Battery pack for in-flight use

billbolton wrote: The Vagabond Mini produces sine wave mains voltage AC, so its just a matter of plugging the S8 II AC power cable into the power outlet on the face of the unit and you're good to go.

However, an S8 II draws about 45% more energy than an S9 at the same pressure level, so you'd need to make sure that the Vagabond Mini has enough capacity for your purposes. For in flight use of an S8, its best to just take the Humidifier entirely off the blower unit.

For my S9, which I run at 14cm H2, at sea level the blower draws uses 11 watts of energy, while at "cabin pressure" in flight it will draw about 12.5 Watts of energy.

...will report on its efficacy for in-flight use after that.

So let me see if this makes sense after your thorough explanation [thank you!]:

1. Specs for mini shows 14.8V 8.8AH LiCoxNiyMnzO2 lithium battery (130 Watt-hours)
2. Assuming S8 needs 45% more energy, and 14cm on S9 draws 12.5, that equates to roughly 18 watts for S8 at same pressure
3. At 130 watt hours, S8 would get about 7 hrs usage, right?

Look forward to your test run...will ping back for your comments

Btw, don't use humidifier [ever].

Here's an interim pre-flight report:

The Vagabond Mini arrived in the post yesterday, so I charged the batter pack as per the instructions (quite straight forward) and ran my S9 from it in my bedroom last night with good results.

I disconnected the H5i from my S9, connected a slimline hose from the S9 to my HC405 mask, plugged in a Resmed S9 30W power supply to the S9, and then connected the power supply to the Vagabond Mini. I switched on the Vagabond Mini using its on/off switch at 10:40pm and went to sleep. I awoke at 6am this morning and found the remaining capacity indicator on the front of the Vagabond Mini has the 1/4 capacity remaining LED alight (which actually means somewhere between 1/4 capacity and just under 1/2 capacity is remaining).

My S9 worked as expected, with my AHI showing as 0.9, which is fairly typical for me. I run an auto range of 14cms to 16cms H20 on the S9.

Since this test was at sea level, and there was at least 1/4 of the capacity of the Vagabond Mini battery remaining, I'm now confident that the extra power consumption at cabin-pressure equivalent altitude will still be within the capacity of the Vagabond Mini unit.

Other observations are:

I checked the IATA Dangerous Goods regulations....

http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/cargo/dgr/ ... 3-V1.1.pdf

http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/cargo/dgr/ ... endum1.pdf

.... and found that: "Lithium ion battery powered equipment containing batteries over 100 Wh but not exceeding 160Wh" require operator (airline) approval under the regulations. So, I'm now going through the process with QANTAS to get Dangerous Goods approval to use the Vagabond Mini in flight.

The Vagabond Mini comes with a removable carrying strap - with the strap removed the unit weights 3.4 lbs (1.4 8kg), the switch mode charger for the Vagabond Mini weights 9.5 oz (0.25 kg) without a power cord. The charger uses these same power cord type as the Resmed S9 90W power supply, so there will be no need for me to carry a separate power cord for it.

The Vagabond Mini is not quite the right shape to fit in the Resmed S9 carry bag in the H5i pocket, but it will fit into the space under the S9 and H5i pockets. I'm pretty sure I will be able to get the Vagabond Mini, 30W power supply, Slimline Hose and Hc405 mask, earplug and nasal spray into the bag by packing some of those things in the H5i pocket. The H5i will go into checked baggage.

For those who order a 230V Vagabond Mini in Australia, the charger comes with both US and Australian power cords.

Cheers,

Bill

QANTAS has come through with approval to use the Vagabond Mini Lithium battery pack for Medical Device purposes. its valid through to December 2014, so I'm good to go for using the Vagabond Mini to power my S9 on my upcoming A-380 trans-Pacific flights

The QANTAS Dangerous Goods area does not send any "message received" response upon receiving a request. I rang QANTAS after three days and was told it normally takes Dangerous Goods several days to respond to an email. In the end it took 5 business day before the approval letter was sent as a PDF document.

Cheers,

Bill

billbolton wrote:QANTAS has come through with approval to use the Vagabond Mini Lithium battery pack for Medical Device purposes. its valid through to December 2014, so I'm good to go for using the Vagabond Mini to power my S9 on my upcoming A-380 trans-Pacific flights

The QANTAS Dangerous Goods area does not send any "message received" response upon receiving a request. I rang QANTAS after three days and was told it normally takes Dangerous Goods several days to respond to an email. In the end it took 5 business day before the approval letter was sent as a PDF document.

Cheers,

Bill

Very handy that they give blanket approval for 18 months. I wonder if this is a common practice or unique to QANTAS. <revs up Google>

billbolton wrote: Other observations are:

I checked the IATA Dangerous Goods regulations....

http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/cargo/dgr/ ... 3-V1.1.pdf

http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/cargo/dgr/ ... endum1.pdf

.... and found that: "Lithium ion battery powered equipment containing batteries over 100 Wh but not exceeding 160Wh" require operator (airline) approval under the regulations. So, I'm now going through the process with QANTAS to get Dangerous Goods approval to use the Vagabond Mini in flight.
Cheers, Bill

Does anybody have any updates on this topic, especially regarding various airlines that fly to Europe, plus what limits they place on the wattage ratings of CPAP lithium ion batteries? Also, any feedback on Buff batteries, because I read on their website today that they are only recommending their new 3rd generation Vagabond lithium ion battery packs for small electrical devices due to some brown out issues (sorry, can't elaborate, over my head).

Here's a cut and paste from Buff's FAQ:

Q: Can the Vagabond™ be used to power other equipment?
A: Both the Vagabond Mini™ Lithium and previously offered Vagabond™ II system (discontinued) may be used to power non-flash continuous loads for small electrical appliances such as fans, computers or radios. The maximum continuous power drawn in such applications is 120 Watts for the Vagabond Mini™ Lithium and 300 watts for the Vagabond™ II system. If a continuous load is used in conjunction with flash unit use, this number should be reduced. It should be noted that when the Vagabond™ system is used to recycle flash units, the output voltage will not remain at 120 VAC (or 230VAC on the VM120-230V system); it will drop lower during the recycle period of the lights. Therefore, equipment that requires continuous 120 VAC (or 230 VAC) should not be used in conjunction with flash units. To the best of our knowledge, the momentary low voltage will not affect laptops connected via their battery chargers. However, AC-powered computers will likely crash under the "brown out" conditions and likely draw more than 120 watts. If you plan to power auxiliary equipment, you should consult the product’s manual and / or check with the product manufacturer to determine the power consumption. It is not generally advisable to operate flash units and continuous power loads at the same time. Please note that with the Vagabond™ II system specifically, as in any lead acid battery system, the amount of power available from the battery depends upon operating temperature. Operating temperatures substantially higher than, or lower than room temperature will result in less power being delivered from the battery.

Curious to learn if others have bought the vagabond and what their experiences have been?

Sleep Tight wrote:Here is a lithium battery that is used by photographers to power our studio strobes while on location.
It's made by Paul C. Buff in Nashville, TN. I've used it with my ResMed S9 AutoSet and can get around 13 hours of use per charge.
It's less than $250.00, very well built, weight is around 3.5lbs and replacement/back-up batteries cost around $90.00.

http://www.paulcbuff.com/vagabond.php

What a nice option! Thanks for the info.

I've been having problems finding a compatible battery for my Respironics PR System One REMstar 60 Series Plus CPAP Machine with C-Flex using 12v DC batteries. I get a "service required" error message.

The 120v option with this machine should solve that problem.

I have now purchased, and am charging for the first time, one of the Paul C. Buff Vagabond batteries.

A question, because my eyes glaze over when it comes to electricity.

Am I correct in thinking that I can operate my CPAP (PR System One) without the humidifier WITHOUT the inverter attached to the battery without harm to battery or CPAP? Note, I have a series 50, not series 60 which seems to have more battery compatibility problems.

Drowsy Dancer wrote:I have now purchased, and am charging for the first time, one of the Paul C. Buff Vagabond batteries.

A question, because my eyes glaze over when it comes to electricity.

Am I correct in thinking that I can operate my CPAP (PR System One) without the humidifier WITHOUT the inverter attached to the battery without harm to battery or CPAP? Note, I have a series 50, not series 60 which seems to have more battery compatibility problems.

The battery pack already has an inverter so it converts the battery DC power to AC current - the same as a wall outlet.

It works as if you are plugging your CPAP into a wall outlet.

Whatever you plug into a wall outlet can be plugged into the Vagabond without harm to your CPAP.