Question For Our Electricity-Savvy PAPers

This follows on my earlier thread about suddenly learning that I will need a battery for my cpap to take overseas.

My question is this: If the power there is dicey with some brownout moments or hours, will my daytime-plugged-in re-charging cpap battery be damaged? I will be using a 220 surge protector, but cannot take a UPS.

(My plan at this point is to purchase an Everest 2 with battery and with HH which I will only use on passive mode).

Generally, brownouts (reduction of voltage and/or current without complete loss) are much more harmful to electronics than blackouts are. If you have brownouts I don't think anyone can guarantee that you won't have damage. A power conditioner can be helpful in this case, because it will keep the supplied power up to proper levels for a couple of seconds and then drop it completely if the power hasn't been restored, but good conditioners are big, heavy and probably not practical for travel.

Blackouts (complete loss of power) are mostly harmful due to the fact that when the power comes back on there is often a surge. If you use a good surge protector you'll hopefully be protected from that (a good conditioner will handle surges as well). Otherwise, the issue I see is that when a charger is first applied to a battery it usually takes a bit for it to figure out what the current state of the battery is before it begins charging it. If the power drops are constant, the charger could have a hard time getting all the way through a charge cycle before it starts all over again.

plr66 wrote:will my daytime-plugged-in re-charging cpap battery be damaged?

Maybe... you really need to ask the manufacturer about that, as they are the only ones who will know the correct answer for their battery product!

Cheers,

Bill

plr66 wrote:This follows on my earlier thread about suddenly learning that I will need a battery for my cpap to take overseas.

My question is this: If the power there is dicey with some brownout moments or hours, will my daytime-plugged-in re-charging cpap battery be damaged? I will be using a 220 surge protector, but cannot take a UPS.

(My plan at this point is to purchase an Everest 2 with battery and with HH which I will only use on passive mode).

Consider solar powered charger.

Perhaps not practical for air travel; however, Honda have small and very quiet generators that can produce 1000 watts over an 8 hour period on a single tank for about $800. Good for charging batteries or using as THE power source.

Will you be on a tour bus during the day? If so, inquire about using facilities aboard to charge the battery and what would be required. Check with your tour company. Don't accept "ya it will be fine" from some phone monkey... speak with management or someone who has actually gone over. Can you charge from cigarette lighter? Does the bus have cigarette lighters? Will you be staying in different facility each night? Long flight over there... can you use the machine on the plane? Do you have a letter from your Doctor stating clearing the machine is a medical device? Security will still inspect but that may ease some tensions. How long will you be gone? Perhaps bring several batteries? Lots of questions and issues to be considered...

And, depending on the cause of the blackout...it can go out in surges.

The Dreamer.

KSMike wrote:Generally, brownouts (reduction of voltage and/or current without complete loss) are much more harmful to electronics than blackouts are. If you have brownouts I don't think anyone can guarantee that you won't have damage. A power conditioner can be helpful in this case, because it will keep the supplied power up to proper levels for a couple of seconds and then drop it completely if the power hasn't been restored, but good conditioners are big, heavy and probably not practical for travel.

Blackouts (complete loss of power) are mostly harmful due to the fact that when the power comes back on there is often a surge. If you use a good surge protector you'll hopefully be protected from that (a good conditioner will handle surges as well). Otherwise, the issue I see is that when a charger is first applied to a battery it usually takes a bit for it to figure out what the current state of the battery is before it begins charging it. If the power drops are constant, the charger could have a hard time getting all the way through a charge cycle before it starts all over again.

Thanks for your educational response, KSMike. You are right that I cannot take a conditioner. However, on the basis of your notes here, I did decide today to take an extra surge protector. Not sure what else I can realistically do under the circumstances.

Paul56 wrote: Consider solar powered charger.

Perhaps not practical for air travel; however, Honda have small and very quiet generators that can produce 1000 watts over an 8 hour period on a single tank for about $800. Good for charging batteries or using as THE power source.

Will you be on a tour bus during the day? If so, inquire about using facilities aboard to charge the battery and what would be required. Check with your tour company. Don't accept "ya it will be fine" from some phone monkey... speak with management or someone who has actually gone over. Can you charge from cigarette lighter? Does the bus have cigarette lighters? Will you be staying in different facility each night? Long flight over there... can you use the machine on the plane? Do you have a letter from your Doctor stating clearing the machine is a medical device? Security will still inspect but that may ease some tensions. How long will you be gone? Perhaps bring several batteries? Lots of questions and issues to be considered...

First of all, BillBolton, I did call the manufacturer (AEIOMed) as well as cpap.com this morning about this, and was assured by both of their tech support people that I "should not have any problem." I also was assured by my tour company that the statement in the tour book was an essentially an overstatement, and that all hotels and the cruise ship have generators, so that with a battery, all will work well. Not sure this fits exactly with what I'm reading here about possible brownout damage, but will have to just let it go at this point I guess.

And Paul, thank you for the idea to ask about recharging during bus trips. If things don't come together to be able to recharge during the day at the hotels while I am out galavanting around, then I will surely check out this possibility. It would not have occurred to me.

You know, since I am basically sitting upright on the plane, it had also never occurred to me to bother using the cpap while flying. My first and only hours without a cpap since I started using it!! This is probably another thread, but I have wondered how use of a cpap is accepted by the elbow-mates of those flying....and where in heck you put the thing.

I sure do appreciate everyone's help here!! Thanks again.