Battery swells up when notebook is used mainly plugged in

[ogrfnkl]

I am on my second HP notebook now (15-ch012nr, and before, I had the 15-ap006ng), and both of them had developed exactly the same issue after just a few months of use: the battery swells up more and more, until it begins to deform the case.

I use the computer a lot --probably 10-12 hours a day on average--, and have it almost exclusively plugged in. On the other hand, I very rarely run anything that puts the notebook under any significant thermal stress -- at the most, an occasional short video conversion, but no gaming or anything like that. Mainly, I just browse the internet, watch some videos on YouTube and use a lot of productivity apps like Microsoft Office. The notebook normally feels cool to the touch, plus, I have a monitoring program (HWInfo), so I know that the temperatures are, in fact, okay, and there are no detectable thermal issues.

I've read that some laptops, if left plugged in while in use, can either overcharge the battery, or else, stress it by drawing current from it, instead of bypassing it and drawing directly from the charger. On the other hand, authoritative sources state explicitly that on "modern devices", Li-Ion and Li-Po batteries are perfectly happy when used plugged in, e.g. https://www.howtogeek.com/124715/should-i-leave-my-laptop-plugged-in-all-the-time/:

"There’s no way to 'overcharge' these batteries. When you get to 100% charge and leave your laptop plugged in, the charger will stop charging the battery. The laptop will just run directly off the power cable. After the battery discharges a bit, the charger will kick into gear again and top the battery off. There’s no risk of damaging the battery by charging it over its capacity."

In practice, I've only seen this problem happen on my two HP's. Before that, I had owned two Dells and NEVER had any such issues. So, then, what is causing the batteries to swell on these particular notebooks? Is this a known HP problem or have I just been mindbogglingly unlucky? 

[asmita6658]

Hi @ogrfnkl

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