Travelling with a CPAP machine

GypsyBob · Veteran Member

Travelling with a CPAP machine

Shogun · Senior Member

Hi Bob

I have 2 house batteries and 300 watts of solar and have had no problems with my cpap machine which runs through a12v plug in the MH.

My older MH had 2 house batteries and 150 watts of solar and i never had a problem with it while travelling then either (About 6 months)

My advice is to carry a couple of extra fuses for the 12V adapter, just in case though.

Re the laptops etc, if you have a solar setup of some description that will certainly help, but there are many more technicallyminded than me on here with good knowledge who im sure will help you out.

Good luck with whatever you do.

Cheers

Brett

GypsyBob · Veteran Member

Errr, what is a house battery? (I said I was new)

Sheba · Guru

House Batteries are the ones' you store Power from the Solar Panels in, to run your Appliances, Lights etc. Not the ones' for starting the Vehicle.

Cheers,

Sheba.

sarg · Guru

Hi Brett, what size House Batteries do use as I am setting my van up with 12 volt system to suit my cpap..laptop,,lights....fridge. and need all the help I can get too just like Bob.....Thanks Sarg

Shogun · Senior Member

I think they are 100 hour each Sarg as the digital readouts say 199 hours left,so 2x 100 = 200, so that's my theory. They were part of the MH when I bought it. Hope that helps a bit.

Brett

GypsyBob · Veteran Member

Is that the brand? Do I google house battery?

Sorry if these are dumb questions but I'm new and trying to find out things that some of you know and take for granted.

Wild1 · Senior Member

Hi Bob, google 'deep cycle batteries', they give a different power charge to your cranking batteries. They come in three or 4 types, probably the most popular at the moment are AGM or Glass Matt types. Newer and more efficient types out now are lithium which are supposed to be half the size and twice the capacity but also twice the price, I found Auto Pro has very well priced batteries. As always you need to research, research and research. Good luck

Jennifer

UPO · Veteran Member

Hi GB - just used my ( about 10 year old ) CPAP device on 12V no issues at all - $60 for the 12V power plug & lead seems a bit steep - I bought my lead from Jaycar for about $4. - It is a standard part - just take the CPAP in so the correct size plug is supplied and also check the polarity of the socket - IE is the central pin positive or negative. On mine the regular transformer pack supplies 240V to the humidifier while a removeable part runs the actual air pump at the 12V. In my case I never use the humidifier so no issues.

A friend uses the humidifier so is limited to a pure sine wave inverter.

Hope this helps

UPO - Richard

-- Edited by UPO on Monday 5th of August 2013 08:36:15 PM

GypsyBob · Veteran Member

Oh, an allied question if I can please .....

Is it better the power the CPAP via an inverter? or should I get the 12v cigarette lighter type power chord thingies for about $60 from fleaBay?

chrisnchris · Senior Member

Hi Bob
Hubby uses a CPAP and it came with a very small inverter ( 130 watt I think ) which he uses in the van
We are totally solar ( 130 w) and 2 120 amp hr batteries
Don't use the humidifier and machine has to be on aeroplane mode
Used for 8 hrs nightly along with tv lights charging phones camera laptops etc
we have never come close to having no power , battery reading in mornings
usually abt 12.9
Hope this helps
Cheers

Shogun · Senior Member

I've used an inverter Bob and now have a 12v adapter. Both work well and like Chris have never run out of power.

Shogun · Senior Member

Agree with UPO, I took my machine into Jaycr and the guy there got me the correct plug and suggest the extra fuse, just in case.

Cost was about $7 all up.

Brett

Dougwe · Chief one feather

GypsyBob wrote:
Oh, an allied question if I can please .....

Is it better the power the CPAP via an inverter? or should I get the 12v cigarette lighter type power chord thingies for about $60 from fleaBay?

Hi Bob and welcome from me, enjoy here and out in the playground.

Whatever you decide on make sure all the 12v cable is of good size to eliminate current loss, I found out very quickly and did a major rewire of my Avan and added extra heavy duty cable to the tug, I use a 120w potable solar panel connected to the Avan when need via a 6B&S cable, works like a charm.

I don't think he will mind so maybe PM 'Plendo'. David has some good info on battery power.

2foot6 · Senior Member

Hi Bob,what brand of CPAP have you got and how old is it.I have a Resmed S8 CPAP and I rung the manufacturer,who stated not to run the unit on 12 volts unless it goes through their 12 volt regulated power unit,other wise damage could result.It could be worth a call to the manufacturer to get the correct info.cheers Peter.

woolman · Guru

I use through an inverter. I worked out the 12 volt uses more power as it actually stabilises power to 12v (I imagine like an inefficient inverter) not just straight from battery which is more than 12v. Probably depends on quality/efficiency of inverter. I would only use pure sine wave inverter as CPAP is very sensitive to power quality, though it would be probably the adapter that would sort out before CPAP. I am no electrical guru but wife has had hers for a year now and my main concern was power use. Forget at the moment how many amp hours but surprisingly very little. 3 hours of TV is more than CPAP.

Neil

George · Veteran Member

Hi
My turn for a question, whats a CPAP.
Thanks
George

neilnruth · Guru

CPAP stands for continuous positive airway pressure. It's a computerised machine used for those suffering from obstructive sleep apnoea.

George · Veteran Member

Thanks Neilnruth

George.

fridaydog · Member

Hi All
My machine is a F&P Ikon machine, which seems to be the only one which will not run on 12v. However with solar panel, two inhouse batteries and a decent pure sine wave inverter everything is running smoothly. It is my understanding that the humidifier greatly increases the power required by the unit, but even with it on power reserves in the morning are not a problem.

CPAP machine overcomes the problem of stopping breathing while sleeping, the MD assures me it wasn't that she wasn't pushing the pillow down hard enough.
Graham

Pedro_The_Swift · Veteran Member

Well, after two years I hope Gypsie Bobs still traveling!, Is there any technical reason humidifiers require a pure sine wave? and, can I ASSUME that 5A is the upper limit? it seems quite high for what the machine does.

mjt57 · Senior Member

Hi Pedro. Yes, it'd nice to know how Bob went with all this. I too am interested in this topic. I have a Resmed S9 Autoset. The unit itself runs on low voltage as the supplied power supply/converter/transformer/doodywhatsits drops from 240v down to whatever the machine requires to run.

Here is a link to what's available for my machine.

www.resmed.com/au/en/consumer/products/accessories.html

The battery pack is an interesting one. That'd be handy for camping where there's no power, whether in a tent, swag, back of the car or whatever. But, as you can see it does come with a DC converter. Unfortunately there is no extra info on the product at that link. I'll have to go searching, methinks.

But that's what I'd be using in a van if not on mains power.

mjt57 · Senior Member

Just looked up the data for mine running off of a battery.

It depends on your therapy, how much pressure or airflow that your machine is set for. But work on something between 1 and 7 amps, or 11 to 78 amp/hours.

www.cpapaustralia.com.au/resources/file/19825_battery-guide_glo_eng.pdf

Waterbags · Veteran Member

I use a ResMed S9 and use the Optional ResMed Converter when travelling. The Converter plugs into a 12V outlet and supplies the machine with 24V.

The Caravan has 3 x 150Kw Solar Panels with 2 x 110 A/h AGM Batteries. A 240V 20Amp Smart Charger as well as a 30Amp DC to DC Charger keeps the batteries charged. If you are going to use a DC Power supply to supply your CPAP, it needs to to be suitably wired.

The Resmed S9 is actually 24V and comes with a 240V to 24V Converter. So I expect when people indicate they run theirs of 12V plug, they are using the ResMed 12V to 24V Converter.

The other option is to run a Inverter, at least 300W Inverting 12V DC to 240V AC and use the standard 240V to 24V Converter. My understanding is the Inverter does consume more power than the Converter.

The current draw will depend on the your set-up. Humidifiers use a lot power, the S9 did not come with one as standard so I have not bothered to purchase one. Also higher machine pressures may result in greater power consumption.

Without a Humidifier and running 9 psi and using a Converter, the machine uses very little power, probably just over 2amps/hr.