Early detection of battery failure is elevated temperature, the charging table/ box could measure battery temp and set an alarm. The other thing is using an old fashion watchman clock to ensure someone is doing the predefined walk.
Post-Conception Disaster: what you learned & will change
- Thread starter drrich2
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ThatDogDontHunt
Oscar Meyer Weiner
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Photos of the charging station and the emergency exit on the Truth Aquatics Vision have previously been posted Truth Aquatics back in business? | ScubaBoard
Looks like a good charging solution. $4,000.00 USD on the manufacturer's site. I don't see an exhaust vent, but perhaps it's just not visible in the photo. That might be a commercially manufactured charging safe. It does not appear they have the air extractor (vent) connected. Smoke could still be a problem without that. They also don't have it bolted down. Hopefully they were still installing when the photo was taken. Huge step in the right direction.
Yes, problem solved with that charging station.
Back to the original topic. I loved the two trips that I have taken (one on the Cuba Agressor, the other on a much lower-end bunk boat to Tiger Beach. But, here is what I will be doing from now on:
My personal responsibility:
1. I will only buy OEM batters for my cameras and lights and use OEM chargers. For things like AA or lithium batteries, only recognized brands like Eneloop or Power Ex or Nitecore, with smart chargers that have circuitry built in to prevent overheating. The extra cost of doing this is miniscule compared to the cost of even a modest camera system.
2. I will not charge anything in my cabin unless there is explicit consent by the crew, and not while I am not physically present in the cabin. Also, I will limit cabin charging to phone or laptop, not large camera or light batteries.
3. After reading this, I will not bring surge protector strips. and will consider getting charging bags or boxes.
4. I will charge my camera/light batteries only in whatever dedicated charging area is designated by the crew.
Investigation of the Vessel Pre-Booking:
1. I will ask for detailed photos of the exits from the sleeping area.
2. I will ask about the night watch policy--it must be a roving watch from dinner to breakfast. This to me seems the most important factor.
3. I will ask if they have a "no charging anything anywhere" policy during sleeping hours (ie 10:00 pm to 6:00 am). I would prefer this even if it means cutting power to the cabin outlets (exceptions made for persons needing medical gear if possible, but if not, then the medical gear must have its own battery power). I will also ask if the charging area is dedicated and in an area where it is regularly seen by the crew.
4. I will ask about smoke alarms and if they are connected centrally to alert in the wheelhouse and all activate at once.
5. It seems like almost all concerns about batteries could be rectified if the vessel installed a charging cabinet like in the photo up above.
6. Ask/verify if they have an automatic fire suppression system suitable for living quarters that is heat activated
7. Consider paying extra for a room on deck or above deck.
Gear to bring to the vessel:
1. Personal smoke alarm, battery powered
2. Flashlight for bedside
3. PLB or InReach communicator
Actions once aboard
1. Require a full demonstration of the egress/escape areas including operation of all hatches. Preferable: request that I personally be allowed to go through the egress to see how easy it is and be familiar with it (even once is infinitely better than none) if something happens in the dark. Make sure I identify and prioritize the egress that goes to the deck and not to the salon/dining area if possible.
2. If I wake up during the night, invest a few minutes to go on deck to see if the roving watch is actually happening, so that the skipper can be alerted if not.
Back to the original topic. I loved the two trips that I have taken (one on the Cuba Agressor, the other on a much lower-end bunk boat to Tiger Beach. But, here is what I will be doing from now on:
My personal responsibility:
1. I will only buy OEM batters for my cameras and lights and use OEM chargers. For things like AA or lithium batteries, only recognized brands like Eneloop or Power Ex or Nitecore, with smart chargers that have circuitry built in to prevent overheating. The extra cost of doing this is miniscule compared to the cost of even a modest camera system.
2. I will not charge anything in my cabin unless there is explicit consent by the crew, and not while I am not physically present in the cabin. Also, I will limit cabin charging to phone or laptop, not large camera or light batteries.
3. After reading this, I will not bring surge protector strips. and will consider getting charging bags or boxes.
4. I will charge my camera/light batteries only in whatever dedicated charging area is designated by the crew.
Investigation of the Vessel Pre-Booking:
1. I will ask for detailed photos of the exits from the sleeping area.
2. I will ask about the night watch policy--it must be a roving watch from dinner to breakfast. This to me seems the most important factor.
3. I will ask if they have a "no charging anything anywhere" policy during sleeping hours (ie 10:00 pm to 6:00 am). I would prefer this even if it means cutting power to the cabin outlets (exceptions made for persons needing medical gear if possible, but if not, then the medical gear must have its own battery power). I will also ask if the charging area is dedicated and in an area where it is regularly seen by the crew.
4. I will ask about smoke alarms and if they are connected centrally to alert in the wheelhouse and all activate at once.
5. It seems like almost all concerns about batteries could be rectified if the vessel installed a charging cabinet like in the photo up above.
6. Ask/verify if they have an automatic fire suppression system suitable for living quarters that is heat activated
7. Consider paying extra for a room on deck or above deck.
Gear to bring to the vessel:
1. Personal smoke alarm, battery powered
2. Flashlight for bedside
3. PLB or InReach communicator
Actions once aboard
1. Require a full demonstration of the egress/escape areas including operation of all hatches. Preferable: request that I personally be allowed to go through the egress to see how easy it is and be familiar with it (even once is infinitely better than none) if something happens in the dark. Make sure I identify and prioritize the egress that goes to the deck and not to the salon/dining area if possible.
2. If I wake up during the night, invest a few minutes to go on deck to see if the roving watch is actually happening, so that the skipper can be alerted if not.
The Conception fire reinforced some of my ideas.
We don't have any overnight dive boats operating in our area, but there is a fishing boat that offers overnight charters that allow passengers to keep twice the daily limit. Each customer is assigned a spot along the main deck rail to fish from and a rack below decks.
A friend has asked me several times to accompany him on trips on this boat, but I will not do it.
When I was in the Coast Guard, part of our required shipboard training was to egress from the ship while blindfolded. Even on a ship you've been assigned to for a year and whose every system you have traced and drawn, it is very hard to do this successfully--even wide awake in a non-emergency situation with a level keel, no gear adrift, and with a guide nearby to keep you from falling down a ladder.
This training requirement was instituted after a ship sinking in which the bodies of sailors in deck ratings were found in engineering spaces they had entered in their confused attempts to egress.
I simply will not board a vessel that could place me in such an unwinnable emergency egress situation as part of a herd of panicked customers who don't know the way out.
I've never done a cruise ship, but that's a matter of taste. I have a high level of confidence in their fire protection standards.
I've never done a live aboard, but that's a matter of having a non-diving wife. I would look into them if the opportunity presented.
But a cattle boat with open berthing areas? No way!
I don't care how good the battery charger is.
We don't have any overnight dive boats operating in our area, but there is a fishing boat that offers overnight charters that allow passengers to keep twice the daily limit. Each customer is assigned a spot along the main deck rail to fish from and a rack below decks.
A friend has asked me several times to accompany him on trips on this boat, but I will not do it.
When I was in the Coast Guard, part of our required shipboard training was to egress from the ship while blindfolded. Even on a ship you've been assigned to for a year and whose every system you have traced and drawn, it is very hard to do this successfully--even wide awake in a non-emergency situation with a level keel, no gear adrift, and with a guide nearby to keep you from falling down a ladder.
This training requirement was instituted after a ship sinking in which the bodies of sailors in deck ratings were found in engineering spaces they had entered in their confused attempts to egress.
I simply will not board a vessel that could place me in such an unwinnable emergency egress situation as part of a herd of panicked customers who don't know the way out.
I've never done a cruise ship, but that's a matter of taste. I have a high level of confidence in their fire protection standards.
I've never done a live aboard, but that's a matter of having a non-diving wife. I would look into them if the opportunity presented.
But a cattle boat with open berthing areas? No way!
I don't care how good the battery charger is.
Your point about cattle boats is good, but the battery charger cabinet would eliminate what seems to be the most significant fire risk. But, yes, it is not the only fire risk. The general consensus is that the Conception fire was caused by a battery, but this is not known for sure.
If a cattle boat is the only way to dive someplace like the Channel Islands, then I would go on such a boat and take all possible steps to be careful as discussed above. Overall, the risk of fire is probably on the same magnitude as the risk of a plane crash. Factoring that low overall risk into the equation, coupled with steps to improve the odds of survival once on board in the event the worst happened, I would not necessarily pass up the diving opportunities presented by even a cattle boat liveaboard.
If a cattle boat is the only way to dive someplace like the Channel Islands, then I would go on such a boat and take all possible steps to be careful as discussed above. Overall, the risk of fire is probably on the same magnitude as the risk of a plane crash. Factoring that low overall risk into the equation, coupled with steps to improve the odds of survival once on board in the event the worst happened, I would not necessarily pass up the diving opportunities presented by even a cattle boat liveaboard.
When I was on the Nautilus Explorer a couple of weeks ago, we were told that the camera tables were just for cameras. No beverages were allowed to be set on the camera table. Just above the camera table is a small ledge/open cubby type of cabinet that ran the length of the camera table that housed the charging area. The rule was all equipment being charged on the charging station must be unplugged before you retire for the evening. There was very good compliance with this rule. By 10 p.m. or so, there were no devices plugged in. Personally, I chose to charge my Olympus TG6 in my room. The one light I have runs off 4 AA batteries. Without any scientific basis for this conjecture, I wonder how safe the charging station is just by the sheer fact that those outlets and their inner components are exposed to high humidity and salty sea air 24 hours a day. There was a compressor hose for blowing out your camera gear. There were not enough outlets if every diver needed to charge multiple camera components.
When I was on the AquaCat live-aboard earlier this year (pre-pandemic), there was a small area with shelves and a charging station away from the wet area of the dive deck that was designated as strictly a dry area for camera gear. No wet towels, wet cameras, or wet hands were allowed in this area. There was a long camera table on the dive deck for the initial camera care. Everyone got their own blue hand towel that was for your camera. Once you did whatever you needed to get your camera ready for the next dive, you would walk your dry device to the charging station. There was very good compliance with this rule.
The live-aboard industry really needs to take notice and pay attention to the ever-changing trends of technology and adapt their safety protocols to the new age of lithium batteries. If that means upgrading the wiring and outlets throughout the boat and revamping the dive deck charging stations, it's a must-do, in my opinion. Many hotel chains and cruise ships are integrating their in-room outlets with USB ports.
I'm paying a lot of money for a vacation experience and the dive operator has 100% responsibility to make it a safe experience. From a common sense perspective, as the guest, I won't load up a circuit from a single outlet with several devices. I travel with a surge protection device and just because it has 3 USB ports and 4 outlets doesn't mean I should load it up with devices, and I don't. As a matter of practice, once a device has been charging for awhile, I will feel the device, the charger, and the cord, and if it is abnormally warm, something is wrong and I will unplug the device immediately.
When I was on the AquaCat live-aboard earlier this year (pre-pandemic), there was a small area with shelves and a charging station away from the wet area of the dive deck that was designated as strictly a dry area for camera gear. No wet towels, wet cameras, or wet hands were allowed in this area. There was a long camera table on the dive deck for the initial camera care. Everyone got their own blue hand towel that was for your camera. Once you did whatever you needed to get your camera ready for the next dive, you would walk your dry device to the charging station. There was very good compliance with this rule.
The live-aboard industry really needs to take notice and pay attention to the ever-changing trends of technology and adapt their safety protocols to the new age of lithium batteries. If that means upgrading the wiring and outlets throughout the boat and revamping the dive deck charging stations, it's a must-do, in my opinion. Many hotel chains and cruise ships are integrating their in-room outlets with USB ports.
I'm paying a lot of money for a vacation experience and the dive operator has 100% responsibility to make it a safe experience. From a common sense perspective, as the guest, I won't load up a circuit from a single outlet with several devices. I travel with a surge protection device and just because it has 3 USB ports and 4 outlets doesn't mean I should load it up with devices, and I don't. As a matter of practice, once a device has been charging for awhile, I will feel the device, the charger, and the cord, and if it is abnormally warm, something is wrong and I will unplug the device immediately.
This thread has a lot of useful ideas on making battery charging safer, However, a battery fire was only one of several possible causes of the Conception fire. Boat wiring short, cooking fire, smoking etc were all equally possible causes. I understand that battery fires are possible, but I’ve personally never seen one despite thousands of hours of charging experience including ten years of overnight iPhone/iPad charging. On the other hand, I have seen fires caused by cooking oil, faulty wiring, etc. Active 24 hour surveillance seems the best solution to me.
HalcyonDaze
Contributor
Cooking fire and smoking seem to have been ruled out in the case of the Conception, but these are certainly potential causes for vessel fires in general (another one would be the clothes dryer on a liveaboard). That said, smoking fire or cooking fire would generally involve someone awake and close to the source of ignition; as evidenced by Conception and RSA I having a fire break out late at night with everyone asleep is the worst possible timing. Wiring definitely could have been a potential cause, but that seems to be linked to the extra wires, outlets, and power strips added to support battery charging in the aft portion of the salon where the fire broke out.
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