Hey all.

I just finished shooting a doc in Taiwan and had 5 EPIC batteries taken away from Japanese security. They were in the productions managers checked bag. Anyone here fly and shoot with the EPIC or travel with strong lithium ion batteries (160wh+)?

~Scott

Large Lithium Ion batteries now require a UN certificate for air travel or shipped as hazardous material via UPS/FedEx, etc. This is due to the fire and explosion hazard in the past with these types of batteries. Most of the time, baggage screeners don't check, but when they do, if they don't have the proper documentation, the screeners can hold or pull them.

http://www.applied-power.com/documents/ ... ations.pdf
http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/offe ... es/untest/
http://www.fdk.co.jp/battery/lithium/certification.html

That's to bad. I guess I would need to source out power supplies in the country of the shoot the next time. We left the production manager in Tokyo to ship the batteries by boat the next day. Nippon Airways was kind enough to comp the new ticket but the production manager said he was not allowed to ship by boat either. The batteries are still in Japan, and we will not get them back. Thanks for the links we will apply for the documentation next time.
~Scott~

I read the UL guidelines. Very funny stuff. The only thing which makes sense is step two, indicating that if a manufacturer has a battery which fails the UN test, the manufacturer is supposed to redesign it until it passes. At this point, it would be reasonable to have that battery type certified as safe for air travel (or ship, etc.). The rest of it is just red tape and a tax. Should I feel safer knowing someone filled out the right papers and paid the right guy?

Anything over 100 W/H per battery pack is banned anyway. If you are travelling to a country where you can buy batteries, I guess you are supposed to buy them once you get there and leave them behind when you go home. Anyone travelling to a country that does not have an electronics store on every block should invest in some hamsters and a little wheel that turns a generator.