need non-technical answer about camping with my c-pap

[canfish]

Hey all,

I'm just back from a great camping trip to Death Valley, but the problem was my spouse had to sleep in the car because my snoring in the tent (without having brought my c-pap machine) was too loud! We'd like to do more camping together and it would be great to share a tent again like in the old days, but I need a alternative power source to do it. Health-wise, I'm okay not sleeping with my c-pap for a few nights, but I want to be able to use my machine because of my snoring.

I've just read through the existing threads on this topic and they are WAY too technical for me to understand. I don't even know what an amp really is and I'm not sure I want to learn.

I have a ResMed S9 and I'd like to be able to go camping for multiple days (3-5) before having to recharge my battery. I also would prefer not to have to lug some huge battery around with me. I read about one that is recharged through solar, but that doesn't seem too practical because I don't spend my days at a campsite babysitting the charger--and often don't stay at the same site night after night. I like the idea, but don't think it would work. I assume there aren't batteries that recharge through the ipod charger in the car--that the draw on power would be too great. But that would be fantastic--to have the battery recharge while driving around. I'm not holding my breath that that is possible though!

If someone can tell me what set up would work for my machine and which set up would be preferable, that would be terrific. Assume you're talking to someone without the technical knowledge to put something together. I just want to plug and play!

Thanks!

[Pugsy]

How deep is your pocketbook?
Do you need cheap or could you spend a few hundred dollars for more convenience?
Can you do without your humidifier while camping?

[Julie]

Most of the ones I've heard of are good for <8 hrs at most unless you have a really special, probably heavy and likely expensive set-up... how technical any are depends.

[canfish]

Pugsy, I could spend a few hundred dollars on something that would work over a long period of time since I expect to be camping for a long time! I can definitely do without my humidifier.

[Harborseal]

I ran across these while looking for my unit

http://www.cpaptravelbatterypack.com/index.html

http://www.directhomemedical.com/cpap-a ... RIw7PnF934

I'm sure there are more

[Pugsy]

Battery life is going to depend on pressures used....the higher the pressures the higher the drain.

There's this one
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/c-100- ... ck-s9.html

this one says it will last longer....go down to the bottom of the battery pages and input your machine and your pressure to get an estimate of how long it will last
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/respir ... -pack.html
I just tried that test with these two batters and the C100 said around 12.72 hours at a pressure of 10
and the Respironics said around 21 hours.

Be aware that ResMed machines need this...which is included in the C100 linked above
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/c-100- ... erter.html

and this high dollar item and it says around 13 hours
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/resmed ... hines.html

It's going to be tough to find a battery that will last long enough without needing recharging if you are wanting more than 2 nights.
I think you would need multiple batteries if there is no way to recharge.

I will let the real battery gurus try to explain your options. I don't know much more details then the basics.
But you might read this thread viewtopic.php?f=1&t=86960&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=battery
as there is some real life experimenting with results posted in the thread. Look for JohnO's post particularly. Now his machine was a Respironics machine but I have always thought if I ever got a battery I would get the one he got.

[Thanks, Pugsy!]

Thanks for the great links and ideas. I really appreciate it!

[archangle]

We'd like to do more camping together and it would be great to share a tent again like in the old days, but I need a alternative power source to do it. Health-wise, I'm okay not sleeping with my c-pap for a few nights, but I want to be able to use my machine because of my snoring.

I have a ResMed S9 and I'd like to be able to go camping for multiple days (3-5) before having to recharge my battery. I also would prefer not to have to lug some huge battery around with me. I read about one that is recharged through solar, but that doesn't seem too practical because I don't spend my days at a campsite babysitting the charger--and often don't stay at the same site night after night. I like the idea, but don't think it would work. I assume there aren't batteries that recharge through the ipod charger in the car--that the draw on power would be too great. But that would be fantastic--to have the battery recharge while driving around. I'm not holding my breath that that is possible though!

Welcome. Please sign up for a userid and fill in your equipment on your profile so we can help you better. There's a link in my signature line at the bottom of this post to help you.

Simple answers:

We need your pressure settings to do this right. We also need your model of S9 machine. It should say that next to the power button.

However, we can make a pretty good guess for an S9 for 3-5 days.

You'll need something about the size and weight of a car battery. 60 lbs or so. Cost $250 - $350 and you need some do it yourself to put it together and hook it up. Prepackaged solutions will cost more. The cheapest solution would have a car-style "wet" battery that could be spilled. The more expensive solution has an unspillable battery, but it weighs the same.

You could use multiple smaller batteries instead of one big one, but the weight will add up to the same. You might be able to have several smaller batteries, each good for one night, and swap them out to the car each night.

For a LOT more money, you could probably buy lithium batteries, which are much lighter than the "normal" lead acid type batteries. I'm going to guess around $1500 dollars for 3-5 nights.

Solar is not really practical for camping for most people.

Many prepackaged CPAP power solutions don't make it clear how short a period of time the battery will last.

Lots of people will look at a few numbers, make some uninformed calculations and tell something much cheaper and smaller will work.

The ResMed battery guide is here: http://www.resmed.com/us/dam/documents/ ... lo_eng.pdf

[chunkyfrog]

Since Resmed power solutions are so pricy, I elected to get the Devillbiss, and have a reserve machine.