Alarm clocks from home go crazy?

[1kycat]

Any one ever have this happen to them?

 

Before we left for the cruise, I went and bought one of those small digital alarm clocks, because I cannot stand waking up in the night and not knowing what time it is. The clock could take a battery, but I didn’t bring once, since it also plugged into the wall. The clock ended up keeping terrible time. It would gain 3 hours by the time you woke up in the morning. We must have reset it a hundred times. Even our room steward would reset it a couple of times a day.:)

My wife wondered if it might have something to do with the ships (Jewel) electrical system, so she wanted to try to find a battery. I thought that it was just a bad clock, but I relented and tried to find a battery. I never could find a 9 volt though, and wanted to throw the clock away on the ship.

 

To make a long story, even longer, my wife slips the clock into our baggage. We plug it in at home…and it keeps perfect time.

 

So, I can only guess that it did have something to do with the voltage on the ship.?

 

PS>I know this is very trivial…but thought it might help someone in the future.

[Druke I]

Yes - it is the electricity on the ship. Different cyclic rate runs clocks crazy.

 

We always take a battery powered clock - no problems that way.

[cruise4kicks]

It's not only alarm clocks that don't run properly on ship electric. We once had a pair of walkie-talkies with rechargeable batteries -- the batteries wouldn't charge properly. We assumed that, even though they were brand new, we'd gotten a pair of bad batteries. Not so! They recharged just fine when we got home.

[JerseyMom]

Interesting - I noticed last year on the Spirit that my cell phone battery kept running down very fast. Just keeping the phone on with no calls in or out, the battery was dead in less than 24 hours. Here at home I can usually go a week before recharging. I'm thinking now the problem was that the phone wasn't recharging properly.

[BeachBumMama]

It hasn't happened to me, but nice to know, thanks for posting. Could save lot's of frustration and thrown away clocks and such for thinking they were broke.:)

[knuts1]

any one have a CPAP machine? and did this work ok?? We are going in June on the Gem and need to know if we should get a battery for one??

[tiggerfan616]

1kycat I know how you feel im the same way. In fact we did the same thing and the alarm clock went crazy. In fact it was also on the Jewel, now we know and will bring a batter operated one next time

[mbisson]

I just leave a room service order for coffee/juice/danish to be delivered & use that as my alarm. So far, it's worked great!

[tunseeker1]

If you have a cpap machine get a line conditioner for the power for anywhere you go to protect it from power fluctuations.

[Toyz711]

i take a power strip, won't plug any of my electronics directly in their sockets. the strip, i use, is a power surge protector.

[EileenN]

My BiPap machine worked perfectly on the Gem last month and has on all NCL ships. The cell phone left on but not used is searching constantly for a cell tower to keep the clock set and the date correct...Turn it off and the battery will not be overtaxed trying to search. and Bring a battery clock.

Enjoy the Gem, she is awesome.

[MrsLeo]

I bought a bunch of the battery powered Atomic travel alarm clocks. It runs on batteries, I don't know how it works out to sea since it synchs NIST via raido signal. I will take on our March cruise and find out I guess.

[noahsmom]

This explains alot. My sister and I went on the a Carnivel cruise in Oct 07. The first morning I woke up so confused about the time. Her cell said one time, the tv had a different time on it and my clock had a different time also. We had an inside cabin so when I went out to breakfast, my clock said 6am, it was still dark outside and know one was around. It was pretty fun though.

[deb5217]

What about charging a digital camara?? I'm bringing two camaras and a camcorder. I'd like to be able to recharge the batteries during the week if I need to, which I'm sure I'll need to.

[noahsmom]

Just bring Lithium Batteries. Alittle more expensive but they last along time.

[deb5217]

What about digital camaras? I'll be bringing 2 camaras and a camcorder. I'm sure I'll have to recharge the batteries before the week is out??

[Globaliser]

To make a long story, even longer, my wife slips the clock into our baggage. We plug it in at home…and it keeps perfect time.

 

So, I can only guess that it did have something to do with the voltage on the ship.?

Many clocks that plug into the mains keep time by counting the cycles of the alternating current in the power supply. You may know that the voltage in household electricity isn't steady (like you'd get from a battery) but goes in cycles.

 

In most of the world, this is at a frequency of 50 cycles per second. So the clock knows that after the electricity has gone through 50 cycles, one second has passed.

 

But in the US (and a few other places too, I think) electricity is supplied at a frequency of 60 cycles per second. So clocks intended for use there count 60 cycles before they reckon that one second has elapsed.

 

Obviously, if you have one of these clocks and you plug them into a 50 cycles per second power supply, they're going to run very slowly - it will take 1.2 seconds before they "think" that one second has elapsed. If it's the other way around, the clock will run very fast.

 

And if the ship's power supply is at a different or erratic frequency, it could be even more unpredictable.

 

So the frequency of the electrical power supply may be one possible reason for what you experienced.

[1kycat]

i take a power strip, won't plug any of my electronics directly in their sockets. the strip, i use, is a power surge protector.

 

I was using one of those as well. It didn’t matter.

 

What about digital camaras? I'll be bringing 2 camaras and a camcorder. I'm sure I'll have to recharge the batteries before the week is out??

 

In my experience, I’ve never (except once on the Spirit) had any problems charging anything. I-pods, cameras, computers, DVD players, wireless headphones, and the like. So all of that is new to me.

 

So the frequency of the electrical power supply may be one possible reason for what you experienced.

 

Thanks for the explanation (and everyone else’s as well). It definitely was erratic. We would gain 1 hour on some nights…and 3 hours on others.

[mbisson]

What about digital camaras? I'll be bringing 2 camaras and a camcorder. I'm sure I'll have to recharge the batteries before the week is out??

 

I haven't had a problem and I plugged em in everynight (batteries for cameras that is) so that I started each day with a full charge.

[DCAM]

I thought I was going crazy! Glad to see I'm not the only one! I never had problems charging anything but the clock went nuts!

[deb5217]

Thanks for the inof on the camaras. My husband would kill me if I went and bought more lithium batteries. One camara battery is 80 and the other is 30!!!

[Philob]

Take a look at the charger or the wallwart that plugs in the wall.

 

The best scenerio is to have labeled somewhere "110-120/220-240volt 50/60hz" or something close. That'll mean that you have a universal voltage charger/device and good to go almost anywhere in the world with the right plug adapter to plug in the wall.

 

If you have only "110-120volt 60hz" then you will need a step up transformer if you want to use the device in Europe or other parts of the globe. If your from Europe you'll need a step down transformer for use in No. America.

 

Note that only the voltage is stepped up/down, not the hz or cycles per second. As mentioned in an earlier post if your device requires a specific hz, you'll get an error or something.

[burny]

it all depends on the voltage. US ships has most of the time 110 volt sockets,European ships most times 220 sockets and 1 110 volt sockets.So if you use your power strip in the 110 volt you can recharge all your cameras.

Electrical transformers are forbidden by some cruise lines.

Burny

[madriver]

Interesting - I noticed last year on the Spirit that my cell phone battery kept running down very fast. Just keeping the phone on with no calls in or out, the battery was dead in less than 24 hours. Here at home I can usually go a week before recharging. I'm thinking now the problem was that the phone wasn't recharging properly.

 

This happened to me as well, it is because the phone was on digital roaming all week since the ship has its own cell tower. Most cell phones have a much shorter standby time when not on their home network and are forced to roam.

[mandaleigh]

For those with CPAP questions, Your CPAP's will work fine. All newer models (last 10 years) have built in electrical convertors so if you can plug it in.... it will work.

 

If you are travelling to different countries... England, China, Australia, etc. just buy an outlet adapter, plug it in and away you go.

 

I've been a Respiratory Therapist for 10 years and have patients travel all over the world. No problems yet! Happy Travels!