Emergency CPAP Failure

[PeaceLoveAndPizza]

So sorry you had to go through that mate. If and when you figure out what happened with your machine, let us know. A useful bit of information to file away when it happens to others.

[srlevine1]

As per UnicornRider, there is something wonky about some shipboard power.

My steward informed ship security that I had a surge protector with my laptop, which they promptly confiscated, bagged, and tagged to be returned after the cruise. It appears that surge protectors can produce "ground faults" that are detected on electrical monitors in the electrical engineering spaces.

I never took the time to investigate his explanation of an "isolated-neutral system" and why it doesn't work the same on certain ships as it does on shore or on smaller yachts.

Anyway, it worked out. So many of my friends encountered some form of sickness aboard large luxury vessels, that I have given up the thought of a "pleasure cruise" on anything larger than a private yacht.

[HalfAsleep]

IMO that's a great idea to take a battery, charge it during the day, and run the unit off the battery....when you're in an unfamiliar context.
Sorry your vacay got messed up.

[Sleepster]

Did you try the faulty machine at home. Some sea going vessels run a 3 phase ungrounded system that has a funky !20 VAC system that actually runs two legs of 60 cycle 60 VAC 180 degrees out of phase to create the 120 VAC.  Some power bricks will put out low voltage, wimpy current if an input phase is blown.

No, I tossed it! It worked fine for the first ~2.5 nights, and the ship's technician checked the power output of the brick and said it was fine. It could be that the condition you describe was transient? And the low voltage fried the machine? I don't know, I don't understand. If you have 3 phase and you run 2 of the 3 legs don't you have a 120-degree phase difference between the two legs?

I noticed that the bedside lamp flickered sometimes, quite a bit, but not all the time. I forgot to check the bulb technology, so I don't know if it was LED or what. I seem to recall someone saying that the voltage-time graph has to be a pure sine wave, and that certain brands or types of generators don't meet this standard and will cause a malfunction.

[Sleepster]

So many of my friends encountered some form of sickness aboard large luxury vessels, that I have given up the thought of a "pleasure cruise" on anything larger than a private yacht.

Yeah, this was our first, and probably our last, cruise. Although we would like to try a river cruise.

I have to say that I don't like the way the ship's employees are exploited. They are all from third-world countries, work 7 days a week, 11 or so hours a day, for 9 months out of the year. They seem to be selected based on their physical appearance and social interaction skills. I understand that they are better off than they would be at home, but it still bothers me that my money is being used to contribute to their exploitation. I suppose it's just a fact of life that happens everywhere, but it's so in-your-face on a cruise ship and this is the first time that I noticed being exposed to it to this extent. I can only imagine what they must think of us!