Power failure alarm for the Aussies! (may work on US grid)

G'day!

I read a post earlier on a power failure alarm to warn you if your power goes out for any reason while you are using your CPAP. I live in Australia and I have never seen anything like this at Dick Smith or Jaycar electrics. Well I found a cheap one on EBAY and just wanted to share the info. I have bought alot of stuff from Hong Kong and it is getting better and better.

You can also return it and get a new one if the one they sent you is faulty (just don't give positive feedback until you have confirmed that the alarm works).

So this is a plug in type alarm that you put a 9 volt battery in. When the grid goes down the alarm sounds a loud db siren that lasts for up to 100 minutes. It says it is rated for

AC220V 50～60Hz &
AC 85V ~ 265V wide voltage range

Australian power is 220vac-240vac 50hz (3 phase 415vac) (australia wide). (Although I have done alot of electrical works in Canberra and Sydney and most strong voltage readings I get are 240vac- 250vac, that is also because I am very carefull in my electrical work and I do not allow ANY voltage drop at all in my systems so you get a nice strong street mains reading!) Hong kong power is very similar to Australian power, everything that I have bought from there works no worries just with a 1 dollar pin converter you put on the end of the plug so it fits in the Australian power point. According to those figures - This device *should* work on the American grid as well being 110vac-120vac 60HZ (3 phase 240vac). So they are 10.00 bucks US, for that price even if it didn't work in the US Grid you haven't lost much money!

So 10 bucks is pretty reasonable. As far as I know that price includes postage. When I bought mine I didn't get pinged for postage.

The link is:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dl ... 2587wt_962

Let me know what you think!!

This might seem to be a stupid question, Mate, but how come you need an alarm to tell you that your power went out? That's happened to me a dozen times and each time I wake up immediately because the machine shuts off.

Now, to address the question, if you have a computer in the house, and it appears you do because, after all, we are able to converse, then if you buy a computer UPS (uninterruptable power supply) it will protect your computer, should power go out, and it will also have an annoying little beeping alarm that will wake you to the fact that the mains just went South. Er, North, to you.

My apnea's are so severe that I do not want to risk being awaken because I can not breath. I want to avoid that at all costs. Sometimes without the machine, I wake up choking and I end up jumping out of the bed and running to the sink choking and coughing, it really is a shit situation when that occurs. It takes me an hour to feel right again after those episodes and they are traumatic. My apneas are worse when I sleep on my back and my throat consistently closes over without the CPAP on high pressure - I can only sleep on my back with the mask on too - so it stands to reason that if the power goes out - I would probably end up being awaken and having a choking fit.

I really didn't want to bring this up but for some people who really need their CPAP machine badly, a power outage could be fatal. It has happened so be aware. - if you don't believe me google it.

Funny you mention UPS - I have investigated that option and I am up for more than a thousand dollars for the one I want. It will be about 4 months before I can afford that with all the bills I have at the moment and possibly having to buy another machine. A 10 dollar alarm in the mean time will do me just fine! I may investigate the RESMED power backup supply as well but I imagine it costs more than a UPS.

Can anyone elaborate on the cost of a resmed battery backup please? Are they any good? How long do they last for?

That alarm will work fine in the US. BTW, our line voltage here is 120/240 volt single phase, with most small appliances running on 120 volts. (3 phase in homes is nearly unheard of ).

The couple of times we lost power here, I did not wake up right away. Thus a power failure alarm would be useful. Plus, a power failure often means I will be shortly be going into work...

I slept through a power outage last spring with my mask on and it was ugly! I finally had to go back to bed the next day because I couldn't function.
I went in search for an alarm the next day. I had to order the one below online. I also picked up an old radio at a yard sale that I can plug in "on" and it will wake me up when the power comes back on so I can put the mask back on.
Yes Slarty.., I'm keeping my eye out for a cheap UPS! I think I'll call the electronics recycle place tomorrow and see if they ever get them in. The best I've found for dead ones is about $40 on ebay.

The company now has one that also monitors for power, freeze and water leaks and makes phone calls to notify someone.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... IcBEMQVMAA#

I bought this alarm (http://www.amazon.com/Reliance-Controls ... 830&sr=8-1), and as far as I'm concerned, it is worthless to me. I am hard of hearing so the wimpy little 86 db beeping tone is not loud enough. The 120 db alarm on Ebay should be plenty loud. I have bought stuff direct from Hong Kong before. Things do make the boat trip. I just ordered one. Earl

I have mine pluged into a UPS. In the event of a power failure the UPS will run the Cpap for a while
while it's beeping wakes me up. Now don't expect a $80 UPS to run your Cpap for hours and hours
but it should give you plenty of time for the beep beep beeping to wake you up and switch to a battery
back up if you have one. And living in the country I have had to do this twice in the last 4 years.

Here is a rough way to see what you would need for a UPS

http://www.apc.com/tools/ups_selector/index.cfm

It's for calculating your UPS needs for workstations and up. It will also allow you to put in extra running time if you wish. I am sure that most pap machine draw way less power then a fully running computer system and all its peripherals.

I am sure something like this would work just fine for around 100$ with 75,000$ of lightning insurance as well.

http://www.apc.com/resource/include/tec ... et=4605,3c

It should run for at least an hour or more which normally in Wisconsin USA the power would be restored before the battery died in most cases.

Take the S9 Autoset it has a 90watt power supply and draws 70 watts when running, 110watts at full load. Even the cheapest computers with the lowest power supply is about 200w to 250watts.

Matty332 wrote: Can anyone elaborate on the cost of a resmed battery backup please? Are they any good? How long do they last for?

I recently bought the ResMed RPS II battery for when I'm sailing. It gives two nights sleep (2 x 7 hrs) without recharging and weighs under 1kg. It is the maximum capacity Lithium Ion battery you can take on a plane, so it's good for overnight flights, and if you travel in an overnight sleeper on a train, or go camping/hiking away from power supply. A$520

Matty332 wrote:G'day!
Australian power is 220vac-240vac 50hz (3 phase 415vac) (australia wide). (Although I have done alot of electrical works in Canberra and Sydney and most strong voltage readings I get are 240vac- 250vac, that is also because I am very carefull in my electrical work and I do not allow ANY voltage drop at all in my systems so you get a nice strong street mains reading!)

I think you misspelled 265vac there...

I've only seen 220 as it was dropping to 0V but I only monitor it every second or so.

The Resmed supplies seem to be ok with 280 at least for a short time.... maybe I should order a spare.

I've seen 477V on my computer room monitors that look at the grid power. outch!