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[Equipment] How many DC Amps does my CPAP REALLY draw?
#11
RE: How many DC Amps does my CPAP REALLY draw?
(08-14-2012, 10:02 PM)wilder Wrote: Hey ChoirPower...

I did that same research last year. I found a Phillips website that indicated that my unit would draw 1.8 amps during most of the night (without the humidifier), although I suppose that would depend upon the pressure.

I sometimes camp a quarter mile or so from the car, so weight is an issue for me. Also, I wanted the battery to be a backup for the car, since I sometimes am away from the car (and the grid) for several weeks. So I got a marine battery and a small solar panel.

I'd love to give you all the details, but I don't want to get tossed out on my very first post.

Anyway, it works great. Some long nights have resulted in the battery getting down to 12.4 volts, but the solar panel beings it back up in a couple hours. A normal night leaves the battery at about 12.65 volts. I've put in a total of about a month on the battery.

Well, this is my first post here and the reason I joined this forum was to find out how to go camping with a battery and my Cpap.

After reading this post, I realize now that my Cpap without the humidifier will draw at most 2 amps. With that i now know how many amps a night I will need and can now determine how many nights I have on a battery charge.

Without a solar charger, I would not be able to camp for a week or so, so need a solar system package to charge my battery... whatever battery I decide to buy.

I wondered just how much of a solar panel and controller I would need to allow for recharging a battery for my Remstar Cpap.

I would love it if you would share your findings and let us/me know what your setup consists of... i.e. batter, panel, controller etc. and approximately how much it ended up costing you.

Thanks in advance and if you need to send this privately, feel free to send me a PM.

Dennis
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#12
RE: How many DC Amps does my CPAP REALLY draw?
Depends on the size (number of amp-hours) of your battery, and how much sunshine you'll get. Will you have an automobile nearby? If so, you can use that battery as a back up in case your original uns low.
Sleepster

INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#13
RE: How many DC Amps does my CPAP REALLY draw?
Hi Tim, Recently my parents bought a deep cell battery and inverter from Walmart to run their pop-up camper on. They also intended for me to use my cpap on it. We tried it out at home first and I was able to use my cpap for 3 and a half nights before it shut off. My father made sure it was fully charged before I used it. Also, any auto zone will charge the battery in 2 hours free of charge. Hope this helps.
Patsy
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#14
RE: How many DC Amps does my CPAP REALLY draw?
(07-29-2013, 04:58 PM)Patsy Wrote: We tried it out at home first and I was able to use my cpap for 3 and a half nights before it shut off.

Hi Patsy, welcome to the forum!

Please understand that even a "deep cycle" battery should not be discharged to less than perhaps 20% of full capacity (80% used up). And a Marine battery is not a true deep cycle, so perhaps it would be best to discharge a marine battery to not lower than 50%, before recharging the battery.

If the battery is discharged so much that the CPAP machine turns itself off, the battery may have reached close to zero percent remaining capacity, and I am afraid that this may have seriously shortened the life of the battery (shortened how many charge/discharge cycles the battery will be good for before it fails to last through even 1 night of use).

So a solar charging system (with a Charge Controller to prevent overcharging) would be helpful to prolong the life of the battery.

Also, unused batteries must be periodically (monthly or quarterly) recharged when not in use, because they tend to slowly self-discharge.

Take care,
--- Vaughn
The Advisory Member group provides advice and suggestions to Apnea Board administrators and staff on matters concerning Apnea Board operation and administrative policies.  Membership in the Advisory Member group should not be understood as in any way implying medical expertise or qualification for advising Sleep Apnea patients concerning their treatment.
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#15
RE: How many DC Amps does my CPAP REALLY draw?
I tried to talk with the good folks at Respironics. All they would give was an absurdly high amp draw saying they couldn't predict every situation at every pressure level with and without heated humidification.

"Odd," I sez to the Respironics guy, "but both Resmed and DeVillbiss are able to." BTW - my DeVillbiss should average a draw of .75 amps, and the S9 - .5 amp at my average pressure and no heated humidificaiton from manufacturer specs...

OMyMy
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#16
RE: How many DC Amps does my CPAP REALLY draw?
(07-29-2013, 08:58 PM)OMyMyOHellYes Wrote: I tried to talk with the good folks at Respironics. All they would give was an absurdly high amp draw saying they couldn't predict every situation at every pressure level with and without heated humidification.

"Odd," I sez to the Respironics guy, "but both Resmed and DeVillbiss are able to." BTW - my DeVillbiss should average a draw of .75 amps, and the S9 - .5 amp at my average pressure and no heated humidificaiton from manufacturer specs...

OMyMy

I did some testing with a "Kill-a-watt" meter on my PRS1. You can probably assume 1 amp or less without humidifier, 3 amps or less with heated humidification. Those are average over 8 hours or so. I measured around 10 watts or 30 watts average on the AC side, so those numbers are overly conservative for the DC side.
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#17
RE: How many DC Amps does my CPAP REALLY draw?
(08-02-2013, 10:10 AM)archangle Wrote: I did some testing with a "Kill-a-watt" meter on my PRS1.

Doesn't that machine give you the number of watt-hours of energy used? If so, dividing by 120 volts will give you the number of amp-hours of charge.

These numbers should work well for someone using an inverter to run their PRS1. As you say, if you connect your CPAP directly to the 12-volt battery you would be able to run even longer on that same battery because you eliminate the energy losses incurred by the inverter itself.
Sleepster

INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#18
RE: How many DC Amps does my CPAP REALLY draw?
(07-29-2013, 08:58 PM)OMyMyOHellYes Wrote: I tried to talk with the good folks at Respironics. All they would give was an absurdly high amp draw saying they couldn't predict every situation at every pressure level with and without heated humidification.

"Odd," I sez to the Respironics guy, "but both Resmed and DeVillbiss are able to."

But members here have reported that those numbers are notoriously unreliable. I suspect that in addition to the pressure setting, the amount of unintentional leak rate also affects the number of amps of current drawn.

If you have the humidifier on, things get worse. In addition to the humidifier setting, the number of amps drawn will also be affected strongly by the amount of humidity already present in the air in your bedroom, tent, camper, or wherever you are sleeping.
Sleepster

INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#19
RE: How many DC Amps does my CPAP REALLY draw?
You should be able to get something close to a worst-case scenario by setting the humidification to C3 (the highest "classic" humidification setting), setting the pressure to its maximum, and blocking the tube. The classic humidification eliminates environmental feedback into the heater, and blocking the tube at the highest pressure causes the highest current draw of the blower.
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