Power Outage Plans

[DaveMunson]

For the second night in a week we lost power all night. I don't do well without my cpap. Not well at all.

With all the time to think about what would work best, I worked out the following idea.

Using alligator clips similar to the ones on a battery jumper cable, connect either car battery (or the large tractor battery) to a three prong specially built outlet. Plug in an extension cable to this special outlet box. Run the other end of the extension cable to the bedroom. Remove the plug from the wall and plug into the extension cord. Go back to sleep. the CPAP runs on 12VDC from the battery.

No battery to lug around. No complected work to be done in the middle of the night. No costly new battery. I have the extension cord. I would need two large alligator clips, a small bit of wire. The work done in the middle of the night would be to connect the battery and run the extension cord to the bedroom. I would make sure the extension cable reaches.

I -think- my remstar plus takes dc power from the same ac plug. Today I'm going to get whatever it needs to make this work.

Anyone have experience with this machine and making a battery backup (without purchasing lots of stuff)

[rested gal]

I'm not mechanical/electrical savvy enough to know if that's a good idea or not. It may very well be a good solution. Humidifiers can be ticklish (pure sine wave stuff or something, I *think*.) Anyway, you might want to see if anything like what you're planning is mentioned in the topics here (more reading than anyone could want to do, I know!)...

LINKS to Battery operation, camping, power outage
viewtopic.php?t=9682

[Goofproof]

The machine you show in your profile "Classic", uses a different plug for D/C it's round. The cable can be bought, or cobbled up, make sure you get the +/- in the correct place. The HH will not run of D/C, or non sine wave A/C without damage. Jim

[DaveMunson]

Thanks Rested, Goofproof. Good to see y'all still around.

I had thought that I should turn off the heated humidifier; too much current draw. And I already have the machine out and ready to take to radio shack to find a adapter that fits the machine to the extension cord and another adapter that fits the battery terminals to the extension cord. Somehow, I will figure out how to fuse it for those "whoops" incidents.

P.S. Rested, I found details on how the shielded dc cord is made and posted the link to your list.

[packitin]

Well, on Amazon, there is a Zentrex power system (used) for $49.99.

I was wondering if you think it would be wise to consider that.

I am a retiree, and its been a rough year.

My "nest" egg is sunk to about the size of a BB. My stock has disintegrated, out the window went my 401K, and AGI had my
retirement annuities. If they get rid of my Medicare, I'm on the steet selling pencils.

I have to weigh every dollar of expenditures now, hoping to survive the current economic crisis.
I may just forget power outages, I have more pressing things now to worry about.

Cheers,
Jay

[DaveMunson]

Well, on Amazon, there is a Zentrex power system (used) for $49.99.

Excellent idea. Found something a bit larger on ebay. Kind of a woopse, I won.

[Hose_Head]

For the second night in a week we lost power all night. I don't do well without my cpap. Not well at all.

With all the time to think about what would work best, I worked out the following idea.

Using alligator clips similar to the ones on a battery jumper cable, connect either car battery (or the large tractor battery) to a three prong specially built outlet. Plug in an extension cable to this special outlet box. Run the other end of the extension cable to the bedroom. Remove the plug from the wall and plug into the extension cord. Go back to sleep. the CPAP runs on 12VDC from the battery.

No battery to lug around. No complected work to be done in the middle of the night. No costly new battery. I have the extension cord. I would need two large alligator clips, a small bit of wire. The work done in the middle of the night would be to connect the battery and run the extension cord to the bedroom. I would make sure the extension cable reaches.

I -think- my remstar plus takes dc power from the same ac plug. Today I'm going to get whatever it needs to make this work.

Anyone have experience with this machine and making a battery backup (without purchasing lots of stuff)

Sounds like a workable idea.

Some things to keep in mind:

1) take care to match the polarity of the battery to the needs of the xPAP. I seriously doubt the machine would like it if fed the wrong polarity. The special connectors could be made to ensure that polarity is correctly matched each time, but use of aligator clips at the battery terminals could result in an incorrect connection, especially in the middle of the night. I would recommend having something permanently wired at the battery for this reason so that once it's set up, the polarity cannot be wrong.

2) keep in mind that 12 volt dc does not transmit well over long runs of wire. Depending on how long your extension cord needs to be, you may find you need smaller gauge (larger diameter) wire. You can test the extension cord that you have with a multi-meter: just check the voltage at the battery and measure it again at the other end of the extension cord. If the voltage is too low to run the xPAP, then you need a heavier or shorter extension cord. Remember too that voltage output of the battery will drop as it runs down; this means that you may run out of usable power from the battery because of the voltage drop in the extension cord.

3) extension cords can cause a trip-hazard. Be careful with it!

You might do better just to drag that battery to beside the bed, then hook it up with the 12volt battery connector sold at cpap.com.

[mikeee428]

Yea I ran into the same problem but bought a car battery and an inverter at a auto parts place. I keep it in my storage outside. It definitely wakes me up also
but will gladly go out, bring in the battery, I've got the inverter in the house. Click inverter to the battery, has a place for the plug, turn on the machine and back to sleep. Maybe takes me 14 minutes to get it together. Good for camping also, I go thru the trouble of changing the battery in the truck with the one I used last night when camping to make sure I've got a full charge for the next night.

For the second night in a week we lost power all night. I don't do well without my cpap. Not well at all.

With all the time to think about what would work best, I worked out the following idea.

Using alligator clips similar to the ones on a battery jumper cable, connect either car battery (or the large tractor battery) to a three prong specially built outlet. Plug in an extension cable to this special outlet box. Run the other end of the extension cable to the bedroom. Remove the plug from the wall and plug into the extension cord. Go back to sleep. the CPAP runs on 12VDC from the battery.

No battery to lug around. No complected work to be done in the middle of the night. No costly new battery. I have the extension cord. I would need two large alligator clips, a small bit of wire. The work done in the middle of the night would be to connect the battery and run the extension cord to the bedroom. I would make sure the extension cable reaches.

I -think- my remstar plus takes dc power from the same ac plug. Today I'm going to get whatever it needs to make this work.

Anyone have experience with this machine and making a battery backup (without purchasing lots of stuff)

[greenvelvetdragon]

I was able to get a resmed adapter with alligator clips and I use a deep cycle marine battery as they hold their charge longer. It stays in the bedroom during cyclone season, the cord is aprox 5'. I also use same type batteries in my vehicle, a dual battery system. I live in cyclone prone country and weather, monsoonal rains and the fact i live quite remote made this a must have not an option. I have had no problems and have had to use the backup often in the last 2 wet seasons, but i do not use the humidifier if on battery. we also have generator back up for essential items in the main house but i found that this didn't work as well as the battery pack for my machine.

cheers GVD