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New battery hot as a firecracker!

Test pilot

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I got two new batteries from B&h today text message service was fast a day and a half from New York to Florida not bad. One problem I open the box to one of them and that battery was as hard as a Freaking firecracker freaking firecracker. !! I Contacted them by phone right away. They turned me on the DJI as it was a DJI battery. I contacted DJI by phone they told me to let the battery cool off and send it to them in a couple of days with the label they would provide me and they would send me a Replacement battery. No problem everything went well everyone was cooperative I got my product replaced or soon to be replaced I guess I can’t be any happier. Replacement battery. No problem everything went well everyone was cooperative I got my product replaced or soon to be replaced I guess I can’t be any happier. **** happens...Just thought I’d let y’all know.

Test pilot,,, over and out!
 
I got two new batteries from B&h today text message service was fast a day and a half from New York to Florida not bad. One problem I open the box to one of them and that battery was as hard as a Freaking firecracker freaking firecracker. !! I Contacted them by phone right away. They turned me on the DJI as it was a DJI battery. I contacted DJI by phone they told me to let the battery cool off and send it to them in a couple of days with the label they would provide me and they would send me a Replacement battery. No problem everything went well everyone was cooperative I got my product replaced or soon to be replaced I guess I can’t be any happier. Replacement battery. No problem everything went well everyone was cooperative I got my product replaced or soon to be replaced I guess I can’t be any happier. S**t happens...Just thought I’d let y’all know.

Test pilot,,, over and out!

Let's see now ; super hot battery straight out of package, could catch fire and/or explode. DJI says send it to them.
Yep, that sounds safe enough. :)

Would the sender be liable for damages or injuries if the battery (hazardous item) caused a semi on an interstate to burn up? Or worse, an aircraft?
 
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I got two new batteries from B&h today text message service was fast a day and a half from New York to Florida not bad. One problem I open the box to one of them and that battery was as hard as a Freaking firecracker freaking firecracker. !! I Contacted them by phone right away. They turned me on the DJI as it was a DJI battery. I contacted DJI by phone they told me to let the battery cool off and send it to them in a couple of days with the label they would provide me and they would send me a Replacement battery. No problem everything went well everyone was cooperative I got my product replaced or soon to be replaced I guess I can’t be any happier. Replacement battery. No problem everything went well everyone was cooperative I got my product replaced or soon to be replaced I guess I can’t be any happier. **** happens...Just thought I’d let y’all know.

Test pilot,,, over and out!

If you're going to keep it around to cool down, do NOT keep it in your house, garage or vehicle.
 
I haven’t sent the battery yet still not certain if I will. But I’m not gonna lose out on all that money for one freaking battery. I feel like if I did send it and it ended up in the air and something did happen I would be the one sitting in the hoosegow being a retired cop or not would not help me a bit I would still be a prisoner terrorist your name . So I’m not really sure what to do at this point if anybody has any ideas please feel free to let me know I’m fairly new at this.. also I’m sorry about that word slipping in there guys I thought I was doing it the right way. Won’t happen again.

Test pilot,,, over and out!
 
I haven’t sent the battery yet still not certain if I will. But I’m not gonna lose out on all that money for one freaking battery. I feel like if I did send it and it ended up in the air and something did happen I would be the one sitting in the hoosegow being a retired cop or not would not help me a bit I would still be a prisoner terrorist your name . So I’m not really sure what to do at this point if anybody has any ideas please feel free to let me know I’m fairly new at this..

See what DJI send. Along with the warning label they may send a sealable LiPo safe bag/box that's perfectly fine for transporting a potentially damaged battery in. Only one previous owner; Samsung. :) Any doubts, get in touch with DJI again and make it clear you're not comfortable with shipping it and see what they say.

In the meantime, as suggested by Ken K, keep it well away from anything flammable; ideally outside in a metal box or something that will keep it dry. If the worst happens, most YouTube vids of LiPo fires show them burning up fairly neatly with a lot of fumes but no explosion, so just let it burn itself out and keep well away from the smoke.
 
After reading your ideas for what to do with my hot as a firecracker battery. I think I’m gonna put it in an old ammo can outside do you think that’ll work or would that seal it off too much?
 
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It might have been in an auto discharge cycle but hotter than a firecracker? That's not right. I am really surprised that B&H did not honor the return since everything they sell was manufactured by someone else. I would think that if you bought a defective camera from them they would stand behind it. I would call them and ask to talk to a manager. They might offer something better than the canned response.

B&H has a 30 day return policy that does not exclude your batteries.
Returns | B&H Photo Video

EDIT: You might also mention that your case is being watched by this forum.
 
Bad lipo batteries are decharged and made safe by leaving them in a bucket of salt water for at least 24 hours. That’s what I would do then it will be safe to transport.
 
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Thank you for that Mossiback, The more I think about it it seems as though be and age should be responsible for the replacement battery. The guy I talk to on the phone said he would not personally send it back through the mail because he wouldn’t want to be responsible for. Anybody got any fluid with BNH ??? I realize it’s not a lot of money to me it is though. All help is much appreciated.
 
Bad lipo batteries are decharged and made safe by leaving them in a bucket of salt water for at least 24 hours. That’s what I would do then it will be safe to transport.
I would think that if you did that DJI would note the salt water intrusion and not honor any warranty.
 
My untrained question is are you willing to be responsible for sending that battery back? I don’t know just a question.
 
Is it still hot? Can you not fly but let your drone just run it until it is discharged?
 
Not sure we'd let put it anywhere NEAR our Drone! Just sayin'~

Rgds, NAVMAV

I meant if it cooled off and was acting normally. The excess heat can be from an internal short or if the auto discharge circuit is faulty, so yeah, Id isolate It if it still is hot. How hot was it? Too hot to hold, smelling of smoke, or just warm? They do warm up when stored full for awhile- auto discharge circuit does that normally.
 
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I would think that if you did that DJI would note the salt water intrusion and not honor any warranty.

Agreed. But this is something that could be suggested to DJI if their return packaging doesn't look sufficient and the OP is still uncomfortable with the idea of shipping. I'd definitely want that in an email/writing from DJI before doing it though, and frankly I'm surprised that they're asking it to be shipped at all unless they want to figure out what went wrong.
 
We still don't know what "hot as a firecracker" is, nor have we seen any pictures.

I'd still expect it was simply self-discharging and all was nornal. It will be 20°C or so above ambient if in an insulating package, but that's still perfectly fine.
 
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I could also imagine that the automatic discharge has generated this heat in the closed foam box. In any case, it can get very warm, and the local climate should also be taken into consideration.

If the battery can be turned ON and presents its status LEDs, then there will be no problem.

If it was actually a short circuit, then the battery case will now be visibly deformed or torn open. I would say, the battery can not be turned on then.

The capacity is limited, and the worst possible disaster must have already happened.

It can therefore be assumed that the battery is almost empty in the cooled state, and there is no further risk during transport.
 
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A couple of things. As far as the heat being auto discharge I have never known a battery to come out of the package with more than storage charge and I am talking about hundreds of batteries I have bought for rc planes and heli’s. So I doubt the battery was shipped with enough charge in it to cause it to go into auto discharge

As far as liability as an attorney I think you would be liable if you shipped such a battery even if DJI asked you to unless you discharged it nearly completely.

I do put old lipos in salt water to discharge them before disposal but I am guessing that in this case DJI would decline to replace the battery and point to the salt on the battery as evidence that it’s your fault not theirs. However you may want to contact DJI again and tell them of your concerns about shipping a defective battery and ask them what they want you to do and tell them one option is the saltwater discharge method.

As far as the idea of them sending you a lipo storage bag for shipping. First I would be amazed if they did that. And second I don’t trust those bags. If you watch some YouTube videos about lipo fires you will see that the larger mAh batteries (which would include DJI batteries) vent a tremendous amount of burning gas when they catch fire. No bag is going to contain that. I know a young guy who was charging a lipo in a bag in his bedroom unattended (not a good dea) and it caught fire and burned down the top floor of his family’s home.

Ditto for ammo boxes. I know they are popular for lipo transportation and storage but if a lipo catches fire (unlikely perhaps but not impossible) the burning gases will find a way to vent.

When I charge larger batteries I charge them outside or in my garage on concrete in a charging device I bought called a BatSafe which has baffles to vent the gases but will not let flames escape. They are about 50-60 bucks which is not cheap but still cheaper than a fire. They seem to be well engineered. But then a lot of this is somewhat off topic to the original post
 
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