Lost power last night and enacted my plan.....

[DaveMunson]

Lost power a little after 1 a.m. After waiting a bit to see if it would come back I finally got up and…

Tripped over the old dog. Good boy (gave him a pet). Found my flashlight. Down to the garage to…

Found the inverter. I keep it wrapped in plastic wrap to keep it clean on the shelf near the front of the car. Easily unwrapped. Young dos is following me around. Everything is dark. Turned the flashlight up. Got the inverter out and set on the garage floor. Safe enough for so the young dog don't knock it around jumping around.

Darn elder cat is sleeping in my car; she jumped out as I hit the car trunk release. Got the jumper cable from the trunk of my car and going to hook up the inverter to the battery of my car. Checked the color of the wires. Hooked up right. Double checked wiring; still good, ... and plugged everything in. No sparks.

Found the 50’ extension cord. Plugged It in the inverter and turned the inverter on. Green light.

Stretched the extension cord up to our bedroom. I have a new machine, a S9. I removed the humidifier section and …. Can’t plug in the hose into the s9. I need a different hose. Got out the backup hose from the bag and everything hooked up. Turned it on: it works. Back to bed. Wife's cat is frowning at me.

Sometime after 3 a.m. the power came back. I woke up as the bedroom fan started but did not get up. Went back to sleep. When I got up this morning I unplugged the inverter from the car and put a battery charger on the car’s battery.

All in all, not bad. My first thought in bed was this was going to be a pain. It took seemingly less than 5 minutes to hook up and was easy.

Things I want to change. I want to get different dedicated cables from the inverter to the battery. I should keep a cheap electrical meter with the inverter to check things. I did not know that I would need a different hose but liked that I could quickly remove the humidifier.

[LinkC]

You might also consider not using a 50-ft extension cord if you can get around it.

[DaveMunson]

Wha?

It would seem kind of difficult to try to move the car closer. 50' is the distance from the car up one level to the bedroom.

[LinkC]

Then it appears you can't "get around it".

Most consumer extensions are rather thin-gauge wire with a high resistance. Usually not a problem when you are pushing power from the grid. More so when you are making your own AC. You likely have a substantial voltage drop at the machine. You risk depleting the battery much quicker with a long run. And possibly damaging your machine. At a minimum, I'd turn the humidifier heat off, if you didn't already do that.

The largest gauge (lowest number) extension you can find would be prudent, also.

[nanwilson]

John
Why don't you just get a 12 volt deep cycle marine battery and keep it in the bedroom. I keep mine in a corner, along with my inverter. I just recharge it every once in awhile to keep it ready to go. When I head out in my motorhome, I have a little trolly the battery sits on & can move it easily from my bedroom. That way I'm not tripping over extension cords (I'm a klutz) , can't see in the dark either .

[Spirit]

Power outage back up systems, should be provided by insurance companies. When power goes out in my area, it goes out a minimum of 8 hours Last week, we had a power outage for 19 hours !!! I can still sleep without cpap, but it surely makes a difference how an individual feels the next day.

[dtsm]

My duracell 600 sits in the closet and takes less than one minute to get, plug in my cpap, and go back to sleep

[DaveMunson]

Most consumer extensions are rather thin-gauge wire ...

Hay LinkC. The extension cord passes 120V alternating current. With the lower current, higher alternating current, you don't have to worry about line losses until well over two hundred feet for the amount of power we are talking about. And I completely removed the S9 humidifier (you press a button and completely take if off the machine).

Nanwilson, I don't want another battery to care for. More importantly, I don't have to pay for a battery that would actually lower the reliability % of the system. I use a battery that is tested every day and proven good (because it starts the car). If that battery fails, I can also use the one in the other car. If that fails, the tractor battery. Triple proven redundancy without spending one cent on a Wal-Mart battery. The real cost is that I will 'age' the car battery if I ever deep discharge it. I don't think I can deep discharge it with my machine over a typical night. Since car batteries only last 5 years anyway, I should be good.

The history over the last 10 years is that, on average, I can expect a loss of power one full night every other year. Also, at least one power loss for part of the night. Two likely. Over the last five years, this has been increasing. I keep expecting a multi-day outage. If it is winter we will have to leave anyway. If in Summer, I can use the tractor to re-charge the battery.

[jazzer4]

Good for you Dave it sounds like it all "went like clockwork".
It feels good to be prepared. I'm prepared too but haven't needed it yet.

[GumbyCT]

I keep my jump starter in the bedroom instead of the garage. Hey, it keeps the power from going out, plus it had an area lite so I can see to plug my adapter in. So I use it for all the other things it will do. Last was to blow up an exercise ball.

My backup Plan 'B' is to use the car battery with a 25ft. ext. if the power goes out for an extended period. But so far being prepared has kept this at bay.