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Complete destroyed my battery, what do I do?
2112 7 2018-12-11
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Tmanshazzam
lvl.1
United States
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(sorry if this in the wrong section)

So here’s my story... Was flying my phantom 3 pro on a job (I do real-estate work) and due to interference I lost signal to my drone. It then tried to return to the home point but unfortunately there was a tree in the way....so long story short it hit the tree, battery flew out of the drone, it landed in the street and completely destroyed it, like it hit the ground and ripped open (it looks a like a car ran over it thats how bad) . There was no explosion or fire or anything, but now I have two questions:

1. What do I do to dispose of this open LiPo battery safely so that nothing bad happens?

2. Am I in danger from the battery itself? When I moved the battery to my car (after letting it sit for a while) I smelt this sweet smell almost like juciy fruit and I thought no way its the battery, I smelt the battery and sure enough that was the source. Also like a clear liquid came out a little and got on my hand, I washed it off minutes later but there was no burning or irritation from it...so do I have to worry about and delayed effects from inhaling this sweet smell or the stuff that was breifly on my hands?

I looked at the MSDS but all the health warnings look pretty mild?

For reference the battery is a LiPo PH3-4480mAh-15.2V

Thank you all!

2018-12-11
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Mark The Droner
Captain
Flight distance : 2917 ft
United States
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That's a tough one.  My understanding is when the lipo bag gets punctured, it starts spraying and flaming violently.  

I take my retired batteries to the county recycle center and give them to the battery recycle guy.  The question is, how do you get it there?  Maybe in a steel ammo box?  Or a hollow cinderblock?  

Good luck
2018-12-12
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solentlife
Captain
Flight distance : 1087530 ft
Latvia
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Soap and water .... keep an eye on the hands for a day or so after.  If any problem - see the Doctor.  Standard for most things like this.

Inhalation - you should be fine as long as you did not inhale actual liquid ..

As to the battery ... dispose of safely at local refuse collection.

Nigel
2018-12-12
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ALABAMA
Captain
Flight distance : 10442687 ft
United States
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I'm sure  this has happened to others also.  Post #3 is the best advice.
2018-12-12
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DJI Stephen
DJI team
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Hello and good day Tmanshazzam. I am sorry to know what happened to your previous flight with your DJJI Phantom 3 Pro. For the battery issue. It is best to dispose it properly by coordinating with your local recycling center. In addition for the DJI Phantom 3 Pro It is best to contact DJI Support at https://www.dji.com/support for additional help and repair. Thank you.

2018-12-12
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RicardoGray
Captain
Flight distance : 4356421 ft
United States
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My understanding is that these LiPo batteries are safe to dispose of in your trash, but only after  discharging them properly. I have had a couple over the years that I simply put into a plastic bucket and partially filled it with regular water. Sit the bucket outside, and after a couple of days there will be no charge left in the pack. The danger of these packs are that when dropped or damaged they will short out the packs and create fire or even explosions because of the electrical charge they hold inside. Of course it would be best to recycle at the proper facility, but I would try to drain off the voltage first.
2018-12-12
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dont slow down
Second Officer
Flight distance : 574977 ft
United States
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Turn it into a battery recycling center. If you don't find one or don't have one nearby then the bucket of water is my go to, I use salt water though. Let it sit for a week in the salt water then throw it away in the trash.
2018-12-12
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solentlife
Captain
Flight distance : 1087530 ft
Latvia
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I can g'tee that the Salt Water and bucket of water is not a good solution - forgive the pun !

Why ? The poor electrical conductivity of that solution means that as the battery goes down - the nearer it gets to discharged - the longer it takes to discharge per mA ... seriously ... it can in theory take forever ... AND the DJI battery board prevents you from going lower when discharging through its contacts.

The only true way to get a DJI or any LiPo truly discharged is by accessing the main lead and via a lamp .. such as car headlight bulb. BUT it takes more than just when the lamp is not visibly lit. It needs to sit for ages to get anywhere near zero.

With a DJI battery - if you cannot get it to a Battery Disposal Location ... then better to break open the case and discharge it via direct connection to the leads instead of via the boards contacts.

This LiPo discharge to scrap subject has been argued so often in RC circles .... and shown so often the myth of the Salt Water bath ...

Another myth is spontaneous ignition of LiPo's whenever cell pouch gets punctured ... it actually takes more than that .. but it can happen.

Nigel
2018-12-12
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