Lost power

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moosie
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Lost power

Post by moosie » Sun Jul 01, 2018 5:07 pm

The other night while I was wearing my mask and sleeping we lost our power. I awoke gasping for breath not knowing what had happened. Apparently there was a bad storm and the power went out for a short period. Since we live in Florida and are subject to losing power during hurricanes is there any way I can have a battery back up for my c pap machine? Is there such a thing?

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palerider
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Re: Lost power

Post by palerider » Sun Jul 01, 2018 5:29 pm

moosie wrote:
Sun Jul 01, 2018 5:07 pm
The other night while I was wearing my mask and sleeping we lost our power. I awoke gasping for breath not knowing what had happened. Apparently there was a bad storm and the power went out for a short period. Since we live in Florida and are subject to losing power during hurricanes is there any way I can have a battery back up for my c pap machine? Is there such a thing?

Start here: viewtopic.php?t=114012

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Muse-Inc
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Re: Lost power

Post by Muse-Inc » Sun Jul 01, 2018 10:42 pm

I lost power 2 nights ago, just before bedtime. As I was plugging into my Goal Zero battery, the power came back on. I feel so much more secure with my battery and power outage alarm as I do not wake up when power goes out.

My battery will only power my APAP 2 nights which I have never needed. In the case I might and not have enough sunlight to recharge my battery, I have a recording oximeter with alarm that I can set to alarm at a specific oxygen level -- I figure I could sleep with periodic interruptions IF my oxygen levels drop (categorized as severe I am sure I would desat).
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moosie
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Re: Lost power

Post by moosie » Mon Jul 02, 2018 7:02 am

Where do you purchase the Goal Zero Battery? Does insurance cover it as well? Will it work on any c pap machine?
Thanks for answering. Really am worried that I will not wake up if the power goes out. Got my machine last Sept. and never had this problem before. Hurricane season is here now so the problem will start occurring more often and longer.
Marsha

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Muse-Inc
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Re: Lost power

Post by Muse-Inc » Mon Jul 02, 2018 8:44 am

moosie wrote:
Mon Jul 02, 2018 7:02 am
Where do you purchase the Goal Zero Battery? Does insurance cover it as well? Will it work on any c pap machine?
Thanks for answering. Really am worried that I will not wake up if the power goes out. Got my machine last Sept. and never had this problem before. Hurricane season is here now so the problem will start occurring more often and longer.
Marsha
Costco Road Show (heavily discounted) but like I said, it's discontinued. There might be a replacement; check the Goal Zero website. My machine plugs in directly to the battery. I didn't have insurance when I bought it. It is supposed to last for 2 nights at pressure 12 (I reset my APAP to 9 to 12). DISCONNECT THE HUMIDIFIER. In my case, I also bought 2 solar panels that can recharge the battery in sunlight. These batteries are expensive. Because you live in a hurricane-prone area, your doc might be willing to write you a script for it but I bet you'll have to argue with insurance to cover it.

I bought this power outage alarm. As far as I know it's rare to not wake up when your machine stops running. It should plug into the same receptacle (or heavy-duty power strip) as your machine.
https://smile.amazon.com/POWER-RELIANCE ... tage+alarm

Consider getting a recording oximeter with alarm in case the power is out for several days. You wear it while you sleep. Mine runs on 2 triple A batteries and has an alarm that can be set to go off if your oxygen level drops too much (mine is set to 89). While your sleep might be fragmented, you won't have large oxygen drops because the alarm will wake you up so you breathe better.

There are other posts here about backup power. Do a search for more information. Good luck!
Last edited by Muse-Inc on Mon Jul 02, 2018 9:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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CapnLoki
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Re: Lost power

Post by CapnLoki » Mon Jul 02, 2018 9:27 am

moosie wrote:
Mon Jul 02, 2018 7:02 am
Where do you purchase the Goal Zero Battery? Does insurance cover it as well? Will it work on any c pap machine?
Thanks for answering. Really am worried that I will not wake up if the power goes out. Got my machine last Sept. and never had this problem before. Hurricane season is here now so the problem will start occurring more often and longer.
Marsha
The current equivalent of the Goal Zero mentioned is the Yeti 150, which is $200 on Amazon. It has a 14 Amp-hour battery, which is enough to run one night without humidity or heated hose; with humidity it may only be a few hours. If you get the DC cable for your device ($30 for Philips, $85 for Resmed) you can almost double the run time.

If you follow the link
viewtopic/t114012/Choosing-a-Battery.html
near the bottom of the first page (12th post?) you'll find instructions for using a similar battery directly. Although it doesn't look as pretty as the Goal Zero, the battery is more than twice as powerful and costs about $120 with the charger, and cables.

There are other possibilities such as "jump starters" and uninteruptible power supplies (UPS) depending on you budget and needs. To advise further it would help to know the model of your cpap and the type of outages you're concerned about (10 minutes, 10 hours, or 10 days?).

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SewTired
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Re: Lost power

Post by SewTired » Mon Jul 02, 2018 9:55 am

moosie wrote:
Mon Jul 02, 2018 7:02 am
Where do you purchase the Goal Zero Battery? Does insurance cover it as well? Will it work on any c pap machine?
Thanks for answering. Really am worried that I will not wake up if the power goes out. Got my machine last Sept. and never had this problem before. Hurricane season is here now so the problem will start occurring more often and longer.
Marsha
Health insurance does not cover backup power options unless you are on a ventilator (and even then it's iffy).

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chunkyfrog
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Re: Lost power

Post by chunkyfrog » Mon Jul 02, 2018 10:08 am

SewTired wrote:
Mon Jul 02, 2018 9:55 am
. . .
Health insurance does not cover backup power options unless you are on a ventilator (and even then it's iffy).
Everybody's insurance/doctor is different--and Minnesota has far fewer hurricanes than Florida.
It still would not hurt to TRY.
Give it your best shot.
The more who ask, the more they have to listen to.

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DavidY
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Re: Lost power

Post by DavidY » Tue Jul 03, 2018 7:23 pm

I have my Airsense 10 Autoset plugged into Medistorm Pilot Plus 24 battery backup with the companion Co-pilot 24. It's pricey however. The Medistorm can be taken on an airplane too...weighs 1.8 pounds for each. There is 12 volt version for Dreamstation users.

On Amazon, there was a Paxcess 40800 mAh or 150 Wh portable generator for under US$150....probably under another brand name. See YouTube for a Paxcess review with a S9 CPAP unit...lasted 4 days. Weighs about 6 pounds. If I had to do it over, I would get this type of unit over the similarly priced Co-Pilot.

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chartle
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Re: Lost power

Post by chartle » Tue Jul 03, 2018 8:46 pm

I've always wondered if you could use a small PC UPS with the little warning buzzer disabled. Its designed to give uninterrupted power to computers.

Its a pretty small battery but should power the CPAP for at least a few hours but not for a hurricane type outages.

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palerider
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Re: Lost power

Post by palerider » Tue Jul 03, 2018 8:50 pm

chartle wrote:
Tue Jul 03, 2018 8:46 pm
I've always wondered if you could use a small PC UPS with the little warning buzzer disabled. Its designed to give uninterrupted power to computers.

Its a pretty small battery but should power the CPAP for at least a few hours but not for a hurricane type outages.
Small UPS's have all the disadvantages that have been discussed before.

The batteries are small, the inverters are low efficiency, so the minimal battery will run down even faster.

It'd probably be good for a couple hours... depending on battery size.

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CapnLoki
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Re: Lost power

Post by CapnLoki » Wed Jul 04, 2018 3:20 am

chartle wrote:
Tue Jul 03, 2018 8:46 pm
I've always wondered if you could use a small PC UPS with the little warning buzzer disabled. Its designed to give uninterrupted power to computers.

Its a pretty small battery but should power the CPAP for at least a few hours but not for a hurricane type outages.
This is a reasonable solution if your problem is occasional short outages. A typical $75 unit has a 7 AH battery. If you don't use humidity/heated hose it might run a night, but its real virtue is that its designed for 24/7 use so it could be trusted not to wake you and get you through one hour or less outages with your full setup.

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Hark, how hard he fetches breath . . .  Act II, Scene IV, King Henry IV Part I, William Shakespeare
Choosing a Battery thread: http://www.cpaptalk.com/viewtopic/t1140 ... ttery.html

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chartle
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Re: Lost power

Post by chartle » Wed Jul 04, 2018 8:40 am

I have a bunch of the small single battery ones at work that need new batteries and the longest the power has been off in say 5 years is 40 minutes.

Its only happened to me once while using the machine and it was very short basically just rebooted the machine.