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What would happen if I brought a laser to an airport?

brendon7358

brendon7358

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If the laser was FAA compliant (has lock and key) and i brought it to an airport would the airport security confiscate it ? I do not plan on doing this anytime soon however Im just wondering in case I want to in the future. btw the laser would be 200mw
 





No, it wouldn't be confiscated. The lithium ion batteries probably would be, though.

However, I don't usually take the chance for various reasons, mainly fragility, etc. But lasers themselves are not contraband nor are they TSA restricted.

Again, though, 18650s are.
 
aryntha said:
No, it wouldn't be confiscated. The lithium ion batteries probably would be, though.

However, I don't usually take the chance for various reasons, mainly fragility, etc. But lasers themselves are not contraband nor are they TSA restricted.

Again, though, 18650s are.
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Why would the batteries be confiscated?
 
Because they are TSA restricted, read the sentence again. :D

EDIT: Beat me to it
 
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Yes, and while you could leave 18650s "installed" in your laser during travel, i'd REALLY REALLY REALLY not recommend it. Especially unprotected cells, with lots of temperature change, vibration, and pressure changes. It's basically a pipe bomb waiting to happen. I never transport lasers with 18650s or CR123s, etc, installed.

And the uninstalled cells would not be allowed, as per the links above.

So, the batteries are the issue, not the laser.
 
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aryntha said:
Yes, and while you could leave 18650s "installed" in your laser during travel, i'd REALLY REALLY REALLY not recommend it. Especially unprotected cells, with lots of temperature change, vibration, and pressure changes. It's basically a pipe bomb waiting to happen. I never transport lasers with 18650s or CR123s, etc, installed.

And the uninstalled cells would not be allowed, as per the links above.

So, the batteries are the issue, not the laser.
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Couldn't I put the batteries in the laser and then have it in a carry on ? Not much more would happen to it in a carry on bag than would happen in a car... btw the batteries are 16340 and the laser is this http://lazerer.com/index.php?route=...me=200mw&filter_category_id=27&product_id=121
 
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As a pilot, I wouldn't want it on my plane. Yes, cabin pressure is regulated, but only to 8000ft equivalent or so. So, with those pressure changes, in a sealed container , it isn't really the same as a car.

Additionally , if the LiIon does breach, the circumstance is a lot more dire than in a car.

The TSA regulating LiIon isn't just bring done to ruin the party. They're dangerous..

Of course you can try and nothing will likely happen. But it could. So if your question is "can I get away with it"-- probably. If the question is "is it a good idea", I don't think so. So if you're asking, I'd recommend against it. Ship your batteries ahead, maybe.
 
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aryntha said:
As a pilot, I wouldn't want it on my plane. Yes, cabin pressure is regulated, but only to 8000ft equivalent or so. So, with those pressure changes, in a sealed container , it isn't really the same as a car.

Additionally , if the LiIon does breach, the circumstance is a lot more dire than in a car.

The TSA regulating LiIon isn't just bring done to ruin the party. They're dangerous..

Of course you can try and nothing will likely happen. But it could. So if your question is "can I get away with it"-- probably. If the question is "is it a good idea", I don't think so. So if you're asking, I'd recommend against it. Ship your batteries ahead, maybe.
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Ok :) I just wanted to know because I went to South America when i was a kid and they had lasers there and we would fight over the one laser that you could see a dot on the fence 10ft away at nightime :crackup: lol failure. So I just wanted to show them a real laser sometime but I guess not :(. I do plan on bringing the laser with me on a few flights with my Piper 180 though :D
 
I don't think those batteries would fall into the restriction... You can bring a whole LI-ION battery pack for a laptop and they won't care about it...

You could leave the batteries installed in the device while going through security and remove them once you got on the plane or at the gate to be safe.

I doubt the "highly trained" TSA agents will have a clue how many grams of lithum are in your batteries anyway, or that they are even liIOn and not AA :p
 
How about some nice "Safe chemistry" LiMN batteries. 18560
I like to hear opinions & experience anyone has with these or other non- Li-ions?
 
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are Lion batterys going to explode when exposed to blunt force?

I destroyed 3x fully charged 2500mAh 18650s at work with a 14 pound sledge hammer, in each case the most that happened was there was a bit of heat generated, some small amounts of gas and dielectric.

1 of the 18650s looked like a 16340 after the first hit :P

None of them exploded and i had mass amounts of PPE on.
 
I always though lasers would be Illegal on planes due to the fact they could carry a small bomb or even blind people on the plane... PLEASE don't tell the FAA this or Lasers may get banned from airports :(
 
brendon7358 said:
If the laser was FAA compliant (has lock and key) and i brought it to an airport would the airport security confiscate it ? I do not plan on doing this anytime soon however Im just wondering in case I want to in the future. btw the laser would be 200mw
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Laser are not FAA compliant, they would be FDA compliant.
When I fly I do not take lasers with me due to the fear that they might get taken away. I have a hard enough time taking tools on the plane and usually have to demonstrate the my test meters are test meters by turning them on. (including a laser line level) So I usually send them next day air the day before I leave and that way they are always waiting for me when I get there.
 
00Giorge said:
Laser are not FAA compliant, they would be FDA compliant.
When I fly I do not take lasers with me due to the fear that they might get taken away. I have a hard enough time taking tools on the plane and usually have to demonstrate the my test meters are test meters by turning them on. (including a laser line level) So I usually send them next day air the day before I leave and that way they are always waiting for me when I get there.
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If a laser has a lock and key it is FAA compliant isn't it? and what do lasers have to do with the FOOD and DRUG administration?
 
Why would the FAA anything to do with lasers? Unless you shine your laser at an aircraft the FAA has nothing to do with lasers. The FDA along with U.S. Customs are the ones that are confiscating the lasers when they are shipped in to the country.
Do some searching and reading, if you are going to have laser it might be something that you might want to know.
Let me google that for you
 
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