely less of a battery issue and more of a design issue.

 

[br0adband]

As an S7 Active owner myself now I'm worried because it's just a bit too coincidental. Has anyone else ever heard of any Active (S4, S5, S6, now the S7) having such problems? I know in this case it could be related to wireless charging as stated but even so, I guess we may never know for sure.

Having said that, even in spite of the issue potentially being related to the wireless charging this would still indicate some kind of potential defect related to the thermal controls in the charging circuit so, we could potentially be looking at yet another recall. This sort of thing is not supposed to happen at all so when it does happen that's a problem and it needs to be addressed.

Hopefully we'll find out more info soon if the writer gets some info from Samsung.

 

[flyingkytez]

I've owned the S6 Active and never had an issue with wireless charging and fast charging. Same with my S7 Active (so far).

 

[T48]

I'm not buying their story. They bash every thing that is not Apple. Cannot imagine a staffer over there would lower themselves to using something gasp non Apple.

 

[lafountain]

This is the part of the article that some seem to be skipping over.

This kind of failure of a lithium-ion battery is common, and it doesn’t mean the S7 Active has the same battery problem as the Note 7 — or that it has any serious battery problem at all. We hear reports all the time of smartphones catching fire, or the batteries bursting. Lithium-ion batteries are inherently unstable, and physical damage or heat can cause the exact problem I had with this phone.

Yes this phone appears to have suffered from something similar to the Note, but so have many other phones. While there are definitely less S7 Actives out there than there are Notes, the S7 Active has been out since June 10. I imagine in the 4 months that it has been out that if this were an issue there would be more reports out there, especially after the Note fiasco where anything with the name Samsung on it that has an issue has been covered.

 

[FLTimmyB]

Totally Agree lafountain, just passing it along, I think using common sense on this goes a long way, me personally I turn off fast charge, never really have a need for it, and why get things warmer than they need. NBC had a good bit on last night from UL, they said follow the directions and you should be fine. I just felt it was worth sharing.

 

[bkrell]

I'm on my third S7 Active and they all get really HOT. I've never had an iPhone or previous Galaxy heat up like these do. Occasionally I've used 360 Security and its cool down feature to do just that. But it seems hit or miss. The most recent episode I had of high heat occurred while the Activity Zone was having some sort of glitch. When I finally got a notice that it had stopped, the randomly blinking Location icon stopped appearing and everything cooled off almost immediately. It wasn't having an effect on battery life at the time, though.

 

[br0adband]

The issue faced by that article writer and GS7A owner is not the same as what's happening with the Note 7 devices - there's a big big difference between the battery cell expanding because of the electrolyte converting to gas and not being able to escape the containment (hence "bloating" and swelling up like a balloon more or less) in this example and what's happening with the Note 7 which is a thermal runaway cascade failure of the battery cell itself aka it burns up and potentially explodes entirely.

Those two conditions are not even remotely the same from a purely technical standpoint.

The only heat buildup that I've noticed on my GS7A is by the power button on the right side when I use the Camera for extended periods of time. As long as the Camera app is open, even if it's in the background, that area on my GS7A stays a bit warm. Once I fully close the Camera app it cools off. Charging the device from ~5% does make it warm up a bit till about the 40-45% point then it cools down because the charge current goes down past that point as well.

I'm still very happy with this device so far, 2.5-3 days between charges, 7-10 hours of SOT almost daily without issues, it's rock solid and I don't have anything to complain about.

 

[bkrell]

You're fortunate with your battery life and lack of heat. I'm lucky to get 14 hrs and mine can get scorching hot over the complete top of the back. Never noticed the screen heat warping and discoloration some have complained about, though.

 

[br0adband]

Can I ask why you're apparently using your 3rd Active? I don't know so I'm curious as to what caused or prompted you to - I'm assuming this here - return two of them and then give the Active a 3rd go?

 

[bkrell]

I received my first Active before the Consumer Reports story it about water issues. I called AT&T and asked for a new one. I received one with a later manufacture date and was happy. But that one started having an external speaker rattle after I got some oil or water (not sure which) on it. I mentioned this while discussing battery issues w/ AT&T tech support and they thought sending me a new one might take care of both. I bought the Active after incurring water damage on my iPhone 6 Plus. I wanted something a bit more rugged. Having had the S4 Active before my 6 Plus (I alternate back and forth), I knew it would be a better option for me. I hate tinkering with Android but still enjoy what it and this phone offers.

 

[br0adband]

Duh, I'm getting old, I forgot all about those issues with the original production models and some instances where the water-resistance was compromised. Now I have to wonder how mine might handle that if it ever gets dunked (not that it will anytime soon since I do live in a desert). I had the GS4 Active myself, then the GS5A, the GS6A, and now this one and I have no issues with it whatsoever. The battery life for me is crazy, much better than I expected even with the 4000 mAh cell in it.

Hopefully these devices don't have any defects that might crop up as time passes, whether it's with the battery or anything else.

 

[bkrell]

I think it's just my phone use. I use life360 to keep track of my kids, which sucks a decent amount of battery, and keep all the relevant google services on. Plus I use facebook a lot. I tried Swipe but it just wasn't the same. I loved my S4 Active but my wife had to buy a 6 Plus then hated it, so it became mine. Great phone and pretty worry free. But alas it couldn't handle all the water activities I engaged in on a 7 day Carribean cruise, lol. Still works after drying out and keeping it as a backup if I ever go back to Apple. But when it went down, I immediately said "Time for another Active!"

 

[sdardoin]

for what its worth... I keep an old iphone 3G in my truck and use it as an ipod. I pulled it out last night and found the battery had expanded and popped the screen out of the case, similar to the one that was reported in this story. It still works perfectly, but I decided it was time to retire it.