New battery hot as a firecracker!

[vanderzyde0]

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

I think the point of the bags and ammo cans is to contain the heat and flames not the gases.

Also you are required in the USA to tell the shipper that you are shipping LiPo batteries and they will not ship it via air.

Think about the thousands of LiPos right now that are in transit. When I worked at Amazon there was a whole class dedicated to LiPo safety since we shipped thousands of them per day.

 

[Jackcutrone]

I think the point of the bags and ammo cans is to contain the heat and flames not the gases.

Also you are required in the USA to tell the shipper that you are shipping LiPo batteries and they will not ship it via air.

Think about the thousands of LiPos right now that are in transit. When I worked at Amazon there was a whole class dedicated to LiPo safety since we shipped thousands of them per day.

Those bags are sealed with Velcro but the seal does not prevent the escape of burning gases at the corners. Ask the young man who burned his house down.

I actually have not seen any batteries that shorted out in an ammo can so I am just inferring here but I believe the volume of hot burning gases is going to cause the can to expand and eventually blow the seal and am relatively sure burning gas will escape n

 

[Bobby Brown]

I bought a LiPo heat bag for my race Drone batteries that can get very hot. Sort of a burn bag.

 

[mnis]

These lipo bags are certainly not the best way to prevent a fire. There are also very big differences in the product quality of these bags. And the Lipo bags must of course be closed properly.

But against the enormous smoke development, almost nothing can be done while a battery decomposes out of control. So even if no fire breaks out, the smoke could cause great damage.

It would be better to store and charge Lipos in a sturdy, outwardly ventilated metal box. For example, the box could be in a garage, and harmful exhaust air should be able to be channeled directly outside. Burning lipos can not be combated with conventional extinguishing agents, because oxygen is produced during combustion. But at least to protect the environment, glass granules or fine sand is suitable as a fire retardant. For example, thin plastic bags filled with sand can be placed around a battery. If there is a lot of heat, the bags will release the sand, which will then surround the battery.

On YouTube, there are a few videos that show the intentional destruction of DJI batteries, and obviously damage from fire is less likely than damage from the enormous amount of smoke.

 

[mnis]

Those bags are sealed with Velcro but the seal does not prevent the escape of burning gases at the corners. Ask the young man who burned his house down.

I actually have not seen any batteries that shorted out in an ammo can so I am just inferring here but I believe the volume of hot burning gases is going to cause the can to expand and eventually blow the seal and am relatively sure burning gas will escape n

In fact, the Velcro fasteners are the main problem, especially if they are not closed properly, and the product is of poor quality. The real fire retardant of these Lipo bags is the glass fiber fabric.

 

[Bobby Brown]

You guys are in the weeds! The purpose of the bag is to not set anything on fire when charging. It’s evident you two do don’t have bags! mine has Velcro and stainless snaps is fire retardants material similar to nomex. It was not a cheap bag.

 

[zocalo]

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.

Possible if the battery was fully charged, but this was supposedly a new battery. Those are meant to be shipped from the factory in a safe, semi-charged state, already and absolutely should not be going into a self-discharge to protect the battery until they've been initialised by their first full charge.

Either way, it's kind of moot. Regardless of whether they think there is an issue or are just being overly cautious (a wise move with LiPos!), DJI are going to swap the battery. At this point all that really matters is that it's safe for transit back to DJI and, if the worst should happen, that there's no blow back on the OP.

 

[mnis]

You guys are in the weeds! The purpose of the bag is to not set anything on fire when charging. It’s evident you two do don’t have bags! mine has Velcro and stainless snaps is fire retardants material similar to nomex. It was not a cheap bag.

Avoid a fire, exactly this purpose does not meet most lipo bags. I have no idea what could make your bag better. Maybe it's the price?

You can not know what I / we own. Unless you are a superhero

I own two Li-Po Safe Bags, without brand names, which came with batteries. I do not use these things because I do not consider them safe. These safe bags have Velcro and extra tabs on the sides, but no snaps. The material is on the outside of any plastic, and internally sewn glass fiber fabric. The build quality is good, but nevertheless I do not use these safe bags.

 

[Jackcutrone]

If you want something that was engineered to contain the flame from a burning lipo check out the “BatSafe”. Google it. It’s about 50-60 bucks but it works.

 

[Jackcutrone]

You guys are in the weeds! The purpose of the bag is to not set anything on fire when charging. It’s evident you two do don’t have bags! mine has Velcro and stainless snaps is fire retardants material similar to nomex. It was not a cheap bag.

Pretty arrogant. Yes. I have a number of lipo bags of various qualities and still wouldn’t trust them to prevent something outside from catching fire if the lipo inside shorts and starts burning. I only use them for small lipos that don’t have a high mAh rating.