RC Model Reviews

I have some information coming to hand about why this is happening, I've spoken to Tony at www.Titanenergy.co.nz and he says that there have been incidents aboard planes with the packs exploding. Since we all know what a Lithium polymer is like when it goes off, probably not a good idea to happen on board while in-flight. I'll leave it for Tony to send the info through for more acurate information, but from what I understand, it has to do with the American Pilots association - they won't carry the things, considering them unsafe cargo...
Looks like we'll be back to the slow boat from China...!

I am unsure if this applies to all types of Lithium batterys or just Lipos. My original understanding was that it was just Lipo batteries, otherwise how do you get away with sending cellphone batteries which are all still lithium ion from what I understand...?

Here's the word from HobbyKing as of 6/2/2010:

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/foru ... 2486#62486
>Originally posted by KaanX
>Jason, what's the situation on the lipo issue? Is it temporary or permanent?

Posted: 6/2/2010 at 8:29am by Jason5001:

It's starting to look perminent for Hong Kong Post.
That means alot of small eBayers and other stores that dont have the capacity to ship out via private courier will be attempting time and time again to post their lipo's only to have them returned a week or two later.
You're going to see alot of HK/CN vendors stop selling Lipo's in the coming weeks/Months as they work out that it's not getting through.

We are now doing the following;
1) We have charged two private courier companies with the task of shipping our products out. Bypassing Hong Kong Post.
2) We have already sent 2 containers of Lipoly to Germany and next week 1 container to Seattle (the location of our new warehouse to be).
3) Customers who buy Lipo from as now will have them shipped via the Private couriers.
4) In future you will have a greater selection of Lipo from USA (Seattle) or DE (Hamburg) warehouses.
5) We are changing tracking system pages this week and next to better reflect the new services.

In the end you're going to get your batteries at the same price, but with faster shipping and less customs issues.

etheli wrote:In the end you're going to get your batteries at the same price, but with faster shipping and less customs issues.

Let's hope that *is* the case -- however, as with many things-HobbyKing -- claim and reality are sometimes not as closely related as one might wish.

Time will tell.

Frankly I am not surprized that they are banning sending lipos by air freight. I am not a fan of them myself as the chemistry is just to unstable, point in case http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost ... ostcount=4 ...! Multiple accounts of users doing one thing wrong, and leading to catesrophic cell failure - now if one of those fires occured in-flight alongside other cells that could also ignite then there is potential to bring the plane down. I beleive there have been a couple of close calls already. Hobby king can still send cells by the container load and are doing so to the states, and denmark warehouses - however a lot of the auzy guys are even having difficulty sending cell phones overseas with their batteries in so there is a lot of confusion.
Looks like I'll be upgrading to an eneloop battery pack after all Bruce, don't like my chances of getting a set of Hi-model Li-ions across from China now...

Roger wrote:Looks like I'll be upgrading to an eneloop battery pack after all Bruce, don't like my chances of getting a set of Hi-model Li-ions across from China now...

Ah... but China Post is not the same as HK Post.

I checked with my sources on the Chinese mainland and they said that HK Post's enforcement of the ban isn't being duplicated by China Post.

DealExtreme are still shipping lithium batteries without any problems -- because they are a "VIP customer" of HK Post, which also explains why they can afford to sell some stuff for $1 and still airmail it halfway around the world for free.

I think you can still get those Lithium Ion batteries after all

RCModelReviews wrote:I believe that if you do open a dispute through PP with HK they will then refuse to accept payment by PayPal for any future orders you might place. I think you'll be stuck with waiting and hoping that your order will be returned and re-shipped using another carrier or through Singapore.

Well, the EMS express number that was displayed for my order has now disappeared. I wonder how they chose to send it, I supposed I'll find out if / when the package does arrive.

Wow. I must have been lucky. Just received 2 x 3s 1300 lipos from Hobby king on thursday 3/6, they were sent on the 31st of may.

Good timing!

Oops... Well this explains why my last order has been taking an unusually long time to get here. I've ordered 4x3s 2200 lipos two weeks ago, and yesterday I got a second "your order was shipped" email for the same order, this time without a tracking number (same as nzimmers). We'll see if it gets here eventually, and how they were shipped...

Here is what hobbyking says on my account after I placed an order on June 2nd. I did order a small 1000mah 3s lipo.

Air transport delay.
Please be aware that the Hong Kong/China Airports have placed an increased focus on parcel security. This has delayed many orders for up to 7 days.
If you find that your order is marked as shipped but does not have a tracking number, or the tracking number isnt working, please do not be alarmed. Over the coming days the tracking numbers will be registered as the Airport filters through the backlog of parcels.
To help reduce the backlog, we're shipping out alot of orders via alternative express methods and via different countries. This is helping to reduce a possible 2-3 week backlog to around 1 week only. We are doing this at a considerable cost to us and hope you can appreciate the extra effort we're taking to avoid these delays which are out of our control.
The current delay is expected for another 7 days and we will update this message early next week or as soon as there is any change the the current status.

I read this on another forum:

Air transport delay, now resolved.
The previous weeks airport delays were due to increased parcel screening. Thankfully these delays are now behind us and we can focus on clearing the order backlog.
For those customers with a parcel thats not showing a tracking number correctly, or non at all, please do not be concerned, this may be due to a shortage in EMS/Air Parcel forms.
Because of this, your parcel may arrive before the tracking numbers register on the website.

We plan to be back to 24hr ship-out times within 2 days.
Thanks again for your patience and understanding during this period.

This was supposedly posted on the HK website