been reading camping threads, will this work for my s10?

[WildMtnHoney]

Hey, me again!!

So I'm trying to work out what to take car camping. We will be gone 5 days. We do have access, occasionally, to the cars, and to restrooms with real AC power . However, I'd like to stay "at camp" as much as possible.

I'd read a thread about backpacking with the Poweradd, which got me looking around.

What I'm looking at is: http://www.amazon.com/Qi-Infinity-Power ... 9GTS0GVV4R

Could I just get the DC converted for my S10 Autoset and use that? I assume I'd need to charge it at least once during the trip?

Other considerations: I will be at higher elevation than I live. I live at roughly 5300, will be camping around 8000. Is there anything I need to do with the machine regarding that?

Thanks super much in advance!!

[Pugsy]

Nothing needs to be done to the machine in terms of altitude adjustments. These newer non bare bones machines all have automatic altitude adjustments up to whatever the specs say and above that...who know but nothing we can do about it anyway.
I have used my machine at over 10,000 ft altitude without issue and I think it just officially automatically adjusts to 7500 .

Your AirSense 10 AutoSet says up to 8500
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/resmed ... #specs-tab

I have no idea what you will need in terms of electrical connections for your AirSense 10 machine so will let others who are up to date on that stuff handle that part of your problem.
You will need to be able to convert battery from 12 volt to 24 volt...that part I know.

[WildMtnHoney]

Seems my husband has a different idea!!

He wants to tandem 2 12V UPS batteries to get to 24V for me. It'll be heavier, and not as "pretty", but it should do the job, right? We should have 7a/h per battery, I think.

[Pugsy]

I guess a bank of batteries will work...all I know is that it has to be 24 volt...if 2 batteries tied together will achieve that goal then that's fine.
I don't do these battery use threads because it is not something that I really understand beyond the basics which is mainly...ResMed needs 24 volt and Respironics uses 12 volt.
And ResMed usually needs some sort of converter....all that stuff I leave up to the battery gurus and I am for sure not in that camp.

Whatever you come up with...try it at home first to see what it does and how long it lasts and how much the batteries discharge.

[TangledHose]

the easiest thing to do is purchase the ResMed DC power cord/converter for your Airsense machine which will allow it to run from a 12 volt battery, it is nice because it comes with the cigarette lighter male plug, and also alligator clips to clip right onto battery terminals. It would be safer for the protection of your Airsense to run with the Resmed DC power cord/converter (proper wattage regulation) than straight from two 12 volt batteries hooked in series for the 24 volts as your husband wants to do..........the DC power cord/converter will give you some voltage protection for your machine. You can still double up two 12 volt batteries in parallel to get 12 volts with more amps (more battery run time) and use the DC power cord/converter.

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/resmed ... hines.html

Also you'll get far more battery life if you operate your Airsense with the humidifier turned off (in the settings menu) and don't use the heated hose (use standard cpap hose) both the humidifier and heated hose are big power draws and will decrease battery life considerably. In order for your machine to supply air to the hose you must have either the humidifier tub in place (if humidifier is set to off you can use the tub without water so no chance of water spills, or if you are sure the machine won't tip over you can put water in and just use pass-over humidification without heat of humidifier plate) or another option is to purchase the cover for the Airsense that allows you to operate the machine without the humidifier tub in place.....you'll have to have one, or the other. If you use the optional cover your machine will take up less space because you won't have the humidifier tub sticking out the side.

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/resmed ... cover.html

[WildMtnHoney]

Thanks so much Tangledhose!

I will definitely get the cover thingy - no sense having the humidifier tank taking up tent space if I'm not running it.

[archangle]

I don't think the Poweradd will do. It says it does 4.5 A at 12V, which might not be enough to run your CPAP.

The info on the Poweradd is a bit skimpy. It says 34 Amp hour, but that's probably at 5V. I didn't immediately see how many amp hours at 12V. It would probably be 34*5/12 or less. That's about 14 A-h. That's a bit iffy for even one night.

You'd have to figure out how to set it to 12V, make an adapter to get 12V to the ResMed A10 DC-DC converter. You'd have to figure out how long it will take to charge. I'm guessing at least a few hours every day. If you want to charge it from the car, you'd need a DC-AC converter to power the charger.

There's no reason to go to 24V. Even though the A10 runs off of 24V internally, it won't work directly off of 24V. You have to have the special A10 DC-DC converter. The converter will run off of 12 or 24V. I don't think it will make much difference if it's 12 or 24V input.

ResMed's DC guide is here: http://www.resmed.com/us/dam/documents/ ... lo_eng.pdf

What's the pressure settings on your CPAP machine? Can you do without the humidifier and heated hose?

An A10 AutoSet at 6 cm pressure, no heated hose, no humidifier, needs 9 amp-hours for 8 hours. At 20 cm, it needs 20 amp hours for 8 hours. At 20 with humidifier and climateline, it's 53 amp-hours for 8 hours.

[WildMtnHoney]

AWESOME LINK!! Thanks! Especially as I just spoke with my MIL, and she has a RESMED bipap (she wan't home to look at it, but by her description I'm thinking it's one of the S9 models) and she will be camping with us as well, so also needs battery options.

The good news is we aren't going for another few months, so I've got time to gather supplies, run test nights, etc.

OH, and I run at 11, MIL runs 7/11. I don't have a heated hose, and I think for a short trip I can go w/out humidity - we'll be near a reservoir, so hopefully that will help a little with ambient - MIL has gone camping with a much older machine w/out humidity or heated hose in the past, but with electricity or a large deep cycle battery -we're trying to cut down on weight if possible.

[zoocrewphoto]

the easiest thing to do is purchase the ResMed DC power cord/converter for your Airsense machine which will allow it to run from a 12 volt battery, it is nice because it comes with the cigarette lighter male plug, and also alligator clips to clip right onto battery terminals.
l

I recently found one of these converter cables at a thrift store for $4.99, still wrapped and in the box. But it does not have the second part with the alligator clips. I tried to see if I could find it by itself, and it looks like it is not sold separately.

Does anybody know if I can use any cable that goes from cigarette lighter to alligator clips? Or do I need the specific Resmed version?

I already have a hefty battery that I use for lighting when I go to events that charge extra for electricity. So, this would be a good backup system if we had a storm that took out the power. We don't usually run the generator at night because of the noise, and we haven't had an overnight power outage since I started cpap.

[Deep Sleep]

IMO, the A10 is just too expensive not to use the purpose-built ResMed DC Converter. It's the right tool for the job.

The ResMed Battery Guide says the A10 at your 11 cm, with no humidifying and unheated hose, will draw about 1.0 amp (A) or 8 amp-hours (AH) over an 8 hour period. Since you may not have access to 120VAC for the time required to charge above 80% and don't want to discharge below 20%, your 14 AH of battery(s) is about the minimum you'd want to get through one night (8AH/60%). (Their battery guide only recommends a 12-13 AH battery)

That's 13 pounds for a sealed AGM lead-acid battery, plus the weight of the A10, hose, and mask, as well as the DC-DC converter, and a battery charger (I'd want a 2.5-3.0A charger for a 14 AH battery). That's a lot of weight and space in the backpack! They're four times the price, but over 10 pounds lighter, so you might want to explore LiFePO4 batteries.

[archangle]

I recently found one of these converter cables at a thrift store for $4.99, still wrapped and in the box. But it does not have the second part with the alligator clips. I tried to see if I could find it by itself, and it looks like it is not sold separately.

Does anybody know if I can use any cable that goes from cigarette lighter to alligator clips? Or do I need the specific Resmed version?

In concept, any battery to cigarette lighter cord will do. I STRONGLY suggest one that has a built in fuse close to the battery terminal. That's especially important if you leave it connected to the battery all the time.

The CPAP doesn't draw a large current, so you don't need a particularly heavy duty cord.

[Deep Sleep]

...Does anybody know if I can use any cable that goes from cigarette lighter to alligator clips?...

Will this do what you need?

[zoocrewphoto]

...Does anybody know if I can use any cable that goes from cigarette lighter to alligator clips?...

Will this do what you need?

This looks like what I need. Thanks!

Archangle, can I have your opinion? This one says it doesn't handle power surges. I looked at a few more using the same title to search. Several say this:

If the cigarette lighter socket electrical power over the design of power, there will be cigarette lighter fuse blown or cut off the power to protect the case, high efficiency metal pump, once had this phenomenon of feedback. This time on the need to bypass the electrical car cigarette lighter socket and direct access via battery power.

This sounds like it was translated poorly. I don't know if it is trying to say it has a fuse or not. I do not see anything obvious in the photos.

It could be months or years before I need to use my machine on a battery, so if i need to, I will wait for the Resmed version. I just wish I could find the Resmed version by itself for sale. No need to buy an $85 package when I have the main piece already.

[CapnLoki]

...Does anybody know if I can use any cable that goes from cigarette lighter to alligator clips?...

Will this do what you need?

This looks like what I need. Thanks!

Archangle, can I have your opinion? This one says it doesn't handle power surges. I looked at a few more using the same title to search. Several say this:

If the cigarette lighter socket electrical power over the design of power, there will be cigarette lighter fuse blown or cut off the power to protect the case, high efficiency metal pump, once had this phenomenon of feedback. This time on the need to bypass the electrical car cigarette lighter socket and direct access via battery power.

This sounds like it was translated poorly. I don't know if it is trying to say it has a fuse or not. I do not see anything obvious in the photos.

It could be months or years before I need to use my machine on a battery, so if i need to, I will wait for the Resmed version. I just wish I could find the Resmed version by itself for sale. No need to buy an $85 package when I have the main piece already.

This does not look like it has a fuse. Its quite possible the 12-24v converter for the ResMed has a fuse built into the tip - my Respironics 12v plug has, I think, an 8 Amp fuse. However, I would recommend against any solution involving alligator clips for anything other than short term, attended charging or jumping. Spent a few bucks and get something the permanently attaches to the battery, and add rubber terminal covers (or a box) to protect against shorts.

I'm not sure what piece of the converter "kit" you have - the 12 to 24 volt converter itself is worth the $85, the alligator clip adapter is junk they throw in that really should never be used except in an emergency.

The BatteryTender comes with most of the cabling needed - and you can get it in pieces, or third party versions. For instance, a battery harness with fuse for $5:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NCOKZQ
the cigarette socket ($7):
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0041CDPQO

The charger plugs into the harness, or for a few bucks you can get the 5-way splitter, and charge and run at the same time, or add extra sockets and charge cell phones, etc.

[archangle]

...Does anybody know if I can use any cable that goes from cigarette lighter to alligator clips?...

Will this do what you need?

This looks like what I need. Thanks!

Archangle, can I have your opinion? This one says it doesn't handle power surges.

Doesn't look like it has a fuse.

If you use one without a fuse, there's less risk if you only connect it to the battery when you have an outage and are there all the time it's connected. It's still "wrong," but not as dangerous as one you leave connected all the time. The fire will start while you're at home near the cabling, so you can put it out. Disconnect from the battery when you're not there. Have a smoke detector nearby.

I found a fused alligator clip to cigarette lighter adapter at my local car parts supplier, but I may have had to check a few stores. Sorry, but I don't remember which parts store it was at.