Extension cord. Does it have to be the orange kind?

archangle wrote:

Paralel wrote:You'd be amazed at how many computer systems I've seem over the years that either had weird errors or died young due to dirty power.

Unless someone's arc welding next to your extension cord, a shielded cord isn't going to matter.

what? you don't do your arcwelding next to the bed where someone's sleeping?

what, are you one of those elite that have a garage or something???

I went camping this weekend and got an RV spot so I could use the outlet to plug a Remstar brick cpap 150 in and I used an orange extension cord. A fellow camper told me I needed to worry about the gauge and the length of the cord in order to plug in the cpap. I didn't know any of this but the cpap worked, though I worried about it one night when there was a terrible thunderstorm lasting the whole night and I tried to keep the plug and the cpap elevated on a stool so as not to get either wet. Does anyone have any comments regarding this? I think I'll get a battery for my auto next time so I don't have to worry about the rain mainly.

brendastarr wrote:I went camping this weekend and got an RV spot so I could use the outlet to plug a Remstar brick cpap 150 in and I used an orange extension cord. A fellow camper told me I needed to worry about the gauge and the length of the cord in order to plug in the cpap. I didn't know any of this but the cpap worked, though I worried about it one night when there was a terrible thunderstorm lasting the whole night and I tried to keep the plug and the cpap elevated on a stool so as not to get either wet. Does anyone have any comments regarding this? I think I'll get a battery for my auto next time so I don't have to worry about the rain mainly.

I'm gonna guess you were not in an RV.
It's always good to have a battery connection whether for camping or home when the power is out.

Right, I was not in an RV but in a tent. I just got the RV site for the outlet. There's no place to recharge the battery if I got a tent site--I asked. I'm thinking I'll recharge in the bathroom overnight and hope no one takes it or minds. I'll have to just get 2 batteries.

Can use a Jump Starter if you have one or two.

Guest wrote:Can use a Jump Starter if you have one or two.

OK, thanks. I'll probably try the bathroom recharge first. Cars are not my forte. I'd probably blow myself up.

brendastarr wrote:

Guest wrote:Can use a Jump Starter if you have one or two.

OK, thanks. I'll probably try the bathroom recharge first. Cars are not my forte. I'd probably blow myself up.

The Jump Starters come with an AC charger too.

Thanks for the tip, Guest. I really think all campsites should by now have a plan for tenters to charge in a cpap battery. I really think it's ridiculous and it infuriates me that this site has no accommodation for that. I will have to worry about this every time I want to camp at this site now and it's the best one in the area.

brendastarr wrote:I went camping this weekend and got an RV spot so I could use the outlet to plug a Remstar brick cpap 150 in and I used an orange extension cord. A fellow camper told me I needed to worry about the gauge and the length of the cord in order to plug in the cpap. I didn't know any of this but the cpap worked, though I worried about it one night when there was a terrible thunderstorm lasting the whole night and I tried to keep the plug and the cpap elevated on a stool so as not to get either wet. Does anyone have any comments regarding this? I think I'll get a battery for my auto next time so I don't have to worry about the rain mainly.

If your CPAP is the only thing running on the cord, any reasonable cord gauge and length will work just fine. Your CPAP only draws around 30 watts or so. You can also run a number of other devices on the same cord if they don't draw a lot of power. You only get big voltage drops in power cords if you have a significant number of watts.

You might want to get a plug in GFCI adapter like this if you're going to keep mixing rain and extension cords. It won't make you safe, but you might be a little less dangerous.

Thanks, Archangle. Your post convinced me to never use the cord again--always use a battery, so thanks for that! Thanks for the gauge and length info too. I had a feeling I was fine, but this man had me a-tremblin'. He said I had to check and see if the cord got hot, which I did not since that night I was in the midst of an electric storm. I just knew it had worked the night before. What a pain it is to camp with a battery when it only has 8 hours of working time and you constantly have to worry about where you will plug it in.

brendastarr wrote:Thanks, Archangle. Your post convinced me to never use the cord again--always use a battery, so thanks for that! Thanks for the gauge and length info too. I had a feeling I was fine, but this man had me a-tremblin'. He said I had to check and see if the cord got hot, which I did not since that night I was in the midst of an electric storm. I just knew it had worked the night before. What a pain it is to camp with a battery when it only has 8 hours of working time and you constantly have to worry about where you will plug it in.

The cord getting hot is not going to be a problem unless you've got a really heavy load on it like an air conditioner. A long cord or a small gauge cord with a heavy load is going to cause a voltage drop which might cause problems with operating some devices, but once again, your CPAP isn't going to draw enough power to cause a problem there.

Are you worried about electrical shock from the CPAP itself? If so, I wouldn't worry about that too much if it isn't wet. Even then, the CPAP machine is probably not going to shock you unless the machine itself is really wet. As long as it's dry in the tent, and on the part of the power cord inside the tent, it shouldn't be too much of a shock risk, as long as that is dry. Don't mess with any wet plugs or connectors outside the tent if they are wet.

The GFCI is to help reduce the risk of being shocked by the electrical cord itself. Put the GFCI where you plug into the power, and it makes everything plugged into the GFCI less dangerous in terms of shock

Sleepysuz wrote:Going to visit a friend and don't know where there outlets are in the guest room.

I guess the first thing I would do would be call/text/e-mail/message my friend and inquire about available power outlets in the room, and their proximity to the bed where I would be sleeping.

brendastarr wrote:Thanks for the tip, Guest. I really think all campsites should by now have a plan for tenters to charge in a cpap battery. I really think it's ridiculous and it infuriates me that this site has no accommodation for that. I will have to worry about this every time I want to camp at this site now and it's the best one in the area.

If you're going to be driving at all, you can run the charger that came with your cpap battery off of a power inverter in your car. Just plug the power inverter into a 12V outlet in your car (used to be called a "cigarette lighter" thingie, whatever that was, makes me remember how old I am *smile*), and plug your cpap battery charger into the inverter, and the battery into the charger. And there you go.

Sounds weird, but it works for me.

The AC charger is more of a float charger to keep the battery ready without over charging so using an inverter in a car would not speed things up. And since the OP doesn't like wires I would ask if he would be able to connect a Jump Starter as if he was going to jump the car and let it charge that way for 20-30 minutes each day.

For the GFI - I would think that today any campground with an outdoor outlet will be a GFI - including the one he was plugged into during the storm. Spend your money on a 2nd battery or jump starter.

The reason I mentioned Jump Starter when you mentioned battery was it comes with everything you need to use it for your cpap (and more) - a place to plug in (12V outlet), a charger, the battery (w/carry handle), Completely Assembled - all you have to do is plug it in but reading the directions is always a good idea.

Most top end jump starter will come with other things you can use around the camp such as an AC inverter to charge small things like a cell phone, and an air pump, mostly designed for tires not for air mattresses, and a USB adapter to charge other modern day appliances.

NOTE - I would not use the AC inverter to run a cpap - hope yours cpap has a DC connection, if it's a Respironics it will.

The power supply on my machine has a 60 watt rating for no heated tube use, and 80 watts for heated tube use. Using Ohms law, (Free calculators are available online) this figures out to .5 amps for not heated tube use, and .666 amps for heated tube use. Less than 1 amp of current draw for either option. Almost any UL listed extension chord should work well with this low amp requirement, providing that you don't use a cord half a mile long...

http://www.ohmslawcalculator.com/ohms_l ... ulator.php