Apnea Board Forum - CPAP | Sleep Apnea
mobile/battery CPAP Machines - Printable Version

+- Apnea Board Forum - CPAP | Sleep Apnea (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums)
+-- Forum: Public Area (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-Public-Area)
+--- Forum: Main Apnea Board Forum (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-Main-Apnea-Board-Forum)
+--- Thread: mobile/battery CPAP Machines (/Thread-mobile-battery-CPAP-Machines)



mobile/battery CPAP Machines - Scared - 04-19-2015

hello,
We go travelling a lot in the summer in our camping car (motor home) and we do a lot of wild camping so no electric hook up, my question is, is there a machine out there that I could use without being hooked up to the electric.

Thanks....


RE: mobile/battery CPAP Machines - Terry - 04-19-2015

(04-19-2015, 12:28 PM)Scared Wrote: hello,
We go travelling a lot in the summer in our camping car (motor home) and we do a lot of wild camping so no electric hook up, my question is, is there a machine out there that I could use without being hooked up to the electric.

Thanks....

There are 12v adapters for when you have your motor home.

For actual wild camping, there are small, portable machines that will get you a night from a battery. Transcend makes one and they claim 2 days on a battery and have a solar recharge option, although I have no experience with the brand/machine.




RE: mobile/battery CPAP Machines - iSnore - 04-19-2015

A motorhome typically has a 12 volt starting battery, as well as 12 volt "house" battery or batteries to provide lighting, ventilation (fans), and ignition for gas water heater, furnace, and refrigerator. In some cases, the refrigerator uses 12 volts exclusively instead of gas. In some cases, everything but the air-conditioning and microwave runs off 12 volts, and there may even be an inverter powering the microwave from the house battery.

There are a number of CPAP brands, including Respironics, that can run off 12 volts with nothing more than a DC cable. Others, such as the 24 volt ResMeds, require a DC-DC converter to use the 12 volts. How much you can use them depends upon the capacity of your house battery bank and whether you have a generator to recharge it. Unless you have significant excess capacity in that bank, you'll want to turn the humidifier and heated hose off. Hope this helps.


RE: mobile/battery CPAP Machines - GeoffD - 04-19-2015

The ResMed CPAP machines require an $80-something DC-DC converter power brick you can buy online. The Respironics are 12v DC units so you need to buy their $30-something power cord. For an RV/boat/car camping where you can lug a spare battery if you need to, don't agonize over that choice.

The compressor/blower part of the CPAP machine doesn't draw all that much current. The heater in the humidifier and heated hose does. I use a 35 amp-hour AGM wheelchair/scooter battery that costs $60-something on Amazon as my power failure/semi-portable solution. It weighs 25 pounds. With the humidifier and heated hose turned off, it will run the unit for several days. With the humidifier and heated hose turned on, it will knock the battery dead in less than a night.

You're going to need to experiment with what you need for humidification. You might be OK with water in the humidifier tank but the humidifier heater disabled. The house battery on an RV should be fine for that. You might need to upgrade your battery, lug along a spare battery or two, or buy a little Honda generator (and make yourself very unpopular with your neighbors). Honda finally lets online sellers sell their generators. A 1000 watt generator is $800 bucks. The bigger 2000 watt generator is $200 more. A CPAP machine with the humidifier set on it's highest setting still only draws ~100 watts. An issue with a battery. A non-issue with a generator.


RE: mobile/battery CPAP Machines - Scared - 04-20-2015

(04-19-2015, 03:43 PM)GeoffD Wrote: The ResMed CPAP machines require an $80-something DC-DC converter power brick you can buy online. The Respironics are 12v DC units so you need to buy their $30-something power cord. For an RV/boat/car camping where you can lug a spare battery if you need to, don't agonize over that choice.

The compressor/blower part of the CPAP machine doesn't draw all that much current. The heater in the humidifier and heated hose does. I use a 35 amp-hour AGM wheelchair/scooter battery that costs $60-something on Amazon as my power failure/semi-portable solution. It weighs 25 pounds. With the humidifier and heated hose turned off, it will run the unit for several days. With the humidifier and heated hose turned on, it will knock the battery dead in less than a night.

You're going to need to experiment with what you need for humidification. You might be OK with water in the humidifier tank but the humidifier heater disabled. The house battery on an RV should be fine for that. You might need to upgrade your battery, lug along a spare battery or two, or buy a little Honda generator (and make yourself very unpopular with your neighbors). Honda finally lets online sellers sell their generators. A 1000 watt generator is $800 bucks. The bigger 2000 watt generator is $200 more. A CPAP machine with the humidifier set on it's highest setting still only draws ~100 watts. An issue with a battery. A non-issue with a generator.
Thanks for the info, will get hubby to read it,it just goes over my head.

(04-19-2015, 12:45 PM)iSnore Wrote: A motorhome typically has a 12 volt starting battery, as well as 12 volt "house" battery or batteries to provide lighting, ventilation (fans), and ignition for gas water heater, furnace, and refrigerator. In some cases, the refrigerator uses 12 volts exclusively instead of gas. In some cases, everything but the air-conditioning and microwave runs off 12 volts, and there may even be an inverter powering the microwave from the house battery.

There are a number of CPAP brands, including Respironics, that can run off 12 volts with nothing more than a DC cable. Others, such as the 24 volt ResMeds, require a DC-DC converter to use the 12 volts. How much you can use them depends upon the capacity of your house battery bank and whether you have a generator to recharge it. Unless you have significant excess capacity in that bank, you'll want to turn the humidifier and heated hose off. Hope this helps.
Thank you will let hubby read it, I dont understand these tec things...lol


(04-19-2015, 03:43 PM)GeoffD Wrote: The ResMed CPAP machines require an $80-something DC-DC converter power brick you can buy online. The Respironics are 12v DC units so you need to buy their $30-something power cord. For an RV/boat/car camping where you can lug a spare battery if you need to, don't agonize over that choice.

The compressor/blower part of the CPAP machine doesn't draw all that much current. The heater in the humidifier and heated hose does. I use a 35 amp-hour AGM wheelchair/scooter battery that costs $60-something on Amazon as my power failure/semi-portable solution. It weighs 25 pounds. With the humidifier and heated hose turned off, it will run the unit for several days. With the humidifier and heated hose turned on, it will knock the battery dead in less than a night.

You're going to need to experiment with what you need for humidification. You might be OK with water in the humidifier tank but the humidifier heater disabled. The house battery on an RV should be fine for that. You might need to upgrade your battery, lug along a spare battery or two, or buy a little Honda generator (and make yourself very unpopular with your neighbors). Honda finally lets online sellers sell their generators. A 1000 watt generator is $800 bucks. The bigger 2000 watt generator is $200 more. A CPAP machine with the humidifier set on it's highest setting still only draws ~100 watts. An issue with a battery. A non-issue with a generator.
Thanks for the reply, think will try loosing weight and hope this disappears...lol