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The $25 cord is the "offical" Devilbis one. You can buy one cheaper at Radio Shack. Or make one. Both ends of the cord are very common. The center is + on the Intellipap. But since you already smoked it, I doubt it would work any longer off 12v. They come with a 3yr warranty, you might try and see if you can return it for a new one.

moresleep wrote:

Goofproof wrote:

moresleep wrote:


For the record, my gripe is with the company "punishing" the user of the Cpap machine by allowing the machine to fail in circumstances where it might be vital to one or more nights' sleep, and where failure could easily have been designed against. I wouldn't object to the "crowbar" method so much if it just blew a fuse, and the fuse was obvious and of an easily-available variety, and could be replaced by the user without opening up the machine. But, here, it appears wires inside the machine melted, suggesting it was more than just a blown fuse, even one buried inside the machine.

my sentiments exactly, though many more appliances in the real world could benefit from such features, and, to save a few bucks, they cut back on thinking of the users. I wonder where they got that different 12v plug icon from? it looks like morse code or something?

I am currently debating with myself whether to open up the machine to have a look at what might have happened, but I also know this will void the 3 yrs warantee if they find out. I'm still a little worried that the machine has been compromised but so far, so good. I might put the smoke detector closer to my bed, hey?

jmcanzo wrote:The $25 cord is the "offical" Devilbis one. You can buy one cheaper at Radio Shack. Or make one. Both ends of the cord are very common. The center is + on the Intellipap. But since you already smoked it, I doubt it would work any longer off 12v. They come with a 3yr warranty, you might try and see if you can return it for a new one.

I'd still be wary of a generic accessories ability to meet the 500Ma spec on this unit. (starts to sound like car jumper starter cables requirements)

re. warrantee they would surely blame me. and I would probably need to return it to the USA, from Australia, return postage is likely more than the $80 delivered to here, so I am likely up for more than half what the machine costs. Ill chase up the Devilbiss rep here to see if there are Australian approved return bases.actually, not working any more on 12v would be good news, indicating that only that part of the machine is compromised. in the heat of the moment I did reverse the polarity and replug it for a second. I think it didnt work, but it was panic stations (and did my blowing on it help or fan the flames). gotta laugh sometimes. the 12v cable was of the type with multi sized pins that plug onto the end, in either polarity, another thing easy to get wrong (unless you glued that size pin permanently to the cable - and permanently attached the cable to the correct polarities on the battery).

peterg wrote:

jmcanzo wrote:The $25 cord is the "offical" Devilbis one. You can buy one cheaper at Radio Shack. Or make one. Both ends of the cord are very common. The center is + on the Intellipap. But since you already smoked it, I doubt it would work any longer off 12v. They come with a 3yr warranty, you might try and see if you can return it for a new one.

I've just been told that that Devilbiss cord has a built in fuse.

and , alas, I only got 2.5 hours out of the 700w UPS, with humidifer set on zero. Ill try again tomorrow with humidifier detached. you can buy larger capacity batteries for the UPS (They have made it easy to change them), but I doubt Ill get what I want, 8 hours worth. Ill need to reread the battery backup threads in this forum.

now if I could only train a kangaroo to jump up and down on a generator plate when the mains fails.

Devilbiss marketer got back to me, pointing out that the manual does say the Devilbiss parts (clamp bit and plug bit) that are required .though I still think it should have in bold "WARNING incorrect polarity using non Devilbiss cables.... might toast your unit"

and the manual does mention the bottom plug in System assembly without humidification. (and theres a plug for the heater accessory connector (the electrical plug on the bottom) to go on too.

anyhow, last night was the first night I didnt have that lovely burnt electrical smell, so thats good news.

peterg wrote:I still think it should have in bold "WARNING incorrect polarity using non Devilbiss cables.... might toast your unit"

It was NOT the cables that caused the problem. The problem was cause by connecting them the rwong way.

You did have a 50/50 chance and as BB says he's seen them connected this way 50% of the time then half the time they were connected the other way.

peterg wrote:Devilbiss marketer got back to me, pointing out that the manual does say the Devilbiss parts (clamp bit and plug bit) that are required .though I still think it should have in bold "WARNING incorrect polarity using non Devilbiss cables.... might toast your unit"

and the manual does mention the bottom plug in System assembly without humidification. (and theres a plug for the heater accessory connector (the electrical plug on the bottom) to go on too.

anyhow, last night was the first night I didnt have that lovely burnt electrical smell, so thats good news.

Even using the "OFFICIAL" Devilbiss cable with the clamps, you could still hook it to the battery backwards......the symbol you saw on the back was for the data module connection, not the 12v. The 12v plug icon with the correct polarity marked is on the bottom.

It can happen all too easily, whether the mix-up is with the battery end or the Cpap end. Even having the cables ready in advance is not always enough. I recall once when I found myself, with a flashlight, trying to figure out which way to re-attach the adapter tip to the battery cable (it had come off), so that I could plug it in to my PB 420e, which I used at the time. I had gotten the cable and adapter tip from Radio Shack or some such place, and it was thoughtfully designed so that you could determine polarity by the way you plugged the adapter tip to the cable--but, the markings were not very easy for me to see with a flashlight and my eyes. Well, I didn't blow out anything, so I guess the way I chose was the proper way; but, after that, I made sure to keep the adapter tip well taped to the cable, so that it would not come off again at an awkward time

jmcanzo wrote:Even using the "OFFICIAL" Devilbiss cable with the clamps, you could still hook it to the battery backwards......the symbol you saw on the back was for the data module connection, not the 12v. The 12v plug icon with the correct polarity marked is on the bottom.

the DV Rep here tells me that their plug adapater (to go into a cigarette lighter socket) has a 1A fuse. whether a blown fuse would be easy to replace with a torch in a storm during a blackout with the kids screaming and hungry bears or carnivorous kangaroos at you is another matter.

re symbols... ahh there it is on the bottom AFTER you remove the humidifer, like I would have expected on the back of the machine next to the plug. so if the symbol on the back is a special Devilbiss symbol then , following that logic, perhaps they should make the hole that the 12v goes into a different shape to ALL THE REST OF THE 12V appliances in the world. they have ASSUMED that the user only uses their adapter. I bet there's a law about universal polarity symbols being NEXT TO the plugs.

Im not saying I dont feel like a dill, but there's worse dills than me out there and they ought to try a bit harder to cater for dills, especially those affected by "the great stupidity" that Apnea causes.

that said, I love the company and this machine and I would have purchased another one if I had completely destroyed this one.