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TSA Limits Lithium Batteries on Airplanes
yali writes "The U.S. Transportation and Security Administration has issued new rules limiting travel with lithium batteries. As of January 1, no spare lithium batteries are allowed in checked luggage. Batteries carried in the cabin are subject to limitations on per-battery and total lithium content, and spare batteries must have the terminals covered. If you're returning home from the holidays with new toys, be sure to check out the new restrictions before you pack."
From TFA, this ruling only covers NON-rechargable lithium batteries, like the AA/AAA lithium cells sold by Energizer, etc. Also, batteries that are installed in equipment don't count. You just can't check loose lithium batteries or carry-on more than 2 loose batteries.
Again, to stress, this has NOTHING to do with rechargable Lithium-Ion or Lithium-Polymer batteries that are in most laptops, digital cameras, celphones, iPods, portable DVD players, etc...
I expect that many spare batteries will simply be seized and tossed in the trash.
Try sold on eBay instead. Seized property is typically sold by the states in Surplus Property auctions, where it can be bid on by the public at large, or in some cases the airports themselves sell the stuff in lots on eBay. The government is making a buck on the battery it confiscates from you.
--Obyron
Energizer AA (L91) ~.98 grams
Energizer AAA (L92) ~.5 grams
Energizer 123 ~.55 grams
as per Energizer technical data PDF's
Read the article - it clearly states that installed batteries are exempt. Therefore, your cellphones, cameras, iPods and laptops aren't affected. They're talking about spare batteries that are loose in the luggage, and they even mention that placing your batteries in their original packaging or in a zip-lock bag is deemed a safe storage location that prevents shorting.
It took longer to type this response than it did to read and comprehend the article itself.
From the TSA webpage, it does apply to some Lithium-Ion batteries.
Batteries up to 8-grams "equivalent lithium content" installed in devices or as spares are allowed. For Lithium-ion batteries between 8 and 25 grams aggregate lithium equivalent content are also allowed, but you can only have 2 total (both spare and installed).
Lithium Metal batteries just have tighter restrictions.
As for the reasons behind this (since some apparantly didn't read TFA)- it sounds like there was a cargo hold fire on one plane caused by lithium batteries and apparently the current fire control systems in planes can't handle lithium fires.
The news rules do make sense, a in-flight fire on an airliner is pretty serious, especially if there is no nearby place to land (e.g. halfway between California and Hawaii).
A Shadeless room is a brighter room.
In all fairness lithium is a highly reactive substance. You could conceivably take a number of batteries on a flight head back to the restroom crack them open and construct and incendiary device. Check out this link for a little more info The Preparatory Manual of Black Powder and Pyrotechnics
Granted the laptop batteries aren't lithium nitride but they are close.
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed H
Figures the one time I don't have mod points is the one time I see a post by someone who obviously didn't read the actual links. Lithium batteries are NOT "now illegal to carry". There's just some rules being put in place for when they can be in checked baggage or must be carried on, and how they must be stored. Looking at the actual page on the subject, it looks like they went to great lengths to make sure it won't directly impact most travelers with regards to the batteries people tend to travel with. On that note I see nothing anywhere suggesting that this has anything to do with terrorism. And as you say if it's "to reduce the possibility of a lithium battery shorting out" then they can be in their shipping packages and be "no more dangerous than many other items that you can carry on planes". Which is exactly what they suggest for storing spare batteries.
I'm all for government conspiracy theories and thinking most of this stuff is completely idiotic. But nothing is going to improve if we go around making grossly inaccurate statements about what a rule actually is.
From their FAQ:
"...In the passenger compartment, flight crews can better monitor safety conditions to prevent an incident, and can access fire extinguishers, if an incident does happen."
I'd say the real reason is that they don't want a fire to start in the luggage compartment.
There is a reason given if you take the time to read.
The FAA has found that current systems for putting out aircraft cargo fires could not suppress a fire if a shipment of non-rechargeable batteries ignited during flight, the release said.
-Dave
Glaser rounds.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
There is no distinction made between non-rechargeable and rechargeable batteries. This may be for a good reason, but the TSA page seems to refer primarily to rechargeable batteries.
Note the specification of the word "aggregate" in the second item. That word doesn't appear in the first item. Does that mean I can bring *any number* of batteries that have an individual lithium content of less than 8-grams?
Note the specification of "lithium metal battery" in the third and fourth items. This term does not appear in either of the first or second items. The first and second items refer to "lithium ion batteries". What is the distinction between a "lithium ion battery" and a "lithium metal battery"? Even worse, in the second item, the term "lithium ion battery" is only referred to as an example. The operative phrase only says "up to 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".
Can anyone cite the relevant regulations rather than this public info disaster?
But rather a PHMSA (Pipeline and Hazard Materials Safety Administration), an operation unit of the USDOT (I used to work at the USDOT). The rule is being enforced by the TSA, but it was not developed by them. How they enforce it, I don't know, since I seriously doubt any of them (or atleast very very few of them) would be able to figure out what quantities of what chemicals are in different batteries. Hell, even most techies probably do not know what the chemical makeup is, since its not something printed on the spec sheets of batteries.
Just for shits and giggles, I hit up dell's site looking for a spare battery for my vostro 1500...
These are the tech specs for the battery...
Tech Specs
General
Device Type: Notebook battery
Battery Enclosure Type: Internal
Localization: United States
Battery
Technology: 9-cell lithium ion
Capacity: 85 Wh
That does not provide much info.
Here is anoterh battery from a site that specializes in batteries (this one for a HID or LED bicycle light)
Packing
*
14.8V , 2400mAh battery pack is made by 4 pcs High quality 18650 2400mAh Li-Ion cells packed by 4 series side by side
*
The battery pack is Wapped by white PVC shrink tube
Voltage Voltage: 14.8V (working) 16.8V ( peak) 11.0V ( cut-off)
Capacity 2400 mAh min. (35.5 wh)
Protection
* One PCB (8A) installed with the battery pack and protects the battery from
o Overcharge (>16.8V)
o Overdischarge ( 8 Amp)
o Short circuits
* One 4.2 Amp polyswitch installed to limit max. discharging current at 4A
Prewired
* 6" length 18 AWG wires without connector
Max. Discharging Rate 4.2 Amp limited by polyswitch
No where do they list the chemical contents....
I came, I conquered, I coredumped
After 9/11 the chances of someone actually falling for a hijacker with a box cutter is right around zero. Security could have been maintained as it was before the attacks, at the same cost, preventing small arms from getting on board as always, and we'd all be OK. But if you routinely ban things like shoes, water and pocket knifes, it gives the impression that you're "protecting" people, and thus validating those enormous expenditures. Everybody wins, except those of us who actually have to travel.
The twitter monologues. Click on my homepage and be amazed.
Just how would you get Sodium on to an airliner?
Every time I have seen Sodium it was stored under kerosene or some other oil.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
1 mm pellets wouldn't do much, but there is a revolver handgun caliber which can have chambers compatible with .410 shotgun loads.
At close range it'd do more than piss off a person.
I don't read AC A human right
It's a pain to leave the security screening, go back to the luggage check, check your stuff in your carry-on, and then get screened by security again. I'm not sure all airports will even let you do that.
Except that, per the article, Lithium batteries are expressly forbidden in check-in baggage. So you'd be screwed either way.
Makes me wish for an airline not subject to TSA stupidity.
I don't read AC A human right
The airplane's compressors have enough reserve capacity to pressurize the plane even with a small hole in the skin. There would be air blowing out through the hole, but that's about it.
Easily. They'd just shoot you while you're struggling to drag your gun case out of the overhead compartment.
Yeah, because everybody knows that people who carry guns for protection like to leave them in their luggage rather than under their belts/inside a holster.
You just got troll'd!
You're talking about the Taurus Judge. Chambers .410 shotshell and .45 Colt. Touted as a vehicle defense weapon.
http://www.taurususa.com/whatsnew/revolvers.cfm
You're too late, someone already filled this niche. Seriously.
egypt urnash minimal art.
that you not travel with recalled batteries. http://safetravel.dot.gov/remember.html
Other things that you can find are why they are doing this e.g. flight crews can better monitor safety conditions to prevent an incident, and can access fire extinguishers, if an incident does happen -- http://safetravel.dot.gov/tips.html
YOU CAN TRAVEL WITH MOST LI-ION CONSUMER BATTERIES assuming the TSA agents follow the rules as stated
For the lazy people not willing to look at the actual page, nor the willingness to get through the TSA's obtuse writing here is the punch line:
The following quantity limits apply to both your spare and installed batteries. The limits are expressed in grams of "equivalent lithium content." 8 grams of equivalent lithium content is approximately 100 watt-hours. 25 grams is approximately 300 watt-hours:
* Under the new rules, you can bring batteries with up to 8-gram equivalent lithium content. All lithium ion batteries in cell phones are below 8 gram equivalent lithium content. Nearly all laptop computers also are below this quantity threshold. -- My Macbook Pro battery is 60 watt hours or about 5.5 grams of lithium
* You can also bring up to 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. Examples of two types of lithium ion batteries with equivalent lithium content over 8 grams but below 25 are shown below ( the picture shows a pro-camcoder extended use battery and an external extended use laptop battery).
I usually travel with 10 or more Li-ion batteries of various sizes and this language does not lead me to believe that I will have any trouble because I never check my batteries.I am still concerned as enforcement of these new rules is left up to poorly trained agents, so I worry about losing very expensive batteries because one idiot see lithium on the label and chucks it.
Air marshals don't carry special ammo, and there's no reason that others would need to, either. Air marshals did briefly flirt with frangible ammunition, but soon realized that the Hollywood idea of what happens when you poke a 1/2 inch hold in the skin of a plane is just as valid as the Hollywood notion of what happens when a bullet hits a car. Basically, if you poke a small hole in a pressurized airplane's skin the pressure begins to drop a tiny bit faster than it did before you poked a hole, and not likely fast enough to even overcome the systems that maintain the pressure.
As a result, air marshals now carry regular hollowpoint ammunition, just like pretty much all other law enforcement officers, on the grounds that it's (a) more effective at stopping the bad guy than ball, (b) less likely to go through the bad guy and hurt someone behind him than ball and (c) less likely to shatter ineffectually on a bone or other hard object than frangible. Frangible ammo sometimes produces horrific wounds similar to those of a shotgun at short range, but other times will impact a rib, or just about anything a little tougher than flesh and then produce a broad but extremely shallow and ultimately ineffective wound. And it really doesn't make shooting on an airplane any safer.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
SHEESH RTFA
They are not prevented from carrying them as carryon, only as checked baggage. They are doing it because the onboard firefighting systems in the cargo compartments cannot put out a lithium fire.
I am a commercial pilot. I've had a large battery go into thermal runaway in flight. It scared the hell out of me. The flight crew put it in a metal trashcan (so the firefighting gloves are a good idea) and I had depresurized and was going to toss it out over Kansas when it stopped venting and pulsing. I didn't see it; I was on oxygen up front, but my crew really wanted to throw it out even though it stopped pulsing.
So yeah, this is an annoyance, but, in retrospect, I think it's a good idea, and thinking about the spare laptop battery showed into a pocket with some random AV cables, it could light off the overhead compartment before anyone notices.
I seriously wish Mythbusters would put a hole in an airliner just to prove you (ok not you, but other people too) wrong.
They did.
Myth busted.
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