Help! I'm freak'n out! (Bonaire Power Conversion)

[CUunderH2O]

I always have one drink on the plane to help me relax. I really hate flying, and one drink at altitude is all it takes to mellow me out. If it's the pre-boarding you're where you're having issues, have one before you leave, at the airport bar. Also, bring along a dive magazine with lots of pretty photos to help you imagine the nice dives you're going to have.

Have a great trip! I'm off to Bonaire on Sunday...

 

[rottielover]

Sounds like good advice!

CUunderH2O - We'll be there on Sat. (leaving friday night on the red-eye). We're staying at Buddy Dive with a semi-large (about 24ish) group of people from St. Louis. So if you see this big (6'1" 240lbs) goofy looking guy, that looks like he needs a drink or four, it's probly me

I love the idea of making piles of "must have" and "maybe"! I'm going to do that tonight when I get home from work!

PS - I was thinking about having some bumper stickers printed up: "How's my diving? PM rottielover on Scubaboard.com") and slapping them across the butt of my wetsuit... Hmm, that could be a bad idea though LOL

 

[CUunderH2O]

My buddy and I will be next door at Capt. Don's; Buddy Dive was sold out

Pack lightly. Last year's trip to Roatan I packed lighter than ever before and still brought too many clothes. This year I plan to thin out the clothes even further. I never bring a hair dryer on vacation, even though I have long hair. You're on a dive vacation, it's ok to look a little disheveled.

One of my friends (who has been to Bonaire many times) told me to use all my chargers with no converters, but to plug them into a surge protected power bar, so that's what I'm bringing. He uses it for battery chargers and his laptop. All I have is 4 different battery chargers.

 

[rottielover]

I did call the company that makes the battery charger that I was worried about. The tech.'s response was "no worry's, it will work fine".

He claims it is a "universial" even though it's only marked 120V 60Hz, even the website for the product says that it's "universial" 100-240V 50/60hz.

Additionally, I found out a replacement "brick" for the unit is only $5.99 + shipping, that put my mind at ease. Even if I were to "burn" out the brick, I can have it back up and running for less than $10.

I've read a couple of trip reports from people saying that they used thier laptop in the room with no surge bar and didn't have problems. I think I'm going to take the advice of "only plug in when you need too, don't leave it plugged in when not using it". That and I've read several times that Buddy's has a couple of places that you can plug "sensitive" devices in to re-charge.

That and I'm not even sure that I'd need to recharge the batteries in the lights, I have 5000mah C cells, even if I did a 1 hour night dive 7 times, that's only 7 hours burn time. If I did my math correctly (probably not), I should get something in the order of 10-14 hours of burn time on these batteries. So the plan is to take the charger and "top off" the batteries here and there, just in case.

I'm def. going to go home and thin out the cloths some more.

 

[CUunderH2O]

I don't use rechargeable batteries in my lights (except my canister light, but it's not coming with me). All of my lights (Princeton Tec) have long burn times (one of them actually lasted 2 years on the same set of batteries and was used every weekend for two summers; the batteries faded slowly and died during a night dive last spring). One of the lights has a 50-hr rated burn time, the other I don't know; haven't had it too long. The advantage of using alkaline batteries vs. rechargeable NiMH's is that the alkalines' power will fade slowly, giving you warning. Rechargeables just die all of a sudden, no warning.

 

[Charlie99]

I did call the company that makes the battery charger that I was worried about. The tech.'s response was "no worry's, it will work fine".

He claims it is a "universial" even though it's only marked 120V 60Hz, even the website for the product says that it's "universial" 100-240V 50/60hz.

Additionally, I found out a replacement "brick" for the unit is only $5.99 + shipping, that put my mind at ease. Even if I were to "burn" out the brick, I can have it back up and running for less than $10.

"Dumb" transformers, aka "bricks" and "wall warts" will run hot on 50Hz. The ones that have a switchmode dc-dc converter inside have a very good chance of running OK on 127V 50Hz, even if not marked such.

You can usually tell if it is a simple transformer vs. switchmode simply by picking up the device. The switchmode (relatively tolerant of 50Hz vs 60Hz) devices are noticeably lighter than the dumb tranformer (runs hot on 50Hz, even if 120VAC) units.

 

[rottielover]

Hmm.. I contacted the manufacturer again, and once again have been assured that I will have no problems with this heavy brick... I explained about the whole 127V 50Hz thing and they again said "no problem"...

OH well, like I said, a replacement will be less than $10 if it should burn out the brick.

 

[diversteve]

The only thing I can think of is that last year I only took a 3mil shorty, this time I have that plus 3mil full suit and skin.

I took two swimsuits - that's all...the water's usually around 80...http://www.caribinn.com/weatherreport.html

They do sell shorts/shirts on Bonaire also. The natives have to wear something...

 

[rottielover]

Steve,

I love that weather report, the local guys on the TV news could learn a think or two from that report!!!

Last year on Maui the water was about 80-81 F and I only used a 3mil shorty, but only did 5 dives over 4 days. This time we'll be in the water more, and I keep reading that a 3mil full is generally recommended...

My wife tends to get cold (even in the 85F pool) so is taking a 3mil full and skin. I was mainly planning on the skin and shorty for the start of the week (skin mostly to protect sensitive skin from floating stingers, I read someplace that this time of year is baby jellyfish season). Was planning on going to the 3mil full if I started getting cold later in the week, but I'm starting to think I may need to leave the shorty at home.

 

[newfemmediver]

ELECTRICITY
Rarely is there a power failure and the island has decided to adopt the North American voltage standard of 110 A.C. (60 cycles), the same as in the United States and Canada. The TV standard is NTSC so your home video camera will also play back on the hotel's TV sets or large screen projectors.

http://www.aruba.com/pages/waterelectricity.htm

Have a blast! We'll be there in July!