Power out on the Dawn Anyone know the cause

[smeyer418]

In all the postings there has been no cause noted....anyone know why(was there an announcement)?

 

yes I know it was caused by lack of electricity but there has to be a cause.

 

The NTSB investigated the Princess healing over issue and the Dawn's rogue wave but these both had property damage and injuries. I have not seen an announcement that an investigation is under way.

[barbgazz]

In all the postings there has been no cause noted....anyone know why(was there an announcement)?

 

yes I know it was caused by lack of electricity but there has to be a cause.

 

The NTSB investigated the Princess healing over issue and the Dawn's rogue wave but these both had property damage and injuries. I have not seen an announcement that an investigation is under way.

 

I guess we can all assume they have engine problems, beyond that, does it matter?

[smeyer418]

I guess we can all assume they have engine problems, beyond that, does it matter?

no just curious...although you know what the say about "assume"

[nepacruisers]

Has there been any information as to where they are taking the Dawn for repair work? Is she still in San Juan or heading to Freeport? We are scheduled on the tentative Dec 4 cruise and are following this situation closely. We will roll with whatever happens as most have from the ill-fated cruise. We realize that NCL will be doing everything they can to fix her as quickly as possible, but wish they would post more info on their site other than the cancellation of the Nov 29 cruise. We wish all our fellow cruisers who have had their vacations disrupted/ cancelled the best.

[iheartbda]

I guess we can all assume they have engine problems, beyond that, does it matter?

 

no just curious...although you know what the say about "assume"

Yep Sid.

I don't know the workings of a ship but it seems to me that the two things, electrical /engines can be independent of each other. Was on the Majesty to the Caribbean and we "lost" one engine. Nothing else electrical was affected, at least not anything that was apparent like AC. Everything was business as usual except we got into one port late.

 

"Inquireing minds, or like the rag says enquireing, want to know".:D

[mafig]

no just curious..

 

 

I'm curious too.

[philamike]

When I sailed on the Norwegian Pearl in June, I attended the Captain's slideshow presentation about the ship and her equipment. If I remember correctly, the ship contains two independent power plants -- if one fails, the other will operate the ship. But if both were rendered unusable, a backup system of charged batteries (these are massive units) can provide emergency/necessary power for propulsion and basic operations.

 

Given what Dawn's passengers have reported, I suspect that during the ship's power outage, the crew was unsuccessfully trying to get the redundant power plant operational. Then they switched over to the battery backup to limp over to San Juan.

 

I would also suspect (and hope) that they could have switched over to the battery system immediately if needed -- for example, if they had drifted dangerously close to a reef and needed to regain propulsion.

 

I do hope NCL makes the cause and resolution public, as I'm very curious... :-)

 

- Mike :-)

[BIG_Steve]

When I sailed on the Norwegian Pearl in June, I attended the Captain's slideshow presentation about the ship and her equipment. If I remember correctly, the ship contains two independent power plants -- if one fails, the other will operate the ship. But if both were rendered unusable, a backup system of charged batteries (these are massive units) can provide emergency/necessary power for propulsion and basic operations.

 

Given what Dawn's passengers have reported, I suspect that during the ship's power outage, the crew was unsuccessfully trying to get the redundant power plant operational. Then they switched over to the battery backup to limp over to San Juan.

 

I would also suspect (and hope) that they could have switched over to the battery system immediately if needed -- for example, if they had drifted dangerously close to a reef and needed to regain propulsion.

 

I do hope NCL makes the cause and resolution public, as I'm very curious... :-)

 

- Mike :-)

 

Interesting. Sounds as if (????) where ever the primary and secondary generators converge/switch could have been the failure point.

[smeyer418]

Interesting. Sounds as if (????) where ever the primary and secondary generators converge/switch could have been the failure point.

or a fire/problem in the electrical controls that made switching over impossible. I worked at a hospital that had wwII generators in case NY City lost electrical power. I was at the hospital during the 1970's electrical outage in NY City(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_blackout_of_1977). Eating dinner at one of the exec's houses on the campus. The generators were tested monthly. The only problem was the switch that turned the power from external to internal was never tested or used. You know what happened. the electricity went out and the switch didn't work. By the time it was fixed, one of the generators had burned out(when the generators switched on automatically, the engineer on duty was supposed to check each one for oil level but of course he was the person working on the switch-by the time the switch was working the generator-1 of 6- was gone so we had rolling blackouts of the hospital. I got to man the emergency operations center. On the morning of the black out we had been scheduled to have a NY State Department of Health inspection(conducted by a Nurse that we had fired from the hospital)needless to say she actually showed up and give us an ok report.

[bakerintn]

Not likely that all 4 generators would quit at the same time or near it. I would guess that the problem lies in the electricity distribution system (switches, wires, meters, etc).

[Don Haynes]

I can't imagine all the engines and generators failed at once. Appears the problem involves the switchboard....

[Wasasalad]

A couple years ago we lost all power on the Spirit! We were adrift off of Barbados for hours no power! We could feel the ship drifting, very frightening! Then we arrived in Barbados.

We knew that there was a problem because we were 8 hours late leaving Barbados! They were waiting for a repair crew and a huge crate of parts! We left port they shut all power off for hours, once again we drifted. They did fix it and we headed back to NYC.

We were i the worst storm that I have ever been in!

[Planer's Edge]

I love all of these arm chair engineers diagnosing a problem aboard a ship that is hundreds of miles outside of their field of vision. :rolleyes:

 

PE

[smeyer418]

I love all of these arm chair engineers diagnosing a problem aboard a ship that is hundreds of miles outside of their field of vision. :rolleyes:

 

PE

hey just because I speculate doesn't mean I know....and I would still like to hear what it was(although I may or may not believe the NCL announcement anyway)... :)

 

I know that things are tested and nothing can go wrong go wrong...

 

look Toyota just recalled 4 million cars!

[pbxtech]

I doubt that they will ever tell us the whole thruth, But I agree it would be nice to know

[MrLee]

hey just because I speculate doesn't mean I know....and I would still like to hear what it was(although I may or may not believe the NCL announcement anyway)... :)

 

 

 

Cynic! ;)

[BIG_Steve]

Not likely that all 4 generators would quit at the same time or near it. I would guess that the problem lies in the electricity distribution system (switches, wires, meters, etc).

 

Why do they have 4 generators? Do they supply separate primary and back up for the motors, and the rest of the ship?

 

Hmm, would 4 generators run off 4 separate engines, or two?

[RiverCityCruiser]

Hmm, would 4 generators run off 4 separate engines, or two?[/Quote]

 

The generators are not powered by the engines as in an automobile. The ships are all electric. The Generators provide electric power for everything including the electric Azipods (Propulsion Engines).

[smeyer418]

Cynic! ;)

LOL not if I am right...Its the reporter in me....and as RR said "trust but verify"

[iheartbda]

I love all of these arm chair engineers diagnosing a problem aboard a ship that is hundreds of miles outside of their field of vision. :rolleyes:

 

PE

How did I miss a diagnosis? :confused: All I've read are speculations.:p

[zqvol]

Has there been any information as to where they are taking the Dawn for repair work? Is she still in San Juan or heading to Freeport? We are scheduled on the tentative Dec 4 cruise and are following this situation closely. We will roll with whatever happens as most have from the ill-fated cruise. We realize that NCL will be doing everything they can to fix her as quickly as possible, but wish they would post more info on their site other than the cancellation of the Nov 29 cruise. We wish all our fellow cruisers who have had their vacations disrupted/ cancelled the best.

 

Please note that the following is speculations:

 

Based on reading the posts on CC it appears that it is going to be Tuesday before all the passengers are off the ship. (The Dawn's web cam shows it docked in Old San Juan.) I am guessing that repairs will start then. It is a 2 day sail from San Juan to Miami. I really believe that if the repairs could be made in 24 to 48 hours that the passengers would have remained on board and be on their way to Miami now.

 

Based on all of this if I were a betting person I would bet that the December 4th cruise is going to be disrupted.

 

Why hasn't NCL said anything? I think that they have to get the ship to a yard to find out how long it is going to take to make repairs and then they will try to announce something that covers the total repair period.

 

Good luck with next week.

[Don Haynes]

Why do they have 4 generators? Do they supply separate primary and back up for the motors, and the rest of the ship?

 

Hmm, would 4 generators run off 4 separate engines, or two?

 

They built the ships with multiple engines and generators so that they don't lose everything at once. The ships are run hard producing electricity 24 hours a day seven days a week. In theory if an engine or generator goes down for maintenance, the others will still be operating providing power and propulsion. Unfortunately, the ships have switchboards as well, the weak link in a electrical circuit system.

 

How many times has an electrical storm knocked out your electricity at home? Anything mechanical, and as simple as an electric circuit, can break down...

 

The importance of a switchboard can be easily demonstrated at home. Throw a turned on hair dryer you never wish to use again into a full bathtub.... To avoid being killed by shock, don't be in that bathtub....

[BIG_Steve]

The generators are not powered by the engines as in an automobile. The ships are all electric. The Generators provide electric power for everything including the electric Azipods (Propulsion Engines).

 

Generators have to spin to produce electricity. Aren't they bolted to engines to make them spin?

[BIG_Steve]

They built the ships with multiple engines and generators so that they don't lose everything at once. The ships are run hard producing electricity 24 hours a day seven days a week. In theory if an engine or generator goes down for maintenance, the others will still be operating providing power and propulsion. Unfortunately, the ships have switchboards as well, the weak link in a electrical circuit system.

 

How many times has an electrical storm knocked out your electricity at home? Anything mechanical, and as simple as an electric circuit, can break down...

 

The importance of a switchboard can be easily demonstrated at home. Throw a turned on hair dryer you never wish to use again into a full bathtub.... To avoid being killed by shock, don't be in that bathtub....

 

I'm an EE, and I do understand all that. All I'm trying to find out is if they use 1 huge generator to power everything, with a back up. Or whether they separate the needs of the propulsion motors from the ship, and run two powerplants at once, each with a back up (4 generators.) On top of that, does each generator have a dedicated engine driving it.

 

By the way, I know you mean well about that hair dryer in the bath tub example. But it was most irresponsible of you to write that.

[Planer's Edge]

How did I miss a diagnosis? :confused: All I've read are speculations.:p

What is diagnosis other than speculation? Doctors do it all the time why do you think they call it a practice? :D

 

PE