Surge Protection

[Bearded_One]

Almost all UPS's produce modified sine wave AC, which will power most, if not all CPAP machines. Respironics and Fisher Paykel humidifiers will work just fine using a modified sine wave UPS or inverter.

The problem comes in with ResMed humidifiers. At least one ResMed humidifier is not supposed to be used with ANY inverter (which would include UPS). All of the other of the ResMed humidifiers require pure sine wave, which is not the type of power provided by most UPS's. See http://www.myresmed.com/Shared/StaticFi ... ts-usa.pdf

[Guest]

All the more reason to choose Respironics or something other than a Resmed. Just to much confusion and prob would catch on fire.

[Bearded_One]

powerprotectioncam, you are presenting UPS as a backup power supply for CPAP and you were unaware of the problems of using UPS with certain types of equipment. You weren't aware of whether the UPSs that you are trying to sell produce square wave, modified sine wave, or true sine wave -- which matters when used with medical equipment. You shouldn't be recommending that somebody use a UPS when you do not know if your UPS is safe to use with that equipment.

You also made wrong and disparaging statements regarding the appearance and fire safety of my deep cell battery -- my battery and charger are at least as safe as the UPSs that you sell. I do not sell batteries or UPSs, however I do use quite a few UPSs and batteries, both at home and at work.

I have worked with telephone battery plants that used lead-acid cells as big as kitchen stoves. One telephone office I worked in for a few years had a 100,000 square foot power room, which was full of rectifiers (battery chargers), batteries, and DC to AC converters. The DC to AC converters were both solid state inverters and motor-generators. Yes, I do know a few things about batteries and UPS's.

[Bearded_One]

Guest, What are you talking about? You sound like powerprotectioncam talking about my deep cell battery. ResMed makes good equipment, why do you say that it "prob would catch on fire"? -- that is a reckless and incorrect statement.

[jnk]

Guest, What are you talking about? You sound like powerprotectioncam talking about my deep cell battery. ResMed makes good equipment, why do you say that it "prob would catch on fire"? -- that is a reckless and incorrect statement.

Bearded_One,

I assume guest is trying to make a joke based on the 2007 ResMed recall, which was no big deal and ResMed handled beautifully. But it is still funny to some, I guess: http://www.diabetesnsw.com.au/news_page ... Recall.asp

By the way, thanks for your posts, Bearded_One. Your voice of experience here is very much appreciated by me whenever you come slumming in cpaptalk land!

[Bearded_One]

jnk, thanks for the information. It looks like ResMed handled it well. I do wish that RedMed would modify their humidifier controller so that modified sine wave power won't potentially damage it. Even better would be if manufacturers were to power their humidifiers using 12 volt DC.

[Paul56]

All the more reason to choose Respironics or something other than a Resmed. Just to much confusion and prob would catch on fire.

Hmm, you seem to be easily confused.

[jnk]

jnk, thanks for the information. It looks like ResMed handled it well. I do wish that RedMed would modify their humidifier controller so that modified sine wave power won't potentially damage it. Even better would be if manufacturers were to power their humidifiers using 12 volt DC.

Amen!

[Babette]

attitude: alternates between being mischievous and making long-winded, often-misguided, attempts at being helpful.

Amen to THAT!

I do love your taglines, dude!!!
Babs

[Sparkyc46]

I apologize, Cameron. I get carried away. I'll edit my post, if you want.

If you have a site, I'd be interested in checking it out. I've been considering getting a UPS myself. I am just scared by all the warnings about 'pure sine waves' and all that stuff when it comes to running my machine on batteru power, and I don't know how all that applies with UPS. Maybe it doesn't at all. But I haven't had time to do my research yet.

Don't let a few crazies like me ruin the reputation of this board. There is some touchiness about spammishness due to some who try to sell snoring products to CPAPers. Maybe that's why I felt I could get away with being rude. But I was only trying to be funny. It gets me in trouble a lot.

But I believe Hawthorne was asking about surge protectors, not UPS units, though I may have misunderstood.

Made me laugh

[Hawthorne]

I WAS asking about surge protectors, when someone, trying to sell his UPS, turned the discussion!

[Bearded_One]

Properly designed and built surge suppressors can be very useful, and I am not sure why Respironics would say not to use one. Surge suppressors are not always effective, but they shouldn't cause any problems.

A surge suppressor works by causing an electrical short in the power line if the voltage exceeds a certain value, such as between 385 and 800 volts. The device that causes the electrical short is a MOV (Metal Oxide Varistor). The electrical short causes the fuse to immediately blow, hopefully protecting the device from a catastrophic power spike. Some surge protectors have three MOVs, inexpensive surge protectors only have one MOV.

Two problems; the protected appliance is subjected to a high voltage (385 to 800 volts) for some short period of time, and the MOVs will degrade after repeated high voltage events. It is also possible for a lightning strike to arc over the blown fuse; destroying the MOV and the protected appliance. Most devices can withstand a few hundred volts for a short period of time, but there is still a small potential for damage. Periodically replacing the surge protector, especially if the fuse blows will help maintain protection.

MOVs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varistor#M ... e_varistor

[plr66]

I contatced Respironics a while back to enquire which surge protector they might suggest for my machine. They said that I should not use a surge protector but that the machine should be plugged directly into the wall outlet.

Is there anyone from Respironics on this forum who can clarify this definitively?