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[CPAP] Travel CPAP battery powered recommendations?
#1
Travel CPAP battery powered recommendations?
Would like recommendations for a travel APAP that is battery powered.
Not sure where to look elsewhere on the forum.
Sultec
Latest CPAP machine: Dream Station DSX500H11C  màsk: ResMed Air Fit P10
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#2
RE: Travel CPAP battery powered recommendations?
Recommendations would be considerably different depending on specifically where you intended to use it. There is a big difference between a houseboat and back packing in wilderness.
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#3
RE: Travel CPAP battery powered recommendations?
Hi. I have the pricey Freedom battery. I just used it on the plane on a trip to Ireland. Then used just the Brit to US adapter for the power plug (no step down transformer)in the hotel at night. It worked fine. I have a BiPAP so my power usage is lower than your straight up CPAP. ON the plane, it used about 1/3 of the battery according to the readout on the battery. I ran it about 4 hours. The freedom system setup is nice as it works as a battery backup if power fails. I use that setup now at home. That's happened several times since I bought the battery about a month ago. The BiPAP doesn't even skip a beat... I take the 12v output from the battery and I run it through the Respironics Shielded DC cord accessory made for the DreamStation. The Dreamstation has some heartbeat signal that it looks for from the power supply. If not present I don't think it will run. The Freedom battery includes a little white box that provides that heartbeat when you buy the correct model. The DreamStation is 12volt based. Don't get the 24v based battery. With the DreamStation, if you disconnect power while it's running it beeps at you for about a minute. You can't stop the beeping unless you power it back up or the super capacitor dies and it stops...

I also have a Beaudens 150W portable power generator. for my BiPAP, it lasts about 4 nights of 7 hours per night. I plan to use it camping and use a solar panel to recharge during the day. The one I bought, #B-1502, uses a lithium battery type that has less chance of thermal runaway than normal lithium-ion batteries. For the B-1502, it needs more than 12vDC to charge. The manual says if too low it wont charge which you'll know as the battery bar will stay steady and not blink. It blinks when charging. I verified this myself with a bench variable power supply.

Remember, if you are taking a battery with you on a plane, it has to be less than 100W. The Freedom is (that I bought). The Beauden power generator I have isn't, but I didn't intend to take it when flying.

There are plenty of options out there. I just am on the cautious side with powering my BiPAP, that's why I use the Philips DC accessory. You can use the Freedom little white box. I'm using their power supply with the battery. I keep my DreamStation power supply as a spare. If I don't use my BiPAP I get AFIB so I have to use it and don't take any chances or ever sleep or nap without it. Oh, and I'm an electrical engineer, travel a lot and know a little about power so I'm confident of my setup.

If you want to know what the actual power usage is for your CPAP at your pressure over say a night or two, you can buy a cheap power monitor on Amazon or Ebay that will keep a running log of Watts used. Search for "Digital Multimeter AC 80-260V 100A". See the 4th or 5th item in the list that pulls up on amazon.  If you are electrically inclined you can hook up plugs to the input and output of the meter and put it in line with the CPAP for a night or two. Then you can calculate how long your battery will last running your machine. When on battery it will last a little longer than calculated as you will not have the losses associated with the power supply.  I said a BiPAP generally uses less power than a CPAP because I have two fan speeds. I have an exhale pressure which is lower than the inhale so fan runs slower and is really only at high speed for a short period of time. Most of the duty cycle is going up or going down. A CPAP maintains a constant pressure so the fan is running at more or less a pretty constant higher speed all the time. If you have a low pressure say 5, then you'll use less power than me. I have 12 inhale, 5 exhale.

Good luck.
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#4
RE: Travel CPAP battery powered recommendations?
As Fred said, it depends on what sort of travel you'll be doing. How are you getting around and how many days off-the-grid do you expect? If more than two nights, you'll need to recharge any hiking-size battery. If you will have a vehicle, you could use a secondary 'house battery' that's recharged by the vehicle or carry a solar charger. I wouldn't recommend running a CPAP off the vehicle battery if you're 'going bush'. Discharged starting batteries can be very inconvenient when you're miles from civilisation :-)

Remember also that PAP machines use a lot more power when a humidifier is included and, while it's easy to detach/disable the humidifier, you will miss it if you're camping at high altitude in low temps!
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