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US DOT restrictions on lithium and lithium-ion batteries

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
The US Department of Transportation has announced new rules, effective 2008.01.01, regarding lithium and lithium-ion batteries in checked and carry-on luggage.

Briefly, such batteries are only allowed in checked luggage when installed in a device (presumably, one intended to use the battery type in question). In other words, "spare" batteries must be in carry-on luggage.

The new US DOT restrictions on lithium and lithium-ion batteries are summarized here:

http://safetravel.dot.gov/whats_new_batteries.html

Specifics of the limitation are based on the equivalent metallic lithium content of the battery.

The OEM batteries used by most Canon EOS cameras are of the Li-ion type.

For reference, based on the equivalence given on that site (1 g Li = 12 W·h of rated battery capacity), a Canon BP-511A battery (7.4 V, 1390 mA·h, 10.3 W·h) would be considered to have a lithium equivalent of about 0.86 g.

The rules as stated on that site are not entirely clear regarding the number of batteries that may be carried.

My interpretation is that one may carry, onboard, any number of batteries (either in-place or as "spares") each having an equivalent lithium content of not over 8 g, plus up to two batteries (in-place or as "spares") having individual lithium equivalents contents of over 8 g but with a total equivalent of not over 25 g. But I do not represent this interpretation as authentic.
 
Last edited:

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Greetings,

My interpretation is that one may carry, onboard, any number of batteries (either in-place or as "spares") each having an equivalent lithium content of not over 8 g, plus up to two batteries (in-place or as "spares") having individual lithium equivalents contents of over 8 g but with a total equivalent of not over 25 g. But I do not represent this interpretation as authentic.

Doug Pardee of dpr has pointed out that I have apparently misinterpreted the second aspect of the rule. I'll state my new understanding of the onboard limits in the same format as originally:

One may carry, onboard, any number of batteries (either in-place or as "spares") each having an equivalent lithium content of not over 8 g, plus up to two batteries (in-place or as "spares") having individual equivalent lithium contents of over 8 g but not over 25 g.

[That is, the total ELC for the two batteries does not figure into it.]

Additionally, I find that the algorithm for assigning an equivalent lithium content (ELC) to a lithium-ion battery is to multiply the A·h rating of one cell by 0.3 (the result being in grams) and then multiplying by the number of cells. This is spoken of in the formal rules as the "aggregate" ELC rating for the battery.

In a battery with the cells in series (such as a Canon BP-511A) the A·h rating of the cells is the same as that of the battery.

Thus, for a BP-511A (two cells in series), with a capacity rating of 1.390 A·h, the ELC would be 0.834 g.

Sorry for the misdirection, and thanks to Doug Pardee for straightening me out.

Best regards,

Doug
 
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