New TSA Limits on Lith/Ion batteries

[PharmerPhil 0]

Effective January 1st, the TSA is instituting new regulations on carrying spare lithium-ion batteries on commercial flights. I just became aware of this, and it appears that any battery installed on a device (i.e. on the camera or computer) is okay. However, any spare batteries are now prohibited from being in checked luggage (I think), and there are limits to how many large batteries you can carry in your carry-on luggage. More info here:

http://phmsa.dot.gov/portal/site/PHMSA/menuitem.ebdc7a8a7e39f2e55cf2031050248a0c/?vgnextoid=24e4ffc638ef6110VgnVCM1000001ecb7898RCRD

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/batteries.shtm

I'm no expert here, and I think there are actually techical limits as to the amount of lithium in the spare batteries. That is, this may only apply to extremely large batteries such as are found on ENG cameras, and those large flat notebook batteries. But the way I read it, it still prohibits all spare batteries form checked luggage. As one who routinely carries two spare video batteries, one spare laptop battery, and one spare DSLR battery, I would love anyone with more info to chime in.

[DSE 5]

This predominantly affects large broadcast batts such as the Bauer series.
However, there are already ways around it, so I don't expect it to have a significant impact on individual camera contractors. Large productions in the field however....

[DSE 5]

IDX makes a statement on the broadcast batteries. As you can see, it won't really affect skydiving videographers very much.
It's gonna be a HUGE PITA for my company on some of our shoots though.
What we're gonna do to get around some of this, is carry an extra charger. Batteries installed on "devices" aren't counted, and chargers are "devices."