Backpacking, Hiking and Camping - the PowerAdd Pilot Pro

[raftergirl]

Hey flyswatta, I have a few dumb questions. The charger came yesterday & the instructions that came with it are ridiculous. Clearly written by someone for whom english is a second (or third) language. When I want to charge, I just lay the solar panel in the sun and hook it up to my battery? Anything else I should know? When I unfold it, the red light on the plug-in panel is blinking. What does that mean? It appears that the DC cable will fit my battery, did you just hook it straight up that way?
Thanks

[flyswatta]

I read the instructions with amusement If you like that sort of thing, check out chinglish.com.

You were doing it right, lay out the solar panel towards the sun and use the dc barrel connector cable to go from the charger into the input of your battery. Be advised that if you also plug in a usb cable to charge your phone or whatever at the same time, then it will cut ALL of the output to the lowest value, in this case, 5v. Just use either the 18v output OR the 5v output.

I don't recall my red light blinking, it's usually solid red. If you have a multimeter, you can check the output charge to validate how much is being output. I didn't think about doing that before, so if I think about it this weekend, I'll break out my multimeter and test it.

[Guest_CPAP]

So I guess people using ResMeds are out of luck, because you have to buy the adapter for $80+ ?
Is there not a way around that?

[flyswatta]

There are instructions online that tell you how to make your own. They are not clear and even I (who is familiar with electronics, cable splicing, etc) managed to fry my Resmed S8 trying to make one. The big issue is figuring out the polarity. When I got my S9, I ponied up the $$$ for the adapter. One good thing is that the adapter is designed to also work with battery clips, and if you get them on wrong, the adapter will block the power from getting to the CPAP machine and bricking it.

[hegel]

Hi guys: so I've read through most of this thread, as best I can, being technically illiterate. the Poweradd is affordable. I'm going on a retreat where I want to stay in a tent to spare my roommate my cpap machine. I can recharge daily. My cpap machine is listed below. I understand that there are quality control issues. but assuming that I want to try the poweradd--it's light and relatively affordable--will it work with my machine or do I need an adapter? I have a lowish pressure setting of 9. What all will I need to make this work, assuming I get a good battery?

Or are there other recommendations? I can use something in the 10 lb. range no problem, as I'm not backpacking with this.
Thanks!

[kiapolo]

My cpap machine is listed below (Respironics M Series Auto CPAP with A-Flex)...will the poweradd pilot pro work with my machine or do I need an adapter? I have a lowish pressure setting of 9. What all will I need to make this work, assuming I get a good battery?

I have tested my poweradd pilot pro with the same model cpap machine you have. It works flawlessly. The battery comes with an adapter that fits directly to your machine. You will need to change the voltage of the battery to 16V, which is super easy to do. I've tested your combo full blast at pressure setting of 20 and it lasted about 12 hours (6 hours a night for two nights - no humidifier).

[hegel]

Thanks Kiapolo! You say that I'll need to change the voltage to...etc. Keep in mind that I'm electrically illiterate. would you mind spelling out what I need to do...sorry for my ineptness in this area of life.

But it looks like this is the way to go. I was at a battery store today, but they were unfamiliar with cpaps. It did seem that a smallish dell battery with a $50.00 converter might work...but batteries for cpaps seem kind of complicated. The one you recommend is fairly affordable and easy. A go.

[OkyDoky]

The Poweradd Pilot Pro is Multi-Voltage (5V 9V 12V 16V 19V 20V). You hold the button down until you get the voltage for your machine.

[hegel]

O.K. so I'm buying this tomorrow (on sale!) unless someone comes up with a reason not to. Thanks for all the great input!

[hegel]

So the PowerADD unit is here. Two questions. the led is showing 19 volts. Do I need to adjust that before charging it (it's 99% full.) Also: whats the proper voltage for my cpap machine? (I don't have a manual--although I'm going to google it just after this. ) finally: will this battery power a Transcend 11 and at what volatage (I'l google that too. ) Things tend to go wrong when I try to do electrical things on my own....

thanks if advance

yours,
--village dumpkopf

[kiapolo]

The led is showing 19 volts. Do I need to adjust that before charging it (it's 99% full.)

No. You do have to change it before you use it to power your cpap machine.

Also: whats the proper voltage for my cpap machine?

16V will do.

will this battery power a Transcend 11 and at what voltage

I believe someone in this thread was using the Poweradd Pilot Pro with a Transcend cpap. Look it up in this thread.

[hegel]

kiapolo: my man! Many thanks. My only confusion is that my cpap machine says "100-240 v (more or less sign)" on the back. I trust your info about 16 volts being adequate. I'm curious about the large discrepancy in numbers.

I promise to stop bugging you or anyone else about this once I test the damn thing and see that it works without blowing up my one and only machine.
--Jeff

p.s. my setting is 9.5. Since on my upcoming trip I can recharge after one night, I'm thinking of using my humidifier at a setting of 2 to see if it will get me through one night. I also have one of those humidifying cylinders from cpap.com on the way in case I need to use that instead (no idea how well these work.) Let me know if you have any comment on this.

[CapnLoki]

kiapolo: my man! Many thanks. My only confusion is that my cpap machine says "100-240 v (more or less sign)" on the back. I trust your info about 16 volts being adequate. I'm curious about the large discrepancy in numbers.

The "more or less sign" signifies A/C current, meaning that the power brick is compatible with any AC voltage from 100 to 240, that is, most of the world's wall plugs. The power brick converts the wall current to about 12 volts DC which the pump and humidifier use. Apparently the battery can't quite keep up with the needs of the pump at 12V which is why kiapoo recommends setting it at 16 volts.

my setting is 9.5. Since on my upcoming trip I can recharge after one night, I'm thinking of using my humidifier at a setting of 2 to see if it will get me through one night. I also have one of those humidifying cylinders from cpap.com on the way in case I need to use that instead (no idea how well these work.) Let me know if you have any comment on this.

The pump at modest pressure without humidity uses roughly 50% of the battery capacity in one night. The humidifier however uses a lot of power - at the highest settings it would deplete the battery in an hour or two. It may be that a low setting will get by, but at best the battery will need a full charge, perhaps 6 hours or more to recover. You might also try using the humidifier in passive mode - no heat but filled with water. BTW, I don't bother bringing my humidifier on trips away from air conditioning.

Last year I measured the energy used in various configurations (your battery rates about 8 amp-hours):
viewtopic.php?t=102179
The newer Series 60 humidifier measures the ambient humidity so the lower settings use fairly low power, but the "Classic Mode" (which I think is what the Model M has) is a simple temperature controlled heater which tends to use a lot more power, as you can see in nights 3 and 9. I never measured at setting "2," nor do I know how the machines compare, but I'm not optimistic.

[raftergirl]

Update - I've done 3 weekend camping trips with the Qi-Infinity battery, and it has worked like a champ. I found a padded water bottle holder that fits the battery perfectly for protection in my gear bag. I have also used the All Power 28W solar panel a little bit, and it seems to recharge at about 4-5% per hour in good sunlight. Clouds & rain are, as expected, the challenge. I have an upcoming 8 day river trip and I will substitute the Qi-Infinity battery for one of my 12V batteries and see just how much charging I can get from the solar panel. On stretches of the river where there aren't rapids, I can hopefully just set up the panel and battery on top of my cooler & dry box to charge. I can stow it quickly back inside the dry box when the ride gets rougher. I'll report back after the trip.

[hegel]

O.K. looks like I'll forgo my humidifier, use the little humidifier cylinder instead, and I'm good to go. Thanks again for all the good info.