Camping with 2 CPAPs?

[unityco]

We're taking an (unfortunately) last minute camping trip. I say unfortunate because I'm not prepared CPAP-wise. What can you tell me about powering our CPAPs? Our campsite has no electrical hook-up. We're going in a tent trailer, but my dad (who's trailer it is) is not sure of the status of the inverter in there. I've read that the CPAPs require a 'pure' sine wave inverter - is it really that crucial? Any of the inverters I can find locally don't state whether their sines are pure or modified. Are we better to leave the humidifiers at home? We have plenty of battery power to take, just not sure the best way to get that power to our machines. Locally, our choices for picking any equipment up are Canadian Tire, Zellers, Walmart or The Source - there's nothing else. We're both using the same equipment (you can see in my sig.)

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

[nanwilson]

Hi there
I bought my sine wave converter at "Crappy Tire", only paid $49.95.
Good camping!
Nan

[unityco]

Hi there
I bought my sine wave converter at "Crappy Tire", only paid $49.95.
Good camping!
Nan

Thanks, Nan! Did you use your humidifier on the inverter? Did the model you purchased specify what kind of wave it produced?

[jdm2857]

Depending on the setting, the humidifier may use much more power than the blower. So if you can do without the humidifier, you are ahead of the game.

Also, I believe that your S8 will run properly on a modified sine wave inverter, but the H4i humidifier can only be used with a pure sine wave inverted. You can damage it otherwise.

Similarly, your S8 can be run on 12V DC, but the H4i cannot. The safest way to use DC power is to buy the ResMed DC to DC cable; it includes electronics to protect both the S8 and your battery. If you know what you are doing it is possible to connect the S8 directly to a 12V battery.

[KC5cychris]

If the box does not say pure sine wave then it will be a modified sine wave unit.

check this out
[urlhttp://theinverterstore.com/blog/2010/06/03/choosing-a-power-inverter-for-resmed-s9-cpap/][/url]
have a good trip
Chris

[WilsonVilleUSA]

Here is a link to ResMed's battery use info for all their CPAPs...

http://www.resmed.com/us/assets/documen ... lo_eng.pdf

Short answer is modified sine inverter of 150 watts will work an S8 with NO humidifier. For two S8s, get two inverters or one of 300 watts or better. Larger may or may not be cheaper than two 150 models.

If you want to use the humidifier, you need to move up to a PURE sine wave 300 watt continuous/500 watt peak inverter for your S8. Again, double this for two CPAPs.

I am not familiar with the S8, but I suspect you have the option of using the humidifier as a bypass only (no heat) in which case you could probably get away with the cheaper modified wave inverters, save some money, but still get some humidity.

[jdm2857]

Anyone know if the H4i will tolerate modified sine wave inverters when it is set to off?

If it does, I would tape the knob so that it does not accidentally get turned on.

[GumbyCT]

I would use 12v for the machines and leave any humidifiers home or use by-pass. You can get Black & Decker jump starters at Walmart for $100. Each machine would need its own.

ps. I always sleep better when camping. I noticed this many yrs before cpap. Could be cuz I never brought a pillow?

[nanwilson]

Hi
I didn't use my humidifier, set it at 0 and only used passover mode. I was only camping 3 nights, and still had power to spare. Plugged my charger in when I got home and recharged the battery, should do that once a month when not in use to make sure battery doesn't lose power in case of power outage. We had two significant power outages this spring, one 15 hours and the next week 11 hours....I am now ready for anything ...watch...we won't get anymore outages "I AM PREPARED"
Happy camping.
Nan

[timbalionguy]

You can use the humidifier in passover mode with 12 volt power. The one time I've camped, this worked fine because outdoor RH at night is usually higher. The S8 series humidifier is a pure AC power device. As far as running it at 120 volts with the humidifier completely off, I am not sure it can be turned completely off.

If at all possible, run the machines off of 12 volt power. If you use an inverter for whatever reason, one larger inverter is better than 2 smaller ones, as the conversion losses are minimized. Although 300 watts is the 'proper' size, and a common rating for inverters, you can probably get by with a 250 watt unit for two devices.

[imtired]

there is no way that canadian tire sold a pure sine wave inverter for $50. expect it to be over $200. you will be fine running a normal inverter if your humidifier is turned off, and the battery will last a lot longer like this. with my S8 running the humidifier on half power my battery runs out in 6.5 hours. with it turned off the cpap runs for 32 hours. the battery im using is the deep cycle spiral battery from canadian tire, works great.

[nanwilson]

Nope...not pure sine wave. Its a modified sine wave 300 watt. Cdn Tire, Motomaster Eliminator, mobile power inverter, solid state will provide max of 300 watt of power, 480 watt of surge capacity. I'm reading off the box here. hope that helps.
Nan

[timbalionguy]

Pure sine wave inverters tend to be heavy and expensive. They are also less efficient.