Power solution in a power-outage prone area

Hey all. I recently bought an APAP machine and I currently live and work in the middle east. Where I live the power goes out regularly--sometimes for hours on end. I've read through much of the posts and comments about power solutions and I think my situation is a tricky one. It seems like a UPS backup is only really feasible if the power disruptions are momentary. Our power outages here last anywhere from 10 minutes to 4 hours so that I don't know if it would be a good solution. I've been reading posts from those that have bought deep cycle batteries or other battery packs but it doesn't seem like that would work for a long term, regular expected-power-outage user such as myself. Unless I'm understanding it wrong, those batteries wouldn't be able to power a machine night after night for several days/weeks. If you have any suggestions, I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

Living in earthquake country I was also concerned about longer term power outages and after a long discussion with some of the folks here I put together a system that I believe will last at least a few days and probably longer. This is the thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=101194&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=60

If you don't want to read the entire thread my solution is pictured and described about halfway down the page that is linked above. I would think you could put something similar together depending on availability of components. Plus, I'm sure the same folks that helped me will chime in and impart some of their wisdom.

Note: your specific CPAP needs will dictate how much battery time you will need to account for. CapnLoki did some real life testing and detailed it here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=102179&p=956448#p956448

Hope that helps!

Thanks for your reply--that is quite the setup you made! That is pretty nice that it lasts for 30 days with solar charging. Some additional details I should provide: Where I live we get a lot of sun. The bad news is that we don't have access to as much products/stores as in the states. I think I could probably get my hands on a deep cycle battery though.

Welcome sleep_quest.

Are you sleeping in the same spot every night?

You say you have outages up to 4 hours. How often do you have longer outages? Do you have outages where your power is off completely for days?

What CPAP machine do you have? Tell us EVERYTHING it says on the top or front of the machine. We also need to know what your pressure settings are.

You can actually use a normal car battery, but you will have to not let it run down as far. A regular battery will wear out sooner if you discharge it deeply. As long as the power is on most of the day, a large regular car battery would probably last several years even if you needed it 4 hours a night. A deep cycle would be better, though.

strawbana wrote:Hey all. I recently bought an APAP machine and I currently live and work in the middle east. Where I live the power goes out regularly--sometimes for hours on end. I've read through much of the posts and comments about power solutions and I think my situation is a tricky one. It seems like a UPS backup is only really feasible if the power disruptions are momentary. Our power outages here last anywhere from 10 minutes to 4 hours so that I don't know if it would be a good solution. I've been reading posts from those that have bought deep cycle batteries or other battery packs but it doesn't seem like that would work for a long term, regular expected-power-outage user such as myself. Unless I'm understanding it wrong, those batteries wouldn't be able to power a machine night after night for several days/weeks. If you have any suggestions, I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

You shouldn't have a problem if you can get a good deep cycle battery and a proper charger. Your biggest issue may be that in a hot, dry climate you're probably using full humidity, so your usage will be high, perhaps 30 Amp-hours a night. If you use an inverter that will increase the load even more. The battery should be 80 to 100 Amp-hours, and will weigh about 50-60 pounds. You could get by with a normal automotive starting battery in a pinch, but even a single deep discharge will affect its capacity. A proper battery will last for hundreds of cycle and five years or more; a starting battery will give you a few dozen nights and last a few months.

The charger should be a high quality maintenance charger, not a large high speed charger. The standard in the US is the "Battery Tender" which comes in 0.75 Amp, 1.25 Amps, and 5 Amp versions. I use the 1.25 Amp, but you might consider the large 5 Amp if your load is high. These chargers can be left on full time (that's what they are designed for) and thus serve as an Uninterruptible Power Supply. Unlike the small UPS devices sold in computer stores, this will have the capacity of the large battery.

This thread has details of my current setup:
viewtopic.php?t=102775
Note that using the "splitter" I can connect the charger, battery, and CPAP for UPS mode. There's even a few spare outlets for charging a cell phone, etc. The battery I use here is a bit small for your purpose so you should consider a larger one. Look for an AGM battery - they are pricey, but completely hassle free. If you can't find one a traditional "flooded" marine battery will work fine, but you may periodically need to add distilled water and should have a proper tip proof container. The medium size charger would work if you have occasional outages of a few hours, but if you have repeated full nights you'll want the 5 Amp model.

Thanks for the replies. I am sleeping in the same spot every night. The longest power outages go for maybe 6 hours or so. But usually they are shorter in duration but it is completely unpredictable. My machine is a ReSmart Auto CPAP machine. I do not have a humidifier with this. I haven't adjusted the settings--I just do the default setting that it came with. Thanks for sharing the details of your setup. I will have to look around for the AGM/Deep cycle battery. There aren't proper shops here, everything is sold in a bazaar-type market so I'll have to see what is available.