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birdshell wrote:Thanks for the explanation. One more question:

Don't chargers for the cigarette lighters (such as for cell phones) have a device to avoid the overcharging problem?

And why is the home system a trickle charger? Is it because of the batteries not being exhausted as fully at home?

Thanks again, electrical experts.

Some chargers for in car products, have a circuit to protect the equiptment, usually a voltage control diode regulator, for the better equiptment that fragile.

The home system is a trickle charger so it can be left on charge 24/7, when there's no usage. Most units like car starters, don't get that much use, so the house charger just has to keep the battery topped off, all batteries run down setting a little, so the trickle charger keeps it ready to go. Jim

wolftracker wrote:http://keenzo.com/showproduct.asp?ref=GBA&ID=703167

that is a great solution, very cheap, but do you know how long I can listen to the radio and run my cpap? does it use more power to run FM vs AM?

Here is a link to the fluwiki discussion on how to use cpap without power. There are a couple of folks who have figured out how much power their cpap requires.

http://www.fluwikie2.com/pmwiki.php?n=F ... thoutPower
sally

Here are some numbers using a KILL-A-WATT meter:

The RemStar that I have uses 2 watts in the OFF mode (but plugged in). When breathing normally I get readings of 9 watts up to about 20-25. Or as high as 42 when I was deliberately breathing fast and hard just to see how high I could get the numbers.

Apparently there are several factors involved, not the least of which are the pressure settings and the breathing rate. Seems to make sense, the faster you breathe the more work IT has to do to keep up.

-Ric

Anonymous wrote:

wolftracker wrote:http://keenzo.com/showproduct.asp?ref=GBA&ID=703167

that is a great solution, very cheap, but do you know how long I can listen to the radio and run my cpap? does it use more power to run FM vs AM?

False board post not made by me. !!!!!! Jim I have no Idea why it appeared under my name.....

Thanks for the Fluwiki link, Eccles on the Fluwiki link says this:

Results of CPAP measurements on battery power

Well, using the equipment available to me at Eccleslab, I have made some measurements of my own CPAP machine to determine how much power it actually uses, and what kind of battery/solar support it needs.

Using my own machine (a Respironic REMstar PLUS/C-Flex), and using the factory supplied DC power adapter for it, I measured the power consumption of the machine in a few states.

* Idling, not running - 0.17 amp (2.1 watts)
* 5cm pressure setting - 1.01 amp (12.7 watts)
* 10cm pressure setting - 1.6 amp (20.1 watts)

all of the above are running open mask

* breathing at 10cm pressure w/C-flex engaged - 0.6 - 1.8 amp (average is 1.2 amp, 15.1 watt)

The tests were all conducted using a commercial 12 AH battery pack. So, in my personal case, the pack would be able to provide about 8 hours of sleep before it endangered the battery pack. If using a solar system to recharge the battery, it could be accomplished in 4 hours using a 35 watt or larger solar panel system.

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This is good news for me, because I was thinking I might have to give up on using my Remstar w/CFLEX. But if this one only uses about 1.2 amps on average, then the Xantrex 600HD (with 28 amp hours) might be good for 2 or maybe even 3 nights (7 hrs X 1.2 = 8.4 amp hrs per night). As I understand it, though, we shouldn't run the battery down quite that low...

Thanks to Goofproof for the warnings about using a cigarette lighter to recharge the Xantrex. The Xantrex manual does make it clear that charging this way leaves out any overcharge protection and it is a fast charge that probably isn't great for the battery in the long run, and yep could be dangerous if the car's voltage regulator is flawed.

I don't know why, but the Xantrex manual doesn't seem to worry about overcharging with a solar panel, so long as it's 30 W or less and 2.5 Amps or less?

The one kicker with the solar panel option is that it requires that you fashion a special connector to go from the solar panel to the Xantrex. There's a diagram, but it may be beyond some of our limited skills.

I'm not saying that the Xantrex can't handle the lighter plug, but my car starter warns about that, the charging through the lighter is probably fused at 10 to 30 amps, that kind of rate can heat up a battery and charging over it's normal voltage swells the plates inside, both are hard on the battery.

But they are made to be used, just don't let it run for long periods to recharge, Mine has a LED Meter to show charge level, I don't know if it works with the lighter charger, although it probably will because it has a charge test button. I don't know what kind of battery it has in it but it can't be much bigger than a motorcycle battery, I was amazed it did start a car with a completely dead battery. A very handy thing to have around, espesally when I had to sell my big compressor. Jim

Dear all i'm very new to this site and have read the information about camping but have to confess to being a bit thick about the technology . I have a sullivan v lightweight resmed cpap with humidifier and the numbers on the back say 110-240v-50-60hz. 120va. Which doesn't mean anything to me. Is anybody able to tell me exactly what i would need to be able go camping with my cpap and if anyone knows whether the equipment needed is available in the u.k
Any help would be much appreciated

Welcome Blossom.

Well, not sure about your particular machine. One way is to get a battery that has an inverter (turns the direct current or DC from the battery into alternating current or AC like in your home), and a socket so you can plug your machine in just like into the wall. The battery needs to be rechargeable, and you need a recharger, that you can plug into the wall socket when you get back home and hook to the battery. This all gets a little complicated, since there are not a lot of ready-made units with all the right connectors, inverters etc.--here in the U.S., Xantrex makes some of these devices, but not sure about U.K.

The other way is that some CPAP machines can run directly on the 12 volts from a battery. I have a Respironics M series, for example, that has a special cable that hooks right to a battery pack. You still have to have a recharger for the battery.

Many (maybe all) humidiers are fussy about electricity and won't run on a battery, so you may have to live with the dry air from the CPAP alone.

The battery pack I have will run the CPAP for only about 3 nights, without a recharge.

Use the search function to search for "camping" or "battery" to gets lots more messages about all of this, as there are many people looking for a solution and lots of folks are electricity challenged. I know only a little, and it may be that you can find some folks there in the U.K. to help.

Blossom wrote:I have a sullivan v lightweight resmed cpap with humidifier and the numbers on the back say 110-240v-50-60hz. 120va. Which doesn't mean anything to me. Is anybody able to tell me exactly what i would need to be able go camping with my cpap and if anyone knows whether the equipment needed is available in the u.k.

The CPAP machine you have is an older style unit and is only suitable for mains power, AFAIK. It draws approximately 120W of power, and I think that is only the power consumption for the CPAP unit, with the humdifier drawing additional power?!?

Its not a great choice for taking camping, but may manageable with some work.

In general it is not easy to run a humidfier of any sort of power supply which originates form a battery as humidifiers draw a lot of power. So you need to determine if you can sleep for a few nights without the humidifier turned on. This would reduce the power needs considerably and may make some sort of battery power option workable.

If you must have a humidifier, you will probably need to use a petrol powered generator (which produces 240V mains power) and that in turn means you will need to be able to transport it to your camping site.

Anyway, there a few things to think about, then if you can tell us more information on what your exact camping plans/needs are, some more specific advice could be given.

Cheers,

Bill

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): cpap machine, resmed, humidifier, CPAP, Power

Dear newguy and others,

Please contact me at Blkmorejj on the aol network, my name is Josh.

I am heading for the eastern Washakie Wilderness in Wyoming for 7 nights at 8 - 13,000 ft.

I use a 6.5 cm cpap for over 7 years, no humidification and really need a solar powered unit for at least 4 hours per night.

Help!!!!

Josh