Lost Power - The Plan Worked

[DaveMunson]

I lost power a couple nights ago. I have an inexpensive 12Vdc/120Vac inverter, (wrapped in saran wrap to protect it with 4' fused near battery end) leads to alligator chips and 100' of extension cord. Got out the inverter, looks great. Connections tight. Hooked alligator clips to the battery terminals on one of the cars. Adjusted for good connection. Everything is good. Ran the extension cord to my bed room. Plugged in the cpap, turned off the humidifier. Went to sleep. Woke up when the power came back on. Unhooked everything, put a trickle charger on the car. Went back to sleep.

I last used this setup about a year ago. It is protected by being wrapped with the saran wrap in the garage. No fancy deep discharge battery. No maintenance. The inverter does not need to be a pure sign wave type. Just keep the inverter wrapped for the next emergency and the power cord set aside.

[Journeyman]

I like it when a plan comes together. Do you remember "The A Team" ? Our power went out the other day, it flickered a couple of times then after about five or ten seconds it came back on. I'm ready if and when we loose power with a small generator. The news reported twenty seven thousand plus were with out power because of the snow and wind here in mid Michigan. We saw people filling containers with gasoline the next day. Some had gas cans some just had containers. Any port in a storm I guess. I lot of people were having a bad day or two with the cold temperatures. Its good to have a plan that will work.

[ClayL]

Regarding modified sine wave inverter use. The following is from the Resmed web site.

"If you are using a CPAP device without a humidifier or an S9 combined with a H5i you will need a modified sine wave inverter with a minimum power rating of 150 W. If you are using a CPAP device combined with a H2i, H3i or H4i you will need a pure sine inverter with a minimum power rating of 200 W."

[avi123]

I lost power a couple nights ago. I have an inexpensive 12Vdc/120Vac inverter, (wrapped in saran wrap to protect it with 4' fused near battery end) leads to alligator chips and 100' of extension cord. Got out the inverter, looks great. Connections tight. Hooked alligator clips to the battery terminals on one of the cars. Adjusted for good connection. Everything is good. Ran the extension cord to my bed room. Plugged in the cpap, turned off the humidifier. Went to sleep. Woke up when the power came back on. Unhooked everything, put a trickle charger on the car. Went back to sleep.

I last used this setup about a year ago. It is protected by being wrapped with the saran wrap in the garage. No fancy deep discharge battery. No maintenance. The inverter does not need to be a pure sign wave type. Just keep the inverter wrapped for the next emergency and the power cord set aside.

Comment,

If the power stoppage is less than a couple of nights then this 22Ah DieHard AGM JumpStarter should be able to run the S9 Autoset plus the humidifier set at 3.5 (no climate line):

http://www.sears.com/diehard-platinum-p ... ockType=G1

plus this DC converter:


https://www.cpap.com/productpage/DC-Con ... hines.html

[Christine L]

That is a great idea.

Avi or anyone, What type of converter would work with my Respironics machine?

I already have a 100-ft. extension cord.

[cosmo]

What happens if your car can't turn over in the morning and you're stuck at home?

The pricing for a deep cell battery setup or battery boosters should within reach for most people.

[rosacer]

DaveMunson wrote

Hooked alligator clips to the battery terminals on one of the cars.

Dave states he has more than one car, if the battery of that car is depleted he can start that car with one of the other cars or the other car using inexpensive jumpers. I don't see any problem with that, IMHO.

[cosmo]

DaveMunson wrote

Hooked alligator clips to the battery terminals on one of the cars.

Dave states he has more than one car, if the battery of that car is depleted he can start that car with one of the other cars or the other car using inexpensive jumpers. I don't see any problem with that, IMHO.

I don't like the idea. The car's battery is for the car. You're asking for trouble tapping into its power source. With all those electronics in the car, are you sure you want to do this?

At least disconnect the terminals.

[archangle]

That is a great idea.

Avi or anyone, What type of converter would work with my Respironics machine?

I already have a 100-ft. extension cord.

We need to know what machine you have. "Respironics" could be any one of dozens of different machines.

Check the links in my signature line to find out how to fill in your profile, and how to determine which Respironics machine you have.

Most Respironics machines will run directly off of 12V with an adapter you can buy from CPAP.com.

You don't want to try and run 12V all the way from your car to your bedroom. You'll lose 100 times as much voltage at 12V as you do at 120V.

[archangle]

I see a problem with that. The car's battery is for the car. You're asking for trouble tapping into its power source. With all those electronics in the car, are you sure you want to do this?

At least disconnect the terminals.

The only plausible problem would be if you run down the car battery. Disconnecting the battery terminals would be worse for the electronics than letting the battery run down. There's enough "weird" stuff drawing power from the car battery that everything hooked up to the car's electrical system has to be pretty tolerant to bad voltage.

This shouldn't be a big problem, but some poorly designed modern cars have some problems if you disconnect or completely run the battery down. The problems are usually minor or temporary, such as running badly for a while or having to reprogram the radio, but some car designers are REAL idiots.

Be sure whatever you use to hook up the car battery is fused very close to the car battery, to reduce the risk of fire.

[WarmBodies]

This shouldn't be a big problem, but some poorly designed modern cars have some problems if you disconnect or completely run the battery down. The problems are usually minor or temporary, such as running badly for a while or having to reprogram the radio, but some car designers are REAL idiots.

Some years ago the battery in my husband's Honda went completely dead. When we got a new battery the speedometer would not work. The dealer told us it was ruined by voltage spikes when the battery went bad. He said a new speedometer was $400 and a local garage told us he could get one from a junkyard for $200.

My husband called a guy who was a mechanic for a Honda dealer. The guy said, "Drive 85."

The next day my husband did. When he hit about 80, the needle on the speedometer freaked out for a second and then settled in. It was reset and worked fine from then on. YMMV (literally).

[JohnO]

My husband called a guy who was a mechanic for a Honda dealer. The guy said, "Drive 85."

The next day my husband did. When he hit about 80, the needle on the speedometer freaked out for a second and then settled in. It was reset and worked fine from then on. YMMV (literally).

That's fantastic! Made my Christmas Morning!

[2 B Sleeping Soundly]

Some years ago the battery in my husband's Honda went completely dead. When we got a new battery the speedometer would not work. The dealer told us it was ruined by voltage spikes when the battery went bad. He said a new speedometer was $400 and a local garage told us he could get one from a junkyard for $200.

My husband called a guy who was a mechanic for a Honda dealer. The guy said, "Drive 85."

The next day my husband did. When he hit about 80, the needle on the speedometer freaked out for a second and then settled in. It was reset and worked fine from then on. YMMV (literally).

I guess we don't have to worry just about DME's trying to take advantage of us . That mechanic from the Honda dealer who let you in on the "Drive 85" secret would be getting my business from then on . Kudos to him for his honesty and customer service over the "get all the money you can get out of them now, even if it will mean that they will never come back" mind set that can be so prevalent these days .

[StuUnderPressure]

My husband called a guy who was a mechanic for a Honda dealer. The guy said, "Drive 85."

The next day my husband did. When he hit about 80, the needle on the speedometer freaked out for a second and then settled in. It was reset and worked fine from then on. YMMV (literally).

Yes officer, I WAS doing 85 in a 70 MPH zone.
But, I was just trying to fix my speedometer!

[VikingGnome]

I recently bought a new battery for my 5-year-old Honda CR-V (with just 20k miles). After the guy disconnected the old battery and installed the new one, my radio/CD player/clock said "Enter Code" instead of turning on. What Code? A secret code for access your radio? I went home and went through my owner's manual and it said to "Enter Code" found in manual. Uhhhh. Where??? Finally called Honda dealer and they said the code was on a sticker inside the glove box. When dealer installs the accessories, they put the code where they want instead of a standard place. So I take everything out of the glove box and found the sticker with the code. Started engine, turned on radio and got "Enter Code" and this time put in the code I had found. Radio/CD Player/Clock back up and running.

So be careful about totally disconnecting the battery on any newer model car. You have no idea what you might disable. If Honda played it their way, they would make me bring in my car and pay them to enter the secret code they hid in the glove box.