This Battery Should Work For Camping, Right?

[mattman]

I know there are some people here much better at batteries and electricity than I. Hoping someone can tell me if I'm looking at this correctly.

I have a System One Auto. Not long ago I purchased some new photography lights and a battery unit to use with them. The battery is designed to power high-powered studio lights out in the field.

In looking this over I think that this battery pack should work really well for going camping or using my CPAP during power outages, etc. I would plug the AC from the System One directly into the AC outlet on this battery. I run at 13cm with CFlex and without using the humidifier (Well, it's still connected but the tank is always empty and I never turn the heater on).

The battery is an AlienBees Vagabond Lithium pure sine wave battery. LINK

Battery Type: LiCoxNiyMnzO2 lithium battery
Battery Volts / Amp-Hours: 14.8V / 8.8AH
Battery Watt-Hours (Energy): 130 Watt-Hours
Maximum Continuous Current: 30ADC
Full Charge Voltage: 16.6VDC
Cutoff Voltage: 11VDC
Maximum Continuous Output: 120 Watts
Battery Charger Inout: 95VAC to 250VAC, 50/60Hz input
Battery Charger Output: 16VDC, 3A output
Charging Time: 3 to 4 hours to full charge (with VMC3A charger)
Inverter Fuse (Front Panel): 30A automotive-type fuse
Total Weight and Dimensions: 3.5 pounds (with battery) 2.75” x 4.3” x 7.5” (without stand clamp)

What do you think?

[Pesser]

You have an inverter on this. That uses power, how much; I can’t tell. The output appears to be 3A. Your machine should use less than that without the humidifier and heated hose. I think you would likely have a problem if you are using a humidifier and heated hose. I hope other people will respond to you as I am interested in this!

[aytikvjo]

You're better off finding something that is DC only and made for applications like this.

Firstly that's a pretty small battery for the price they are charging for this thing. If you have something like a Kill-a-watt, you could measure the power usage of your machine and get an estimate of how long a battery of a given capacity will power it.

Secondly, something to consider is the inefficiency of a device like this. You are using a going from the ~15 VDC power of the battery pack, through an inverter to make it 120 VAC 60Hz, then through the power brick of your CPAP machine to bring it back to about 12 VDC (varies with machine). You're probably losing a good 25% of the available energy in the process on a good day. Just doing DC-DC you can keep 90 - 95%.

I would look into something like a DC-DC converter. You can take the large cost they are charging for the inverter component and put that into a much larger battery. More bang for your buck. (They are charging 90 bucks for a 130 WH battery though, which isn't that bad to be honest)

All that being said, it is a pretty cool little device. Integrated battery charger and inverter, the ability to use it for more than just a CPAP machine, might be nice to just have around a campsite in general. That is, IF it performs to the specification it is being sold at. If it were under 150 bucks I wouldn't hestitate.

Medical power supplies are very robust little things, i've dealt with them in the past, so even if the power provided by this thing is a little dirty (Might not really be a sin wave and more like a square wave), you shouldn't harm the machine at all.

I might be able to take a look at what my System One uses in terms of energy a bit later, could then provide a little more accurate estimation of run time.

[Sir NoddinOff]

Here's a Godzilla big thread on batteries that's not too old:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=49115&st=0&sk=t&sd= ... tter+power

[Pugsy]

If I already had the battery at home (originally purchased for other use) then I would try it at home with the cpap machine to see how well it holds up.
It will of course hold up better without the humidifier being powered but some people do well with passover mode (water in the tank but no added heat) or no water or humidifier at all.

Try it at home first then you know what it will or won't do since it sounds like you already have the battery purchased for the other use anyway.

[Pesser]

Here's a Godzilla big thread on batteries that's not too old:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=49115&st=0&sk=t&sd= ... tter+power

Thank you so much for the link. I've bookmarked this and intend to read it later. Real good stuff!!!!!!!!!!!

[archangle]

I know there are some people here much better at batteries and electricity than I. Hoping someone can tell me if I'm looking at this correctly.

I have a System One Auto. Not long ago I purchased some new photography lights and a battery unit to use with them. The battery is designed to power high-powered studio lights out in the field.

In looking this over I think that this battery pack should work really well for going camping or using my CPAP during power outages, etc. I would plug the AC from the System One directly into the AC outlet on this battery. I run at 13cm with CFlex and without using the humidifier (Well, it's still connected but the tank is always empty and I never turn the heater on).

The battery is an AlienBees Vagabond Lithium pure sine wave battery. LINK

Battery Type: LiCoxNiyMnzO2 lithium battery
Battery Volts / Amp-Hours: 14.8V / 8.8AH
Battery Watt-Hours (Energy): 130 Watt-Hours
Maximum Continuous Current: 30ADC
Full Charge Voltage: 16.6VDC
Cutoff Voltage: 11VDC
Maximum Continuous Output: 120 Watts
Battery Charger Inout: 95VAC to 250VAC, 50/60Hz input
Battery Charger Output: 16VDC, 3A output
Charging Time: 3 to 4 hours to full charge (with VMC3A charger)
Inverter Fuse (Front Panel): 30A automotive-type fuse
Total Weight and Dimensions: 3.5 pounds (with battery) 2.75” x 4.3” x 7.5” (without stand clamp)

What do you think?

I don't think it's big enough for camping, certainly not big enough for more than one night. I wouldn't be surprised if it wouldn't even run your PRS1 for a single full night.

My PRS1 machine draws about 10 watts AC with no humidification, about 30 with. In theory, that would get you about 13 hours or 4 hours with humidity. That assumes your inverter is 100% efficient. It won't be that efficient. Even if the inverter is fairly efficient at full load, most of them are less efficient at lower power loads.

[mattman]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think I will go ahead and try it at home and see how it goes.

I do feel pretty confident in the specs on the thing. It's a very popular professional photography company with very demanding types of customers (Essentially having been started by a technical geek who wasn't happy with the quality of gear so went and designed his own. This is also the same guy who invented audio recording gear used by people on songs from Wipeout to Dark Side Of The Moon to stuff Frank Zappa did. I trust the source.

I'll report back on how it worked.

Thanks again.

[CapnLoki]

It looks like a nice battery pack. However, its expensive for under 9 Amp-hours. Worse, your PRS1 will accept 12V but this only produces 120V AC power, so you'll pay about a 30% overhead in the inverter, meaning its equivalent to maybe 6 Amp-hours, which makes it doubtful it will go 2 nights. On the other hand, if you have other uses for this, its not bad.