Flying with back-up light

[Dhboner]

I'm being told that it is dangerous to fly with the batteries installed on my back-up light. I was planning on keeping the light with me in my carry-on luggage. What if any are the problems with flying with the batteries installed in the light and should I remove them for travel.

Thanks!

Bob (Toronto)

 

[Dirty-Dog]

I've never heard that batteries in a flashlight would be dangerous. I do loosen the caps so that pressure changes don't seal them shut, but that's all.

 

[WetBoy101]

You'll be opening your bag at every TSA security checkpoint... Picture a flashlight with batteries on TSA X-ray scanner!!!

 

[iztok]

You'll be opening your bag at every TSA security checkpoint... Picture a flashlight with batteries on TSA X-ray scanner!!!

Have you had any experience with it?

I had about two dozen flights (with backup and primary lights) in last year and not once I had to do so.

 

[Scott]

I'm being told that it is dangerous to fly with the batteries installed on my back-up light. I was planning on keeping the light with me in my carry-on luggage. What if any are the problems with flying with the batteries installed in the light and should I remove them for travel.

Thanks!

Bob (Toronto)

Go to the source.
TSA: Safe Travel with Batteries and Devices

 

[WetBoy101]

I have been checked any time I had even wires for my IPod. The fact that you haven't, shows that our Airport Security is lacking any kind of consistency. Why bother checking if you aren't going to check everything?

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

Have you had any experience with it?

I had about two dozen flights (with backup and primary lights) in last year and not once I had to do so.

Actually yes. A mag light, loose batteries and a hair dryer in a carry on. I made the TSA people very upset. The let me see the pic and it really did look like a bomb the way the stuff was placed in the bag.

 

[redacted]

A dive light that is turned on without being UW may result in a fire. In order for them to get more light that a surface flashlight, they just are designed they have to draw more3 power which produces more heat. I had a Ikelite PC light turn on in my bag (version before the safety switch added to the power switch. The heavy plastic lens that was flat melted and now bubbles out about 1/2 inch.

The only place I have seen the removal of batteries required and enforced was Cozumel a number of years ago. I have not seen it anywhere recently. I do not remove my batteries but I do add an insulator between the batteries and the bulb as an additional guard against accidental activation. With smaller lights with only 2 batteries, I believe that switching the polarity on one of the two batteries also prevents any problem with accidental activation. This trick may not work on lights with more than 2 batteries. The insulator is really quite easy.

Then you just have to remember to remove it before you dive.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

Last flight, DIA to Curacao, our carry on included 2 primary lights, 2 backup lights (all lights had batteries in them), 2 sets of earbuds, 2 USB cables for our iPhones, the USB cable for my Suunto Stynger, a couple chargers for camera batteries plus various other wire thingies. The TSA never objected. The only thing that bothered them in the least was that I'd had a nuc med scan done two days before and was still radioactive.

I did dump all the C & D cells for the flight home, to leave weight for souvenirs.

 

[Damselfish]

I don't travel with batteries in any of my lights. (Have a bunch of little plastic cases to carry them.) Even if leaving the batteries in is within the rules, which it seems to be, I expect a light full of batteries looks more interesting than an empty one. I figure why increase my odds of getting searched. Then there is the fire hazard, however minimal. While it's true sticking something in there between the batteries and terminals should prevent any problems, it's unlikely to make the light look any less "interesting."