How to post lithium batteries?

I bought an digital back for a medium format camera on eBay.

seller charged me £25 for delivery he said it had cost him significantly more to post by next day with DHL.

its been caught by having 2 lithium batteries inside and is now on its way back to the seller.

is there a carrier who will accept lithium batteries?

This back and all its Accesories are being sent in a pelican case with foam cutouts for all the parts and then in a cardboard outer box… do DHL X-ray it or perhaps open it?

No need for X-ray the package should have a warning label attached stating it contains lithium batteries. Don't know why DHL should be picky they deliver many things with lithium batteries from phones to power tools. I have had plenty of items with lithium batteries delivered by various carriers with no problem.

John

Edited By Journeyman on 10/09/2021 12:02:25

I think this is about the batteries being actually inside and connected as there is are known fire and magnetic field risks......I do remember (vaguely!) that the batteries MUST be in their own packing with the terminals safely blanked.

lithiium batteries are usually quite safe to transport unlike 'Li-Po' types which can spontaneously ignite...the model plane fraternity carry theem in stainless steel flexible pouches.

The last time I (as a private individual) needed to ship a Lithium battery in the UK (phone battery return) the only carrier that I could find that would take it was (I think) FedEx. All the others I tried would only transport it if it was inside the device ( presumably making sure that the protective circuits were there).

They would only ship it ground (not a issue in the UK), and had some fairly strict labelling requirements - they provided the labels for me to print out.

That said my latest phone replacement battery (Ebay from a German supplier) arrived in a jiffy bag through the post!!

DHL probably do push stuff through a scanner at some point on it's journey. I was always told to post  unexposed  film ( remember that!) in a lead pouch because the post office X-ray'd things.

Edited By Peter Cook 6 on 10/09/2021 12:58:10

My recent new security cameras from a major supplier came with Lithium batteries fitted and ready to go. There were big labels on the box stating that there were such batteries inside. Think they came via an Amazon courier?

Interesting to see that ‘Prohibited Goods’ and ‘Restricted Goods’ are both defined here: **LINK**

https://send.dhlparcel.co.uk/parcel-delivery/terms-and-conditions

… but I saw no specific mention of batteries

MichaelG.

Hi, I posted a parcel via Royal Mail to my son just before Christmas last year, there was a chart there with several items that one had to declare if they were inside, one of which was batteries of any type, of which there was a small one in my granddaugther's present and all they did was attach a label with a battery symbol on it, to the parcel. That was the first time I had ever encountered this sort of chart.

Regards Nick.

Strange, recently bought 2 x 18650 Li-Ion batteries from batteriesplus.co.uk and they came by Royal Mail at a cost of £1.95, dont remember much about the packing being special.

Perhaps it depends on what you declare, when you read the lists most things are prohibited that I've looked at?

Recently also bought 40l genuine creosote which cost £50 to ship. Needed more so from different company bought 80L They in came in individual cardboard boxes with parcelforce delivery, asked driver about this and he said it was normal, deliver lots of liquids this way.

Peter

You can send new lithium batteries fitted in new Chinese goodies. However sending them back would be a different kettle of fish. Do I want my new Chinese goodies in the same van/lorry/aeroplane as your duff Chinese goodies that may have failed because they were so cheap they had to skimp on the battery protection circuit?

This is the DHL link. Essentially one batter installed in device is OK.
https://send.dhlparcel.co.uk/resources/sending-batteries

UPS might be a possibility
https://www.ups.com/assets/resources/media/en_GB/pack_sh

ParcelPal is worth a read, but look under Electronic Goods, rather than batteries.
https://www.parcelpal.co.uk/Help/ProhibitedItems#:~:text=The%20maximum%20number%20of%20lithium,cell%20or%20100Wh%20per%20battery.

Well an update

DHL had indeed xrayed the package and decided that it was too dangerous to carry so have sent it back to the seller.

as it was an overnight service may it have been flown down to somewhere more local?

so the sale has been cancelled.

i just wonder how dangerous a smallish camera battery is in a fitted foam compartment in a pelican case

I ordered some Li-on batteries, about £23 worth, a couple of years ago, when they came the supplier had sent the wrong ones. They agreed to replace them at their cost provided I used the original packing. I had carefully unpacked them and re-packed them up in the original packing, and took them to my local PO. I told them they were batteries and away they went.

A couple of days later I had a letter from the Royal Mail stating batteries must not be sent through the post and that they had destroyed the parcel and its contents. As ever, there was no recourse from Royal Mail. I won't make that mistake again, no more mail order batteries for me!

All a bit mad, isn't it? I recently had to send a battery unit away for repair. The T&Cs for the courier recommended by the repairer said they would not take a "battery" but would take a "controller" with a built in battery. The only justification I can think of is that the latter assumes some protection circuit but how can they, or anyone tell?

Anyway, I bagged and double boxed it and it got there and back (within UK, surface transport only) safely and has not as far as I can tell been stickered, X-rayed or otherwise examined.

Meanwhile I have ordered many batteries and battery containing gadgets online which have been delivered by post and the various courier firms without fuss. Maybe professional sellers have some special conditions which means they are trusted to pack properly, or maybe they just don't declare.

I'm sure accidents do happen, but it would appear to be self evident by the number of non-combusting delivery trucks that the risk isn't as big as somebodies safety consultants thought it was.

The Dangerous Goods shipment has dispensation for batteries in equipment, however a loose battery is not entitled to the dispensation so it would require packing in DG approved packaging, full DG approved labelling and DG shipment paperwork.

Moving anything remotely dangerous or hazardous by air, land or sea is a legal minefield, in the event of anything happening the fines are unlimited and personal - companies find it easier to simply say no to these shipments!

A slightly offbeat thought, if you still want the item.
How expensive are the new batteries?
Get the seller to sell you the item at reduced cost with one battery pre-fitted to the camera back, and buy new spare ones yourself. (many couriers will allow one battery fitted inside the device.)
The supplier of the replacement batteries will have measures in place to post them via their own approved courier.

Bill

Edited By peak4 on 14/09/2021 13:42:15

My wife who is profoundly deaf has a cochlear implant, the sound processing piece of the implant system has rechargeable batteries which can be removed for recharging. The equipment is hard on batteries and each battery lasts about a day before needing recharge, this means the batteries are frequently recharged which means they don’t last long before the charge they will accept diminishes to an unproductive level. This means that under the NHS contract for the equipment she frequently requests replacement batteries.Up until last year all replacement parts, including batteries, came by Royal Mail Special Delivery, mainly because the items are high value. As of last year any batteries requested are sent by a carrier, Royal Mail refuse to handle batteries anymore, all other parts that she needs are still sent RM Special Delivery. I can fully understand the caution now surrounding the transit of batteries, I have seen a NiCad battery self ignite without any exterior influence, to have that happen in the freight hold of an aircraft whilst in flight doesn’t bear thinking about, even in the back of a Royal Mail truck would cause enough problems. So if Royal Mail know there are batteries in a package they now refuse to handle it, most carriers will still handle them. Dave W