Power went out - chuckling about it now

[Roman Hokie]

We had a power outtage for a few seconds or so on Friday morning last week. I had no idea until I woke up to no pressure on my machine. Of course, when I did wake up, it was already back on, so I hit the power button again and awake we went!

Just kinda freaky (after all, all of our digital clocks have battery backup or are "atomic clocks".

[Stetson]

If you are prone to electrical outages. The S9 have an auto on feature in the clinician settings. It's kind of cool although I have never used it. It says in the documentation that when you put the mask on it turns on and when you take it off it shuts off.

[bearded_two]

A backup battery is a very nice thing to have in the case of a power outage. I have two batteries; a li-ion battery that lasts almost three nights that I carry when I travel, and a large AGM deep cycle battery that lasts for about a week. I can also charge my cell phones and Kindle from the batteries.

[Guest]

i was surprised as well. When I read the ResMed V PAP auto 25 manual, it stated that although other machines could use a back-up battery, this one could not. It stated that if the power went off while you were sleeping, it could be fatal!!!! I would think they could equipt it with a small battery powered alarm. My friend suggested that there are devices that will alert you when the power goes off. Something like a flashing light and sound.

How crazy to sell you something that will possibly kill you if the power goes off.

[jweeks]

i was surprised as well. When I read the ResMed V PAP auto 25 manual, it stated that although other machines could use a back-up battery, this one could not. It stated that if the power went off while you were sleeping, it could be fatal!!!! I would think they could equipt it with a small battery powered alarm. My friend suggested that there are devices that will alert you when the power goes off. Something like a flashing light and sound.

How crazy to sell you something that will possibly kill you if the power goes off.

Hi,

I don't see how a VPAP losing power is going to kill you. Every mask that I am familiar with has a relief valve that opens up and lets you breathe if the machine stops producing pressure. Most people would likely wake up pretty quickly after losing pressure and take off the mask.

The biggest issue with machines using backup power is that the humidifiers often use circuitry that doesn't work with modified square wave inverters. If you have a pure sine wave inverter, which is usually a little more expensive, you shouldn't have any issues. The machine wouldn't even know that it was running off of battery power. If you can get away without the humidifier, you will probably get longer battery life.

-john-

[Muse-Inc]

Many ResMeds have a mask alert feature. I am one of those who don't wake up when the power goes out so I have both a power outage alarm (beeps and LEDs flash) and the mask alert set on. When the power goes out or I have high leak/mask is off, my ResMed beeps and my power outage alarm goes off -- they wake me up.

[physicsbob]

We get power outages on a regular basis here, so I run my cpap off of a deep cycle marine battery that I constantly charge with a float charger. In fact here in Michigan we are currently having a thunder storm with high winds, it wouldn't surprise me that we have an outage tonight. With this system I don't worry about them I just sleep right through. If I switch systems (to a S9 or something) that needs 115V I would just add a high quality sine wave inverter. they can be had for about $120

[wordgirl57]

I don't see how a VPAP losing power is going to kill you. Every mask that I am familiar with has a relief valve that opens up and lets you breathe if the machine stops producing pressure. Most people would likely wake up pretty quickly after losing pressure and take off the mask.

It's funny this topic was here this morning, because we had a power outage at 4 a.m., the first since my husband and I have been on CPAP. I woke up because I had a dream someone was smothering me, only to find that there was no oxygen coming through my mask. I don't think that was more than five minutes or so after the power went out, from what I could judge. When I went to wake my husband up he was already moving around because he also had been awakened by the lack of air. I agree, I don't think we would have died or anything, but it was a little scary for those first few seconds, not being able to breathe after six months of being used to open airways.

Now I just have to hope that the power comes back on before we lose all the food we bought and froze on Sunday.

[chunkyfrog]

--A scary enough situation, along with SO2 desat--Maybe a heart attack. . .
Hope it never comes to that; but if it does--your local ambulance chaser is only a phone call away.
(Call the ambulance first)