United States

Does Battery for Toshiba Satellite M30 laptop Get Hot?

Recently there have been a spate of high profile stories in the media about laptop batteries catching fire. This wasn't caused by normal heating due to charging. The problem was in the manufacturing process of the individual cells, where apparently some contamination led to internal short circuits that could cause the battery to overheat even if it wasn't in use. Laptop batteries normally heat up a little on charging, and they heat up even more when discharging under heavy demand. Battery packs usually include a temperature cut-off circuit, that will halt battery charging or discharging if it really overheats. In some cases, the battery will not be usable afterwards because the cut-off acts like a circuit breaker that can't be easily reset.

It certainly doesn't do your laptop battery any good to get very hot, even if it's within the toleration of the protective circuitry, so if it's overheating on discharge, consider running on AC power instead. Just remember you have to shut down before removing the battery unless it's specified as being hot-swapable:-) You can also try decreasing the performance settings to lower the power drain. If the battery is overheating on charging, you can try charging when the laptop is turned off since the laptop is generating heat as well. Also, pay attention to the ambient air temperature. All notebook computers depend on the ambient air for cooling, so unless you are running the computer on a special cooling pad, think twice about using it on those 110 degree days!