any suggestions for power outages.

I recently had a power outage at my house. So my cpap shut off. Is there any suggestions for backup power incase of power outages?

power choices wrote:I recently had a power outage at my house. So my cpap shut off. Is there any suggestions for backup power incase of power outages?

You should register and fill in your equipment info so we know how to best advise you.

I've written a number of posts about battery backups, mainly on heavier, home based (or RV, boat, car camping etc) systems. The last post in this thread describes such a system:
viewtopic.php?t=102775

If you are dealing with just short power outages in a residential setting you may be able to use a computer uninterruptible power supply (UPS)--the larger and heavier they are, the longer they will provide power during an outage.

richart wrote:If you are dealing with just short power outages in a residential setting you may be able to use a computer uninterruptible power supply (UPS)--the larger and heavier they are, the longer they will provide power during an outage.

These are smooth enough of a waveform to use? Oh, man, I am gonna get over to microcenter on payday then. My apartment complex keeps having little blips in the power, and mom and dad's house was on the top 5 power outage list for a while for my region so...yeah. Battery backup for my apap would be fantastic.

I was talking to a gentleman the last time I was in the CPAP clinic that uses one on his boat on the weekends. His CPAP machine will run on 12VDC (many do...the AC adapter on mine changes the 120VAC to 12VDC). He charges up a small 12VDC gel cell battery at home and takes it with him on the boat to run the CPAP. He says it lasts him for 3 to 4 nights.

SleepyStar wrote:

richart wrote:If you are dealing with just short power outages in a residential setting you may be able to use a computer uninterruptible power supply (UPS)--the larger and heavier they are, the longer they will provide power during an outage.

These are smooth enough of a waveform to use?

cpaps with power bricks use the same kind of switch power supplies that computers do...

Hm...sounds like the DME was full of it again then as that is why they tried to steer me away from a computer UPS. What a surprise

Very comfortable with computer parts but medical not so much, I limit where I tinker given my lack of back up machine.

But hey. Learn something new every day.

SleepyStar wrote:These are smooth enough of a waveform to use? Oh, man, I am gonna get over to microcenter on payday then. My apartment complex keeps having little blips in the power, and mom and dad's house was on the top 5 power outage list for a while for my region so...yeah. Battery backup for my apap would be fantastic.

A UPS will work for brief outages, but not for a full night. For instance, the APC 550 that MicroCenter sells for about $60 has a 7 AmpHour battery, enough to run most of the night without humidity, but maybe about 2 hours or less if humidity is on. The system I describe in the link above uses the same type of battery, but 5 times larger. The waveform from the APC should be fine for the your S9 or any other cpap the uses a power brick.

richart wrote:I was talking to a gentleman the last time I was in the CPAP clinic that uses one on his boat on the weekends. His CPAP machine will run on 12VDC (many do...the AC adapter on mine changes the 120VAC to 12VDC). He charges up a small 12VDC gel cell battery at home and takes it with him on the boat to run the CPAP. He says it lasts him for 3 to 4 nights.

I live on my boat for the summer, powering my apap (and fridge, TV, computers, lights, etc) from a 12V battery bank, recharged mostly with solar panels.

Here is the model and vendor I purchased my Power supply from.

Compact Portable 12V High Capacity CPAP Battery Pack - 266 watt-hr

Item Id: OW-12-C266

bestcpapprice (dot) com



I purchased a Power supply a few years back for this same concern. It can also be used for camping. I paid about $300 and I plug it in every 3 months to make sure it is charged. It doesn't seem to lose much charge at all. When a violent storm is the forecast I will charge it. I tested this when I first purchased it. I got three nights without humidifier and two more with the humidifier and still had a quarter of battery left. It is well worth the money to give you piece of mind.

richart wrote:If you are dealing with just short power outages in a residential setting you may be able to use a computer uninterruptible power supply (UPS)--the larger and heavier they are, the longer they will provide power during an outage.

Has anyone found a UPS without an alarm? If I were to put any of my battery backups on my apap it would be a solution of a sort -- I sure wouldn't need the apap because I wouldn't be asleep!

(At my office we have a diesel generator, and every Tuesday we test it by cutting over and running on generator for an hour. The switchover is a couple of seconds, so we have to have UPSs on all of our desktop computers, servers, communications gear, etc. Every Tuesday the generator kicks in and every UPS in the place goes BEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!!! and every employee jumps. Then an hour later when we've all forgotten it cuts back and BEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!!! we're all jumping out of our skins again. )

power choices wrote:I recently had a power outage at my house. So my cpap shut off. Is there any suggestions for backup power incase of power outages?

Not too many are willing to invest in a battery system for infrequent outages. But, it's a good idea to use a power-off alarm to awaken you from sleep when a power outage stops the operation of your CPAP. The alarms are cheap and include a safety light which can be used as a flashlight - http://www.amazon.com/Powerout-Power-Fa ... +off+alarm

cathyf wrote:

richart wrote:If you are dealing with just short power outages in a residential setting you may be able to use a computer uninterruptible power supply (UPS)--the larger and heavier they are, the longer they will provide power during an outage.

Has anyone found a UPS without an alarm? If I were to put any of my battery backups on my apap it would be a solution of a sort -- I sure wouldn't need the apap because I wouldn't be asleep!

(At my office we have a diesel generator, and every Tuesday we test it by cutting over and running on generator for an hour. The switchover is a couple of seconds, so we have to have UPSs on all of our desktop computers, servers, communications gear, etc. Every Tuesday the generator kicks in and every UPS in the place goes BEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!!! and every employee jumps. Then an hour later when we've all forgotten it cuts back and BEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!!! we're all jumping out of our skins again. )

With the APS 550 I mentioned above you can turn off the alarm by connecting by usb to a windows machine and running the supplied software. (I haven't done it since I want the alarm.) The setup I describe in the link above can be used in "UPS mode" although you probably want the medium or large size charger you wanted this fulltime.

power choices wrote:I recently had a power outage at my house. So my cpap shut off. Is there any suggestions for backup power incase of power outages?

Got any Walmart stores nearby? Check their electronics department for battery UPS devices. A year or two ago I picked up a couple of reasonably priced ones for about a total of $80 or thereabouts (one was a CyberPower and the other was an APC). I don't care about long-term outages, I just want something to buffer any small blips so it doesn't shut off completely. And, I would want a little beeping to warn me that the power has gone off. Usually they just softly beep on power fluctuations or drops.
My power is generally pretty stable, but there have been a few times since I started therapy when some transformers have blown in our neighborhood.


Den

.