New FAA flight restrictions

I hope this is the right forum for this post.

I just received an advisory from NANPA that beginning January 1st, the FAA has a new restriction on batteries on airlines. The new regulation restricts the traveler from taking on 2 spare Li-on batteries on flights and no Li-on batteries in checked bags. Although my Canon uses Nimh batteries, I have other electronics, such as my laptop and HD video cameras that do use Li-on batteries and will be a problem for me.

Has anyone else given this any thought and is it a problem for you?

To clarify, I think the limit of two batteries is not "2 spare Li-ion batteries", but applies only to "extended-life rechargeable lithium batteries" which they define as those with more than 8 but not more than 25 grams of equivalent lithium content.

In case it's of use, here's the link to the info from USDOT:

http://tinyurl.com/33q2rx

Half the problem will be determining how much lithium is in each battery. My Canon Li-ion batteries do not have helpful information written on them; and the examples of extended life batteries they give in the link above are of a "130w" and a "160w "battery. Well, my NB-2LH is 7.4v and 720mAh, and overall weighs 43g - how much of that is lithium, I do not know; how many watts it is, I do not know.

So how that translates into their guidelines is beyond me. If anybody has the answers, I'd love to know.

They also said to place spares in a plastic bag and it would be accepted

Looks like a can of worms I wonder if there has been a problem with the batteries

Hey guys, maybe this will help;

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/con...id=7-9206-9211

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JH Tugs

Well, my NB-2LH is 7.4v and 720mAh, and overall weighs 43g - how much of that is lithium, I do not know; how many watts it is, I do not know..

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Your battery is 0.72 Amp/hr X 7.4 v = 5.328 Watt hours way less than the max of 100 watt hrs which is the problem area...see above link.

George - thank you; great link. I did that math too, and figured I must be wrong to get 5w compared to 130w in their examples...!

doh :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JH Tugs

George - thank you; great link. I did that math too, and figured I must be wrong to get 5w compared to 130w in their examples...!

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I guess that is why they always used to tell us to go with your first answer on a test! *lol*

Quote:

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Originally Posted by George DeCamp

Hey guys, maybe this will help;

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/con...id=7-9206-9211



Your battery is 0.72 Amp/hr X 7.4 v = 5.328 Watt hours way less than the max of 100 watt hrs which is the problem area...see above link.

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I'm chucklin here thinking about the fascinating technical discussions we're going to have in the airport security line with the ever-so-helpful TSA folks. Just remember to bring less than 3 ozs of lubricant for the body cavity search if things get intense!!

On a more serious note, I'm guessing that the new restriction is based upon those 'laptops afire' stories of a few months ago, so hopefully the TSA types will just be on the lookout for those......mmmmm....but then now I've got to check my laptop battery and see if that's going to be a problem.

Thanks for all the great information/comments. I guess my concern is that the final decision will be up to the TSA inspectors - just ask Artie what can happen there! I'm now leading photo tours to central and south america and I don't want to see anybody pulled out of line and their batteries tossed into a barrel - including my own!

I'm with Bravo on this one as well. Do we really think the TSA is going to be up to interpreting this ? I've been lucky so far especially since I carry on most of my underwater photography gear. Housings, u/w strobes and strobe arms always seem to elicit closer scrutiny from the TSA. This just means one more hurdle to get over when going through security.

I agree, forget about putting my Quantum Turbo in my check in luggage anymore...it will be gone no matter what.
I doubt they will know what some of this stuff is and confiscate it. Oye Vey!