Do you remember the last time we wrote about being stopped by Airport Security (TSA)? For those of you who missed it, please check it out here: So I got stopped at #TSA ~ #TravellingTips #TravellingTales
I recently had another opportunity fly and keeping in mind what happened last time, I decided to see what would happen if I took our "Executive" battery along for the ride.
On arriving at the TSA, we had to perform the usual drill: put iPad in separate bins, take off shoes....etc. Not sure of what to expect, I left my 34.2ah battery (127wh) in my bag and shoved it through the X-ray machine. Well, I ended up walking through the body scanner and picking up my backpack (with my battery inside) on the other side. They didn't stop me, there were no delays and everything went quiet smoothly! All I kept thinking was: "Damn, I am not going to have much to blog about!"
Besides my disappointment at a lack of blog content though 😂, I am happy to report that it seems that even our Executive may at times makes it through TSA.
So with nothing else to blog about, I thought I would use this space just to answer a recent question by one of our battery users. He was asking us how we calculate our battery capacities (thinking all our batteries where over the 100W max for airlines). We calculate our battery capacities by multiplying the voltage of the individual cells inside the battery by it's total Ah.
For example - with our "executive" battery, the cells inside are each 3.7v so we take 3.7v x 34200mah which would then = 127wH.
If you do these calculations with all of our batteries, you will actually see that technically, the only two batteries that are not TSA compliant are our "CEO" which is ~195wH and our "Executive" which is ~127wH. All the rest of our batteries (which we call the platinum batteries) are good to go for TSA.
Why am I telling you this? Are we telling you to break the law or that you won't ever get stopped at TSA if you carry our CEO or Executive? No. Remember, your 'mileage' may vary, and you could end up having your battery confiscated or worse. Also remember...there is a reason they call me Mikegyver!! 😂
I have always wondered though, what the difference is between taking two 24aH batteries on a flight (177wH in total) and one big battery (like our Executive) that is 127wH. We would love to hear your thoughts on this one or any stories you might have of getting any of our batteries through TSA.
So what do you think? Is it the same as taking two batteries or one large one? Is it worth the risk?
Stay powered up "SAFELY"!
Mike
MCT-corp.com
My understanding is the limit is not 100 but 160wH.
ReplyDelete"With airline approval, devices can contain larger lithium ion batteries (101-160 watt hours per battery), but spares of this size are limited to two batteries in carry-on baggage only. This size covers the largest aftermarket extended-life laptop batteries and most lithium ion batteries for professional-grade audio/visual equipment."
https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ash/ash_programs/hazmat/passenger_info/media/Airline_passengers_and_batteries.pdf
Yes, looks like it's been updated. I have been still under the notion that it's 100wh.
ReplyDelete