Electrical outlets in WBC on 330s?
 

Just flew some long stretches on Airbus 330-200s and 330-300s. The electrical outlets wouldn't charge an iPhone on any of the flights. Have any of you used them successfully? What's the deal?

Did you try anything else such as a laptop? I have a trip coming up and will need laptop power.

There should be a little light on the outlet that shows if there is power or not. The FAs can attempt to reset them, but those mid-90's in-flight power systems are all pretty sub-par. My MacBookPro even with battery killed a number of seats on NW.

This is a problem with a number of in-seat power systems that came out in the 90s. The only system that really worked well for me was the DC Empower system on CO. The $30 cable from Apple directly hooked up to the computer and it worked flawlessly for hours and hours.

Did you rotate the charger?

Over the last year, using my geniune Apple USB charger, in A330 and 747 WBC seats, to charge my iPhone 2G, the charger would only work one way.

I figured it wouldn't matter with A/C, yet it does seem to matter regarding the alignment of line and neutral.

Worked yesterday
 

We plugged in and charged an iPhone 3Gs through a standard iPhone charger plug on an ex-NW A330-300. I also had my macbook pro plugged in for a little bit, and that worked fine.

I've had problems with the A330s for my newer laptop (but not my old one). Not sure why, but it has been a problem on all of the last 4 or 5 flights I've been on. I think it has to do with the demands of the battery. Rotating the plug, having the purser re-set the power, etc. never worked.

Not sure what motytrah was referring to as the first Airbus to NW was in 2004. Did they use old technology in a new plane?

oh yeah, take a look at the boot up screens some time and look at the copyright notices in there (not to mention the product versions they are using!). I was told that once they get a sytem certified, it tends to stay as is, since re-certifying is a long and costly process. The in seat power was conceived when xx watts was all you should ever need. Then the computer makers came along with these massive machines and they trip the breakers. It's been about 5 years since I have had one that would reliably work with NW's inseat power.

BTW, there is a plug for the onboard befibrulator in row 3, it's on the port side of the plane. The FAs showed me that once, because my computer just wont work with the normal outlets. I usually prefer row 1, but if I think I'll have to work (or if I've seen all the NW movies already and will want power to watch videos) I will grab that seat.

The A 330 power ports DO NOT charge any device plugged into them due to the limited voltage output. They simply enable you to use your laptop or DVD player without further draining your battery. It's covered in the instructions for use on board.

I have a 50/50 record. Sometimes they work sometimes they don't.

It's about wattage... you get what you get. There's plenty of laptops out there just great for a flight, that don't exceed the wattage limit. There's probably one pax per flight trying to use a 17" 3ghz duo-core desktop-replacement, and they're not going to deliver that wattage to every seat, to meet that individual pax'es request.

Yup, I had a Toshiba laptop replacement and the battery drained. Bad for an overseas flight! I gave it to my wife and take an older Acer on overseas flights that doesn't have a big voltage requirement.

That's what they say, but my last laptop would charge just fine. I have taken out the battery to run my computer directly from the outlet and never get more than 10 minutes of work done before there is an electrical interruption and my computer goes dead, making me lose what I haven't saved and having to re-boot.