Power Lead Confiscation And Scooter Charger

[PeeBee2]

I notice that there has been a fair amount on the notice boards recently about the seemingly new enforcement of 'power strip' lead confiscation and in particular any extension lead that has a surge protector system, which is probably most of them nowadays. We are sailing on the NOS this October from Southampton and I shall have to take my wife's mobility scooter charging pack. Has anyone had any recent experience with such a charger which has two 3 or 4 foot leads and the unit itself is approx 6 x 4 inches. I wonder if this will show up as a 'banned' power strip and not wishing to suffer the inconvenience of going to the 'naughty room' I am considering adding it my ever growing carry on case size.

[Biker19]

Keep it with the scooter to make it obvious it's part of the system.

[goofy810]

It really depends on the port and there "rent a cop, idea of what is and is not allowed" i say this because for years and i mean 4 + cruises a year, i have brought a Belkin 3 outlet 2 usb port plug with me and had NO issues, then this last time we went on a cruise out of NJ all the sudden the "rent a cop" gave me crap about it and even took it, I spoke to the Crown and Anchor rep on board and she had it back for me that night with out issue. So its really crazy on how they enforce what.

[FLACRUISER99]

It really depends on the port and there "rent a cop, idea of what is and is not allowed" i say this because for years and i mean 4 + cruises a year, i have brought a Belkin 3 outlet 2 usb port plug with me and had NO issues, then this last time we went on a cruise out of NJ all the sudden the "rent a cop" gave me crap about it and even took it, I spoke to the Crown and Anchor rep on board and she had it back for me that night with out issue. So its really crazy on how they enforce what.

You do realize those are dangerous as they have a surge protector built in??

[Homosassa]

I notice that there has been a fair amount on the notice boards recently about the seemingly new enforcement of 'power strip' lead confiscation and in particular any extension lead that has a surge protector system, which is probably most of them nowadays. We are sailing on the NOS this October from Southampton and I shall have to take my wife's mobility scooter charging pack. Has anyone had any recent experience with such a charger which has two 3 or 4 foot leads and the unit itself is approx 6 x 4 inches. I wonder if this will show up as a 'banned' power strip and not wishing to suffer the inconvenience of going to the 'naughty room' I am considering adding it my ever growing carry on case size.

 

Why don't you call Royal Caribbean special needs and ask this question?

[jpcello]

With a mobility scooter, just keep the charger with the scooter (my sister has a case for the charger that she keeps attached to the underside of the seat). You shouldn't have any trouble with the scooter charger (we never have and we've done a number of cruises). You can also request through the accessibility department a heavy duty extension cord. I recently did this and it was waiting for us when we got to our cabin. If not, just ask your cabin steward.

[Havingfun2010]

I notice that there has been a fair amount on the notice boards recently about the seemingly new enforcement of 'power strip' lead confiscation and in particular any extension lead that has a surge protector system, which is probably most of them nowadays. We are sailing on the NOS this October from Southampton and I shall have to take my wife's mobility scooter charging pack. Has anyone had any recent experience with such a charger which has two 3 or 4 foot leads and the unit itself is approx 6 x 4 inches. I wonder if this will show up as a 'banned' power strip and not wishing to suffer the inconvenience of going to the 'naughty room' I am considering adding it my ever growing carry on case size.

 

Hi, I travel with a mobility scooter. Any part of the scooter, including the charger, power cords and your spare battery all always in a backpack over the back of the chair. I travel through airports like this, as well as ships. I also carry a CPAP machine. Inside the carry case for that, is an extension cord (just an extension not a strip). Your charging pack is specific to the chair/scooter. You will have no issues, and my guess you would also have laws to protect you. They can't take it.

 

I do highly recommend you let special needs know. RCCL is very good at making sure everything is in order for you so that you can enjoy your vacation.

[Scottee25]

It really depends on the port and there "rent a cop, idea of what is and is not allowed" i say this because for years and i mean 4 + cruises a year, i have brought a Belkin 3 outlet 2 usb port plug with me and had NO issues, then this last time we went on a cruise out of NJ all the sudden the "rent a cop" gave me crap about it and even took it, I spoke to the Crown and Anchor rep on board and she had it back for me that night with out issue. So its really crazy on how they enforce what.

 

I know exactly which device you are talking about as I have the same one with the swivel plug. I have never had an issue bringing it onboard before. I guess I will find out if it is an issue when I sail next April.

 

You do realize those are dangerous as they have a surge protector built in??

 

Can you explain why having a device with surge protection built in is considered dangerous?

[Texasopa]

I know exactly which device you are talking about as I have the same one with the swivel plug. I have never had an issue bringing it onboard before. I guess I will find out if it is an issue when I sail next April.

 

 

 

Can you explain why having a device with surge protection built in is considered dangerous?

 

https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/DCO%20Documents/5p/CSNCOE/Safety%20Alerts/USCG%20Marine%20Safety%20Alert%2003-13%20Surge%20Protective%20Devices%20Onboard%20Vessels.pdf?ver=2017-08-08-082206-293

[Scottee25]

https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/DCO%20Documents/5p/CSNCOE/Safety%20Alerts/USCG%20Marine%20Safety%20Alert%2003-13%20Surge%20Protective%20Devices%20Onboard%20Vessels.pdf?ver=2017-08-08-082206-293

 

Thank you for the link. I guess I never paid much attention to the outlets onboard. Do the ships supply in AC or DC? How are the circuits configured? Delta or WYE? If it's Delta, I am curious their reasons this? From the sounds of it, the danger isn't totally in the surge protectors but also in the ship's wiring, and more specifically, its grounding. However, if a surge protector will trip on either lead, rather than only on the hot lead, it could be deemed safe for use onboard. Though, I have never seen a surge protector advertise this information.

[Clarea]

Thank you for the link. I guess I never paid much attention to the outlets onboard. Do the ships supply in AC or DC? How are the circuits configured? Delta or WYE? If it's Delta, I am curious their reasons this? From the sounds of it, the danger isn't totally in the surge protectors but also in the ship's wiring, and more specifically, its grounding. However, if a surge protector will trip on either lead, rather than only on the hot lead, it could be deemed safe for use onboard. Though, I have never seen a surge protector advertise this information.

Ships have a floating ground, and the ground potential can be higher than that on either of the other power leads, which is what destroys the surge protection.

[Texasopa]

Thank you for the link. I guess I never paid much attention to the outlets onboard. Do the ships supply in AC or DC? How are the circuits configured? Delta or WYE? If it's Delta, I am curious their reasons this? From the sounds of it, the danger isn't totally in the surge protectors but also in the ship's wiring, and more specifically, its grounding. However, if a surge protector will trip on either lead, rather than only on the hot lead, it could be deemed safe for use onboard. Though, I have never seen a surge protector advertise this information.

 

A lot of info in this post, most of it goes over my head. User named chengkp75 is a ship engineer and is VERY knowledgeable

 

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2528771

[sft429]

Thank you for the link. I guess I never paid much attention to the outlets onboard. Do the ships supply in AC or DC? How are the circuits configured? Delta or WYE? If it's Delta, I am curious their reasons this? From the sounds of it, the danger isn't totally in the surge protectors but also in the ship's wiring, and more specifically, its grounding. However, if a surge protector will trip on either lead, rather than only on the hot lead, it could be deemed safe for use onboard. Though, I have never seen a surge protector advertise this information.

 

 

From the Chief on an earlier thread....

 

 

 

Okay, "floating" ground only means that neither of the two current carrying wires (hot and neutral for houses) are at the same potential as the ground. A volt meter from either current carrying wire to ground on a ship will show 60 v, and 120 v between the two current wires. In your house, hot to ground is 110v , neutral to ground is 0v, and hot to neutral is 110v.

 

No, ground is still ground, and provides your electrical shock safety, whether it is land based or shipboard. The problem on ships is that any current flowing to ground will pass through the hull to the sea. Now, a ship is not only steel, it is aluminum, bronze, copper, stainless steel, etc. So, when two dissimilar metals have current flowing through them in the presence of an electrolyte (sea water), the less noble metal will disappear due to electrolysis. We don't want either the hull steel, or our expensive bronze valves eroding away and causing leaks. So, we isolate the ground from the power circuit (your house bonds one of the two current carrying wires to ground at the breaker box, and current can flow in the neutral or ground wires and no one cares). This way, only when something has an insulation failure, will current flow to the hull. We monitor for this by connecting an ammeter and a very high resistance between the power circuits (3 phase) and ground. Then, when an insulation failure happens on a circuit, there is a return path to the other power wire in that circuit, through the resistor and ammeter. The ammeter will display current flow (actually read as resistance), and at a set level will give an alarm, so the engineers can locate the ground fault.

 

Sorry, that was a bit long.

 

Now, the problem with surge protectors is that they are not designed to experience reverse voltage. The MOV semi-conductor is designed to see a higher voltage in the hot wire than in the ground, and either the same voltage or higher in the neutral as the ground. On a ship, with the ground isolated from the "hot" and "neutral" wires, these MOV's may see higher voltage on the ground wire than on either the hot or neutral (say a 480 motor goes to ground, but due to resistance it is only putting 200 volts to ground). That 200 v is higher than the 110 v in either of the power legs, so the MOV is in reverse voltage. Each time an MOV is subjected to reverse voltage, it starts to degrade, and will fail either the first time or sometime in the future, and then it goes into "thermal runaway", which as I understand it is due to the molecular chemistry/physics of the semi-conductor, and results in high temperatures even without the presence of high current (so no breaker tripping), and subsequent possibility of fire.

 

I think I've answered your last question, the ground connection still provides safety, and it is not the floating ground, per se, that is dangerous to surge protectors, but that a ground failure somewhere far away on the ship can cause reverse voltage because there is a floating ground.

[FLACRUISER99]

I know exactly which device you are talking about as I have the same one with the swivel plug. I have never had an issue bringing it onboard before. I guess I will find out if it is an issue when I sail next April.

 

 

 

Can you explain why having a device with surge protection built in is considered dangerous?

Thanks everyone for answering this question for me.

[PeeBee2]

Why don't you call Royal Caribbean special needs and ask this question?

Hi Homosassa. Good question but I tend to look at the replies on this notice board to be more realistic, by people who are actually sailing and experiencing the effects of 'rules' implemented by the travel companies and accordingly I have more faith in the answers that we tend to get here. The number of times I have seen posts on this board indicating that phone calls to the 'powers that be' have resulted in different answers on the same subject. And have you noted the number of people who are indicating that RCI staff at different ports seem to be interpreting the 'confiscation' rule differently. There are obviously some questions that only the travel companies could answer but I thought this particular question was better suited for here :).

[spookwife]

Hi Homosassa. Good question but I tend to look at the replies on this notice board to be more realistic, by people who are actually sailing and experiencing the effects of 'rules' implemented by the travel companies and accordingly I have more faith in the answers that we tend to get here. The number of times I have seen posts on this board indicating that phone calls to the 'powers that be' have resulted in different answers on the same subject. And have you noted the number of people who are indicating that RCI staff at different ports seem to be interpreting the 'confiscation' rule differently. There are obviously some questions that only the travel companies could answer but I thought this particular question was better suited for here :).

 

 

to clarify: the people at the security stations are NOT Cruise line employees.

[PeeBee2]

to clarify: the people at the security stations are NOT Cruise line employees.

Yes, sorry. You are right. They no doubt are security employees of the Port Authority or 'rent a cop' as an earlier poster indicated :). But they do a valuable job for our safety even if we do find it irksome at times.