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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

TSA BATTERY TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS

KETCH ROSSi said:
Bring as many as you want Revolts, bring as many as you want 90's and 100's, bring no more then 2 of any of the batteries which are over 100, I bring 140 and 210 for long shoots.

Lately traveling with 16 Redvolts, 4 Bebob Rouge 90, Beboub Rouge 140 and Bebob Rouge 210, never any issues, and that is lots of power... ;)
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Wait... You don't mean that you bring 210 Wh batteries onboard planes, do you?
 
i had a bit of a scary run in with the TSA during thanksgiving. on the return leg from Knoxville TN i set of the chemical detector for the swab test not once but three times. I was carrying one of the D300 from Lowepro just with the Pentax still, a few small manual primes, with just my laptop and three days of clothes. anyone who has this bag knows how easy it is to over pack one of these things with gear so i was traveling really light for a change. I've carried 16mm in this bag to germany and switzerland and had it and its content swabbed dozens of times never had a problem.
so now that ive set off the chemical detector the head TSA official came over and was overseeing the search and I had to get pat down.
These were probably the nicest TSA officials i have ever had to deal with which was very surprising. It helped it was a small airport and not very busy.
After the third swab, which was from my camera charger, set off the detector; the guy searching my bag said this was basically time to call the police and have them investigate. My saving grace was the head official had recently gotten into photography and started asking about my equipment and if i had been working on any projects. after a few minutes someone else came up and asked if i had transported film in the bag, which i have done plenty of times. after that they told me it was most likely from the film and i was free to go. The head official stayed and talked photography with me for a while but it was a very nerve racking 40mins.
so personally i would play it safe with batteries and stay under 160 Wh. i dont need anything else for them to fuss about.
 
TonySegreto said:
Any problems with putting the equipment through the X-Ray machine or do you guys normally opt out of it?
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The swab test comes after the X-ray, usually by random selection.
I've had a couple of false positives as well, but they figured out that the detector was having a problem, not my bag.
 
I think staying with in the regulations is one thing and its important. The other more practical thing is do you really want to be some where mid atlantic with all those Lithium batteries in the hold or worse in the cabin if one decides to kick off and with all the traveling some where some time it will happen.
 
The thing is one battery won't just kick off, it needs to be shorted. Unless it's damaged somehow this is very unlikely. Also the regulations do state you can check Li-ion batteries usnder 100WA if they are "Installed in a device". So as long as you check your 90WA batts on the charger you should be within the regs. not that they'd even know what they were looking at.
 
Brian Iannone said:
I've been looking at some of the international battery regulations and 160 Wh seems to be the universal maximum.

- British Airways
- Lufthansa [PDF]
- Qantas
- Virgin Atlantic [PDF]

Also, it seems that some airlines suggest that passengers carrying batteries between 100-160 Wh (classified as "dangerous goods") review the UN Manual of Tests and Criteria [PDF] (UN Manual of Tests and Criteria: 4th Revised Edition - Lithium Battery Testing Requirements [PDF]). Seems a bit much, but I guess it can't hurt to read...
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Brian,

Thank you for posting these links.

I hope that someday, REDUser will have a section dedicated to informative "non-partisan" documents that will serve as a resource library for all of us. (Not a thread like Crucial Ordinance (which is extremely valuable in and of itself), but a library of public documents - just click to download - and all in one place)

Just last week we held our SMPTE section meeting at Anton Bauer - with part of the tech presentation covering TSA regs.
Some info from that meeting to share: If weight is not a concern, there is no restriction on NiCad batteries - carry as many as you want at any capacity level.
However, be aware that Europe does not look kindly on NiCads - Cadmium is considered a hazardous waste. Expect that in the coming years, more of the world will follow suit.

From my own experience; whenever possible, travel with a couple of batteries to cover most of your needs, but consider renting a few batteries and an extra charger on location. When the "excess baggage" fees (even when checking in as media) or FedEx charges are considered, you may find renting batteries locally a wash on cost - and it sets you up with local rental houses. Establishing a relationship with a rental house in a new city can be very valuable when you discover a piece of gear you brought has a case of the hiccups.

If you have a long term shoot in a foreign country, establish a relationship with a vendor there - it might make more sense to purchase batteries from them in advance - pick them up when you land - and then sell them back as used three weeks later. The vendor makes money twice - selling once as new, a second time as barely used (they will know the locals looking for a deal) - and you get to travel light. Everybody wins.

Oh - about those that take the "I don't care about the TSA" attitude, Damn it - get real. This is serious stuff - those regs are there for a reason. A friend of mine had to try to find pieces of that passenger plane that dove into the everglades. Do you really want to be responsible for killing a plane load of people?
 
In Case someone is interested

In Case someone is interested

I just traveled from Mexico City to San Francisco to LA to Taipei and to Bangkok with 3 bricks and my bag was only checked at SF... I had to check in again at LA and they didn't even stop my bag... same thing in MEX and China.

Best!
 
Martin Burillo said:
I just traveled from Mexico City to San Francisco to LA to Taipei and to Bangkok with 3 bricks and my bag was only checked at SF... I had to check in again at LA and they didn't even stop my bag... same thing in MEX and China.

Best!
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It's the responsibility of the manuf. to supply the end user with the appropriate information regarding the laws. People can choose to do want they want with the information.

I just came back from a trip and realized the tube of toothpaste I had was over the 3 oz. and did get by without it being found in my carry-on. TSA could have stopped me and confiscated the toothpaste, which would have been no big deal....but I don't think I would have felt the same if they took a $400 battery from me.

Martin, I'm not sure if you're saying you got by or that you followed the guidelines, but I always recommend to follow the FAA because no one wants to have their batteries confiscated. The cost involved to replace/rent at your destination far exceeds the reward.
 
I'm finishing up my shoot in Mississippi right now. I had 1 RED brick on the camera, 2 in my bag, and the DP had 2 in his baggage. We never had a day where we used more than 4. Honestly I think 3-4 bricks is probably enough for an entire day without charging. If you have a charger 3 is perfect. TSA guidelines in this case aren't too bad =)
 
I always get stopped, but now because of the new scanners I opt out anyway. No way will I go through one of those. There's a reason they stopped using those in Europe. I love how I have to school the TSA on those things.
 
Jarek Zabczynski said:
I always get stopped, but now because of the new scanners I opt out anyway. No way will I go through one of those. There's a reason they stopped using those in Europe. I love how I have to school the TSA on those things.
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I thought I was the only one that opt opts out every time! It's a pain every time, but it's better than any amount of extra radiation you might get.
 
I was in Nashville in 2010 to shoot an interview with Nicky Hayden for Oakley. When leaving, I went through the screening and one of the RED V-Bricks kept getting flagged as having explosive traces. I guess they have sniffers in the x-ray machine because they got the alert right out of the machine. They swabbed the equipment, narrowed it down to one of my 2 batteries. They re-ran the x-ray again and then the TSA agent said he was going to call the BDE. I asked what that meant and he said Bomb Disposal Expert! This tall, fit gentleman in a nice suit came over. His manner was one of trained military. He looked at the battery and had TSA x-ray it one more time while he watched. He asked me if I had been around explosives lately and I said no, but the gear belonged to Oakley and several people use it and sometimes there are pyrotechnics involved in shoots. He wanted to know if I knew this battery had been used in that scenario, I said I did not for a fact. He said he knew it was a battery and it had just been exposed to explosives on the outside, so he took my ID and boarding pass photographed them with his phone and let me go to the plane. He was very polite and very smart. That all took about an hour.

I have been through that airport a few times since and consider it one of the most professional TSA crews, no one was ever freaking out.

When I get back to the Oakley video office I am telling the story and one of the team there says, "Oh yeah they were doing a back country snow board shoot and they split the gear up between several people and one of guys was the one who uses explosives to blast avalanches". I look at him and asked him why he didn't say anything earlier? He just forgot about it until I mentioned it. The next shoot he went on, he took the camera body from that shoot he forgot to tell me about, and he spent about 90 minutes with the TSA. Same traces of explosives. He said that wasn't as bad as what they did to the guy behind him who started touching his belongings to push them through the x-ray machine, because he was impatient. They hauled that guy away to another room. DO NOT ever touch another passengers stuff because if it comes up for review they are wondering why you were messing with other peoples belongings.




http://briferg.com
 
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Quick little tidbit. I loaned a friend of mine 2x190wh GMP batteries for his shoot in Japan for a documentary. He managed to make it there ok with my batteries, however, didnt have the same luck coming back.. Luckily he's a nice guy and didnt tell me to piss off and replaced them for me. But I have to say that it makes me concerned to pack them up and take them on a pane again.
 
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