[NSRCA-discussion] Flying or shipping Lipos for a contest

[Peter Vogel]

DOT’s rule on lithium batteries in air travel, which took effect on January
1, 2008, prohibits carriage of spare lithium batteries in checked baggage,
such as large suitcases you hand over to the airline for handling. If you
put a portable electronic device in checked baggage, you may still do so
with the batteries installed in the device. -- In short, you cannot *check*
bagage with LiPo batteries.

In checked baggage, I believe the rules say that 8 grams of equivalent
lithium content is approximately 100 watt-hours while 25 grams is
approximately 300 watt-hours.

   - You can bring batteries with up to 8-gram equivalent lithium content
   (100 watt-hours).
   - 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*.
   - For a lithium metal
battery<http://www.tech-ex.net/2007/12/new-lithium-battery-flight-restrictions.html#>,
   whether installed in a device or carried as a spare, the limit on lithium
   content is *2 grams of lithium metal per battery*.


So, 5s * 5A = 92.5 Watt-hours, just under the 8 gram equivalent.  "per
battery" is "per-cell" so we're well under the 2 gram threshold as well.

In theory, because each individual pack is under the 8 gram threshold, you
can take as many as you like.  In practice, given that these things are
*very* obvious and suspicious looking in an X-ray view and the TSA boots on
the ground are probably not as familiar with bare LiPo batteries such as we
use, I'd limit myself to taking 4 5s batteries, 2 10s packs in my baggage.
If he's travelling with someone, I'd put 4 more packs in there and have them
go several people in front or behind in the security line.

Peter+

On Thu, Sep 29, 2011 at 3:51 PM, <AtwoodDon at aol.com> wrote:

> **
> Guys, what is the latest rulings/guidelines for shipping or flying with
> lipos if you have to travel to a contest?  Have a friend coming out from
> Denver for the Sacramento contest and he was asking if he could ship or fly
> with his lipos.  He has 5S setups he connects as a 10S to fly.
>
> Thanks
> Don
>
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