Hi Grey Nomads

I'm just about to begin my first grey nomad expedition. Is there anyone out there who may have had experience travelling with a cpap or vpap machine? I'd like to hear any advice offered - in particular in relation to battery power for the machine.

Best wishes

CallmeStan

Ok I'll call you Stan! so Hi Stan and welcome to the forum,

To the best of my knowledge, Cpap machines don't draw much current and will operate from a small inverter. I have a mate who lives nearby who uses a cheap modified (so called) sine wave (MSW) inverter satisfactorily but, that said, I would suggest going the extra expense for a pure sine wave inverter to be on the safe side as what is ok with one machine may not be with another. There's no need to go to the expense of a large capacity inverter.

Check with the supplier to get their recommendation, also any warranty issues, especially if using an el-cheapo MSW inverter.

You don't say what your battery set up is but I would suggest not relying on your vehicle's starting (main) battery for your supply of 12v. You may have a separate "house" or auxiliary battery, if so no problems.

Jim

Hi,if you print Cpap in the search section on top of the page you will find some answers from previous questions.Hope this helps you.Cheers.Crow

A Cpap that is used with the humidifier uses LOTS more power than without. Cheers, Peter

Good point P & M, you do need to have an idea of the power consumption in order to select an appropriate inverter/battery/charging set up.

The company from whom you got the CPAP should be able to give you an info sheet on the power consumption of your particular machine.
Each model varies in how much power they use and if you use a humidifier - it will increase the power used.
Darryl uses  a 120AH sealed battery with his and with some top-up from a small portable solar panel and he can get just on 12 days out of the battery before we need to charge up from 240V.
Barb

Hi I would enquire about a campers pack. I am not sure about it but when they were testing me in Perth I was told there was a campers pack available for travelling. I don't know for sure about the unit but I will be enquiring when I get back to Perth to pick up my unit. At present I have a loan unit and it is a nuisence as I can only use it when we stay in parks about 30% of our camping. Roy

We have been on the road for almost four years and i have a vpap, we are in van parks a lot  but when we camp we use the genny its not noisy and we always park well away from anyone else. The genny runs the vpap at night and the fridge of a daytime, no difference in power use between using humidifier and not .

Hi Jim
I posted this message and then did not have access to email for several weeks- hence my failure to reply to you. Many thanks for taking the time to respond, and for your advice.
Cheers
Loretta (aka Stan)

Thanks for this Peter. I had heard this before but suspect that it may have changed with the latest technology. In a sense it does not matter for me as I seems to manage happily without the humidifier. Cheers.
Loretta (aka Stan)

Barb
Many thanks for this. I'm delighted to hear about the 12 days - I had been hoping for 12 hours - so this is good news indeed!  I'll explore this further. Am still staying in Van Parks at present but would love the freedom that would come with 'battery independence'. Happy travelling.
Loretta (aka Stan)

Hi Ray Woodpecker
Thanks for your response and advice. I'll be in Townsville soon and will enquire there. Happy travelling and happy sleeping.
Loretta (aka Stan)

Thanks Colsa
I too have a vpap and am still weighing up the relative benefits and challenges of a generator vs a gel-type battery with some solar panels. I have no experience with a generator (apart from on the net I don't think I've ever actually seen one). I'm a single traveller and would be happy with the simplest system I can arrange. I have come across quite a number of interesting people in van parks already but I have the feeling that being able to park elsewhere will bring me into contact with even more interesting people/nomads.
Thanks for your response and advice.
Loretta (aka Stan)

Hi Loretta, I would not depend on a generator to power a CPAP machine as there are many occasions where using a "genny" is either prohibited or inappropriate. I would think that an arrangement similar to BarbandDaz's would be the way to go. I would recommend a good quality "smart" charger that can be left connected to the auxiliary (aka "house") battery in order to keep it simple. Solar panels can be used (in conjunction with a solar panel regulator) to "top up" the battery for extended unpowered camping. This too can be pre-wired to keep it simple. Jim