Understanding the New TSA Ban on Spare Rechargeable Batteries (It's Not That Bad)
• A spare battery is one not installed in a device. This is an important distinction to remember.
• You will have to transport spare batteries as carry-on baggage, not checked baggage. The TSA does not want loose lithium-based batteries in the check luggage.
• You may put an approved battery in checked baggage only if it is installed in a device. A checked video camera, cell phone, or laptop with a battery installed would be fine—ignoring the folly of doing so due to risk of physical damage—but any spare, loose batteries are now forbidden.
• Spare, loose batteries transported as carry-on need to be securely packed. That means you should use manufacturer's plastic battery caps for spare batteries or pack them in plastic bags. You can also place electrical tape over the terminals of the batteries.
For 99% of us that travel, even battery-heavy folk like bloggers, that should be enough information to help you forward. It's really not that bad. Take all your electronics on board as carry-on and pack loose batteries in plastic.
Where things have gotten slightly more confusing is in the TSA's "lithium content" regulations. Who knows how many grams of lithium are in their batteries or whether the TSA considers their battery a "lithium metal" or "lithium-ion" model?
Fortunately, most cell phone and laptop batteries are under the 8-gram lithium limit. I expect that the real world effect of this will be that extra cell phone and laptop batteries will be accepted without question by TSA screeners.
For camera operators or those who use large-capacity extended life battery packs (like the ones that fit under the whole width of a laptop), you're going to need to be prepared to have calculated exactly how many grams of lithium are in each of your batteries and have that information readily at hand in case you need to discuss it with a TSA screener. You are allowed "two spare batteries with an aggregate equivalent lithium content of up to 25 grams, in addition to any batteries that fall below the 8-gram threshold." In short, carrying lots of low-capacity batteries in carry-on baggage is allowed, while no more than two large-capacity batteries is approved.
This information was gleaned from the Safe Travel.dot.gov bulletin and TSA sites, prompted by my initial balking at my future inability to travel with all my gear which was quickly followed my the realization that for me travel would remain fundamentally unchanged. Which is to say: still a pain in the neck.
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I think there is a discrepency in your article. TSA specifically says: "You may not pack a spare lithium battery in your checked baggage" (regardless of lithium content).
However, your comment at the end of the second to last paragraph says the opposite ("...carrying lots of low-capacity batteries in checked baggage is allowed".) This statement is incorrect, isn't it?
Right you are. I've fixed it. I kept switched "checked" and "carry-on" in my mind, which was obviously a hazard.
Is the TSA employing some backwards logic here?
If a lithium battery "Goes Sony" in the cabin, there's a significantly greater chance that somebody will be able to smother the resulting fire. Granted, it'll cause a panic, but the integrity of the aircraft will be maintained.
If it's in the cargo hold, good luck....
This answers a 'wtf?' moment that I had over the holidays--I had flown domestically for business in October, and in packing for a trip after Christmas, I looked in my shaving kit, and found that the battery had been removed from my mini travel alarm.
Is this really an urgent issue, or is the TSA just gilding its own lilly? Personally, I think Bruce Schneier is right!
You, Citizen, what's the aggregate equivalent lithium content of all non-installed batteries on your person? You don't know? Please follow me. Others, please move on. Nothing to see here!
Any guesses as to the average ability of a TSA screener to accurately gauge what "25 grams" means?
I'm still not buying this "they are safe enough to take on the plane when they are in the device, but dangerous when in your bag" argument.
Any guesses as to the average ability of a TSA screener to accurately gauge what "25 grams" means?
Given that after more than a year they still haven't figured out the difference between fluid ounces and troy ounces...
Where is the risk exactly? As detonator current supply? They can be disguised as metal clothing buttons. Fire starters? Has a lithium battery ever burst under cargo hold low pressure? What is done with confiscated lithium batteries? Does someone have a lucrative contract to haul them away from airports? And re-sell them?
Takuan: lithium batteries burn like a thermite charge. Putting water on them makes them worse. They can ignite if pierced, or if something metal shorts them out, or if they're close to an ignition source. Ignition of a shipment of lithium batteries was considered as a likely factor in one Air Lauda crash some years ago; it's as much a hazard as the perchlorate cannisters the Valuejet flight that went down in Florida was carrying. It's been determined that the cargo hold fire suppression systems of current generation airliners are ineffective against lithium battery fires packed in passengers' baggage. Hence the new policy.
The batteries in question are not button-sized, they're big power bricks designed for laptops or professional video equipment. The purpose of the ban is to keep them where cabin crew can get to them with a dry powder extinguisher in event of a blaze.
To reiterate: this isn't the TSA being pissy, this is the FAA trying to ensure that planes don't catch fire and fall out of the sky.
ah so. Thank you for the information.
Thank you Charlie Stross. Every bit accurate; I'd been reading up on this in the last few days after seeing reports of flashlight explosions. Some of the aircraft fire reports go back ten years or more.
It takes a fair number of deaths before the USA labels anything proven dangerous, no 'precautionary principle' here yet.
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=124776
Beyond that, Google; Google video too.