What’s the law regarding making batteries for sale

Is it just related to shipping or what. I know a lot of people make complete batteries here.

Just don’t get charged for battery.

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Shipping is the hard part, domestic us shipping can be done if the pack is under 100wh without getting a hazmat label.

For large batteries, most people just slap a sticker on it saying anything under 100wh and the post service is none the wiser

Not to be a downer, but as a former fire-fighter and a current pilot, just think of the carriers (truck drivers, pilots, ships) and in the case of an incident, the emergency responders. There might be someone’s family member’s lives at risk.

Old guy, gonna go hide back under my rock now.

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Your perspective is appreciated. Laws are in place for a reason. I wish it was easier to make batteries safer.

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Everybody loves hamburgers but nobody wants to know where the meat comes from! :roll_eyes:

Evolve, Metroboard, Baja, Enertion, Boosted, etc, etc, etc…send their full fledged battery driven electric vehicles half across the world with at least 50% batt capacity, no? Aren’t those less dangerous?? Anybody complaining about how they manage to send those across the globe?

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If I remember it right it costs like ten thousand to have ur batteries tested and then certified to build batteries that can be shipped like that.

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I was told it’s not that much to get a shipping certification, you just need time. I heard it took enertion over a year.

You also have to have a hazmat label with a “more info” number to call on it. If you dont pick up on the first attempt, you get a 75k fine. Hobbyking rents out insured call centers for example.

Thankfully, a 10s4p pack is very close to 100wh when at shipping charge. I dont feel bad violating a law if i am extremely close to the target goal.

I dont know if this counts when using a storage charge, but it should. At a storage charge i torture tested cells in brutal ways including smashing them flat without breaking the casing or cutting them in half with an axe. I have never had a storage charge cell get too hot to hold once destroyed. They let out the smallest bit of smoke and thats it.

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:thinking: whaaaaaat? :thinking: 4x3,6x10x3= 432 :thinking: ok it’s relativ close to 100Wh if you compare it how close a 20s20p pack is to 100Wh :raised_hands:

@Hummie you asking about international shipping? I don’t know if laws changed but if you sent battery packs via ground service national (or in EU around the EU) I don’t know of any restrictions so far. There shouldn’t be a Wh limit as well. Just don’t ship air freight.

Edit: I think it also depends on the country but you should definitely have a disclaimer or something people need to agree with that use is on own risk. Nkon for example requires to confirm that you know that batteries are dangerous and use is on own risk when you want to check out. It’s there way to be not responsible if somebody fuck up something and try to claim it’s fault of the seller.

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I am talking about a storage charged pack. At that voltage, each cell contains about 3wh of energy left. That’s why i said it may not count but it should. Its also why i mentioned the torture tests of discharged cells. The lithium is less and less reactive the more the voltage drops.

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Try this site, it visually explains exactly what i mean

https://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Common18650comparator.php

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I calculate that with 3.6v which is the nominal voltage and usually used to calculate the pack size specifically if people speak about certification of packs you can’t take a value you want to. Storage voltage is usually 3.4-3.5V and the voltage you get cells shipped if you buy them.

Even if you calculate that for 2.5V per cell which is the total minimum I would get with a 18650cell it’s still 300Wh for a 10s4p pack.

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I dont know if this was a fluke, but when i recently ordered from nkon.nl in the usa, they sent me an unmarked box with a msds labeled for NiMh batteries

At 3.4v, it contains only about 20% of its max power at that point, if each cell is 3wh or so based on various discharge graphs, that puts a 10s4p pack at 120wh at that voltage. At 2.5v per cell the total energy remaining is less than 1% of its total energy. You can literally cut into one at that point with almost no reaction.

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I would love to talk more, but its 1am and i have to work tomorrow morning. I will respond in the morning. Thanks

Pretty sure they got certificates for those batteries and so they are allowed to be shipped with air mail

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I am interested in this too. Had some awesome battery samples sent to me, 10s3p 60A bms with e switch, but I am not able to handle the shipment. It was 250euro just to send the 3 units from China, so it is too expensive as well to ship them. You can read up on the requirements on the different shipping companies we pages, like here: https://www.dhl.com/en/express/shipping/shipping_advice/lithium_batteries.html

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To ship batteries with dhl without certificate first the battery needs to be shipped via ground to a company that packs them in some special packaging and they charge 100 eur per battery, at least in Croatia and after that they can be shipped with an airplane to wherever it needs to go

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The best advice is to talk to a sales rep for the carriers to find out what you need to do. It might take a little bit of time to talk to the right person, but once you do tell them what you want to ship and what you need to do.

If you tell them you’re starting a business and plan to make a lot of expensive shipments soon then they are interested to help get you an account and save you money.

Post office can also help, but it is even harder to get someone to help.

Finally there are ALL SORTS of 3rd party logistics solutions providers that can solve ALL your problems. Like others mentioned in the thread, you can just find a company where you dump all your batteries too and they worry about packing it and making the certifications. That is the easiest but it is also the most expensive.

Trying to figure out all of the regulations and certifications is nearly impossible to do by yourself. Use the resources of the business you are going to ship with.

You can also get quotes for how much everything will cost. (Not the certifications, but they can point you in the right direction)

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