another UPS/battery backup post

[stacia123]

I've been on the CPAP for about 5 weeks and have had several occurrences of discovering my CPAP off or operating at a low pressure inexplicably. This morning I discovered the source of the problem -- brown-outs where we only have half power. Thankfully I woke up when it happened this time and learned the cause. Auto Off was never enabled on the machine, and Auto On doesn't always work when power comes back (I think because of the full face mask). Obviously I need some kind of backup for these frequent brown-outs. If the CPAP is any indication, they happen almost once a week.

After reading a ton of threads on here I have a few questions. I'm thinking a UPS would be the best solution for the brown-out problem, but I don't know how to pick one that would work. All the UPS reviews are for computers.

I want something that has an alarm that can be disabled. I need the alarm so I know to turn off the humidifier once the brown-out starts, but I don't want this alarm to go off every few seconds. And I need a UPS that will preferably last 30-60 minutes. Does anyone have any recommendations?

As for full power outages where I need a deep cycle battery or similar, I'll be getting a set-up for that sometime in the future. Money is a serious problem right now and it's all I can do to afford a UPS.

[jules]

Check the threads linked here - you might find some answers

viewtopic.php?p=82856#p82856

[stacia123]

I did read those links. I tried to make that clear in my original post.

I'm looking for "something that has an alarm that can be disabled. I need the alarm so I know to turn off the humidifier once the brown-out starts, but I don't want this alarm to go off every few seconds. And I need a UPS that will preferably last 30-60 minutes. Does anyone have any recommendations?"

The reason I am asking is because I found no reviews here or elsewhere about how these UPS work with CPAPs. I've never used one. I found lots of info on voltage and sine waves and using boat batteries but nothing that indicated how to determine what UPS has these particular qualities.

[Pirateghost]

I bought this from amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E6LEI2

[Bearded_One]

I would suggest powering your CPAP from a 12 volt deep cell battery, and just use a surge suppressor for your humidifier -- and then just sleep through a brownout or power failure.

[stacia123]

Hi PirateGhost - I looked at that one myself. How does the alarm work on that? Is there a beeping when the power goes out, and can the beeping/alarm be shut off easily?

BeardedOne, I've been reading about this all afternoon and it appears that I would need something to alert me to a power outage while sleeping -- i.e. a UPS -- and then once I'm alerted I'd connect the car/boat battery to the CPAP. I don't have the money for that at the moment. Since the power company has told me they can't find any reason for the brownouts, I need is something that can get me through the brownouts only. Batteries for full power outages come later.

Thanks.

[sepool]

stacia123:

Do you have the M series humidifier that uses 12V or housecurrent?

[stacia123]

I'm not sure, I assume it's house current. It's an integrated humidifier but the entire unit has 2 power cords running from it. One is permanently attached and the other can be unplugged and looks like a large headphone plug-in. Both of these run from the unit to the power pack, and of course the pack is plugged into the house current (via surge protector).

From what I could tell, there should be some kind of adapter/cord that would allow me to use a 12V battery as a backup, but maybe I'm wrong on that.

[Pirateghost]

That unit beeps once at power off and once again at power on.

[sepool]

stacia123,

since you have the house current humidifier, you could just leave that part plugged in the way it normally is, and use a battery for just the blower. That way, if power goes off, the humidifier would be out. A large deep cycle marine battery on a small charger should cost less than that inverter system.

I am sure there are experts here with better details - I haven't got around to setting mine up yet.

[rstcso]

After reading a ton of threads on here I have a few questions. I'm thinking a UPS would be the best solution for the brown-out problem, but I don't know how to pick one that would work. All the UPS reviews are for computers.

Something to remember about a UPS. It doesn't know or care what's plugged into it as long as the voltage and current ratings are within specifications. Look at your owner's manual for your XPAP and find the Technical Specifications. I have the ResMed S8II and on page 15 shows the Power Supply. There's a bunch of stuff, but it shows with the humidifier some numbers such as 110w and <140VA and some other stuff. Obviously you've been reading about UPSes (sp ) and have seen similar numbers. That's what you need to know when trying to find something that will meet your UPS needs. I haven't researched a UPS for me, but let me know if you have any questions and I'll see what I can do. I have some real geeky friends .

[stacia123]

Thanks pirateghost! Just what I needed to know.

sepool, I had no idea the humidifier would just go out on its own, but now that you said that it makes sense. I'll keep that in mind when I get the full battery backup and not just the UPS. I need to figure out what an inverter system is, I'm just not getting that part of the equation.

And thanks for mentioning that, rstcso, I wouldn't have thought to look at the specs in the book before getting something. I got distracted making sure my unit didn't need pure sine waves and then I forgot to even think about voltage.

[LoQ]

I need to figure out what an inverter system is, I'm just not getting that part of the equation.

An inverter will convert from DC power to AC.

Did you consider sepool's excellent suggestion that you go with just a charger and battery? You can run every night off of the battery, continuously charging via the charger. No alarms to worry about, no need to worry about whether it's a brown-out/black-out, etc. You don't have to get up to switch over to that system, just go with it from the beginning.

[stacia123]

I do plan on getting a battery at some point, but our bedroom is quite small and we don't have anywhere to put it or any way to ventilate. A UPS for now is a sort of stopgap until we can figure out how to get a battery rigged up. (Because of size and ventilation issues, I may have to go with a unit like this: http://www.batterygeek.net/v/vspfiles/C ... _Packs.asp)

[jules]

Have you priced those battery geek batteries?

Have you considered the Everest 2 cpap?