Shipping restrictions for Li-Ion?

M

Mayor McCheese

Joined
Jan 29, 2000
Messages
76
I was wondering if anyone knows if there are any restrictions for shipping Li-Ion batteries (CR123s) via USPS or UPS. I think I might have heard something about it, but I'm not really sure if I'm remembering right. Are they considered a hazardous material? Is there anything I need to know if I wanted to mail say a dozen batteries? Thanks.
 
I doubt seriously there are any restrictions.

Look up batteries on ebay and see how they are shipping.

Might be some overseas restrictions.
 
My understanding is that because of the fire and explosion hazard they can only be shipped by ground. There have been instances where the batteries have exploded and presented a possible hazard to aircraft.
 
For sure these batteries have been shipped via USPS priority by dealers. But packages were not necessarily marked as HAZMAT if it is indeed a requirement. Perhaps they were not declared as such?

N.
 
You can check http://www.usps.com. Good luck with it... I found this

Lithium battery 9 UN3090 II Only as permitted in 348.22b 9C 9C

"348.22 Mailable Corrosives"

[....]

"b. Batteries. Mailable batteries include:
(1) Some paste electrolyte batteries, such as the Eldon "Super Power" battery, are permitted if the battery can qualify as an ORM-D material. Packaging Instruction 8A must be followed.
(2) Dry-cell batteries and batteries containing no more than 0.5g of lithium or lithium alloys generally are not regulated as hazardous materials and are permitted in the domestic mail. See 49 CFR 173.185 for specific conditions concerning lithium and lithium alloy batteries. Mailable batteries must be securely packaged to preclude a direct short. In addition, the general packaging requirements in DMM C010 apply."


DMM = Domestic Mail Manual I believe.
 
Check this thread on CPF. You need to read down a bit to get into the details. Note there is a difference between lithium ion batteries (the rechargables used in laptops, etc) and the lithium cells used in the 123A cell lights.

-john
 
I don't know why I said Li-Ion. I guess I've had cell phone and lapton batteries on my mind. Thanks for all the info. I should have known they would have discussed this on CPF.
 
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