The new rule will limit passengers to a total of two spare batteries, including power banks.
While there is no limit on the number of spare batteries below 100 watt-hours, carrying power banks exceeding 160 watt-hours will remain prohibited.
Power banks will be capped at two units regardless of power capacity.
Do you need to be intellectually challenged to understand this?
Political class whore: “Should we regulate the corporations producing these faulty batteries?”
Corporate Lobbyist: “nah, let’s just ban consumers from using them when they need them the most”
Political class whore: “yes, master”
They’re doing that too:
The concern driving this ban is primarily centered around defective units already in circulation, and the acceptance that they cannot realistically be certain about their ability to prevent manufacturers in other countries from shipping in more potentially defective units. Most modern airplanes I have seen have in-seat USB charging ports, which at least cuts down on the need some, and a few hours without a charged device is not going to end the lives of anyone traveling (especially since this rule has carve outs for medical devices, I’m told).
Most modern airplanes I have seen have in-seat USB charging ports
You probably shouldn’t trust those to actually work. Or even to be safe enough to not kill whatever you plug into them.
Also you shouldn’t plug your phone into random USB ports, although i guess carrying a charge pass through adapter is an option.
Just use your regular charger, there are typically outlets under the seat in front of you on B737/A320 and larger. Even many regional jets have them these days. I never plug into a random USB port.
And they’re so loose that’s it’s a miracle if your charger stays in. Maybe if there were updates and changes to prevent this I would understand but as someone who’s working 99% of the time while traveling, it’s a surprise when the ports work and I rely on battery banks heavily
If you’re that worried about it (and don’t have at least a passthrough charging cable), you can just turn your devices off and bring a book. I don’t know why you’d be worried about it killing your devices though, if a plane’s electrical system has failed so badly it’s going to fry things on the USB bus then you’ve got much bigger problems.
Damaged ports with shorted pins, voltage fluctuations, etc.
The passenger electrical system is as isolated from the the rest of the plane as possible, but if the entire thing fails, sure then yeah you’re fucked and have bigger problems
A USB transceiver is required to withstand a continuous short circuit of D+ and/or D- to VBUS, GND, other data line, or the cable shield at the connector, for a minimum of 24 hours without degradation
Shorts aren’t really a concern with decent hardware, but as far as I can tell that’s the problem with the power banks that are failing - they’re not decent hardware, so minor damage attached to a very energetic bag o’ chemistry results in (very occasional) fiery disaster.
Is that for USB A and USB C? USB PD could be riskier if it shorts VBUS to D+ or D- since it can negotiate up to 12 volts, IIRC
If you really really need to charge your phone on a plane, all modern ones have AC and USB.
Have you tried using them though…? Half of the time they’re broken/unpowered for some reason or the internal retention springs are so utterly fucked that it doesn’t maintain consistent contact with the plug and your charger just falls out.
In my experience, the USB plugs are even more uncommon, and USB-C ones doubly so - and they’re always low power ones, so you’re fucked if you’re trying to drive a laptop off of that.
Yes, I haven’t had any issues like that.
And if you can’t charge your laptop off the USB port, that’s what the AC outlet is for.
all modern ones
laughs in outdated aircraft that always run my route
In this thread “This isn’t a problem for the 0.1% of the world so therefor not a problem”.
