CPAPtalk.com

feeling_better wrote:Does anybody here use the Respironics battery pack with M-series? Do you know what type of batteries are used in that and how many cells? What is the voltage of the battery after it has been fully charged? I wish to know how high voltage might be tolerated safely by the M-series.

I bought the battery pack sold/made by CPAP.COM -- Being a cheep-oldfart didn't like the price! -BUT- It's great for backup and gave me three days power without humidifier during a power outage & on a TRIP its EASY to pack <Has its own case> loads in a suitcase and lite. Recharges easy -- JUST say enough GOOD things and it came with all the right cables...


BERT

Hawthorne wrote:Would an UPS work for an M Series machine (passover humidity)? Some here have said it does. If so, how many hours, at a time, would a good one last?

I'm not very knowledgeable about this kind of thing so have to ask some other questions -

Would that kick in, uninterrupted, if the power went off in the night?
Would I keep it connected to the machine all the time?
Do UPS recharge themselves if they remain plugged into the machine and the wall of course?
Our power outages are USUALLY short lived (maybe a few hours at most and not very often).

What would be a good one for my purposes?
Thanks.

Hawthorne, the answers to your last 3 of 4 questions are YES.

For passover humidity mode, that is NO heating, you simply turn the humidity knob to 0. There has been reports of problems with UPS if you use any other setting of the humidity, the M-series humidifier does not like the power from a ups.

The power used by your M-series will depend on the pressure, and also the intended and unwanted leaks. Unfortunately most consumer UPS machines do not quite give the total output AmpHour capacity, they simply say how much max power. Many will give some indication of capacity as '1 hour with a small computer', in very general terms. They almost always overstate the capacity. Also the capacity decreases steadily with age, as much as 20% per year. Their use is best for short term outages, unless you buy a larger model. Somebody here who has actually used one of those machines, and has experienced how long it works with M-series, may post and give you the value for a particular model of UPS, and then you need to guess/adjust it to relate to your pressure.

Make sure you can get a UPS where the alarm can be turned off when the power goes off, otherwise that would wake you up, even if you have uninterrupted xPAP therapy

feeling_better - Thanks for that info!

It would be good if someone who uses this type of backup power with an M Series would reply , you're right- but your info helps me.

feeling_better wrote:

Hawthorne wrote:Would an UPS work for an M Series machine (passover humidity)? Some here have said it does. If so, how many hours, at a time, would a good one last?

I'm not very knowledgeable about this kind of thing so have to ask some other questions -

Would that kick in, uninterrupted, if the power went off in the night?
Would I keep it connected to the machine all the time?
Do UPS recharge themselves if they remain plugged into the machine and the wall of course?
Our power outages are USUALLY short lived (maybe a few hours at most and not very often).

What would be a good one for my purposes?
Thanks.

Hawthorne, the answers to your last 3 of 4 questions are YES.

For passover humidity mode, you simply turn the humidity know to 0. There has been reports of problems with UPS if you use any other setting of the humidity, the M-series humidifier does not like the power from a ups.

The power used by your M-series will depend on the pressure, and also the intended and unwanted leaks. Unfortunately most consumer UPS machines do not quite give the total output AmpHour capacity, they simply say how much max power. Many will give some indication of capacity as '1 hour with a small computer', in very general terms. They almost always overstate the capacity. Also the capacity decreases steadily with age, as much as 20% per year. Their use is best for short term outages, unless you buy a larger model. Somebody here who has actually used one of those machines, and has experienced how long it works with M-series, may post and give you the value for a particular model of UPS, and then you need to guess/adjust it to relate to your pressure.

Make sure you can get a UPS where the alarm can be turned off when the power goes off, otherwise that would wake you up, even if you have uninterrupted xPAP therapy

NOTE: with the UPS you are inverting the voltage with a 120volt power pack down to 12volt DC used by the CPAP Equipment ??? Why not JUST use 12volt alone???


BERT

Bert - I have the Respironics cpap battery from cpap.com- the heavy one!
I'm just not very good at keeping it charged since I have never had to use it - yet. Also, it would mean hooking it up when there was a possibility of a power outage (thunder and lightening in my area) or getting up and hooking it up when the power does go out, assuming I did keep it charged! I was thinking that UPS might be simpler for me.

I assume that the Respironics battery pack is similar to my Battery Geek battery. When I use my auto M, I power it directly from my battery and I don't use the power brick; when the power goes out, the CPAP just keeps running. The charger is always connected to the battery to keep it charged.

Bearded_One wrote:I assume that the Respironics battery pack is similar to my Battery Geek battery. When I use my auto M, I power it directly from my battery and I don't use the power brick; when the power goes out, the CPAP just keeps running. The charger is always connected to the battery to keep it charged.

Actually I was looking at the Respironics battery and it doesn't seem to have an AC charging option. So you have to charge it from a DC source. I wonder if you can use a simple AC to DC converter like this one I saw on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Power-Converter-c ... 4CRIUIFO5O. That way you could just plug the battery in and run your cpap from it every night like bearded one does...
Steve

The Respironics Universal Portable Battery Pack comes with an AC battery charger.

This picture shows the AC power cable end of the the charger.

Bearded_One wrote:The Respironics Universal Portable Battery Pack comes with an AC battery charger.
This picture shows the AC power cable end of the the charger.

Wow, that was so unclear from the wesbite, thanks! So you could use this as your permanent setup at home - battery plugged into wall and always charging, cpap plugged into battery. The downside is you can't use your heated humidifier - at least I don't think you could - I have an auto m series and I am pretty sure the humidifier only heats on AC...
Steve

I'm really new here and haven't figured out how to "ask" a question. I have a Respironics Remstar Plus with C-flex and heated humidifier. My Internal Med Dr says I need a battery backup that will kick in automatically in a power outage, which we have frequently. I take pain meds and probably wouldn't wake up. I've looked at the respironics batteries, but they seem to be made for camping or traveling, and use 12 volts. My DR is willing to write a prescription so my insurance would cover it, but my guess is if I bought an UPS, or anything not from a medical Supply place, it wouldn't be covered. If I get an UPS, do I need to know the wattage of my cpap machine, I can't find any info on it. I stumbled upon this site by accident, and I'm sure glad i did, I'm learning a lot. Thanks for any help.

coloradogal wrote:If I get an UPS, do I need to know the wattage of my cpap machine, I can't find any info on it. I stumbled upon this site by accident, and I'm sure glad i did, I'm learning a lot. Thanks for any help.

Actually, most UPS systems are made to provide instant power for a very short time, ie enough time to save stuff and power off a computer. There are now also "extended runtime" UPS systems, which is what you would need for a CPAP system. The only one I've seen mentioned here, and frankly the only one I can find that seems to be pretty reasonable for CPAP use, is the Xantrex Xpower Power Source 400 (Duracell sells the same thing under their name). This system is pretty big (19x11x4") and heavy (32lb), but reasonably cheap (~$100) and with lots of power (40 AH battery). The wattage is 320 continuous which should be fine for CPAP use. I actually haven't bought one yet but I think I am about to. I'd love to hear from anyone else who either (1) has this unit and could provide more feedback or(2) has another UPS that they consider suitable for CPAP use.
Steve