Backpacking and CPAP Machines - what's the answer?

I'm a backpacker with sleep apnea. I've had an S9 for three years. I've backpacked twice with a mouth guard that forced my lower jaw forward. I sleep well enough to make it for a week, but I'm probably not doing my body any good. I have woken up gasping.

I read the forum for comments on using the transcend portable machine, multi-day battery and solar charger. The only comment I saw even close said you cannot charge the battery by wearing the solar panel on the top of the backpack. Has anyone figured out how to backpack for multiple weeks with sleep apnia?

Jeffrey Olson
Arcata, CA

The news is not good for extended backpacking, but there may be ways to minimize the problems. First, disclosure: I hate backpacking! Although I live off-grid for extended periods, its in a 10,000 pound boat loaded with TVs, computers, microwave, solar panels, batteries, generators and whatever high tech looks cool at the time. The thought of carrying this further than from the car down the dock is the last thing I consider. That said, a fair part of my time on board is spent providing power for all my toys so I spend a lot of time counting Amp-hours and reading battery specs.

I assume your real limiting factor is weight. There are only two ultra low weight cpaps - the Transcend and the Z1. The Transcend is about one pound, a "two night" battery is 1.1 pounds, and their solar panel is another pound. Add in a hose and mask, you're at about 3.5 pounds. Assuming this is an acceptable weight, and that the battery an solar panel live up to their claims, The question becomes how much recharging can you actually get? Specs for the panel say "12 hours for full charge from completely depleted cells (in full, direct-sun conditions)." The problem is you never get 12 hours of usable sun in a day, it more like 4-6 hours for most locations:
http://www.solardirect.com/pv/systems/g ... hours.html
And this is assuming the panel is set up all day, and you don't have trees blocking the view of the Sun. And there is the problem of several days of overcast essentially depleting all your reserves. It is virtually impossible to generate useful power while walking in the woods.

So what possibilities are there? If you can carry 2 or more batteries, you can extend your range. If you could setup a "base camp" with good sun (like the north side of a lake) then you could leave several batteries charging there while you hike for a few days at a time. You could plan "charging stops" where you spend a night at RV/campsite with power and recharge overnight. Or some combination of these. This doesn't allow for doing the Pacific Crest trail, but it would allow you to spend time in semi-remote areas.

Other thoughts - If you're in a desert area you could get very good sun for several hours during midday and travel in the morning or evening hours. Also, I took numbers from the Transcend site - your actual power usage will depend on the pressure, breath rate, and altitude - these are huge variable factors you'll have to figure out. You may easily be able to shave a few ounces off the weight by seeking alternate vendors, but the basic physics is the same for everyone - battery and solar capacity is limited by technology, and you won't find one panel that twice as efficient as all the others. There are some hand crank generators, but the batteries take hours of charging time so this is not a fun option.

Or you can hang out at a physics lab and try to score something like:
http://www.ct-si.org/publications/proce ... 09/4/10248

Haven't figured out multiple weeks but I can get 4 nights backpacking with my Owell industries 12 C 266 battery with my System One PR machine.
I also recently bought a used Aeomed Everest 2 machine that I can get 2 nights with on its own battery so I think I can get 6 nights on the trail between both batteries on the Everest machine.

If I can recharge both batteries with a solar panel that would be nice, but haven't invested or investigated it because I don't have a multi week backpack in the plans yet!

jscholz wrote:Haven't figured out multiple weeks but I can get 4 nights backpacking with my Owell industries 12 C 266 battery with my System One PR machine.
I also recently bought a used Aeomed Everest 2 machine that I can get 2 nights with on its own battery so I think I can get 6 nights on the trail between both batteries on the Everest machine.

If I can recharge both batteries with a solar panel that would be nice, but haven't invested or investigated it because I don't have a multi week backpack in the plans yet!

I have the Transcend EZEX CPAP machine. I have the Multi-night battery pack, I get 14 hours with a full charge enough for a good long night of sleep. I also have the solar charger, you would be lucky to be able to fully charge a fully depleted battery in one day. I think it took a full day and part of the following day to bring my battery back to full charge (full sunny days). The best way to work it is to have two multi night batteries, you charge one while you are using the other. But that doesn't mean you will have fully charged batteries all of the time. Besides those battery packs are expensive, so is the solar charger.

Forget about being on Survivor, also probably the Great Race, or climbing Everest.
Scout camps generally have power, but probably not the PeaceCorps.
No river rafting, unless DH follows in the car (no way he'd get on the raft!)

check out this thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=103170&st=0&sk=t&sd ... anscend+II

I'm looking for a solution to allow me to go for 5 nights with only a backpack. I'm leaning towards using my S9, a 10-14 ah Lithium iron phosphate battery and 27 watt portable solar panel such as this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F9LPJ8S/ref ... QMBGTMVVQ2 and http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GOLE956/ref ... GYWV&psc=1

For car camping, I've used a jumpstarter with a 20 watt solar panel for years and haven't had a problem (even had (2) week long camping trips), so I think a 27 watt will work just fine.

flyswatta wrote:check out this thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=103170&st=0&sk=t&sd ... anscend+II

I'm looking for a solution to allow me to go for 5 nights with only a backpack. I'm leaning towards using my S9, a 10-14 ah Lithium iron phosphate battery and 27 watt portable solar panel such as this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F9LPJ8S/ref ... QMBGTMVVQ2 and http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GOLE956/ref ... GYWV&psc=1

For car camping, I've used a jumpstarter with a 20 watt solar panel for years and haven't had a problem (even had (2) week long camping trips), so I think a 27 watt will work just fine.

The battery is a poor choice - although labeled as "10-14 Ah" that's equivalent to a starting battery of that size - notice the "PbEq." In reality this is about 5 Amp-Hours and would be lucky to make it one night. The manufacturer specifically says not to use these in deep cycle applications.

I don't know much about this type of portable panel, but 27 watt output means about 2 amps. Through much of the US the rule of thumb is you can expect about 4 hours worth of charging if you're setup all day. If you find a site not blocked by trees, and stay there for a number of hours in mid-day, you might expect 8 Amp-hours of charging. Keep in mind it will take longer to top off the battery more than about 80%. Also remember if the a light overcast you'll lose about half, and in heavy overcast almost all of the charging. In other words, if all goes well, and you get a bigger battery, this panel might work.

Any chance they will let you use a burro?
To be on the safe side, you either need a lot of extra batteries, or a generator, and fuel for it.

Thanks CapnLoki. I decided to go with the Poweradd Pro 32000 mah referenced in the other thread. That should be enough to get me through 2 nights for the next two camping trips. It has a 15-20v input, so my 12v solar panel won't be enough to charge it. I'm thinking of getting an 18v, 28w portable solar panel http://www.amazon.com/ALLPOWERS-Foldabl ... olar+panel

The idea isn't to fully charge it, but if I get a battery that can get me through 2-3 days, then I can charge enough to recover some of what I've used. The reality on the 5 night campouts is that i usually get about 6 hours of sleep, so that's even less that I have to recover Eventually, I would run out, but I just have to get through 5 nights.

I just ordered the battery pack, so I'll run some tests and try it out for the campout this weekend. I'm still mulling over the solar charger and will probably wait on that since I don't really need it until June.

I posted this in another thread, but thought it was also pertinent here.

I received the PowerAdd Pro 32000. I bought a wired 2.5mm barrel connector for the dc out at a local electronics shop and spliced it into a female cigarette lighter adapter that I already had. Total cost was $3.26. There's one on amazon for around $10.
The set up is:
PowerAdd Pro 32000 --> fabricated 2.5mm to Cigararette --> Resmed 12volt converter --> Resmed S9 elite.
I have a setting of "11", turned off EPR, a 5 minute ramp, and am not using humidifier.

I used it for the first night for about 5.5 hours (work called about 1am, so it's an estimate) and used 35%
The second night, I used it for 7 hours and used 39%

After both nights, it was at 25%, which I consider a successful test! I think it will get me through this weekends campout.

I also decided to get weights since I'll be backpacking this summer.
Old setup (jumpstarter, adapters, S9, mask, tube): 23.5 lbs
New setup (poweradd, adapters, S9, mask, tube): 6.7 lbs

I used the highly precise method of holding the stuff and stepping on the scale so YMMV

flyswatta wrote:I posted this in another thread, but thought it was also pertinent here.

I received the PowerAdd Pro 32000. I bought a wired 2.5mm barrel connector for the dc out at a local electronics shop and spliced it into a female cigarette lighter adapter that I already had. Total cost was $3.26. There's one on amazon for around $10.
The set up is:
PowerAdd Pro 32000 --> fabricated 2.5mm to Cigararette --> Resmed 12volt converter --> Resmed S9 elite.
I have a setting of "11", turned off EPR, a 5 minute ramp, and am not using humidifier.

I used it for the first night for about 5.5 hours (work called about 1am, so it's an estimate) and used 35%
The second night, I used it for 7 hours and used 39%

After both nights, it was at 25%, which I consider a successful test! I think it will get me through this weekends campout.

I also decided to get weights since I'll be backpacking this summer.
Old setup (jumpstarter, adapters, S9, mask, tube): 23.5 lbs
New setup (poweradd, adapters, S9, mask, tube): 6.7 lbs

I used the highly precise method of holding the stuff and stepping on the scale so YMMV

Flyswatta couldn't you get away without the 2.55mm to cigarette cord if you got this 24V converter from Amazon? http://www.amazon.com/BiXPower-Cigarett ... er+adapter Saving one less cord and a little less money. Unless someone really needed the cigarette adapter and car batter connectors as other options.

That is not a 24 volt converter - it's a 12volt cig adapter to 2.5mm barrel connector - which is what I made. I wonder if you pasted the wrong link?

I wasn't totally sure what size the barrel connector was at the time, so I took the battery to a local electronics shop and they said it was 2.5mm. I was also able to test fit it in the store, so I just bought a couple of the connectors and cig adapters. I don't recall the price but it was under $5. I have some experience with electronics and wiring so I spliced, soldered and shrink wrapped them so the splice would hold up to some general camping jostling.

Buying that adapter looks like a perfectly acceptable way to connect the battery to the power adapter.

Tip: The 24volt to 12volt adapter from Resmed is designed so if you hook up the voltage backwards it just won't deliver the power and fry your CPAP. Comforting if you are fabricating your own cable and mess up the polarity.

Tip 2: On the battery, I put a strip of painters tape on the bottom where you plug in the 2.5mm-cig adapter and labeled it "DC OUT -->" so it's easy to which DC jack is which when hooking it up in the dark in a tent.

Tip 3: I cut a small strip of cardboard (from a cereal box) and secured it with painters tape to cover the top display so it doesn't light up the tent at night. The tape allows me to flip it up to see the % charge, then I can cover it again.

After reading your reply and then mine again, I'm not really sure what I was thinking. Apparently I wasn't at all.

You said you get two nights with your S9 on a full charge? Then you have your solor panels if you needed more? Living up in Washington state, I'd worry I wouldn't be able to get enough sun to get a good enough charge to add days. It's been over five years since I've had my S9. Maybe I can pry a new Remstar out of my insurance. People seem to be able to get three days with theirs. Less cords, too.

Appreciate all the info you've provided here. It's really useful.

Ultralight backpacking (UL)= forget it

JDTheThird wrote:After reading your reply and then mine again, I'm not really sure what I was thinking. Apparently I wasn't at all.

You said you get two nights with your S9 on a full charge? Then you have your solor panels if you needed more? Living up in Washington state, I'd worry I wouldn't be able to get enough sun to get a good enough charge to add days. It's been over five years since I've had my S9. Maybe I can pry a new Remstar out of my insurance. People seem to be able to get three days with theirs. Less cords, too.

Appreciate all the info you've provided here. It's really useful.

I get 2 nights (without humidifier, of course) on the S9. My insurance will replace it after 3 years, so I was able to get an S10 for my daily machine and I use the S9 for camping only. I used the allpowers folding solar panel to charge the battery but it didn't charge as rapidly as my other one. Leaving it out in > 100° temps all day would only charge it about 50/60%. Of course, they say that solar charging is reduced the further you get away from 77° (hot or cold) so that might have something to do with it.

I agree with Sir NoddinOff, this is not an Ultralight setup or ideal for multi-day backpacking. There were several models listed in this forum that are much smaller, lighter and don't require a converter to run. I only used the S9 because that's what I had and given a choice, I wouldn't go multi-day backpacking with it again. The S9 wasn't so heavy, but the powerbrick and the solar panel had the most weight.

I will say, however, that my regular 18"x3' solar panel and the S9 setup is great for multi-night stationary camping! (ie. 5 day boy scout summer camp). I don't even bother to bring my solar panel for 2 night weekend camping anymore since the battery easily lasts 2 nights.