shipping batteries?

[Ryan Kelly]

hey guys. me and my best friend got into vaping this past semester of college to quit analogs and now are in love with it as a hobby. I've been into mech mods and rebuilding for a while but my friend is just getting into it. he's ordering his first mech this weekend. i have a bunch of sony vtc5 batteries and i said i would send him one to save him money. how should i go about shipping the battery to be safe? should i discharge it? fully charge it? package it in anything specific? if it matters met friend lives about 3 hours away and we are both in maryland so it doesn't have a long journey to make and won't be changing climate.

 

[Nermal]

I only know the answer to one small part of you question. Do not fully discharge any type of lithium ion battery. It would probably never be usable again.

 

[danca90]

Put it in a battery box, or wrap it in electric tape to cover the contacts, and throw it in a bubble wraped envelope.

 

[jclifford]

the battery could be discharged to a "storage" level, about 3.7 volts. Personally, I do not think it really matters.

There are restrictions from USPS for shipping batteries by air. I do not believe there are restrictions for ground travel. Best to check with the post office.

I have ordered other batteries that had to be shipped via UPS ground. They were lithium polymers, which are substantially more dangerous than our lithium ions.

 

[edyle]

hey guys. me and my best friend got into vaping this past semester of college to quit analogs and now are in love with it as a hobby. I've been into mech mods and rebuilding for a while but my friend is just getting into it. he's ordering his first mech this weekend. i have a bunch of sony vtc5 batteries and i said i would send him one to save him money. how should i go about shipping the battery to be safe? should i discharge it? fully charge it? package it in anything specific? if it matters met friend lives about 3 hours away and we are both in maryland so it doesn't have a long journey to make and won't be changing climate.

Lithium batteries are rather unusual.

Been trying to figure it out myself, and so far it looks like in the manufacturing process, they come out charged by default;
Also seems they are pressureized inside - meaning if you open them up, I think you'll get a physical release of pressure.

So anyways, looks like you can't have them in a discharged or uncharged state for shipping, ship them, and let the receiving end charge them up. So transport of lithium batteries is a safety issue

 

[Steam Turbine]

Charge it fully... It's fine. (never discharge under 2.9ish volts) Get a battery case, they are cheap and your friend should have one... You should have one to actually so buy 2... never walk around with naked batteries in your pockets... Send them in an case in an envelope with bubble wrap and here you go.

 

[The Torch]

NEVER completely discharge a lithium battery or 2 things can happen: most likely, it will be dead and useless. In the second scenario, that's how it catches fire: if you're using an unprotected battery in a device that has no way to protect from overdischarge (or overcharge) or if you plain short it.

Most manufacturers ship batteries at about 3.8 volts charge.

Shipping by air is a headache ton of paper work, but I seriously doubt your need to ship this one by air.

You're shipping within the same state and you're shipping only one, so I don't see what the problem should be. Check the policies from the shipping company you pick (should be on their website) and wrap it accordingly. I bet anything ground won't mention a peep about lithium batteries and there is not much reason for them to do so in my opinion (unless we're talking about a certain quantity). We all use and transport those day-in day-out and how many of us have had an incident from transporting a battery that wasn't in direct contact with metal or another battery? I bet 0.0%... I get equipment with battery packs of 18650's every week and no one ever had to fill any paper work for that. The only headache my shipper has AFAIK is when it is for an international destination.