Public Service Announcement - check your batteries!

I had been reading guidance from one of our RV technology contacts about potential concerns with swollen batteries in MiFi hotspots (https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/resources/preventing-mobile-hotspot-battery-swelling-when-using-a-cradle-booster/ - this information was originally only for members, but now is open up to public access). I had looked at our MiFi devices a couple of months ago, and didn't see any problems, but last week when I picked up our Verizon Jetpack, I saw that the back of it was distended off the back of the device. Uh oh!

You can see that the battery was swollen - at this point, I had taken the back off the device, and actually had taken the battery out so it wasn't providing power anymore.

Maybe you can also see here how distended it had gotten.

A new battery came yesterday (Saturday) to us at the campground, but I forgot to check and didn't pick it up from the office until this afternoon (Sunday). The new one is on the left and the old one on the right.

So, this is our public service announcement (PSA): check your MiFi devices (if you have one or more), particularly if you keep your MiFi device powered up all the time.

It could have been that we would have been offline due to the loss of the Verizon Jetpack for a few days.... but... we have backup plans! Since our entertainment/communication is almost all via the internet, we have 3 MiFi devices - as pictured here - one from TMobile, one from AT&T, and one from Verizon. We frequently find that one works better than another in different locations, though the Verizon one is probably the one that we use most frequently. And we can also tether our computers with our phones if needed.

If you read the article at the link I provided above, you'll see that being in places where the signal is marginal can contribute to the issue occurring with the battery, and we definitely have been in places with marginal signal. Keeping it plugged in all the time also can contribute, so we're thinking that we will periodically allow each of the MiFi devices to run off battery and run down before we recharge them. Right now, I've unplugged the TMobile device and plan to let it completely discharge... we'll see if I remember to keep on a schedule to do this!!!