Large lithium battery as cabin baggage?

crisjones said:
Perhaps you would like to point us to the relevant CAA reports about these fatal crashes so we can form our own opinions? - Apart from the obvious Boeing battery problems that are well known but did not cause any fatalities as far as I remember.

I fully understand why airlines have rules about lithium batteries but the rules are aimed at phone, tablet and backup batteries for those devices - such batteries are very high energy density chemistries and they have been shown to be very dangerous in certain circumstances or conditions - hence the restrictions. An outboard battery like the OP is asking about is a much safer chemistry and no where near as volatile but as far as the airlines are concerned it is still a lithium battery. Personally I would be quite happy flying on a plane with a Torquedo (or similar) battery in hold or cabin baggage - if it is not connected to anything and is properly packaged it is just as safe as some items that are allowed on board without restriction.
I am not suggesting the OP should break the rules, merely pointing out that the blanket policy of the airlines is far easier for them to police than to make exceptions for Lithium batteries that can be safely transported.
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Since the start of lithium batteries the rules have been slugged yo the over safe partly so that they can have simple and easily understood and applied rules. I used to have great problems shipping a device powered by a lithium battery which was designed to not only be fitted to an aircraft but also survive a crash.
 
I fully understand why airlines have rules about lithium batteries but the rules are aimed at phone, tablet and backup batteries for those devices - such batteries are very high energy density chemistries and they have been shown to be very dangerous in certain circumstances or conditions - hence the restrictions.
I am not suggesting the OP should break the rules, merely pointing out that the blanket policy of the airlines is far easier for them to police than to make exceptions for Lithium batteries that can be safely transported.[/QUOTE]


It's not the airlines that are to blame for this. They are governed by the Civil Aviation Authority and the Dangerous Goods by Air regulations.
They merely take the regulations and turn them into a manageable set of rules for their airline.
 
KompetentKrew said:
For the last year or so I've been using a pair of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073FJ9X2J

They are ideal the purpose you describe - I can run my MacBook off one for 3 hours or more.

I have not dared to try taking them on a plane, though.
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That is very similar to the one I have ordered, and it is OK for both the CAA and AA at that size (less than 160 WH).
 
The following video shows the impact of a drone battery catching fire...


This one shows the impact on a few planes to date...

 
Have you tried asking the outboard battery manufacturer how they ship them around the world?
I used to send lots of primary lithium cells around the world and there are very strict rules about paperwork, packaging and shipping on cargo not passenger aircraft. In Australia all transport by air was forbidden and so the batteries had to transfer to sea and road freight so restrictions can vary with the location.
We did have an incident where a subsea instrument housing containing about 50 lithium D cells had a thermal runaway and the end cap weighing about 3kg was blown out and picked up 1/2 mile away.
Lithium batteries are definitely a potential hazard and should be treated with great respect as the consequences of an internal failure can be very serious.
 
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