Just wondering, how do we get on with my hubbies cpap machine and the motorhome. Do we need to do any modifications at all and will it use much power when we are free camping? We will have both solar and a generator but are hoping to get by with just the solar. now when answering dont get too technical as we havent yet picked up the motorhome and I just know it has solar panels installed. ( sorry)
Yes Rin BUT you have to have a suitable 12 volt lead, usually available as an option for the CPAP machine. I have also run it off 240 Volts using an inverter.
Aussie Paul.
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Wednesday 31st of August 2016 10:07:31 AM
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Wednesday 31st of August 2016 10:08:07 AM
My wife has a Resmed machine, which is a couple of years old.
When we purchased it, we knew we would be going free camping, so also got the 12 volt power brick with a cig lighter plug attachment. (extra cost of course)
New van has 12v cig adapter on bedside cupboard, so it all works well.
Other option would be to use inverter to get 240 volts, and then just plug the machine into that, like you do at home.
If you use inverter, it will use more power, so it will be more efficient to use 12 volt.
Someone will correct me if I'm wrong...
Brian
I use a cpap machine. I suggest you speak with your cpap supplier and ask re the options of powering it. There are only two. 240 volt or 12 volt. When I first started travelling I needed to purchase a 12 Volt adapter which plugged into a cigarette lighter
I went across the Simpson in may using a tent. No problems with the cpap. Run a 12 Volt lead back to a power source in the vehicle, in my case a 60 amp thumper battery which ran the Engel and my cpap at night. Most cpap machines when initially supplied do not have the 12 Volt adapter. (separate purchase) When using 12 Volt the humidifier is disconnected. Cheers Daz
The most power efficient method is to power via a good quality inverter. The 12v system that you can get for your machine is costly and uses more power than a good inverter.
The 12v system actually brings the house battery voltage (12.6 - 13v) down to 12v. The inverter will always have other uses also.
I use a RESMED CPAP machine very successfully. In initially I used a Inverted from the Cigarette lighter under the table but had the wiring across the floor, bit messy but since I have run a 12volt cable to a Cigarette lighter connector at the side of the bed from the house batteries, and bought the 12 volt connector from RESMED. I can't remember the cost but everything from RESMED is expensive. That has all worked very well but I also bought the RESMED battery, $ 550.00 works well but not ideal, it won't run the machine and humidifier all night, only about 4 hours.
But I also Bought a Arkpack, with a 100 AmpH battery, works very well will run the Engel and CPAP and has a Inverter , 2 Cigarette lighter plugs, a Anderson plug and a USB plug and you can jump start the car if needed.
Its Bloody heavy to move but I use it for so many different applications its great. I also have a Houseboat, so I swap it from the Van to Houseboat for the CPAP but also as a really good backup.
I would highly recommend a Arkpack for anyone travelling for various reasons, the RESMED battery works but I wouldn't go down that path again.
I have just been investigating this for my self as the resmed power pak is expensive I initally ran mine off a dc outlet from my solar battery ( took about 3amps i.e used about 24 AH per night ) and then off mains when I have camped in places where it was available which I mainly use I I have just recently looked into jump start modules and the one I was looking at had a capacity of 68,800 mah or 68 AH so if using these figures I should be able to get 3 nights use but could recharge daily on 12v or 240V to keep it topped up and the good part is these batterys are Li-ion so you can charge them at any time and the pak is quite light and they cost around $80 on easybay also they come with a 12V socket and plug to attach to the power pak
It really depends on what CPAP machine he has , I have a Philips Respironics it is a 12 volt machine , so have no problem when camping it is very efficient on battery power , it has a adapter for home use the reduces the 240v to 12v .
If your husbands machine is a 240v , you will need a Inverter , they do use more battery power than a dedicated 12v machine .
Is buying a 12v machine , possible , not a bad idea to have a spare CPAP , I have a second one it is a very small Transend Machine , I carry on the motorbike , it also will run on 12v comes with 2 leads one for 240v the other for 12v , it's not as efficient as the Philips machine .
The navigator has a Resmed CPAP machine which when free camping we run using a 12 volt resmed inverter. The plug is beside the bed (her side) directly connected to the house batteries. If she uses the humidifier it drains the batteries a fair bit, down to 60 % when used in conjunction with the TV, lights, water pumps and VAST box if needed. Without the humidifier very little change is on the batteries over an eight hour period. We find it works well. Happy snoozing.
Cpap Machine has been discuss lots of time on the forum , So if you enter Cpap Machine into the search engine on the top of this page you will find lots of great information .
Hi all, 
