Grounded Outlets?

[chengkp75]

So how would the outlet checker they provide read with this type of wiring?

 

Now you guys got me wanting to bring my Fluke on a cruise :)

 

It would give an "open ground" reading, since it looks for a short between neutral and ground.

[O2Bcrusin]

Hummm, don't know. Can you truly ground an outlet on a ship?

 

The ship I am sure has a surge protector, of sorts, to protect their equipment and TVs, etc.

 

Maybe we will have an electrician answer.

 

Per my electrician husband you can truly ground an outlet on a ship. If it is a three prong outlet it is grounded to the generator source, which is the source of electricity. I have no idea what all that means but I am quoting my DH and he knows.

Edited October 17, 2014 by O2Bcrusin

[chengkp75]

Per my electrician husband you can truly ground an outlet on a ship. If it is a three prong outlet it is grounded to the generator source, which is the source of electricity. I have no idea what all that means but I am quoting my DH and he knows.

 

Yes, that is what I've been saying, maybe poorly. The ground pin in the outlet will ground the case of any appliance or equipment to the generator source, to protect against shocks. However, the ground is not connected to the hull, and hence to the "earth". I believe the whole point of the "earthing" movement is to bring your body to the same potential as the earth or ground. While the ship's ground may only be millivolts above hull potential, your body is probably not more than that anyway (still haven't seen a good description of what the earthing sheet really does), so not sure whether or not connecting a sheet with a wire in it to the ground pin in the ship's outlet would provide the benefit desired from the earthing sheet. Due to the wye connection of the transformers, as opposed to the delta connection used ashore, the neutral and ground wires are at different voltages, and a land type circuit checker will read a fault. This is also why we cannot buy things like Uninterruptable power supplies for the computers, unless they are designed for marine use, as these also look for the ground and neutral to be at the same voltage.

[I_r_a]

I think it appropriate to point out that if the idea of an "earthing half sheet" is to create a pathway for the human body to be connected to Mother Earth and, thereby, provide health benefits it won't work aboard a ship on the ocean.

 

The electrons coming out of the water will be "wet", while those on land are "dry".

 

Thus, the interactions between the various subatomic particles contained within them will not be the same

 

Ira.

Edited October 17, 2014 by I_r_a
correct spelling

[NativeSoCal]

Been watching this thread, and I just gotta say...

 

As a former auto/truck mechanic, refrigeration mechanic, marine mechanic, and lifetime tinkerer......

 

Compared to reading about which wine to sneak onboard, what's on the menu in the MDR, what kind of towel animal did you get, what color high heel shoes will go with my formal dinner gown........etc.......

 

THIS is THE most interesting thread I've ever read on Cruise critic!! :cool:

 

[pablo222]

chengkp75 -- may I ask you a follow-up question?

 

I just returned from two weeks on ruby princess, and noticed strange behavour

with usb charged devices (phones and tablets); and also a lithium ion battery

for a portable printer.

 

The phones would charge until they indicated 100%; but after a short use,

the charge would drop to 60% (or lower). In lead-acid batteries, I would

call this a surface charge.

 

The printer battery would only print about 1/3 of its usual number of pictures.

 

And, I had a tablet that completely died during the cruise. It was 2-3 years

old, and I just the electronics god had called it home.

 

But, once I returned home to shore power, the tablet came back to life.

 

All these were charged with the the 2-prong 110 outlet in the cabin. I used

several different usb chargers, with the same results.

 

Do you think there is some characteristic of ship board power that is causing

this?

 

Could I avoid it by using a 220v outlet (for devices which are rated that way)?

 

Thank you.

[beg3yrs]

I was on the Ruby just before you (10/22-11/4 Quebec to FLL) and noticed zero issues with my electronics. However, I do think the electronics gods did call one of my camera battery chargers home cuz it is just gone ... had it in the cabin one minute and the next minute just gone. In all seriousness, I must have dropped it in the waste bin as I scoured the cabin looking for it.

 

Your cruise went through the Bermuda Triangle. That will certainly cause bad juju things to happen to electronics!

 

Of course you could have used an earthing sheet to protect everything. :D

Edited November 15, 2014 by beg3yrs

[AE_Collector]

So are we going with the ground prong being 60 volts from hot and 60 volts from neutral or just that the ground and the neutral could be a bit different rather than bonded together like on land?

 

If there is a substantial difference between ground and neutral, what could happen to surge suppressor equipped power bars?

 

Here is what happened to me a year ago. We were on a Celebrity ship for 27 days. Just over half way through the cruise we were returning to our cabin and smelled that melting plastic smell in the hallway. When we entered our cabin we weren't alone. Three ships electrical and maybe security people had arrived there maybe a minute or so before us.

 

I had started the trip with a brand new small 4 outlet surge suppressor power bar which worked fine to connect all my chargers to until this point in the cruise. At this point in time there was only a single charger plugged into it and nothing connected to the charger.

 

They quickly left asking if they could keep the power bar which I agreed to. It seemed most likely to me that my melted charger had not directly caused the problem but had melted by heat from the power bar which was melting in the area of the the switch and likely the surge suppressor MOV's if that is still what is used for surge suppression. The charger just happened to be in the outlet closest to the switch and still works to this day, it just has a hole melted in the case.

 

My conclusion was that something had happened in the ships electrical system that may have caused the MOV's to allow some current to flow slowly generating heat which started melting the plastic.

 

Of course now my wife wont let me take a power bar which makes keeping everything charged a bit difficult at times. I was going to remove the surge suppression from a power bar and take it with us on more recent cruises but suspect my wife isn't going to buy that! Maybe I will have to bring a portable generator and put it out on the deck!!

 

Terry

Edited November 16, 2014 by AE_Collector

[EdmPair]

Love me some full frontal nerdity reading. Thanks.

 

When you want the same level of geekdom on the locks, just let me know.

[RotaryMike]

Without all the engineering details, if while John Doe's DW was relaxing in the suite's bathtub, and the hairdryer mysteriously fell in the tub (while plugged in) would John Doe have to buy his DGF ;) (who was in a deck 7 inside cabin) a new hairdryer, or would he be able to get late DWs hairdryer repaired in time for formal night! :confused: :D:D:D

[ar1950]

If I could come up with an idea like that to separate the gullible from their money I would spend a lot of time in the owners suite!

 

I think you are definitely on to something here........

 

........ (still haven't seen a good description of what the earthing sheet really does).............

 

I would say that is probably on purpose. See scott4020's comment above.

 

I think it appropriate to point out that if the idea of an "earthing half sheet" is to create a pathway for the human body to be connected to Mother Earth and, thereby, provide health benefits it won't work aboard a ship on the ocean.

 

The electrons coming out of the water will be "wet", while those on land are "dry".

 

Thus, the interactions between the various subatomic particles contained within them will not be the same

 

Ira.

 

Nothing else to say about that theory......:cool:. I still think scott4020 is on the right track.

 

Beam me up Scotty.:D

[ar1950]

Without all the engineering details, if while John Doe's DW was relaxing in the suite's bathtub, and the hairdryer mysteriously fell in the tub (while plugged in) would John Doe have to buy his DGF ;) (who was in a deck 7 inside cabin) a new hairdryer, or would he be able to get late DWs hairdryer repaired in time for formal night! :confused: :D:D:D

 

I'm guessing only the hair dryer is DOA here since the outlets in the bathrooms are low amp and won't run anything but chargers for shavers and toothbrushes. DW will probably get a real tingling sensation however. And John better keep DGF a secret for awhile longer.:cool:

Edited November 16, 2014 by ar1950