Battery Backup

What percentage of users here use some form of battery backup? For those who are, what do you consider the best? What is your primary use, power loss prevention, camping?

Vindic8,

Welcome to the forum! I did a search for Battery backup and came up with a lot of reading for your question...Enjoy

John

viewtopic/t84327/search.php?keywords=Battery+Backup

I have an inverter to hook up to a battery. But my main backup power supply is a small gas generator. Paid less than $100 at a local discount tool supplier. Runs all night on a tank of gas. I also keep a battery charger handy and will recharge the battery using the generator to make sure I have something in case the generator dies, runs out of gas, etc.

2 B Sleeping Soundly wrote:Vindic8,

Welcome to the forum! I did a search for Battery backup and came up with a lot of reading for your question...Enjoy

John

viewtopic/t84327/search.php?keywords=Battery+Backup

I guess the crux of my question is do most people invest in a battery backup solution or roll the dice without?

Vindic8 wrote: I guess the crux of my question is do most people invest in a battery backup solution or roll the dice without?

We have had a lot of different polls here for various things but I don't remember a poll just asking if someone has battery backup plan or not. I did a forum search and didn't find one but then me and the forum search engine don't get along well most of the time. If we haven't had such a poll maybe it might be something we could do.

Like I don't have a battery backup plan. I have thought about what I would do in the event of prolonged power failure and have other options in mind that I have thought of though. So I do have a plan but it is not a battery.

Vindic8 wrote:I guess the crux of my question is do most people invest in a battery backup solution or roll the dice without?

From what I have seen here, the reason that most people get some sort of Battery backup or at least want to get one at some point, is based a lot of the time on where they live and the type of climate/weather they deal with, but there are those here who have stated that they use it for camping as well. I live in a area with almost no power outages and no real weather events (even seasonal for that matter) that could produce some sort of an outage, but I realize I am in the minority compared to a lot of the other forum members, so I roll the dice for now (not really much of a gamble for me). I do have a DC adapter for my truck so I can at least sleep in it if I have no power some night and do not want to stay up all night (I won't sleep without my machine ), though it might never need be used.

I would guess that no more than 1/3 of the forum members here have some sort of backup system in place, weather battery or generator, but the number is probably somewhere between 1/2 to 2/3 that would want one, if for no other reason then the peace of mind it can provide to those of us who are honestly transformed people because of our PAP therapy and do not want to spend even one night without it, due to power outages no matter what the cause.

John

As I already had a generator for home use, I have no plans in place to get a battery backup. Our power outages only occur a few times each winter and are rarely longer than a few hours. The power company can give us an approximate time of restoring power. If it looks like it will be a long outage, during the night, I would just start the generator and connect to it.

While on the subject of batteries I have a question. And rather than start another thread on batteries I thought I would ask the question here. If anyone knows the answer they can just PM me instead of adding to this thread. The question is: When driving long distances with my wife I often want to take a nap and would love to have the capability of using the cpap. Are those converters that plug into cigarette lighters sufficient to provide a constant power supply that won't damage the Autoset? TIA.

hopingitworks wrote:While on the subject of batteries I have a question. And rather than start another thread on batteries I thought I would ask the question here. If anyone knows the answer they can just PM me instead of adding to this thread. The question is: When driving long distances with my wife I often want to take a nap and would love to have the capability of using the cpap. Are those converters that plug into cigarette lighters sufficient to provide a constant power supply that won't damage the Autoset? TIA.

hopingitworks,

I posted this here instead of sending you a PM so that someone else who uses a S9 Autoset could confirm that this will work for you. Below is a link to our forum hosts site that has the DC Converter that you would probably need to do what you want to do. It is not cheap like the Philips Respironics DC cords, but it is made for your machine.

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/DC-Con ... hines.html

2 B Sleeping Soundly wrote:

hopingitworks wrote:I posted this here instead of sending you a PM so that someone else who uses a S9 Autoset could confirm that this will work for you. Below is a link to our forum hosts site that has the DC Converter that you would probably need to do what you want to do. It is not cheap like the Philips Respironics DC cords, but it is made for your machine.

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/DC-Con ... hines.html

Thanks for the information. And hopefully someone else can confirm that the converter will work without possible machine damage.

The reason I asked for a PM is that I didn't want to start a new thread that has already probably been answered elsewhere in the forum. I sometimes find the "search", whether simple, or advanced, doesn't work for me as well as it probably does for others. I sometimes believe what my father told me when I was young. "Intelligence skips generations". And my father was smart!

The price quoted by the forum host doesn't sound that unreasonable for our purposes. We don't travel by car a great deal for holidays but we do travel for three hours, back and forth, each week, for business. I drive halfway and the wife does the other half. When she is driving I like to nap, and those naps-without a machine, don't seem to help my tiredness. Hopefully cpap.com are one of the xpap suppliers that ship to Canada! If not, I will try to find Canadian suppliers.

Thanks for your input!

I do live in an area where outages can and do happen. I have over time had to deal with that. Early on I had a couple of nights with no power where I tried to tough it out. I woke up miserable. The next time it happened I actually went and stayed in a hotel across town. Since then I have a gel battery backup and sort of a jerry-rigged solar panel situation. I'm considering something more purpose built like the Goal Zero Product http://www.goalzero.com/shop/p/61/Escap ... r-Kit/6:1/

ResMed says NOT to start the car when using the cigarette lighter plug.

The ResMed DC power manual is in the links section of my signature line.

Respironics says not to plug into the cigarette lighter while the engine is running. I'd probably do it myself as long as the engine is already running, but not while trying to start the engine.

I use my Respironics most nights now that it is colder with my semi-truck running, and have many times started my truck with it hooked up ... Forgetful me! I've even driven half a day at high rpm with it plugged in ... Still works like new ... Gonna try it again soon!

I'd use an invertor (cheaper and more versatile than the ResMed cord) ... Which I use to use to power it, but my new company does not allow invertors in their trucks ... So I went to a dc cord.

archangle wrote:The ResMed DC power manual is in the links section of my signature line.

Thanks for that link, archangel. Sorry it took so long to respond but I haven't been on the computer much today.

123.Shawn T.W. wrote:I'd use an invertor (cheaper and more versatile than the ResMed cord) ... Which I use to use to power it, but my new company does not allow invertors in their trucks ... So I went to a dc cord.

I remember reading somewhere that there different kinds of invertors (sine, modified sine, etc.) and we are only supposed to use one particular kind. I will research that tomorrow. I don't want to take any chances with the S9 because it was an out of pocket expense. We aren't covered by insurance because we don't have extended health benefits. And I don't want to have to buy another one anytime soon.

hopingitworks wrote:

123.Shawn T.W. wrote:I'd use an invertor (cheaper and more versatile than the ResMed cord) ... Which I use to use to power it, but my new company does not allow invertors in their trucks ... So I went to a dc cord.

I remember reading somewhere that there different kinds of invertors (sine, modified sine, etc.) and we are only supposed to use one particular kind. I will research that tomorrow. I don't want to take any chances with the S9 because it was an out of pocket expense. We aren't covered by insurance because we don't have extended health benefits. And I don't want to have to buy another one anytime soon.

The "bad" ones are MSW, Modified Sine Wave. The "good" ones are pure sine wave.

ResMed says S9 machines and humidifiers are safe with either type. They say S8 humidifiers may be damaged by MSW. S8 machines without humidifiers are OK.

Respironics doesn't say, but I assume PRS1 machines are OK because they use an external power brick for both humidifier and blower. I'd be reluctant to try an M series or older humidifier with MSW, but I'd probably risk the blower as long as the humidifier is not attached.