CPAP & Camping - Trip Report

[ColoZZZ]

Sunday night I got back from my first river trip using CPAP. I've cobbled together a battery system from Interstate Batteries and Radio Shack and it worked beautifully!

The night was cold, there was a pretty hard frost on the ground in the morning. I wrapped a down vest around the battery and M-Series taking care to leave the air intake clear. During the night the only problem I had was with the cool air blowing on my lips and face. After waking up to this I ran the hose into my sleeping bag at the foot so it ran all the way up inside sleeping the bag to my face. This helped matters some but I think that I'll try to get a nasal mask for camping in chilly environs.

The following day on the river was one of the best I've had in a long time!

Here's the equipment I used:


Radio Shack:

DC Power supply (w/ batter terminal clamps) and female cigarette lighter fitting, rated to 5 amps

Universal DC Power Cord with "N" size plug for M-Series power input

Cost: about $20

Interstate Batteries:

35 Amp Hour 12-Volt Sealed Lead Acid Battery (25 lbs) - $75
1.5 Amp automatic trickle charger - $35

Here's the setup:



here's where I got a fantastic night's sleep:



Thanks to all the folks that helped out when I was trying to get the battery setup figured out!

-Andy

[dianel328]

Thanks for the info. We are going kayaking in May and I was trying to work out a plan

[momsworry]

Is that a marine type deep cycle battery? How many hours do you think it would run your cpap machine? The reason I ask is I am thinking of putting together something like that, but I often camp for two nights where there would be no electricity to recharge any batteries. I suppose you could recharge it from you vehicle, but running the engine to recharge a battery with the price of gas what it is now, would not be smart either.

[Bookbear]

Nifty setup! thanks for sharing the know-how!

[Bookbear]

ColoZZZZ, I just spoke with a buddy who camps with a cpap and gets 2, sometimes three nights of 8 hours use out of a charge. I assume ambient temp and the newness of the battery would make a difference. He says a good idea is to put the battery in the full sun during the day if possible.

The inverter he uses is a 400 watt one, and could handle a heated humidifier, but that would drain the battery faster, of course.

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[engine 88]

I also just came back from a hunting and camping trip.We went to Ossabaw Island Ga. There is no power and no vehicles allowed you must make the trip in a boat.I used a deep cycle gel battery rated at 79ah I ran it for 3 nights with no problems. I also ran the tubing into my sleeping bag which helped alot.The gel batterys are great you can tip them upside down with no leakage of acid.I think it would of run another 2 or 3 nights with no problems.I used a remstar series M cpap set at 12cm.I read that this uses about 2 amps per hour.

[ColoZZZ]

The battery I've got isn't a deep cycle marine battery - I wanted something that was smaller than a big car battery and this is what I got:

http://www.apexbattery.com/interstate-b ... eries.html

My hope/expectation is that I should be able to get two solid nights of use with it.

--Andy

[WNJ]

. . . The inverter he uses is a 400 watt one, and could handle a heated humidifier, but that would drain the battery faster, of course. . .

Your friend would get about twice the time from each battery charge if he got rid of the inverter and used the 12-volt adapter made for his CPAP. It is terribly inefficient to use an inverter to convert 12 VDC from the battery to 120 VAC to plug in the CPAP, then have the CPAP convert 120 VAC back to the 12 VDC it needs to run on.

The 12-volt adapter takes the 12 VDC from the battery and feeds it straight to the CPAP. No conversion, no waste.

I bought the REMstar 12-volt adapter from CPAP.COM for about $25.00. The setup that ColoZZZ put together will work just as well, so long as you get the polarity right.

Some heated humidifiers, such as my REMstar, will be damaged if run on any inverter other than a pure sine wave inverter. Check the manual. And pure sine wave inverters are big money.

Wayne

[Snoredog]

. . . The inverter he uses is a 400 watt one, and could handle a heated humidifier, but that would drain the battery faster, of course. . .

Your friend would get about twice the time from each battery charge if he got rid of the inverter and used the 12-volt adapter made for his CPAP. It is terribly inefficient to use an inverter to convert 12 VDC from the battery to 120 VAC to plug in the CPAP, then have the CPAP convert 120 VAC back to the 12 VDC it needs to run on.

The 12-volt adapter takes the 12 VDC from the battery and feeds it straight to the CPAP. No conversion, no waste.

I bought the REMstar 12-volt adapter from CPAP.COM for about $25.00. The setup that ColoZZZ put together will work just as well, so long as you get the polarity right.

Some heated humidifiers, such as my REMstar, will be damaged if run on any inverter other than a pure sine wave inverter. Check the manual. And pure sine wave inverters are big money.

Wayne

I agree the battery inverter route is the most inefficent way to go. They waste battery power in the form of heat. You would be lucky to get a couple hours off use off an inverter. The water in a humidifier only has to be heated to about 92-98F tops, if you are camping duct tape a hand warmer to the bottom of a spare tank. I would use a F&P humidifier tank, they are cheap.

An ATV battery, a Battery Tender Charger and adapter is all you need. You can also put a solar charger on the battery during the day and recover and extend the run time.

The battery, charger and adapter can all fit neatly inside a universal camcorder case from BestBuy and elsewhere.

[Bookbear]

Thanks for the comments. I will be sure to pass them on (although he doesn't use a heated humidifier himself).

I knew the ResMed heated humidifier needed a pure sine wave power supply to operate, but I wasn't aware that the Respironics units did.

[Cyclingmaniac]

Sorry for what may seem like a basic question, but..... if I were to get a Marine Battery, I can still use the same set up as described/displayed by the photo? I could simply substitute the 35 Amp Hour 12-Volt Sealed Lead Acid Battery (25 lbs) with a marine battery?

I'm still not clear on the recharging. (I'm going camping for 5 days. CPAP is set for 7cc. I have a REMSTAR - M Series.) Can someone explain how to set up for recharging in very simple terms? Do I need any other items than what is listed by Colozzzz?

THANKS!

[WNJ]

Yes, a marine battery would work fine. 12 volts is 12 volts. The bigger battery will simply last longer (and weigh more.)

I assume ColoZZZ will be using the 1.5 amp charger to recharge the battery at home, after the camping trip. It is a very small charger. It will work fine for the small (motorcycle?) battery.

This charger would work, but would take a very long time (days) to recharge a marine battery. If you want to recharge your battery in the field, from a generator, etc., a charger with a larger capacity would be faster/better. Check the amp-hour capacity of your battery. (This is the measure of how much power it will store.) I recommend a charger that is about 20 to 25 percent (measured in amps) of this amp-hour capacity. At this rate, when the battery is half-discharged it will substantially recharge (from 50% to 85-90%) in a couple of hours.

The charger will have instructions on hook-up. Basically, the red lead from the charger is clamped to the positive (+) terminal of the battery, then the black lead is clamped to the negative (-) battery terminal, and the charger is plugged into a wall outlet (or a running 120 volt generator.)

As to other items you’ll need: If you want to recharge in the field, you’ll need a source of electrical power. Maybe a small generator to go with the charger. Another choice would be to get a small solar charger outfit. They only put out a small amount of electricity, but the CPAP doesn’t use much and it is easy to have the battery charging all day. That would easily replace what the CPAP uses overnight.

If you are a novice at things electrical, you would be better off buying a ready-made Respironics 12-volt adapter from cpap.com. I paid only $25.00 for such an adapter for my REMstar.

Wayne

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[sgrol]

Here's the equipment I used:


Radio Shack:

DC Power supply (w/ batter terminal clamps) and female cigarette lighter fitting, rated to 5 amps

-Andy

Just for clarity, that is not a DC power supply. It is a female cigarette lighter socket with battery clips.

[NS Guest]

I just bought an XPower Powerpack 300 by xantrex with the intention of using it for camping. The output is a nonsinusoidal modified sine wave.
I have a Remstar Auto M series with humidifier.

From what I've read here, that would run the machine but not humidifier. Would it damage it if it would run both?

What would I need to run the humidifier that is not too expensive?
I can recharge something from the car during the day.

PLease, nothing too technical, or you're lose me.
Thanks,
Janice

[NS Guest]

I'm just copying this here to bump it up to today in the hopes of getting a simple answer that a non-technical person like me can understand. I get lost reading about deep cycle batteries, etc.

Earlier I wrote "I just bought an XPower Powerpack 300 by xantrex with the intention of using it for camping. The output is a nonsinusoidal modified sine wave.
I have a Remstar Auto M series with humidifier.

From what I've read here, that would run the machine but not humidifier. Would it damage it if it would run both?

What would I need to run the humidifier that is not too expensive?
I can recharge something from the car during the day.

PLease, nothing too technical, or you're lose me. "

Thanks,
Janice