Repair specialists iFixit have launched a brand new video of themselves stabbing and, in the end, nail gunning a collection of batteries within the identify of educating the world about battery security. The takeaway? Despite the excessive profile examples of battery explosions that sometimes crop up within the information, fashionable lithium ion batteries are typically very secure as long as you observe some finest practices.

Another takeaway? Shooting a large battery with a nail gun is cool as hell. 

The greatest piece of recommendation from tech author crew lead Arthur Shi and teardown tech Shahram Mokhtari is to all the time discharge a battery to below 25 p.c earlier than doing any teardowns or repairs. That’s as a result of though a swelling battery is the obvious signal that one thing is incorrect, it’s really the quantity of cost a battery holds that determines whether or not a brief circuit can create sufficient warmth to trigger “thermal runaway” (what you or I’d name a fireplace or explosion). 

To show this, Shi and Mokhtari stabbed a collection of batteries to see which of them would explode. An iPhone 12 Pro Max battery on low cost emitted just a little smoke and a few small sparks when stabbed with a steel screwdriver, however stab the identical mannequin when it’s absolutely charged and also you’re handled to a full-on explosion. “Remember, these were identical batteries,” Arthur Shi explains. “The only difference between them was the state of charge.” 

Other recommendation consists of utilizing a non-conductive plastic spudger reasonably than steel to additional cut back the danger of punctures and quick circuits when eradicating a battery. And the video additionally calls on producers on to cease gluing batteries into their gadgets to make disassembly and repairs safer within the first place. 

iFixit’s video comes just a little over a month after tech YouTuber Arun Maini (aka Mrwhosetheboss) drew consideration to the truth that a lot of Samsung telephones in his assortment had swelling batteries after having sat unused on his shelf for a lot of years. iFixit’s video doesn’t handle Maini’s report immediately, however its implication is that these batteries aren’t essentially harmful as long as you get rid of them accurately and positively don’t attempt to cost or use them.