Lithium Ion Batteries

[Mike Farley]

Our speaker at the last club meeting advocated packing spare camera batteries into hold luggage when flying, at which I expressed some concern at the time*. Lithium Ion is an unstable material and precautions are taken in the design and the manufacturing process of batteries to ensure that it does not combust spontaneously. Usually the mainstream manufacturers get it right, but even they sometimes have issues. Just ask Samsung, which must have lost billions when it recently had to withdraw its newly launched Galaxy Note 7 as some of them caught fire due to defective batteries. This is the main reason to use either OEM batteries or those from reputable third parties. Saving a few pounds on sites such as eBay or Amazon Marketplace might have other costs in the long run.

Airlines require passengers to transport lithium ion batteries in hand luggage as it is easier to deal with a fire in the cabin than if it occurs in the hold. There are also restrictions about how many can be carried and some airlines want the contacts to be taped to prevent the possibility of short circuits. If in doubt, it is best to consult the carrier before flying. There will probably be something on the website.

By serendipitous chance, DPReview has just published an article about litium ion batteries. It is a fairly long and explain the issues in some detail. If you are not interested in the more technical aspects, scroll down to the section headed "How does this affect camera batteries?".

https://www.dpreview.com/news/140899737 ... -batteries

* I did have a brief chat with the speaker afterwards as he still seemed unsure. Hopefully he will not be checking batteries into the aircraft hold when I informed him that the airline might deny him travel and/or not load his suitcase if they spot the batteries during the security check.