Storms Power Outages

Been having bad run of luck with Mother Nature lately! Started July 1 650 houses out 3 hours, now twice since then July 5, 685 houses, July 12, 7,000 houses. This last outage lasted 12 hours for me, still 7,000 houses out. Do you see a pattern here? Got to bed at 5:20 A.M.

They (Duke) started calling
us at 6PM, Called said power would be up at midnight, called said it would be 2AM, Called said it would be 4AM, at 4:01 power came on, YEA! The crews left the area, 4:15 A.M. power quit. Called me sent crew back 5:05AM power restored again., I'd like to complain, but I got lucky there's still 7,000 houses still dealing with the problem. Where is the Wichita Lineman at!

Got to bed at 5:30 A.M., gave it sometime to go off again...... Jim

this is something I never thought about ( since I am new) is it ok to connect the machine to a battery back up device? also, if you are sleeping with the machine and full face mask on and the power goes out, what happens? do you just start to suffocate and wake up? this is kind of a scary thought!
thanks

tiredNorlando wrote:this is something I never thought about ( since I am new) is it ok to connect the machine to a battery back up device? also, if you are sleeping with the machine and full face mask on and the power goes out, what happens? do you just start to suffocate and wake up? this is kind of a scary thought!
thanks

Full face masks have a little valve that is kept closed when the machine is blowing and will open if the machine isn't blowing and you can breathe well enough with the valve open and the vent holes to keep from suffocating.

Nasal mask users...they will just open their mouth. Reflex really.

Usually it doesn't take long for a person that is asleep to wake up with the machine stops blowing for whatever reason.
For me the first time it happened I woke up because of the silence more than anything else. I wasn't the least bit uncomfortable though.

Ok, that's a relief !

thanks

xxyzx wrote:

Goofproof wrote:Been having bad run of luck with Mother Nature lately! Started July 1 650 houses out 3 hours, now twice since then July 5, 685 houses, July 12, 7,000 houses. This last outage lasted 12 hours for me, still 7,000 houses out. Do you see a pattern here? Got to bed at 5:20 A.M.

They (Duke) started calling
us at 6PM, Called said power would be up at midnight, called said it would be 2AM, Called said it would be 4AM, at 4:01 power came on, YEA! The crews left the area, 4:15 A.M. power quit. Called me sent crew back 5:05AM power restored again., I'd like to complain, but I got lucky there's still 7,000 houses still dealing with the problem. Where is the Wichita Lineman at!

Got to bed at 5:30 A.M., gave it sometime to go off again...... Jim

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battery backup

automatic emergency generator

Too hot to sleep, usually power works, this used to not be a third world country, used to be the U.S.A.. Now Corps, keep buying real local companies out, laying off the workers and farming out the jobs to kids that aren't trained, and management that can't manage. They fail to trim and remove trees that can distrupt power.

Where is the Wichita Lineman at! Not here for sure! Jim

Here it comes again, wind and lightning both. Batten down the hatches mate... Jim

I remember after my first year on cpap reading on here about how someone was using a car battery jump starter to run his cpap. Since I had one I gave it a try - never looked back.
Not to worry we have all stopped breathing for years before getting a cpap. After cpap it would just wake me up when the power went out; even just a momentary dip. Now I can sleep right thru it.
Using the jump starter is just like having a UPS but w/o the noisy alarms to wake me up and the power lasts longer than a UPS.

xxyzx wrote:

tiredNorlando wrote:this is something I never thought about ( since I am new) is it ok to connect the machine to a battery back up device? also, if you are sleeping with the machine and full face mask on and the power goes out, what happens? do you just start to suffocate and wake up? this is kind of a scary thought!
thanks

======

yes but it has to be one they approve and with their connector
whatever battery has to connect to the cable with their connector
and you would need a way to test it and recharge it from time to time to make sure it has enough energy stored for a night

you cant use an UPS like on your computer

What is this "approval" you speak of? Both ResMed and Philips have "approved" pretty much any 12V battery, as long as it has enough power.

Its true that most current systems require a cord with a special plug. ResMed is 24V so it needs a special dc/dc converter. The alternative is to use a small inverter and the regular AC plug, but since they are about 60% efficient it would mean a battery twice as big.

Computer Uninterruptible Power Supplies commonly don't have enough power to go the night, especially if humidity is used. However, if your location is prone to brief outages, that may be a solution. Larger batteries can be setup as a UPS - I sometimes do that if a nasty storm is coming so it will switch over automatically, but normally I just wake up if the power goes out.

More info than you'll ever want at the link in my signature.

 The red alligator clip is positive (+), the black alligator clip is negative (-), the other is a roach clip.

I use a battery I can carry, and keep it charged with a tender. If you have a storm cellar, maybe carry it into the storm cellar and have solar panels ready charging the battery.

That is a lot to run on a battery, maybe have a big battery charging on solar in the storm cellar or oxygen safely stored? Tough call.

After being on cpap 2 and 1/2 yrs, I spend my first night without it last night. Here I am, vacationing in Wisconsin. I thought I was smart and even brought both my machines. A big storm hit at 9PM and the power didn't come back on till 4am.
I layed in the dark, afraid to fall asleep. I kept thinking of my nieghbor. He had a stroke the night he didn't use his cpap. 2 cpaps with me, and can't use either one. It really took a toll on me today. Don't want to have to go thru another night with no machine. The day I get home, I'm getting a battery pack.


And my husband, he complained becaused my snorning kept him up. I almost smacked him. "I wasn't snoring, I was suffocating".

Cardsfan wrote: Here I am, vacationing in Wisconsin. I thought I was smart and even brought both my machines. A big storm hit at 9PM and the power didn't come back on till 4am.
I layed in the dark, afraid to fall asleep. I kept thinking of my nieghbor. He had a stroke the night he didn't use his cpap. 2 cpaps with me, and can't use either one.

Exactly why I always pack my DC cord when I travel. I figure I can sleep in the car or go buy a battery and hook things up - but can't do squat w/o that power cord. Batteries are fairly easy to come by.

xxyzx wrote:you cant just jump wire any old battery to the device with some zip cord and expect it to work reliably

that's all it takes for a respironics system one...

palerider wrote:

xxyzx wrote:you cant just jump wire any old battery to the device with some zip cord and expect it to work reliably

that's all it takes for a respironics system one...

Or a "Tank", part of why Resmed won't be in my house, other reason, their bussiness plan and greed. Jim

xxyzx wrote:

tiredNorlando wrote:this is something I never thought about ( since I am new) is it ok to connect the machine to a battery back up device? also, if you are sleeping with the machine and full face mask on and the power goes out, what happens? do you just start to suffocate and wake up? this is kind of a scary thought!
thanks

======

yes but it has to be one they approve and with their connector
whatever battery has to connect to the cable with their connector
and you would need a way to test it and recharge it from time to time to make sure it has enough energy stored for a night

you cant use an UPS like on your computer

I use an UPS exactly like the one I use on my computer. I haven't tested it yet to see if it will last all night, but mine is big enough that my ASV machine barely moves the load indicator. So it should last 5 or 10 times the 45 minute full load rating. Mine wasn't cheap but it does provide pure sine wave power at 120 volts regardless of what might or might not be coming out of the wall at the moment.

palerider wrote:

xxyzx wrote:you cant just jump wire any old battery to the device with some zip cord and expect it to work reliably

that's all it takes for a respironics system one...

How do you do that? I have sat up all night several times when the power was off. What do I need to get to do that?