Can't win 'em all: Power outage at hotel :(

I was a good little cpapper this past weekend, dragged my machine through the airport for a trip to the beautiful Oregon coast for my daughter's wedding. I remembered everything: machine, hose, mask, chinstrap, cpap wipes, power brick and cord, extension cord with power strip, copy of prescription and even (thank goodness) my little $16 power-out alarm.

In the middle of the night last night a balloon hit a nearby transformer and blew out power to the hotel I was in. No backup generator. I tried to sort of sleep sitting up, then tried to get into that Falcon position -- comical, really, and I can't figure out how anyone could possibly be comfortable sleeping like that! It was not a happy night -- I was just thankful that it happened on my last night there, after all the festivities. I'm glad to be climbing into my own bed tonight and hopefully the power will stay on all night.

BTW, the power-out alarm worked -- I woke up quick, even with my white noise app (iPad) playing right beside me.

Power-out alarm? Where do you find that? So glad it didn't happen until all the fun was over!

I got mine at a local Ace Hardware, cost was about $16. I think Walmart has them too. Mine (same model as below) also has a flashlight which comes on when the power goes out. You need to keep the alarm close to you as they are not very loud. Mine is plugged into the same power strip that my machine is plugged into.

Oh, no!! Just glad you got back safely

ems wrote:Oh, no!! Just glad you got back safely

Me too, thanks!
Sent you a photo.

Yeah, the power in those areas is usually a bit if-fie, although it's usually wind not balloons *smile*. Anyways, glad you made it back. By the way, I hear that cpap.com has a nice little lightweight Li-ion battery pack now that's good for a day or two, might be just the thing for something like that. One more thing for your list *smile*.

Hope you had a great time!

I saw this and wondered about an app that can alert you when there is a power failure. I checked the Android market and there are several that can alert you when the power fails. You plug the android device in while you're sleeping and it can detect when the phone state changes from charging to unplugged (no power). When the power fails, it can sound an alarm, send text messages etc. I have not looked at them before so I cannot say how well they work. I charge my phone while I'm sleeping anyway so it isn't any change in that regard. It also has the potential to replace the power failure alarm (1 less thing to carry).

I did not check the Apple store but I'd bet they have similar apps available.


-Bill

This last weekend we stayed at an independent motel in KCMO (a little off the high rent area)
Everything worked the first night, but the second night, the lamp outlet would not power my Intellipap.
I unplugged 2 lamps so I could sleep and charge my phone.
Next trip, power strips come along!

I have that same power outage alarm. It's nice to have for assurance. I wear a full face mask, and while it has vent ports on it, it isn't super easy to breathe with it on. I want to make sure that on a weekend night after I've had 3-4 beers, i will wake up before getting too oxygen deprived.

I was giving this some thought since I'm very new to using a CPAP. I was thinking that I would really like to be awakened during a power outage so I could make some decisions about how to deal with the rest of the night; like heading to the garage to get my camping battery or just stay up reading for a while. I searched for "alarm" on this forum to see what others had discussed and found this thread stayed on-topic.

The same little gadget mentioned early in this thread is sold by the sponsor cpap.com for $16.95. It is a small alarm with a built-in LED flashlight. Now that is a nifty little gadget that I'll add to my next order for supplies. No, I don't work for cpap.com.

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/relian ... erout.html

Without my hearing aids when I'm sleeping, I'd probably never hear the alarm. If I can put it where the flashlight part shines on my face, that would probably wake me. I have an alarm clock with vibration, light and sound that goes into my pillowcase, and it wakes me every time.

If the machine stops blowing, I am awake almost immediately. No power alarm needed. I have a cheap LED flash light on my night stand to see if I need to (got a package of like 15 of them from Costco for like $25). Use AAA batteries and last forever so I have them stashed all over the place.

As for dealing with an outage, if it is going to take a long time, I just turn on the generator. but most only last an hour or much less. Sleeping if necessary can be done sitting up. Not great sleep, but I can get enough to get by to the next day and then deal with it better.

At the cabin, I use an inverter to convert the battery power to AC for the machine. No AC there, just solar system which charges a battery system. I'm there perhaps 20 days out of the year.

If somewhere else, which is seldom, I would just sit up or go find a recliner. Always have a flashlight on hand as it is part of my take bag along with other necessary items in case there are problems. (Includes a power strip and spare battery for my phone).