Macbook/ iBook battery on Cruise Ship

Hey everyone, this is my first post on these forums, and I'm hoping you could help me. I searched for an existing post relating to this, but couldn't find anything.

I currently have a 13-inch iBook G4 that I purchased in 2005. Since then I've worked two contracts aboard cruise ships as an entertainer - 2 months in 2007, and 4 months in 2009. The voltage on the outlets aboard the ship is 110 v AC. Thing is, I'm worried that the electricity on the ship prematurely killed my laptop battery. After the first contract my laptop went from about 3 hours of battery life to less than 1 hour. By the time I bought a replacement battery in early 2009, I was getting 30 mins.

The replacement battery was new - I was getting 4 hours+ battery life. After I got back from the ship in 2009, that went down to less than an hour. Currently I'm lucky to get 30 minutes.

I ask about the voltage on the ship because, even though it was 110 v AC, it was pretty screwy. If I plugged in a digital alarm clock, it would be running an hour fast within a day. I've heard other performers complain about the ship's electricity being hard on laptops, but never had anything confirmed.

I'm preparing to buy a new Macbook at Christmas. I'm also considering doing another cruise ship contract in 2011. My worry is that I'll kill that battery as well. Is there anything I can do to prevent this? Do I need some kind of voltage converter? Is it perhaps not even the ship that was doing this to my laptop?

Any help on this would be hugely appreciated. I know this is a weirdly specific question, but I've had no luck with this elsewhere. Cheers!

I'm preparing to buy a new Macbook at Christmas. I'm also considering doing another cruise ship contract in 2011. My worry is that I'll kill that battery as well. Is there anything I can do to prevent this? Do I need some kind of voltage converter? Is it perhaps not even the ship that was doing this to my laptop?

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Cruise ships are not all alike. The more modern ones have fairly good filtering and usually maintain steady voltage across all parts of the ship. However, it's not the voltage surges so much that will kill batteries and charging systems, it's the "squaring off" of the voltage. In other words, it's not always a steady smooth 60 Hz sine wave.

What I suggest is to buy a good quality UPS (uninterrupted power supply) and take it along with you. Plug the UPS into the ship's power outlet and then plug your MacBook into the UPS. That will insure your MB is receiving clean steady power to charge.

A good quality UPS may cost anywhere from $100 to $200 or more depending on its capacity. But what's more important is the type of filtering it's capable of. So do your homework before you buy.

chscag said:

Cruise ships are not all alike. The more modern ones have fairly good filtering and usually maintain steady voltage across all parts of the ship. However, it's not the voltage surges so much that will kill batteries and charging systems, it's the "squaring off" of the voltage. In other words, it's not always a steady smooth 60 Hz sine wave.

What I suggest is to buy a good quality UPS (uninterrupted power supply) and take it along with you. Plug the UPS into the ship's power outlet and then plug your MacBook into the UPS. That will insure your MB is receiving clean steady power to charge.

A good quality UPS may cost anywhere from $100 to $200 or more depending on its capacity. But what's more important is the type of filtering it's capable of. So do your homework before you buy.

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You are right! ;D