Respironics battery pack with M series

[Gerryk]

Has anyone used the battery pack with Respironics name on it with an M series? I did some reasearch on it and it's not really clear if this will just power the machine or the humidifier too.
Respironics said the battery pack will only run the BiPap not the BiPap and humidifier. I looked at the batteries from battery geek for the Resmed auto 25 and was told yes, I could run the machine and humidifier but I would need a bigger inverter than what is posted for the machine alone, that I would need at least a 300 watt inverter.

Has anyone used the respironics battery pack with an M series or a battery pack for the Resmed auto 25 both still using the humidifier?

Thanks Gerry

[RipVW]

I use this one with my HH, from battery geek (actually purchased it from cpap.com), the BG- C222.
http://www.cpapdiscountstore.com/catalo ... p-709.html

[Gerryk]

Rip you use this with your machine and HH correct? What pressure is your machine set at?
Thanks

Gerry

[RipVW]

Yes, set in auto mode with pressure range 12.5-18. I do use my HH set at the lowest setting, 1.

[Gerryk]

Thanks, I figured it would work, but the manufacturer said the HH would not work off of battery. Camping starts in less than a month so I had better get my butt in gear and get things together or bring a long cord.

Gerry

[builta]

Hi,

The battery pack that RipVW is talking about is not the same as the one that you are talking about Gerry.

The Battery Geek battery pack comes in several varieties and is a Lithium Ion Battery Pack (and it comes in various Amp-Hours read that as capacity). The CPAP.com and Respironics Battery Packs are Sealed Lead Acid Battery Packs. The Battery Geek units are more in the range of $400 USD and up (depending on capacity).

Battery Geek maintains an E-Bay store front and you can go look at their pack and sizes there. Remember RipVW was using the "222." There is a "150" that costs less but may be too "light weight" for a XPAP+Heated Humidifier and Inverter.

Here is a link: http://stores.shop.ebay.com/batterygeek ... QQ_armrsZ1

Edit added 3:45 PM 4/82009: See this interesting link and scroll down to lower parts of the page for actual test data http://www.cpapman.com/cpapbattery.html

[builta]

Hi again Gerry,

What type of camping are you talking about? Back packing or Base camping with day trips? How long (i.e.: how many nights away from electricity)? The answer may well change what you might want to look at as an acceptable battery pack solution.

BTW, If you are planning to use you Respironics M Series Auto BiPAP and its integrated humidifier then you don't need any inverter at all. I've "boondock camped" plenty in my RV and run all night with heated humidiy directly off my 12 volt Deep Discharge RV batteries--no inverter required. You need a 12 volt DC power cord with a 7 amp fuse (in the cigarette adaptor male plug to run both--that's all.)

[builta]

Hi Gerry,

My goal here is to keep it fairly low tech. Let me know how I did. Plus , alot of this is a guess as I am in no way related to any supplier of any of this equipment. Just a user of some of it.

Just to be clear the BG-C222 is a 222 watt-hour battery.

Think of it like this:

1 volt DC * 1 amp * 1 hour = 1 watt-hour

12 volt DC * 1 amp* 1 hour = 12 watt-hours

Most power batteries (like deep discharge batteries or even Lithium Ion Cell phone batteries) are rated in Amp Hours (also referred to as AH) and is measured at the battery's rated voltage according to an industry standard test. (Cell phone batteries are typically reported in mAH which is a milli Amp Hour or 1/1000 AH so a 950mAH battery is a 0.95 AH battery)

In standard battery terms the BG-C222 is something like 18.5 Amp-Hour Battery. (222 Watt-hours / 12 volts DC = 18.5 Amp-Hours). But, this is an estimate as I do not know how they measured the 222 Watt-hours.

So, the question is how many Amp-Hours of power you need. With your M-Series BiPAP auto and Heated Humidifier, I estimate (a guess) that it should not use more then just over 5 amp per hour maximum (I'll use 4.1 amps per hour-explained below) if both the BiPAP and Integrated Heated Humidifier are both run wide open. So, your actual usage should be somewhat lower. Respironics says that their Battery Pack will run any M series blower at 12 CM H2O for 26 hours.

According to Hawthorne viewtopic.php?f=1&t=40703&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=30

the Respironics literature that comes with the battery pack reports that it is a 14.4 AH Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) Battery. So 14.4 AH /2 =7.2 AH at 50% discharge (max "safe discharge" for a Deep Discharge type Lead Acid Battery). At 7.2 AH/ 26 Hours = 0.28 amps/hour for the blower (others have reported the M Series Blowers using about 1 amp DC) @ 12 CM H2O. I'd guess that that number is really closer to 0.6 amps. Add 3.8 Amps/Hour for the Heated Humidifier (the Heated Humidifier actually states that it is rated at 4.16 amps DC), running at a setting of 5 (probably about right or maybe a little high here for amps) and we are at 4.1 amps/hour. So, the Respironics battery pack should last at least 1.7 to 3+ hours (1.7 hours at 50% discharge and 3+ hours max if humidifier is running at a setting of 5.) It will run longer at a lower humidifier setting. Therefore, I'd figure you would get maybe one or at a stretch two nights at humidifier setting or 1 or 2. I don't know how Respironics came up with the 26 hour figure--for the blower only (i.e.: 50% discharge rating or max discharge--which is very hard on the SLA battery's long term life).

For the BG-C222 lets assume that the full usable 18.5 AH then you'd get 18.5AH / 4.1 Amps = 4.5 hours of use. So, again I'd say a night or two between recharges if you are using the Heated humidifier at a lower setting.

So, figure out what you want and or need.

[plr66]

My goal here is to keep it fairly low tech. Let me know how I did.

~~~~~whimper~~~~~

[builta]

My goal here is to keep it fairly low tech. Let me know how I did.

~~~~~whimper~~~~~

Ok,

How about this "Low Tech" response.

Buy a bigger battery if you want to use a heated humidifier and want to use it for more then one night between charges.

[plr66]

My goal here is to keep it fairly low tech. Let me know how I did.

~~~~~whimper~~~~~

Ok,

Buy a bigger battery if you want to use a heated humidifier and want to use it for more then one night.

YAY!!--I GET IT NOW!!
Thanks for your detailed info for all the rest who will benefit from it, builta.

[builta]

Glad to help

[travismcgee]

I'm a little confused, I thought the integrated HH with the M series ran on 110V AC and the PAP unit ran on 12V DC. That is why it has the goofy power "block". I have taken my APAP camping and run it off a 12V marine deep cycle battery. But never ran the HH. Am I missing something about the batteries that are being discussed here?

[builta]

I'm a little confused, I thought the integrated HH with the M series ran on 110V AC and the PAP unit ran on 12V DC. That is why it has the goofy power "block". I have taken my APAP camping and run it off a 12V marine deep cycle battery. But never ran the HH. Am I missing something about the batteries that are being discussed here?

Hi Travis,

How many cords come out of your Power block? There is one the goes in from the wall outlet (and has a "figure eight" shape where it plugs into the power block) Not counting that connection, the question is how many cords come out of the power block. I think that the answer is one (this indicates 12 volt DC to me and you can read the information on the power block it will indicate the "Output" voltage). Or, does your power block have a secondary cap and then there may be two cords coming out (one with a round plug and one that looks like a "figure eight") and you plug the round one into the blower and the figure eight into humidifier.

You can also look at the bottom of the humidifier assembly and read the little label it will indicate either 12 volt DC or 110/220 AC.

Let me know what you have.

[Hose_Head]

I'm a little confused, I thought the integrated HH with the M series ran on 110V AC and the PAP unit ran on 12V DC. That is why it has the goofy power "block". I have taken my APAP camping and run it off a 12V marine deep cycle battery. But never ran the HH. Am I missing something about the batteries that are being discussed here?

It depends on the age of the M-Series xpap. The newer ones are set up with a humidifier that runs on 12 vdc. They still have a power brick to transform 110 ac to 12vdc. There is just one cable between the transformer and the xpap.