I’ve got a Framework 13 7040 purchased on 4/14/2024 running Windows 11. Bios 3.16
My keyboard has been progressively getting harder and harder to click and finally took it apart to see if there was something physical going on. What I found seems like a swollen battery. In googling, I discovered that Framework extended the warranty of this battery to two years for this very issue. But since I didn’t receive any notification email of the known problem and extended warranty, I didn’t replace it before two years was up. I just submitted a request to Framework asking if they’d honor the warranty. Who knows… Has anyone have support replace a battery after 2 years?
I’ve played around with the Bios settings for Charge Limit, Extender, Trigger and Reset. I knew that I might reduce the life of the battery by leaving Charge Limit at 100%, but getting a swollen battery (and fire hazard) was never in the picture for me. I currently have Limit = 100, Extender enabled, Trigger = 1 and Extender Reset = 30.
With the 13 Pro upgrade path, I was considering an upgrade to the Framework Laptop 13 Pro Bottom Cover Upgrade Kit. But it’s not available and I don’t see any timeline on it being available. So just to get back up and running, I’d have to buy a 61Wh battery and then upgrade to the 13 Pro chassis and 74Wh battery when they are available.
How dangerous to continue to use this laptop? I’m in Hawaii and shipping here can be slow.
I don’t know the exact risk. I have been trained in safety related systems. The main hazard for a battery is it flaming/burning. There are then mitigations one has, to try to reduce the likelihood of the hazzard turning into a consequence.
The swelling is one of those mitigations having already been applied. I don’t think there are any other mitigations before the flaming. So, i would stop using the battery at this point because the highly likely next step is flaming.
You can set the charging limit to 40% in the BIOS, this will minimize the further stress to the battery chemistry. However, it’s better to remove the battery and use an RTC cell (otherwise each booting will take more than a minute)
Depend on your usage pattern. If you mainly use it plugged in like a desktop, just use without a battery before the 74Wh arrives. However if you mainly use it on battery, getting another 61Wh (or 55Wh if available since it’s cheaper) is more convenient. There’s no long time review of the 13 Pro right now so it’s unsure whether or not the 74Wh is more durable than the 61Wh battery
Do not continue to use this battery, it’ll slowly damage your input cover and can be a serious hazard. Remove it and safely recycle it. Contact support for a replacement.
I didn’t make the request until 2 years + 4 months. I was too busy to put 2 + 2 together with my keyboard and the battery. Once it dawned on me what had been going on (battery causing the keyboard issues), the two year mark had passed.
Yes, the original warranty 1 year. They extended it to two - i believe in October, 2024 - when they realized they had a design flaw and asked everyone to update the bios - telling us this would resolve this, which it didn’t.
Hey! I believe we have already talked on Reddit, is that correct? If not, please send me a DM with your case number, order number, or email you used to contact support. Happy to look into it for you.
Yes, we have, thank you. I replied to support with my shipping address, but haven’t gotten a reply. Will someone be reaching out to me for shipping info?
Yeah. They should be. As we talked earlier today, I gave an approval and changed the queue… if you dont get a reply tomorrow, let me know. Unfortunately, we are having an influx of tickets right now with the delay on touchpads for our new 13 Pro and 16, so please be patient. Ive already approved your replacement. We’ve got you!
Sadly it is like most electronics these days that have a battery and they are only warrantied for 1 year. Fortunately the battery is not terribly expensive and easy to replace.
If it truly lives the majority of its life plugged in. Setting it at 80% and just leaving it there will protect and prolong it’s life.
This video on the Adam Savage channel opened my eyes to the variability of quality in batteries.
If it truly lives the majority of its life plugged in. Setting it at 80% and just leaving it there will protect and prolong it’s life.
The problem for me is that I’d alternate long periods of plugged in then regular use. I found it a major hassle to only have 80% battery on a work day because I didn’t plan on changing the bios setting. Getting into bios is hit or miss for me, sometimes taking 2 or 4 reboots. Not sure what the issue is. I bought a 61Mh battery so I could have a full work day - in the end I had to (chose to) leave it at 100%.
The default setting will only reduce battery charge when it has been plugged in for more than 3 days so if you move your laptop from your home to the office, it’ll never reach said 3 days so the default 100% will always be charged.
Then this is what the feature they introduced with the BIOS is for. The scenario described is definitely using it more as a laptop than a desktop machine. So leaving the default battery saver setting in the BIOS will help.
For the cases where the device is truly a desktop princess, leaving it at 70-80% all the time will help prevent abnormal swelling. This is just a suggestion to help mitigate long term swelling of the cells. Every user is going to make the choice for themselves what is best suited for them.
Many users were leaving it at 100% “just in case” which turned from days to weeks to months of not actually being used as a portable computer. This chemistry of batteries does not tolerate high states of charge all the time. It does in the case of being fully charged and then discharged throughout the day like a normal laptop would be used.
