Battery Backups - Car Battery Jumpers?

[CollegeGirl]

Hey y'all -

With one helluva storm approaching the east coast right now, I figured now was as good a time as any to ask about a battery backup! Despite being on cpap for several years now, I've never purchased one. On the very rare occasions we've lost power, I've either gone to someone else's house to sleep who had power, if it was an extended outage, or just stayed awake until the power came back on.

I called my (awesome!) DME today to talk about finally purchasing a battery pack for my CPAP, and the person I spoke with actually told me that, rather than spend my money on one of those, that I could purchase a car battery jumper pack (If you don't know what I mean, something like this: http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_SPM5985129508P) instead. I know there have been conversations throughout the years here about various things we could use instead of the cpap battery packs, but I don't remember these being mentioned. The person I spoke with said someone she worked with there had tried it during a storm outage and it worked perfectly, and that it also lasted longer than a cpap battery pack would.

Has anyone tried this? Also, they seem to come at various "amps" - there's 450 amp, 500 amp, and 900 amp versions. Does anyone know which I'd need?

Thanks!

[sleeptimeinNY]

I'll be interested in reading the responses to this. I live on Long island and last year for hurricane Irene we lost power for about six days.
But I didn't have CPAP then.

[ChrisD]

Do a forum search on "battery". There have been many discussions on this.

Try reading these:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=47625&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=1150
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=64943&st=0&sk=t&sd= ... on#p606095
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=77217&st=0&sk=t&sd= ... ery+backup

This one is really informative:
viewtopic.php?t=49115

Chris

[CollegeGirl]

Thanks, Chris. I remember reading about deep cycle batteries previously, but I don't think I'm electronically inclined enough to actually put something together unless I have no other choice. I did see some mentions of the car jumper packs in those threads, but no definitive "it works" or "it's safe" or "look for this type specifically." I'll keep reading/looking. Thanks for getting me started.

[DiverCTHunter]

The good news is this is a common question. The bad news is you need a ginormous battery. Here are a few previous threads that should answer most of your power-related questions.

On the hurricane front , all I can say is stay safe and batten down the hatches!

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=81876&p=743758&hili ... ry#p743758
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=79293&p=721256#p721256
viewtopic/t74956/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=73 ... ry#p671485

[ughwhatname]

On my first visit to the DME, the RT told me about hooking up to a car battery rather than paying a few hundred dollars for a backup. I believe she said her husband had done so. I think there is some sort of converter/connection type thing which needs to be purchased as well.

Hey y'all -

With one helluva storm approaching the east coast right now, I figured now was as good a time as any to ask about a battery backup! Despite being on cpap for several years now, I've never purchased one. On the very rare occasions we've lost power, I've either gone to someone else's house to sleep who had power, if it was an extended outage, or just stayed awake until the power came back on.

I called my (awesome!) DME today to talk about finally purchasing a battery pack for my CPAP, and the person I spoke with actually told me that, rather than spend my money on one of those, that I could purchase a car battery jumper pack (If you don't know what I mean, something like this: http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_SPM5985129508P) instead. I know there have been conversations throughout the years here about various things we could use instead of the cpap battery packs, but I don't remember these being mentioned. The person I spoke with said someone she worked with there had tried it during a storm outage and it worked perfectly, and that it also lasted longer than a cpap battery pack would.

Has anyone tried this? Also, they seem to come at various "amps" - there's 450 amp, 500 amp, and 900 amp versions. Does anyone know which I'd need?

Thanks!

[greatunclebill]

here's what i did for 2 machines so you don't need everything shown. take the cpap to radioshack to match up the plug and show them the picture. they will know what to sell you.

[Conrad]

12 volts DC is what car batteries and car battery jumpers produce and that's what our machines use. The 'brick'/AC adapter converts 115 vac to 12 vdc. Don't worry about the amps, your XPAP machine will only draw the amount of current (amps) that it needs from the battery. The current draw of our machines is pretty low. The higher the number of amps the battery is rated for (or the battery jumper) the longer it will last without a recharge.

You will need to worry about the connection between your machine and the battery. Once you get that worked out you should be good to go, as long as your car battery/battery jumper is charged up that is.

Pay VERY close attention to the positive (+) and the negative (-) connections. (see the above picture for the connections)

[DiverCTHunter]

Ugh:
To run an S9 on batteries, you'll need either an inverter, a 24-volt battery, or two 12-volt batteries in series.

CollegeGirl:
You don't have your machine listed, so I'll cover both methods.

Here're the generalities you'll need to know about running your xPAP on batteries:

1. Heated humidifiers will suck the battery down much faster than the blower will. Disconnect the humidifier if you can stand to go without it for a day or two.
2. Most Respironics machines run on 12VDC. This is the same voltage as a car battery.
3. Most ResMed machines run on 24VDC. This requires 2 car batteries connected in Series (jumper pos of bat 1 to neg of bat 2, think of putting 2 AAs together with the top of the 2nd AA touching the bottom of the 1st AA).
4. You CAN use a cheap inverter, but it WILL drain the battery faster than a direct connection to the battery and MIGHT damage your humidifier. The blower SHOULD work fine, though.
5. You CAN use a car battery in an emergency, but completely discharging this type of battery will damage it.
6. The BEST battery to use is a true Deep Cycle battery for Wind/Solar use. These are extremely expensive, but won't be damaged by being totally discharged.
7. The Cheapest compromise battery to use is a Marine Hybrid battery. These are a cross between a car battery and a deep-cycle battery.

Edit: PHPbb behaving again

[JohnBFisher]

As someone pointed out, I posted instructions in the Post "Battery Backup Design" .. It's a fairly simple approach to use a deep cycle battery to act as a backup battery. I've used this approach for about 10 years at this point. I am on my second battery. It should last another few years. I test the system about once a month. Even if you don't implement it fully, there is a lot of information that everyone contributed into that post.

Battery Backup Design
viewtopic.php?t=49115

[Sloop]

I did a detailed post on this a while back -- but am not smart enough to retrieve it.

Anyway, look at my sig line and see one of the jumper batteries along with a 12 VDC cord from Respironics. Simplest solution that there is ....... AND you also have a device that will jump start any of your gasoline engines when needed.
During Hurricane Irene (a year ago), I used this set-up for 2 nights and didn't even begin to drain the battery.

Do NOT use your heated humidifier during the power outage. It will drain your backup battery quickly.

[Guest]

Thanks, Chris. I remember reading about deep cycle batteries previously, but I don't think I'm electronically inclined enough to actually put something together unless I have no other choice. I did see some mentions of the car jumper packs in those threads, but no definitive "it works" or "it's safe" or "look for this type specifically." I'll keep reading/looking. Thanks for getting me started.

put this quote into your search box

"This method is not only easy but everything can be bought right off the shelf and put together by even those not-so-techy types."

[CollegeGirl]

12 volts DC is what car batteries and car battery jumpers produce and that's what our machines use. The 'brick'/AC adapter converts 115 vac to 12 vdc. Don't worry about the amps, your XPAP machine will only draw the amount of current (amps) that it needs from the battery. The current draw of our machines is pretty low. The higher the number of amps the battery is rated for (or the battery jumper) the longer it will last without a recharge.

You will need to worry about the connection between your machine and the battery. Once you get that worked out you should be good to go, as long as your car battery/battery jumper is charged up that is.

Pay VERY close attention to the positive (+) and the negative (-) connections. (see the above picture for the connections)

Thank you SO much Conrad. Actually, would you believe they have nifty little car battery jumpers with DC outlets (and even USB charging outlets) on them now? I picked up one of those... so I think I should be all set! The one I ended up buying (found a nifty coupon code) was 1100 amps, so hopefully this one will last me a while! I don't use a heated humidifier at all (since someone else mentioned it) so hopefully that will help!

[CollegeGirl]

The good news is this is a common question. The bad news is you need a ginormous battery. Here are a few previous threads that should answer most of your power-related questions.

On the hurricane front , all I can say is stay safe and batten down the hatches!

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=81876&p=743758&hili ... ry#p743758
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=79293&p=721256#p721256
viewtopic/t74956/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=73 ... ry#p671485

Thank you so much. I am filing this away for future reference!

[CollegeGirl]

I did a detailed post on this a while back -- but am not smart enough to retrieve it.

Anyway, look at my sig line and see one of the jumper batteries along with a 12 VDC cord from Respironics. Simplest solution that there is ....... AND you also have a device that will jump start any of your gasoline engines when needed.
During Hurricane Irene (a year ago), I used this set-up for 2 nights and didn't even begin to drain the battery.

Do NOT use your heated humidifier during the power outage. It will drain your backup battery quickly.

Thanks Sloop! So glad to know someone else has already done this! I think with the built-in DC outlets on this thing I don't need a VDC cord... one less thing to worry about. I'll be sure to post here if it works. Hope it will!