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Airlines now banning hoverboards on flights


Hank

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Hoverboards have seen a recent uptick in popularity, especially as a holiday gift for the techies in your life. But airline authorities are warning about packing them onto a flight this holiday season, and some carriers have even banned them outright.

On Thursday, Delta Air Lines banned hoverboards in carry-on and checked baggage, citing the product's fire hazard risk. British Airways and JetBlue, among others, also bar the devices from flights.

Federal safety regulators have also stepped up an investigation of the hoverboards following reports of fires and explosions. The Consumer Product Safety Commission told NBC News it received "at least 10" reports of hoverboard fires and that that number is increasing daily.

Hoverboards are powered by lithium-ion and lithium-metal batteries. If metal objects such as keys, coins, tools or other batteries come in contact with both ends of these batteries, it can create an electrical current which can cause extreme heat and sparks and even start a fire.

Full story:

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/10/more-airlines-ban-hoverboards-due-to-fire-risk.html

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While I would love to be able to take my EU with me on a flight and on vacation, I would prefer to not have people bringing questionable devices on board and risking an in-flight fire.  So I gladly sacrifice the convenience of my EU traveling with me and hope that all airlines buckle down on these [for now].  

I hope that at some point there will be better quality assurance of devices like this to ensure that they meet safety standards of each country they are being delivered to.  If we can get to this point, maybe airlines can loosen restrictions.

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1 hour ago, Cranium said:

I hope that at some point there will be better quality assurance of devices like this to ensure that they meet safety standards of each country they are being delivered to.  If we can get to this point, maybe airlines can loosen restrictions.

These batteries are being used in many different applications - if anything, people will start doing a better job hiding them when they pack for air travel.  The danger will remain until the either the battery technology or building of the packs progresses to reduce any current inherent fire hazard.

 

 

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Looks like it's not just hoverboards. From Delta's announcement:

"Employee and passenger safety remains the airline’s top priority, driving Delta to disallow hoverboards and all lithium battery powered self-balancing personal transportation devices in carry-on and checked baggage effective Dec. 11."

http://news.delta.com/delta-bans-hoverboards-out-safety-considerations

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3 minutes ago, Hank said:

These batteries are being used in many different applications - if anything, people will start doing a better job hiding them when they pack for air travel. 

This is only addressing the ban on hoverboards (and apparently other self-balancing devices).  People won't be hiding batteries for these devices if they can't take the device with them.  And trying to hide an entire hoverboard or EU would not be possible.

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1 hour ago, Chuts said:

I work for a world wide logistics company and they are classed as dangerous goods and are no longer shipped.

It has become a PITA to get an air-bag enabled leather motorcycle racing suit (Dainese D-Air) shipped from Italy here into the US thanks to the batteries (and they are very small batteries).

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1 hour ago, Cranium said:
1 hour ago, Cranium said:
1 hour ago, Cranium said:

This is only addressing the ban on hoverboards (and apparently other self-balancing devices).  People won't be hiding batteries for these devices if they can't take the device with them.  And trying to hide an entire hoverboard or EU would not be possible.

 

 

This is the post I meant to reply to....  these types of batteries are used in many devices - not just hover boards & EUCs. 

Yes, a hover Board or EUC is difficult to sneak aboard a plane, but other devices that use these types of batteries will still be brought on board.  And with the same potential for possible fire hazards. 

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It would be right time respectful chinese manufacturers create some kind of certificate for safe batteries.

Real certificate, not a copied one. If they want to keep their markets.

Seems this a problem mostly with hoverboards and the reason might be, people buy the cheapest hoverboards not thinking about quality.

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All the more reason to go with a reputed EUC brand that uses high quality certified Japanes batteries.

A face plant or driving recklessly and ending up under a bus is one thing, and comes with the territory of the EUC rider's hobby.

A burnt down house with the whole family in it, or an airplane crash, that is of an entirely different dimension.

These rubbish batteries, should be banned with immediate effect.

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On 11.12.2015 at 7:16 PM, Hank said:

These batteries are being used in many different applications - if anything, people will start doing a better job hiding them when they pack for air travel.  The danger will remain until the either the battery technology or building of the packs progresses to reduce any current inherent fire hazard.

 

 

 

On 11.12.2015 at 7:18 PM, Dyyys1 said:

Looks like it's not just hoverboards. From Delta's announcement:

"Employee and passenger safety remains the airline’s top priority, driving Delta to disallow hoverboards and all lithium battery powered self-balancing personal transportation devices in carry-on and checked baggage effective Dec. 11."

http://news.delta.com/delta-bans-hoverboards-out-safety-considerations

 

On 11.12.2015 at 9:03 PM, Hank said:

This is the post I meant to reply to....  these types of batteries are used in many devices - not just hover boards & EUCs. 

Yes, a hover Board or EUC is difficult to sneak aboard a plane, but other devices that use these types of batteries will still be brought on board.  And with the same potential for possible fire hazards. 

While I can't be sure, I still suspect most of the fuss is caused by the low quality fake cells... original high quality cells made by big companies (like Samsung, LG, Panasonic Sonyo...) have very few faulty units (I think I saw somewhere a number saying 1 in 10 million), and even then, the in-built (even in so-called "unprotected cells", like most used in EUCs, with no separate electronic internal safety chip) safeties, like the current interruption device, should prevent any further harm. It's a pity that the good manufacturers and users also suffer from this, but I do see the safety point-of-view (you can't tell if the cells are good or not without opening up the entire pack and comparing the cells to originals/doing complicated tests). Remember also, that most of us carry devices with LiPo batteries (cellphones), that are (usually) more volatile, though carry less charge...

 

 

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I'd like to see something put out by the major manufacturers that puts these claims to rest.  What are Solowheel or Airwheel doing to make their customers feel safe about their devices.  Are they in talks with airlines to allow these on flights?  IIRC, Solowheel was using airline approved as a selling point. 

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One way to go around this (kind of) would be to ship the batteries more slower with ships, and assemble the wheels in the destination country (meaning slap the battery in). Or just move the wheels themselves by ships, of course it means much longer delivery times, so resellers would need to stock up more in advance.

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On 11/12/2015 at 3:27 AM, MarkoMarjamaa said:

It would be right time respectful chinese manufacturers create some kind of certificate for safe batteries.

Real certificate, not a copied one. If they want to keep their markets.

Seems this a problem mostly with hoverboards and the reason might be, people buy the cheapest hoverboards not thinking about quality.

Official Chinese battery manufacturers already have this.  The problem is that there are also counterfeit factories out there.  That make things on the cheap.  The Hoverboard companies want to cut corners to make more money so they buy these cheap counterfeit batteries to put into their products.  The even bigger problem is that these hoverboard companies know very well what they are buying.

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On 11/12/2015 at 4:13 AM, Jurgen said:

All the more reason to go with a reputed EUC brand that uses high quality certified Japanes batteries.

A face plant or driving recklessly and ending up under a bus is one thing, and comes with the territory of the EUC rider's hobby.

A burnt down house with the whole family in it, or an airplane crash, that is of an entirely different dimension.

These rubbish batteries, should be banned with immediate effect.

Most of the time the hoverboard manufacturers know that they are buying counterfeit batteries.  They don't really care if the product you buy goes up in flames in a few hours of using it.  They made the hoverboards cheaply and got massive profit from it.

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7 minutes ago, Chuts said:

Most of the time the hoverboard manufacturers know that they are buying counterfeit batteries.  They don't really care if the product you buy goes up in flames in a few hours of using it.  They made the hoverboards cheaply and got massive profit from it.

They will care if because of that, they won't be able to sell to global anymore

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2 hours ago, Supersmi said:

They will care if because of that, they won't be able to sell to global anymore

It doesn't matter, I guesstermate that 95% of these companies are not in it for the long run.  Genuine hoverboard companies will be left with a tarnished product and may even have to close up shop because of it.

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4 hours ago, Chuts said:

It doesn't matter, I guesstermate that 95% of these companies are not in it for the long run.  Genuine hoverboard companies will be left with a tarnished product and may even have to close up shop because of it.

I'm afraid you're right. I guess that now we'll have to order 3 months in advance if we want to have one at a certain date. Unless there is a local dealer which has enough stock. 

Future will tell ....

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  • 3 months later...

recent update on Airlines policy.

Some of my friends at Amazon bought EUC in Shenzhen and brought them back to USA.   They had to declare them at luggage department and prove they did not have battery in unit.  The Huixia units and MoHoo units have one screw compartment to remove battery with two connectors (Deans and XT-60).  So they removed the battery and showed the attendent that the battery compartment was empty.  What they did not mention was that the battery was in their checked suitcase.

 

The Samsung batteries in my MoHoo all have PTC safety device in each cell (limits incoming and outgoing current, voltage, and temperature).   This is the critical element.  All the battery components have to have PTC in each cell.   Then the batteries are reasonably safe.  I have large laptops with extended battery packs that are the same size as my 135Watt-hour MoHoo unit.   They never bother me about those laptop battery packs when I get on the plane.

 

So I would suggest that we push all EUC makers to make "quick release" batteries so that we could show airlines that no battery is present.    It would be quite a different story to say why my luggage is so heavy from my two battery packs.  LOL.

   tjcooper

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That's just stupid, to get past the battery restriction ban on airlines they put it into the luggage hold. potentially putting all the lives of that plane at risk.  Risking your own life is everyone's right but to risk other peoples lives is a stupid and incompetent thing to do.

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They don't get on the plane period, checked in or as hand luggage.

Maybe the pilot could wangle an exception, they would be quite handy for terminal transits and all that space on the runway.

 

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