Longer lasting power for tent camping

[sierramomma]

I'm an older, technologically challenged APAP user who is getting increasingly frustrated while trying to find a solution to sleeping while tent camping. I had considered renting a battery from The Battery Geeks but found this morning that there phone number has been disconnected. Not a good sign! CPAPsupply USA offered to sell me a Respironics Battery Pack with series 60 adapter for $370.00, but suggested that it may only work for 4 hours! I need to find something with longer lasting power that is relatively simple to set up.

I'm using a Respironics RemStar Aflex system one 560. Pressure is 8 to 15.

Is there anyone who can help me? I miss the mountains!

[mralaska]

Bear in mind I am a camper who has done some research but new to this so I have not tested it in the field yet. That being said, based on theory as best I can determine:

Respironics uses a 12V system so it will run off a car battery. I ordered and received an adapter from Craigslist for around $9 I that will go from a cigarette lighter to any M series or System One machine (adapter included for 60 series). I also bought a receptacle to fit it with battery clips ~$8.00, voltage alarm with readout $13 & and a battery $17.00 that I can set up in my tent and I *think* will last a weekend with fudge factor if I do not run the humidifier and did my math correctly.

These type of items can be repaired/replaced in the field if you are away from sophisticated support which is why I like Respironics. The battery I bought is actually not one I would recommend but it fits in my 550W UPS and I like owning stuff I can mix and match so I always have a backup.

If you run it off a car battery remember it could shorten the life of the battery if it is not a deep cell battery, but 2 amps for 8 hr should not pull it down too bad. The System One 50 series runs at a max of 2 amps without humidifier and 5 amps with the humidifier from what I have read both in online specs and one apnea camper who tested it to make his own battery pack. If you use a heated hose it will draw a noticeable amount more.

I am slow to respond and need to step out but I will revisit this forum to address any questions or lick my wounds if I missed something.

[sierramomma]

Thank you so much for your reply mralaska. You've given me hope. Please do bear in mind that "technologically challenged" description. When i hear words like adapter, receptacle and voltage alarm I tend to panic. I'm hoping that you can walk me through this a little more slowly since this does sound like the way I need to go.

I'll be away from the computer for a few hours and will check back.

[Sparky223]

There is a thread here somewhere where a member built a battery back up with a deep cycle battery, a battery case, trickle charger, and associated connectors. He did step by step instructions. I wish I could find it because I think it would work well for camping.

[palerider]

There is a thread here somewhere where a member built a battery back up with a deep cycle battery, a battery case, trickle charger, and associated connectors. He did step by step instructions. I wish I could find it because I think it would work well for camping.

there's a *lot* of battery threads. I think the one you're talking about may be by johnbfisher,

[Sparky223]

There is a thread here somewhere where a member built a battery back up with a deep cycle battery, a battery case, trickle charger, and associated connectors. He did step by step instructions. I wish I could find it because I think it would work well for camping.

there's a *lot* of battery threads. I think the one you're talking about may be by johnbfisher,

That's the one. Thanks

[Krelvin]

Some collected info about batteries and options...

https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/batterysolutions

[Krelvin]

A lot depends on what you mean by tent camping. If you are hiking to get there, you are limited in size/weight. If you are driving there, a longer term solution would be the DYI battery setup by CapnLoki. Much bigger battery so much longer available service.

[GeoffD]

A lot depends on what you mean by tent camping. If you are hiking to get there, you are limited in size/weight. If you are driving there, a longer term solution would be the DYI battery setup by CapnLoki. Much bigger battery so much longer available service.

I independently pretty much cloned the solution used by CapnLoki. We both used a 35 amp-hour 12 volt AGM wheelchair/scooter battery. They're $60-something dollars on Amazon. We happened to pick different manufacturers. He picked the pretty yellow one. I picked the less pretty black one. All CPAP vendors sell a 12v power cord or power adapter. I'm ResMed so I had to buy a more-expensive 12v to 24v DC-DC converter that says ResMed on it for $80-something dollars. A CPAP machine that runs on 12v just needs a power cord. It won't be more than $30-something to buy the "official" one. Then you need a battery charger. I picked a "Battery Tender Jr" that is cheap on Amazon or Walmart but only charges at 0.75 amp. I can throw it on a real 3 amp/10 amp battery charger if I need to charge it faster. You can spend a bit more for a "Battery Tender" model that pushes more current to charge faster.

Battery life is 100% tied to how much humidifier you need. With the humidifier off and the heated hose off, you can get days out of a 35 amp-hour AGM battery. With my usual settings, I'd suck the battery dead in about 5 hours. My setup is for use on the boat where humidity isn't a problem and for power outages where I can turn the humidifier down, disable the heated hose, and get a solid 8 hours out of the battery. I spent about $190.00 on my setup. Somebody with a 12 volt CPAP machine should be able to do it for less than $140. If you want more hours or more humidifier, you spend more for a bigger-heavier AGM battery or buy an 2nd battery.

If you need to put your CPAP machine and battery in a backpack and hike some miles, you're not going to lug a 25 pound wheelchair battery. You're going to use a 3 to 5 pound lithium battery that costs quite a bit more. If you want to bring it on an airplane, you bump into the 100 watt-hour (7-ish amp-hour) TSA battery restriction where you need several lithium batteries if you're going to fly with it and use your humidifier. I haven't needed to solve that problem.

[mralaska]

Thank you so much for your reply mralaska. You've given me hope. Please do bear in mind that "technologically challenged" description. When i hear words like adapter, receptacle and voltage alarm I tend to panic. I'm hoping that you can walk me through this a little more slowly since this does sound like the way I need to go.

I'll be away from the computer for a few hours and will check back.

This would be a lot simpler if I could make diagrams but if I try to draw a picture of a box it comes out looking like an octopus. I will try to use words to describe how to build a simple emergency power supply in non-technical terms:

Suppose you have no backup power and are invited into the woods with a bunch of good ol' boys that assure you they have plenty of AC power plus backup to power your breathing thingy so against your better judgment you go along. Upon an evening arrival to the camp it is discovered a bear has eaten all the diesel cans and tank for the backup generator then got a belly ache and puked all that metal on the battery pack for the solar array thus killing all the power in camp.

With a laugh the group announces it is candle power time and prepares to drink all the cold beer before it starts melting the ice that is keeping the bacon cold. You are relieved to find yourself in enterprising company who know their priorities and makes allowances but fear your needs are not being considered. Approaching Gither Dunn McTryer, the fix-it dude, you gently remind him you have some specific power needs.

"Oh, Crap!", he exclaims, "Let me see that bad boy!"

After you take him to your tent and show him where you keep your stash, he takes a look at the bottom of the power supply then chugs his beer down real quick so he can break the bottom off the bottle to use as a magnifying glass. It does not work, however, so you lend him your reading glasses so he can read the writing on the bottom. Suddenly Gither breaks into a grin and announces, "I got ya covered, good buddy!"

First he unplugs the cord from the back of the machine and snips it off a few inches away from the power supply with his leatherman. After stripping the ends of the wires, what he has in his hand is a rudimentary adapter with one end that fits your machine and the other end which will fit most any battery that has sufficient power to run your machine. All an adapter does is join two things that are designed to fit something other than each other.

Gither then steals a battery from the ATV in the back of his brother-in-law's truck and bolts the bare end of the wires from your makeshift adapter to the correct battery posts after double checking the polarity marked on the bottom of your power supply. "Yer good to go now," he says as he turns to join the revelers, "as long as you get up at daybreak with the rest of us."

You now have a crude but functional power pack for your CPAP machine.

"What happens if I sleep in?", you ask.

"Well hell, the battery won't last forever!" says he.

The thougt of trusting this crew to be up at the crack-o-dawn is not going to help you sleep any better and you tell him so.

"Damn yankee ain't nuttin but trubble," he grumbles as he digs through the bear scat and remains of the camp solar supply. Returning with a box and a couple wires dangling out of it, he hooks them up just like he did with your adapter and then a green light LED on the box illuminates the darkest corner of your tent. A little bit of it anyway. "If ya seez the yeller light comes on it means the battery is getting low so give me a kick and I will steal a battery from Uncle Smugbob, it will do him good to walk. If the red light comes on it means the battery is about to die and the box will start beeping like the dickens and wake us all up."

You have now added a basic battery/voltage alarm for a bit of sophistication for your basic power supply. I think Gither could have grabbed a volt meter so you could monitor the exact state of the battery better but maybe the bear ate it.

I cannot remember what the correct name of it is, but the receptacle I mentioned was just something I bought to make an adapter to plug the cig lighter type plug into the battery in my tent, and would be mounted to the side of the battery box if I were to build a somewhat practical power supply. In real life making a real life power supply you might add all kinds of connectors and doodads to make it more practical, and put it in a box for protection, and use a better battery that has enough power and is built to be bounced around a bit. I have not researched the best because the replacement battery in my UPS should be good enough if I am careful not to stress it out dropping it or anything. If I had someone in my house who was wheelchair bound I might be checking the power on their wheelchair battery to maybe think about buying the same kind so we could help each other out in a pinch.

I'm gonna go check out some of the links left here for more ideas and see if I am forgetting anything.

[CapnLoki]

I'm an older, technologically challenged APAP user who is getting increasingly frustrated while trying to find a solution to sleeping while tent camping.... I need to find something with longer lasting power that is relatively simple to set up.

I'm using a Respironics RemStar Aflex system one 560. Pressure is 8 to 15.

Is there anyone who can help me? I miss the mountains!

If by "tent camping" you mean what we've been calling "car camping," I think we can help. The battery I've been using and recommending weighs 25 pounds, so its luggable, but too heavy to carry more than 50 to 100 yards. (I you really mean "carrying-in," as in hiking a few miles to camp, we can still help, but its a different, and more expensive solution.)

The 35 pounds would give you up to a week with no humidity. If you're camping in a very dry climate we can show you the settings to minimize power usage while still provideing some humidity so you can still get 2-3 days.

The setup of my system takes about 5 minutes - a red ring gets bolted onto the "plus" terminal and a black ring gets bolted onto the black terminal. My battery came with the appropriate bolts. (There's no shame in asking a friend or neighbor to help with this, but its only a "one beer" favor!) The connectors take a few minutes to understand but they can be done in the dark with little risk of messing up.

The parts list I used is the last item on this thread:
viewtopic.php?t=102775

In this thread I measured the electrical usage of my CPAP, which is a 560 like yours at pressure 9-10
viewtopic.php?t=102179

[sierramomma]

You guys are wonderful! I feel better already. I not only have learned a lot, I'm doubled over in laughter, and that helps too. As an over 70 year old female, I'm still not very confident, but I'm going to print your info out and run it by someone who will better speak your language. I'm so happy to learn that I don't have to choose between camping and sleeping. The last time I went without my APAP I was pretty miserable. I've used a CPAP for about 3 years, but until last summer, I was able to do without it for a couple of weeks. My pressure has been increased to 15. And oh yeah, one more thing..........I like to camp at 7000 to 9000 foot elevation.

Now, about the kind of camping I do. I gave up backpacking a couple years ago. So, yes, I'm talking about what you might call car camping. I'm not in a vehicle, but generally don't have to carry things very far. I have had someone suggest that I just run a power cable from the car to the tent. I'm not sure how close I would need to be to the car. I don't want to trip someone or have critters chewing on the cord. I also like to stay in Yosemite's tent cabins and may have to park almost 1/4 mile from the cabin. No, they don't have power.

[davecpap]

This is one of the best DIY battery solution posts I've seen on here:

viewtopic/t98164/My-Camping-Battery-Box.html

[sierramomma]

After a couple of days of reading posts, talking to others and shopping, I've come to the conclusion that I really want something lighter weight than the lead acid batteries. I know it will cost me more and reading some of the recent backpacking posts, I'm guessing that I may need either the Poweradd Pilot Pro or the Q Infinity Powerplant. Since my machine is set at 6 to 15 and I camp at high altitudes, I know I need a lot more than the Respironics battery pack would provide. Any thoughts on Pilot Pro vs Q infinity or any other options? I'm not at all knowledgable about this so I apologize if it sounds like I'm asking questions that have already been answered.

[JohnO]

Any thoughts on Pilot Pro vs Q infinity or any other options?

Have you looked at this unit available from our cpap.com?

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/c-100- ... oCVLDw_wcB

I have a slightly larger version of this same unit that'll drive my PR Series 60 APAP for 4 nights. In addition to charging my CPAP, I also use it to charge my iPad and iPhone! This unit should easily drive your machine for a night or two, especially if you turn down the heat on your humidifier. If you need more juice, you can connect two together (which is supported/recommended by the manufacturer if needed). These units are under 3 pounds. If you have the ability to re-charge during the day, it's a really excellent choice. If you are camping in a camp ground, you can probably sweet talk the rangers into letting you charge the battery for a couple of hours during the day.

John