Based on this statement, and info from a call to TSA, the camera batteries listed here should be fine for carry-on in any quantity.
Lesley Ann Miller of LAT Photographic has taken the time to provide the following information regarding the Lithium Battery/TSA carry on headache we all will face in the new year. I would suggest keeping the information with your equipment so you can better educate your friendly TSA agents the next time you fly. A special thanks to Lesley for taking the time to do this.
Canon EOS-1D Mark III (LP-E4)
11.1v 2300mAh
25.53 watt-hours
2.0424 grams lithium content
The problem with the typical TSA person is that when I print out this post they'll sure as hell will believe how much lithium is in my 40D battery. Nor will they know about the official limits, for that matter.
I just had every single lens swabbed, individually, twice, "because that's the correct procedure". I had my small allen wrenches confiscated (those to tighten the camera mount), even though these aren't illegal. Those people do whatever they want, and if I show them a piece of paper they sure will just nod and let me through, seeing it as an educational experience.
Not sure where Leslie from LAT photo got her formulas but I think she's off a smdge. Let's do the math here...a miliamp is 1/1000th of an Amphour (remember your metric conversion tables US people?) So...1390 mAh = 1.39 Ah.
The formula, as I understand it, is to multiply the number of ampere hours by a factor of 0.3. This results in a value of 0.417. If this formula is off, please correct my understanding with the correct formula, and the source/origin of that formula. Hate to pick nits here, but if we all are to become "experts" on calculating lithium content, we should al be operating on the same set of assumptions...
I traveled to CA in Dec last year and carried 2 spare XTi battery + 1 in the camera. At first I didn't think about how they need to see the camera out of the bag, but then my bag is 1 layer so there shouldn't be any problem seeing it on the Xray. Anyway they told me they needed to rescan the bag. So on my way back I took out the camera and place it outside, they didn't tell me but I did see the Xray machine roll back and run through again while my bag was in the scan.
I wonder if they can see the battery as battery or just a white block. I mean the 2 spare batteries I still have them in it's original box so it won't touch any other metal and they tug nicely on the side of my camera bag. (It's more of a camcorder bag)
rceres wrote:
I've been travelling with laptop and 3 large Li-Ion batteries and 2 spare 5D batteries, not a problem on 15 flights in the last year or so.
New rules go into effect for 2008. Apparently there was a fire on a plane in Phila that was traced back to LiIon batts in customers luggage.
Jason Anderson wrote:
The formula, as I understand it, is to multiply the number of ampere hours by a factor of 0.3. This results in a value of 0.417. If this formula is off, please correct my understanding with the correct formula, and the source/origin of that formula.
You're almost there. That's the formula for a cell in the battery. Then you have to sum the cells. A 7.4v Li-Ion battery has two cells, while an 11.1v has three cells. So in this case the result is 0.834 grams, not 0.417. Still, it's a long long way from the 8 gram threshold at which the "quantity 2" limit kicks in (the lightest 8g ELC Li-Ion battery that I can find weighs almost a kilo).
As for the source, I'm going off the actual regulation (49 CFR 171.8), but the site that you referenced says the same thing: Equivalent lithium content: Calculated in grams on per-cell basis as 0.3 times the rated capacity of the cell in Amperehours times the number of cells per pack
I'm trying to catch up on this information. I'm flying from California to Hawaii in April to photograph a wedding and plan on taking three BP-511A Li-on and a dozen AA NiMH batteries in my carry-on case. Am I going to run into trouble at the airport?
DavidP: the watt-hours figure is, as they noted, "approximately". Working backwards from 8g ELC, we get 8/0.3 or 26-2/3 amp-hours per cell. At 3.7v per cell (nominal), that's 98-2/3 watt-hours. Or as they say, "approximately 100 watt-hours".
In other words, both methods work pretty well - whether you convert to watt-hours first or just work in cells and mAh. The difference is around 1%. But the official method, called out in 49 CFR 171.8, is to use cells and amp-hours.
Bob Martin: No problem. Just make sure that your BP-511s are packaged so that the contacts can't short out. And as you have already planned, keep them in your carry-on. The NiMH batteries are not an issue at all.
Edited by Doug Pardee on Jan 03, 2008 at 01:01 PM GMT
As far as I can tell these regulations went into effect on Jan 1st, has anyone heard otherwise?
I flew on Jan 1st from IND to MSP with a half-dozen electronic devices / spare batteries. TSA didn't stop me or anyone else that I could see (I had some time to kill so I sat and watched for a bit).
The one interesting thing I noticed is that a couple of the flights had TSA workers re-examining everyone's carry-on bags at the gate, just before boarding the plane. Not sure if that's related to the battery thing or not.
Thanks for the correction Doug - I made a comment in the other thread to that effect too...the only body I own is an XT (soon to change - hello 40D!) While I did know about summing the cells, I went on what was apparently a dangerous assumption that the batteries for all cameras would fall into the single cell category. I'll be updating the page I put together with this information later today (I meant to do it last night but got sidelined by the sand man earlier than usual...)
We have very specific rules on how many and what types of lithium batteries we can carry on board (for Beta SX video cameras). No single battery is allowed to have more than 8 grams of lithium. That means there are approved and non-approved types. Our old favourites, the Sony BP90L batteries carry too much so we have had to jettison those and upgrade our entire battery fleet.
They also specify that the batteries must have their terminals taped and there must be physical separation, via a board or piece of packing foam, so that they cannot come into contact with each other. The batteries must be carried it an ICAO approved case, either the dedicated $600 aluminium job or a Pelican which is what we use. They must not be put into the cargo hold and have to be carried on board as personal luggage.
Most people know that lithium is dangerous and has blown factory roofs off (including, it is rumoured, Sony's in the late '90s). A TV crew from Western Australia had the dubious distinction of being the first people here to have an in-flight incident with a lithium battery a few years ago when one of them started smouldering. The current rules were not in force at the time. I have not heard of any repeat problems since then.
I do see a concern for Lithium. it is very powerful and can discharge fast. Unlike other chemical before that won't discharge all at once even when shorted.
Lithium can build up enough eat to explode while others just hot.
Anyway, my safety is putting the batt in it's original box that I got it.. so no chance of it touching any other metal to discharge and cause fire nor explode.
