If Your Respironics Humidifier Isn't Working . . .

. . . then you might want to consider this:

Hello all. New here. Just thought I'd share a quick note about a problem with my new Respironics System One Auto A-Flex w/ heated humidifier.

Just got this unit new a couple of days ago. I'm a first time user. First ever machine.

Realized pretty quick that the heated humidifier wasn't functioning. Humidifier not showing up in the menus, no LED lights, clearly not heating, etc. Called for service - told that replacement would need to be sent out - two to three weeks wait. I was responsible for shipping charges (!!!).

Well in both impatient and stingy and I design and build medical equipment for a living so I thought I'd just open her up and have a look.

Sure enough, it was a simple problem. Phillips designed this unit with a cable to carry power and data between the main electronics in the blower unit and the humidifier that detaches from the electronics board inside the blower unit with a simple connector. In the biz the connector they used is called a "friction fit" connector because it does not have a lock or a latch to hold it firmly in place. As I would expect with this design, the cable had simply become detached from the electronics board - probably because of vibration during shipping. Pressing the fitting back into place was all it took to fire the unit back up. It's now working like a charm.

Given this design I would expect that this problem occurs fairly frequently in these units as well as in some of the older models (which I would suspect have the same connector). This would be especially true if you travel with the unit and it gets subjected to vibration or other mechanical forces. I would actually consider the use of this type of connector a design flaw in an instrument used for travel. I suspect that it's not an infrequent issue.

Knowing how equipment dealers work, I would also suspect that when it happens people are often told they need either an expensive repair or a whole new machine.

While I don't in any way suggest that you open up your unit and have a look, I would suggest that if you're facing an expensive repair or replacement for a non-functioning humidifier you may want to get a second opinion. I would at least tell your dealer what you heard here and see how they respond. As a last resort I'd take the unit to an electronics repair shop, show them this post, and see if want they can do. If it's just the cable they'd probably fix it up for free - I certainly would. It takes about 2 minutes to find and repair it if that's the cause.

Again, please don't go and pop open your unit if you're having these kinds of problems. Take it to your dealer or somebody who does this kind of work. I'm posting this not because I want people mucking around inside their machines but because I think knowledge is power and just mentioning this issue might save you a buck or two if you run into the problem with your unit.

Cheers!
XJ.

This information is useful, because there are indeed a few good electronics techs here who can benefit from this information, and perhaps help others.

I would encourage you to take and post a series of photos to show how to do the repair. Some of us would be able to affect a repair, if needed, but would never attempt it without a good set of instructions.

Others have posted similar self-help instructions in the past.

Thank you! I had the same problem where the humidifier out of the blue stopped working, no lights, etc. My 5 year old son and I took apart the main CPAP. I didn't see any loose connections, but I did disconnect and reconnect the cable from the circuit board that goes to the the CPAP/humidifier interface. Voila, the humidifier works again.

http://www.tnlc.com/Lara/laura/osa/PR-S ... y_jdm5.pdf has illustrations on how to open the bottom of the CPAP and how to take the cover off in order to access the circuit board.

mine ran for 3 years, then died. came here while searching for troubleshooting tips after I disassembled the humidifier and found nothing wrong.

The humidifier is a joke, there is nothing in it but a miniature hot plate wired to the connector and the connector, the rest is just casing and tank.

Utter rip off to charge up to 250 dollars for this thing.

The hot plate looks like something custom made, it's a 1/16 inch coated steel plate punched into a shallow dish, convex side is coated with something, probably the stuff they use on black non stick frying pans.

The concave side is full of epoxy with the 3 wires going in. I can see a raised square protruding a bit from when they poured in the epoxy, it's got a temp sensor of some sort. Probably a thermo couple and it either turns the plate on and off or pwm to maintain a constant temp. This means that running it dry should not, I repeat should not kill the humidifier. I suspect the repair techs know about this cable, quickly pop the cover off the unit and replace it, (literally, not figuratively, literally 2 screws to get it apart, not impressed, the humidifier had 8!) then tell you you need to buy a new humidifier, and "just happen to have" a used one they'll sell you for 50 bucks, that they got from the last guy with the same problem.

Anyway, the connector is 4 pins, +12 v, ground, sense, and a jumper from ground to the 4th pin. I assume this is to let the machine know there is a humidifier present.

resistance from +(red) to -(black) is 3 - 3.1 ohms, my multi meter is crap grade though so +/-. The blue sense wire seemed open.

After I saw that there was little resistance I figured that it wasn't burned out... so I opened the main housing. BINGO

There is the friction fit pin connector looks like something off a 20 year old computer power supply, in a 5 pin format. the pin slot next to positive ( which is on the end) is empty and the pin entrance is full, so you could call it a 4 pin connector.

anyway, the + pin slot was burned open. like heat burned a hole in the connector.

My assumption is that it was a poor connection that heated up and melted the connector, had to scrape melted plastic off the pin. If it was an over amperage issue you'd expect to see it on the neg side melted not the pos as the neg is where the electrons come from. probably vibrated loose over time, which then caused a high resistance connection that burned up the connector.

since I figured that it was a poor connection that was the culprit I cut off the melted piece of the connector and soldered the wire right onto it.

Started it up, ran fine, humidifier is working.

That they charge 1000 dollars for these things is criminal. I knew that the basics of building something like this would be simple, but I expected a whole hell of a lot more sophistication and quality control for something that's charged a 10,000% mark-up because it's "medical" grade.

Fucking commercial scumbags.

stresser wrote:mine ran for 3 years, then died. came here while searching for troubleshooting tips after I disassembled the humidifier and found nothing wrong.

The humidifier is a joke, there is nothing in it but a miniature hot plate wired to the connector and the connector, the rest is just casing and tank.

Utter rip off to charge up to 250 dollars for this thing.

The hot plate looks like something custom made, it's a 1/16 inch coated steel plate punched into a shallow dish, convex side is coated with something, probably the stuff they use on black non stick frying pans.

The concave side is full of epoxy with the 3 wires going in. I can see a raised square protruding a bit from when they poured in the epoxy, it's got a temp sensor of some sort. Probably a thermo couple and it either turns the plate on and off or pwm to maintain a constant temp. This means that running it dry should not, I repeat should not kill the humidifier. I suspect the repair techs know about this cable, quickly pop the cover off the unit and replace it, (literally, not figuratively, literally 2 screws to get it apart, not impressed, the humidifier had 8!) then tell you you need to buy a new humidifier, and "just happen to have" a used one they'll sell you for 50 bucks, that they got from the last guy with the same problem.

Anyway, the connector is 4 pins, +12 v, ground, sense, and a jumper from ground to the 4th pin. I assume this is to let the machine know there is a humidifier present.

resistance from +(red) to -(black) is 3 - 3.1 ohms, my multi meter is crap grade though so +/-. The blue sense wire seemed open.

After I saw that there was little resistance I figured that it wasn't burned out... so I opened the main housing. BINGO

There is the friction fit pin connector looks like something off a 20 year old computer power supply, in a 5 pin format. the pin slot next to positive ( which is on the end) is empty and the pin entrance is full, so you could call it a 4 pin connector.

anyway, the + pin slot was burned open. like heat burned a hole in the connector.

My assumption is that it was a poor connection that heated up and melted the connector, had to scrape melted plastic off the pin. If it was an over amperage issue you'd expect to see it on the neg side melted not the pos as the neg is where the electrons come from. probably vibrated loose over time, which then caused a high resistance connection that burned up the connector.

since I figured that it was a poor connection that was the culprit I cut off the melted piece of the connector and soldered the wire right onto it.

Started it up, ran fine, humidifier is working.

That they charge 1000 dollars for these things is criminal. I knew that the basics of building something like this would be simple, but I expected a whole hell of a lot more sophistication and quality control for something that's charged a 10,000% mark-up because it's "medical" grade.

Fucking commercial scumbags.

That was documented back in this thread........with pictures.

viewtopic/t102275/Fix-Respironics-Syste ... a9#p957492


Den

.

Thank you guys! My humidifier quit working for me a couple nights ago. I got through the night, but I prefer the humidity. Found the article, ripped into my Unit and Shernoff found where the connector housing was slipping away from the pins. Clean things up, move them back-and-forth a few times, and then pressed hard to get a good connection. Unit works great! Again, thanks!

You're thanking people in a 2 yr old post .

Jsturgis wrote:Thank you guys! My humidifier quit working for me a couple nights ago. I got through the night, but I prefer the humidity. Found the article, ripped into my Unit and Shernoff found where the connector housing was slipping away from the pins. Clean things up, move them back-and-forth a few times, and then pressed hard to get a good connection. Unit works great! Again, thanks!

It quit the first time, that's your warning, you got it working by cleaning the connection,great! But the connector and wiring have been overheated badly, making it likely it will reoccurred down the road, next time it might get hot and start a fire.

The cure is change out both sides of the damaged plug, or jumper around the wires that got overheated insulating them well. Another option, though not as good, check it for getting too warm after it's been in in use the (HH).

Or just completely ignore it, and wait for Murphy's visit. Jim

Thanks for the warning. I have the Dream Station which is the newest Respironics lines of xPAPs. I'm not sure if it also has this design. Thus far, it is working fine and has been on three continents and seven countries.

Note that I did have a funny issue with my prior machine, which is an AEIO-Med Everest 3 (that company is now out of business). The heated humidifier would not go on at higher altitudes such as Quito (Ecuador) Shangi-La (China), and Putre (Chile). It worked fine when I returned to the altitudes.

I know this is an old topic, but I found it and tried the steps. Fixed my Philips Respironics BiPap Pro!

This unit has a four-prong plug to connect the units. It was dirty, and I cleaned the prongs with Q-Tips, just now.

I bought this unit at a yard sale for $10, as a spare, for my new Philips unit.

Thanks,
Michael
Kentucky, USA

Thank you for this information, I was on my way to buy a new heatpad when I read this. Also being in the electronic repair business I opened it for the 2nd time and noticed that the one contact was totally melted. I couldnt even remove it. I cleaned it and soldered it. Now a perm fixture. Needless to say, it's working fine.
Francois Venter,
South Africa.

Hi All,

I only read this after my reply to loose connecter, but had excactly the same problem and the repair was also done with soldering. As I said previously it is now workin fine.