Must sleep in hut. Need CPAP. No Power. !!.??!.?

So a good friend of mine has decided to get married. Good for him. He has decided to do this in Fiji (I live in NC, he in LV - either way its a LONG way away). ... But will be nice. Renting the entire island of Matava (don't worry no one else has heard of it either and there are only 22 huts, its a small island).

SO

Now I find myself soon to be sleeping for a week in a HUT on the edge of a tropical island. Sounds nice, however without CPAP, I wont sleep and either will the island. There will be no electrical outlets in the huts, (no AC either). The only power are solar lights, and MAYBE you could get something charged in the 'office' (A bigger hut closer to the edge)

SO HELP! I have found a lot of info on battery power, and am considering getting the Everest 'something' for 575.00. However I need to charge / find some power source that can handle CPAP (currently have a nice one with HH, but will get a smaller non-HH for travel) for like....8 days.

Also have to fly from the fantastic state of North Carolina, half way across the world to Fiji, kinda close to New Zealand.

This whole Idea is called Eco-Tourism, and I am all in, but gotta have CPAP.

Ideas?

Not too long ago someone posted how they powered there cpap by solar power. Sounds like this is what you are going to need. I can't remember specifics but I am sure if you search you may find it here. If anyone can help here please jump in.

Probably the least painful option in your situation is something like the Everest Aura or the breathex. If you could work it out so you can charge in the "office," you might be able to get by with just the battery that comes with it or 1 extra so you could trade off.

You might be able to get by with something like the Puritan Bennett CPAP and an all in one battery / charger unit. But I think this would be less travel friendly and possibly harder to get on the airplane.

Idahogal,
Great idea, but I don't see solar being a viable option here because I think they would still need a farily good size battery (unless they are going to sleep during the daytime) and several fairly large and fragile solar panels. I don't think this setup would work too well for airline travel.

Welcome Staffing Guy!

I do think that solar recharging might be a possibility, but there are certainly some obstacles to work through. The BreatheX CPAP would probably be the route to go. Then, you only need to figure out how to recharge the battery. Solar recharges are small and relatively inexpensive. They even come built in to a really cool backpack that I saw recently.

You could probably get one of those emergency car starter gizmos that have a 12v plug on them, and use the solar panel to recharge that, then use the start to recharge the BreatheX.

Check this recharger out.. http://www.powerportstore.com/Solar%20r ... -%20ER.htm

Good luck. Check back in if you get it figured out. It would be interesting to many CPAPers in these parts, I'm sure...

Birdiebaby,

That unit is pretty slick. I'm wondering how you'd get the Breathex batteries hooked up to it? I also wonder how long it would take to charge the breathex battery. I couldn't find any specs on the battery??

The emergency car starter unit was kind of what I was talking about as the all in one charger / battery. Do you know what the airline safety regs are on these as far as carryon or checking? I'm thinking you would only get a couple of nights, at best, out of most of these units.

The Matava website says they have a major solar panel system that produces 12V and the resort can recharge 12V batteries for guests. So you need a CPAP that can operate on 12V power and a 12V battery. My guess is that the resort has some experience accomodating people with special needs. You can contact them through thier website. I would explain the situation and I will bet they can come up with something. I would imagine that 12V batteries are pretty common on the island.

MandoJohnny wrote:The Matava website says they have a major solar panel system that produces 12V and the resort can recharge 12V batteries for guests. So you need a CPAP that can operate on 12V power and a 12V battery. My guess is that the resort has some experience accomodating people with special needs. You can contact them through thier website. I would explain the situation and I will bet they can come up with something. I would imagine that 12V batteries are pretty common on the island.

Now why didn't I think of that?

Good catch MondoJohnny!

The batteries are heavy but as someone noted they are probably common on the island. . Maybe you can check to make sure. If not you'll be lugging a battery or the BreatheX. Find out if the solar charger will charge a breatheX. A solar charger is the lightweight part and not too expensive-check out Real Goods http://www.realgoods.com/

Sleepy-in-AL wrote:Birdiebaby,

That unit is pretty slick. I'm wondering how you'd get the Breathex batteries hooked up to it? I also wonder how long it would take to charge the breathex battery. I couldn't find any specs on the battery??

The emergency car starter unit was kind of what I was talking about as the all in one charger / battery. Do you know what the airline safety regs are on these as far as carryon or checking? I'm thinking you would only get a couple of nights, at best, out of most of these units.

Yes, Sleepy, I asked hubby (who is an ops mgr for an airline). He said no problem with checking those types of units. I double-checked at the TSA.gov site, and the only limitations are for spillable batteries and for some Li Ion batteries.

MandoJohnny- great catch.

I would think that something like the BreatheX would also be helpful for the plane ride, although some airlines do not allow CPAP use while onboard. I wonder if a DC inverter would work to charge the BreatheX?

If you take a BreatheX, get 2 extra batteries...a bit pricey for the BreatheX and for the two extra batteries. That should keep you going for 6-7 days.

But don't try to connect 12v to it. It's battery is lithium-ion with a total output of 14+ volts. It is a secondary lithium-ion battery, not a primary lithium-ion battery that gives the FAA fits.

I have taken my BreatheX on two plane trips, one internationally to Taiwan via Tokyo and back with no problems. In those cases, I was able to charge the battery with the charger provided by BreatheX at the hotel. You need 120v or 220v to charge the BreatheX, and the design is such that some "handshaking" must take place between the charger and the main unit before charging can occur. I routinely charge my unit daily. Full charge probably takes a bit less time than that.

I may experiment later when it gets older....to determine if it will take a charge from an external DC source of some value......hard for the engineer in me to leave well enough alone.

Alternatively, if you take a conventional DC input cpap and know you have a dc source at the island (you may need a "charger" to protect the battery), plan on taking a ~25 amp-hour sealed battery for a daily charge.

If you instead take a conventional DC cpap an have no charging facility at the island, decide if you can take a sealed battery 110 amp-hours, fully charged.

Good luck!