Portable Wi-Fi hotspots and hair dryers

[bmjhagen9426]

I was on the Southwest Chief, the Empire Builder, and the Coast Starlight twice about a month to month and a half ago, and 3 out of 4 times I had wifi on the sleepers (only the Empire Builder leg of my trip did not have wifi). And for the trains they had wifi, they had wifi for the sleepers, as well as on the Parlor Car on the Coast Starlight. I don't know how it works, since I did not use it, but I suppose you only have connection within the cell connection area (3G/4G area).

 

[TinCan782]

I was on the Southwest Chief, the Empire Builder, and the Coast Starlight twice about a month to month and a half ago, and 3 out of 4 times I had wifi on the sleepers (only the Empire Builder leg of my trip did not have wifi). And for the trains they had wifi, they had wifi for the sleepers, as well as on the Parlor Car on the Coast Starlight. I don't know how it works, since I did not use it, but I suppose you only have connection within the cell connection area (3G/4G area).

Yes, they are dependent on availability of cell coverage. On the Coast Starlight there is little to no coverage between Chemult and Eugene.

 

[Meat Puppet]

A regular hair dryer works fine in a roomette, so does a space heater. I have never tripped a breaker even with a heater, multiple computers, tv & auxillary lighting running at the same time.

 

[stephanie]

I have often used my small travel kettle aboard Amtrak trains, in the rooomettes, to make a "proper cup of english tea"

ooh, that would be the one thing that would greatly improve my train travel! I've thought about one of those immersive heaters.

 

[Asher]

Thanks! I have a few months to figure out how to style my hair without the dryer, so I'll be fine. If I can master that all right, I'll be more than happy to ditch the hair dryer from the backpack! It's becoming a personal challenge to see how light I can pack for this trip.

A #2 buzz cut would solve the hair style.☺

 

[dlagrua]

I would not use a 1200W full size hairdryer in any of the roomettes, bedrooms or bathrooms but my wife's 500W mini hairdryer seems to work well and doesn't blow the breakers.

As for WiFi; I always use my laptop when traveling LD on Amtrak. If WiFi is unavailable I just set up a wireless hot spot and tether to my Verizon smartphone. More often than not a 4G connection is available but in some areas on the CL, CZ , EB, SS, SM or AT, 3G or zero service is found.

As for immersion heaters, I have used them and they work, but always use the lower wattage versions. My rule is to stay at or around 500W or below.

 

[KmH]

While the CZ does not an Amtrak-sponsored wifi access point, some of the individual SCAs that I've ridden with will activate a mobile hotspot on their personal smartphone and post the SSID and password for use by the car's occupants.

It's nice to know that TA-SC's are stepping up to the plate on some of the western LD trains.

 

[Don Newcomb]

I have often used my small travel kettle aboard Amtrak trains, in the rooomettes, to make a "proper cup of english tea"

ooh, that would be the one thing that would greatly improve my train travel! I've thought about one of those immersive heaters.

But you need to be very careful with those things as they are lacking in basic safety features.

 

[ScouseAndy]

My better half washes her hair whilst on trains for this very reason, being of Celtic descent she has thick red hair which even at home takes 30-40 mins to dry with a dryer.

Instead she uses dry shampoo to freshen it up and keep her from feeling dirty

 

[Asher]

After checking with my wife, she has taken and used a travel type hair drier on all of our sleeper trips.

 

[Austruck]

If I stumble upon a low-wattage tiny hair dryer, I might still pack one. But I'm very glad I asked because the wattage issue wouldn't have occurred to me.

As for that #2 buzz cut... yeah, umm, that's an image I can't get out of my head now! Ha!

 

[BCL]

My better half washes her hair whilst on trains for this very reason, being of Celtic descent she has thick red hair which even at home takes 30-40 mins to dry with a dryer.

Instead she uses dry shampoo to freshen it up and keep her from feeling dirty

Theoretically not allowed. Both a canister with propellant and an incendiary item (contains flammable gas propellant and probably alcohol).

https://www.amtrak.com/prohibited-items

I've brought spray sunscreen on board, although I'm thinking it violated the rules. It's alcohol based and uses a butane propellant. There's likely tons of stuff I've brought on board that violated the prohibited items policy.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

A regular hair dryer works fine in a roomette, so does a space heater. I have never tripped a breaker even with a heater, multiple computers, television & auxillary lighting running at the same time.

I've seen photos of your roomette stuffed to the gills with household appliances and endless electronic gadgetry. If you've really never managed to blow an outlet or trip a breaker it's certainly not for lack of trying. Just because you're willing to risk an entire car's ancient electrical supply on some clownish media room doesn't mean you should be advising more responsible travelers to be as reckless and indifferent as you are.

 

[ScouseAndy]

Are aerosols actually banned on Amtrak? Dry shampoo is basically corn starch and no more flammable then say a deodorant or body spray.

 

[BCL]

Are aerosols actually banned on Amtrak? Dry shampoo is basically corn starch and no more flammable then say a deodorant or body spray.

That's what it delivers. My wife uses Dove dry shampoo. Here's the ingredient list of one of them:

http://www.dove.com/us/en/hair-care/dry-shampoo/volume-and-fullness-dry-shampoo.html

Isobutane, Propane, Sd Alcohol 40-B (Alcohol Denat.), Aluminum Starch Octenylsuccinate, Butane, Fragrance (Parfum), Isopropyl Myristate, Silica, Cyclopentasiloxane

The first three items are clearly flammable. The first two are basically what's in my backpacking cartridge fuel. I guess the alcohol is needed to keep it kind of liquid until it evaporates. Not sure about the rest, although the last one is some sort of silicone. Sure it's starch, but chemically modified.

Here's the warning on the can:

https://smartlabel.labelinsight.com/product/2740654/advisories

WARNING: FLAMMABLE UNTIL FULLY DRY. DO NOT USE NEAR HEAT, FLAME OR WHILE SMOKING. CAN CAUSE SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH. AVOID INHALATION. AVOID SPRAYING IN EYES. CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE. DO NOT PUNCTURE OR INCINERATE. DO NOT EXPOSE TO HEAT OR STORE AT TEMPERATURES ABOVE 120 F/50 C OR IN ENCLOSED PLACES THAT COULD OVERHEAT. DO NOT USE ON BROKEN SKIN. STOP USE IF RASH OR IRRITATION OCCURS. KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN. USE ONLY AS DIRECTED. INTENTIONAL MISUSE BY DELIBERATELY CONCENTRATING AND INHALING THE CONTENTS CAN BE HARMFUL OR FATAL. HELP STOP INHALATION ABUSE. FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT WWW.INHALANT.ORG

The exact wording from Amtrak is "Canisters, tanks or other devices containing propellants" aren't allowed, with the exception of oxygen canisters for medical reasons. There are some propellants that don't contain anything flammable. I can think of Reddi-Wip. They might be worried that it could explode in transit. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't be allowed to bring a canister of camping propane.

 

[ScouseAndy]

So shaving foam, body sprays, deodorants, hair sprays and any other aerosol are banned by Amtrak then.

That's a large majority of out toiletries from on the banned list (my preferred mouth wash contains alcohol as well but I doubt that it's flammable and other mouthwashes are available with no alcohol)

Although at least one none flammable dry shampoos is available (on the UK market at least)

 

[chakk]

Amtrak is doing its part to protect the ozone layer.

 

[ScouseAndy]

Except that aerosols in Europe have been ozone friendly for decades with no CFFs

 

[jis]

And yet, even the TSA does not get upset with my butane propelled shaving cream or hair spray in my carry on in the one pint sandwich bag. Nor has anyone at Amtrak ever worried about such things as far as I can tell. If what is written is enforced on Amtrak for personal use toiletries that would be another reason to avoid Amtrak, unfortunately.

 

[PVD]

Aerosols Yes* Yes* *In limited quantity for personal care

from the Service standards manual, the yeses refer to being allowed both in carry on and checked bags

the website does not do a proper job of stating the obvious

no cfc's in most US products also even products originally on the exempt list have been transitioning away (like albuterol inhalers) as suitable substitutes are found and approved HFC are by no means problem free as a substitute, but seem to be way better for the atmosphere than CFC

 

[Thirdrail7]

The outlets say 120 volts but if they can handle a dorm room refrigerator and a deep fat fryer at the same time, I supposed your hair dryer will work out fine!

 

[PVD]

it would not be the receptacles, it would be the rating of the OCPD on the circuit. Without knowing the power distribution plan of any particular railcar, one would reasonably guess they are sitting on a circuit wired back to a 20A breaker. How many receptacles and what is plugged into them, and what those devices draw will be the determining factor. It is an exercise in what are referred to as "load calculations"

 

[Don Newcomb]

it would not be the receptacles, it would be the rating of the OCPD on the circuit. Without knowing the power distribution plan of any particular railcar, one would reasonably guess they are sitting on a circuit wired back to a 20A breaker. How many receptacles and what is plugged into them, and what those devices draw will be the determining factor. It is an exercise in what are referred to as "load calculations"

Yeah, depends on how many outlets are on one breaker and how many people are drying their hair or boiling a cup of tea, at this instant. In college I learned that I could shut off my neighbor's too-loud stereo by shorting the common circuit for the outlets of the two rooms. He'd have to call campus maintenance to reset the breaker. I had him convinced that if he turned his stereo up too high it would overload the circuit. Biology major.

 

[BCL]

it would not be the receptacles, it would be the rating of the OCPD on the circuit. Without knowing the power distribution plan of any particular railcar, one would reasonably guess they are sitting on a circuit wired back to a 20A breaker. How many receptacles and what is plugged into them, and what those devices draw will be the determining factor. It is an exercise in what are referred to as "load calculations"

Yeah, depends on how many outlets are on one breaker and how many people are drying their hair or boiling a cup of tea, at this instant. In college I learned that I could shut off my neighbor's too-loud stereo by shorting the common circuit for the outlets of the two rooms. He'd have to call campus maintenance to reset the breaker. I had him convinced that if he turned his stereo up too high it would overload the circuit. Biology major.

Setup is the big thing. I remember when my folks' house got an addition, the electrical contractor installed a breaker box to supplement the original fusebox. I got to see how they were wiring up one room addition. They were just piggybacking each outlet and the lights off of one 20A breaker. The cable was rated at 20A and each outlet was rated at 15A. However, if I maxed out every single outlet we'd either trip the breaker or have smoke coming from the walls.

A house I own has an interesting setup, even from the late 70s. It has a single 15A GFCI breaker connected to all the outlets in three different bathrooms. I also had additional GFCI outlets installed in those bathrooms, but I'm just paranoid. Haven't really had it happen, but I suppose three hairdryers used on max settings in all three bathrooms would probably trip the breaker.

 

[PVD]

The limitations on the number of receptacles on a single circuit that would apply in a commercial application don't apply in single family residences. (in most jurisdictions) The receptacle rating (for 125V usually a 15A or 20A) refer to the device itself, not the capacity of the circuit. A 15 A breaker @ 120 volts nominal should trip with 2 normal hairdryers on high, if it takes 3, I'd think about replacing the breaker!

I think we may be straying a bit off the topic, I love talking about electricity, and having retired from the industry still teach electrical classes a few nights a week, but this might not be the forum.......I'm going to back off unless I see something come up in the thread that is totally bogus....