Battery power packs for camping

[akawally]

After reading this thread, I pulled the trigger on the PowerAdd unit. I have a small cabin off grid in Oregon and have been toting Jump-starters to the place for years. The portability and performance of this is compelling enough that I had to give it a shot.

I have an older REMStar Plus that I leave up there at the cabin (setting is 11cm/H20). I unboxed and charged my PowerAdd battery and took it up there last weekend for an overnighter. It took me a few tries to get it working, as the "J" plug fit great but didn't power the machine. Finally I tried them all and I think it was the "C" plug that finally worked. It was really cold so I didn't sleep steady through the night, but kept my machine on for about 9 hours. In the morning the battery display reported 51% remaining. It seems to have outperformed the 750A Jump Starter that I had previously been packing (which would last about 12 hours max) and the convenience is huge for me. If I can get 2 nights from one of these, then I'll be really pleased. I will be purchasing a couple more of these batteries and will be spending more time up there as it gets warmer. I might look into a solar charger for this unit also.

At some point I'll try it with my ResMed S8/S9 also and report results - I have a DC adapter for it somewhere.

Thanks everyone for thinking about this and reporting results. You helped me.

[akawally]

This one is 2.5x the capacity of the PowerAdd unit, if you trust their numbers: http://www.amazon.com/BiXPower-Capacity ... s=bixpower

Hmmm. You have to buy an accessory for stable voltage regulation, not sure I like that.

[CapnLoki]

This one is 2.5x the capacity of the PowerAdd unit, if you trust their numbers: http://www.amazon.com/BiXPower-Capacity ... s=bixpower

Hmmm. You have to buy an accessory for stable voltage regulation, not sure I like that.

This battery packs a lot of power into 5 pounds. However, at $400 plus another $80 for the seemingly required voltage regulator it is rather pricey unless its a perfect match for your needs. You might also consider a Lithium Iron Phospate (LiFePO4) battery - for instance:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H7I13A4
is only $260 and provides 20 Amp-Hours (256 Watt-Hours) for $260 and weighs 6 pounds. LiFePO4 has the advantage of being a good match to traditional lead-acid and can use the same chargers and power the same devices. (Make sure the specs are for true amp-hours, not "pb-equivalent" which is a bogus rating.)

If you don't mind some weight, the best deal now is the U1 size AGM battery, for instance
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N414YMC
which is $60-70 at a luggable 25 pounds. Its essentially the same as the batteries in the jump starters but twice as powerful.

Solar power for a cabin is very easy to set up. You can get a 100 watt panel plus mounting brackets and a small regulator for about $200. This would keep a 100 Amp-hour battery charged and cover cpap and small appliance use easily.

[Lapine Rider]

Hello!

I have perhaps too simple of a question...

I'm going to be taking a long trip across the country sleeping in my brand-new 2015 Dodge Caravan minivan. I need to keep things cheap and want to spend no more than I absolutely need to. I use a Resmed Series 10 machine, and already have a lighter plug AC adapter of adequate size to power it. I don't care in the slightest if the setup is grossly inefficient and wastes power so long as I can get by even a single night without excessively discharging the battery. From what I'm seeing here, a good, healthy very new car battery, even if it's not a deep-cycle, ought not to be too badly dented by a single night's usage. I'll be driving every day, so it'll recharge fully between uses. I really don't want to deal with the weight and clutter of a deep-cycle if I don't have to, or pay $85 for a special adapter I'll never need again. All of this is rough geusstimate, yes. But... Is it a reasonable assumption that I can get by for a single night?

Thanks in advance!

[CapnLoki]

Hello!

I have perhaps too simple of a question...

I'm going to be taking a long trip across the country sleeping in my brand-new 2015 Dodge Caravan minivan. I need to keep things cheap and want to spend no more than I absolutely need to. I use a Resmed Series 10 machine, and already have a lighter plug AC adapter of adequate size to power it. I don't care in the slightest if the setup is grossly inefficient and wastes power so long as I can get by even a single night without excessively discharging the battery. From what I'm seeing here, a good, healthy very new car battery, even if it's not a deep-cycle, ought not to be too badly dented by a single night's usage. I'll be driving every day, so it'll recharge fully between uses. I really don't want to deal with the weight and clutter of a deep-cycle if I don't have to, or pay $85 for a special adapter I'll never need again. All of this is rough geusstimate, yes. But... Is it a reasonable assumption that I can get by for a single night?

Thanks in advance!

Totally Wrong! If you use the "grossly inefficient" setup you could easily use 30 Amp-hours or even more. The Resmed guide
http://www.resmed.com/us/dam/documents/ ... lo_eng.pdf
shows a number of settings in the 4 Amp range, which takes takes you over 30 Amps, even using the converter. Your "lighter plug AC adapter" is only 60% efficient so you could be over 50 Amp-hours. Even reducing humidity to lower levels could still have you draining 30 Amp-hours a night.

Starter batteries have about 100 Amp-hours, but the guideline is even 30% discharged may leave it unable to start the car in the morning. This means that you could easily put your battery over the limit. In addition, this is adding a fair amount of wear, that if done repeatedly, will damage the battery. You might make it across the country without incident, but then find your battery dies next winter. Do not assume that just because you were able to start the car in the morning the battery is 100% fine.

At the very least, minimize, or eliminate the humidifier. Turn off the heated hose. You may be able to get your usage down to 10-15 Amp-hours, which would be a lot kinder to the battery. You could also get a small AGM battery that can be charged through the cigarette lighter and provide about 25 Amp-hours a night - the cost would be about $65 plus about $15 for the cables. A battery like this is a good power outage backup, and can be used to recharge cell phones and computers.

[Lapine Rider]

Thank you!

[Hickamfield]

How does the PowerAdd 32000mAh connect to a CPAP?

[CapnLoki]

How does the PowerAdd 32000mAh connect to a CPAP?

I don't have one but since no one seems to be offering I'll give it a try. The first issue is what cpap do you have? You should fill out your equipment in your profile (look in the user control panel) so people can give detailed help. If you have a Philips Respironics (or a few other brands) you can connect directly from the battery to the cpap with the appropriate plug, which may be supplied. With ResMed its more complicated, since it uses 24 volts and has a proprietary plug. This means getting a 12/24 volt DC converter from Resmed, about $85, and connecting that to the battery.

[MongooseALaMode]

Hello!
My mother will be going on a trip to the cabins at the end of the month. She uses a cpap with heated humidifier. Is there no way to use it with the humidifier that isn't super expensive?

[CapnLoki]

Hello!
My mother will be going on a trip to the cabins at the end of the month. She uses a cpap with heated humidifier. Is there no way to use it with the humidifier that isn't super expensive?

Yes, but you're leaving out all of the info needed to tell you how to do it. For instance, what CPAP? What pressure? How long? What climate? Can it be recharged during the day? Can you drive a car close enough to lug a heavy battery?

The basic answer is that a CPAP with humidifier takes about 20-35 AmpHours, while a $100 deep cycle battery has about 100 AmpHours but doesn't like being discharged below around 50%. This gives you 1 to 2 days on a battery on a battery that weighs about 50 pounds. However, it can be recharged to about 80% by a car engine in an hour of so (more if its very discharged) so it is feasible to do this.

Although Lithium base batteries have come down a lot in price, they still tend to be limited to about 10 AmpHours (the airline limit), so they would not cover a humidifier more than a few hours.

If you can provide more details, we might be able to come up with a better solution. For instance, my particular CPAP at setting "2" with the heated hose turned off only uses about 10 Amp-hours a night, and since it senses the ambient humidity it can use even less in a humid climate. Personally, I usually go without the humidifier when I travel or stay on my boat.

[Guest]

Yes, but you're leaving out all of the info needed to tell you how to do it. For instance, what CPAP? What pressure? How long? What climate? Can it be recharged during the day? Can you drive a car close enough to lug a heavy battery?

She has a Respironics REMstar pro m series. The pressure is set to 7% and it typically runs 8 hours a night. She just told me that she doesn't use the humidifier in the summer so that wont be an issue I guess.
They will be going for two nights to the Catoctin mountains in Maryland which is pretty humid in the summer.
Is there something that would last 2 nights without having to be recharged or could be plugged into an outlet or car? Would the PowerAdd 32000mAh battery that was mentioned on there work?

Thanks for your help. I'm very new to this stuff and I don't really understand the amphours/watts/etc.

[CapnLoki]

I've never used any of the Lithium packs, but the PowerAdd should work. However, the 10 amp-hours it provides may be marginal. A more traditional approach often works better when weight is not an issue. The last entry in this thread outlines the items:
viewtopic.php?t=102775
The battery listed is 35 Amp-hours which should cover 3-5 nights without humidity, and maybe 2 with minimal humidity. For more time, a larger battery or multiple nbatteries could be used. This would also serve as a good home backup. The only additional item is a 12V cord that is about $25 - cpap.com should be able to get you the one specific for your machine.

[MongooseALaMode]

I looked up that battery that was listed and it had horrible reviews. Would this set up work?

(Both of these are amazon but I can't post links as a guest)
/gp/product/B001VV0318/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A33OOXQLQV58WQ
/gp/product/B00068XCQU?

What cable would I need for Respironics? I couldn't find any info on how to hook up the battery to the cpap, what cables if any are included, or how to hook it up to charge it.

I am not mechanically/electrically inclined in any way so I am struggling to understand all this...

Thanks in advance!

[CapnLoki]

I looked up that battery that was listed and it had horrible reviews. Would this set up work?

(Both of these are amazon but I can't post links as a guest)
/gp/product/B001VV0318/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A33OOXQLQV58WQ
/gp/product/B00068XCQU?

What cable would I need for Respironics? I couldn't find any info on how to hook up the battery to the cpap, what cables if any are included, or how to hook it up to charge it.

I am not mechanically/electrically inclined in any way so I am struggling to understand all this...

Thanks in advance!

There was only one bad review for the MotoBatt, and all of their other batteries have 4+ stars. But other than my good experience, I did say that any "U1" size AGM battery would be about the same, and in fact the one you listed was my choice until I found the MotoBatt $5 cheaper. I appears now MotoBatt is more expensive, so feel free to select any 12V battery. AGM is preferable, and the U1 size is nice because 24 lbs is luggable, and 35 AmpHours is a reasonable size for a few days.

Just about any 12V battery sold as a car/cycle/scooter battery can be charged with the Battery Tender. If you don't need a quick charge, the smaller version for about $25 will do - its might take several days to charge even a small battery.

There are several different cables for Respironics - you have to tell us the model. I like the ones using a "cigarette lighter" plug. The BatteryTender comes with most of the cables, but I think you need a "cigarette socket" as I mention.

[Guest]

There are several different cables for Respironics - you have to tell us the model. I like the ones using a "cigarette lighter" plug. The BatteryTender comes with most of the cables, but I think you need a "cigarette socket" as I mention.

She has a Respironics REMstar pro m series.

So if I am understanding this correctly she needs...
*A Battery - UPG 85980/D5722 Sealed Lead Acid Battery (12V; 35 AH; UB12350)
*A Battery charger - battery tender which comes with battery tender ring terminals(to connect charger to battery)
*A DC 12-Volt Power Cord for Respironics, with cigarette lighter plug (to connect cpap to ...)

So she would also need a ring terminal to cigarette lighter socket to connect the battery to the cpap power cord cigarette lighter plug? On the cpap site they have a cigarette lighter connecter with alligator clips. Would that be ok or not efficient enough?

Thanks for all your help