CPAP usage

My wife has a small lithium battery for her CPAP when we are dry camping for some time. We used it when we went to Alaska. It will run her machine for over 2 nights with out the humidifier. When we traveled she just plugged it into the inverter plug in the truck (this when we had our Truck Camper the Ford had a 400 Watt inverter in it). After a days travel the battery was fully charged.

Now with our Super C we have 4 6volt AGM batteries and 480 watts of solar. So between traveling and the solar and bigger batteries their is no problem running her CPAP anytime. Our generator also has a smart controller that can be programmed that if the batteries get down to a set level (decided by me) it starts up and charges the batteries automatically. It can also be set to not come on certain times of the day or mainly night. So at this time I think we have her pretty setup with her CPAP and don't have to worry about hers not working. The controller also is smart enough that if it notices coming up to a quiet time and the batteries are down it well start the generator up for 2 hours in advance of this time to give them some charge.

Dp26 wrote:
...I went with a portable cpap batt. I can get about 14 to 18 hours cpap on the portable. Cheaper than adding more house power, ...

Yes, the portable does seem to be cheaper than adding more house power. But how do you recharge the portable?

My house batteries recharge from the truck engine; I have no solar, no generator, and rarely any shore power. I am not sure if I could recharge both the house batteries and a portable CPAP battery from the truck at the same time.

I carry a Duracell 600 Portable Power unit to be used for non-CPAP purposes (light, charging small electronics) if needed. Such use would have to be planned in advance in a situation where I wanted to stay longer than usual in one place and wanted to conserve the house battery power to use for the CPAP. Conservation: minimal water pump use, LED lighting, minimal heater use, 3-way refrigerator.

My house system is 2 6V AGMs. They normally provide power for both house use and CPAP with humidifier for 3-4 nights without taking the stored power down too far. In cold weather, they would probably not do this well. 3 years of CPAP use and maybe over 100 camping nights, no problems so far.

Johno02 wrote:
But there is a 12v power cable available for the Dreamstation, and it is available from Respironics or your CPAP provider. If you need further information, PM me and I can give you the exact part number that you need.

Please POST that part number. I did a quick search yesterday on my provider's web site and didn't see the one I need.

After a night where the heat and my cpap used too much power (heater locked out) I went with a portable cpap batt. I can get about 14 to 18 hours cpap on the portable. Cheaper than adding more house power, and still keeps DW, DD, and pets cozy. Leaves enough AM power to run Keurig off inverter. DW cold and without coffee is not a place to go...

My cpap setup is about 3amps avg, no humidifier. More than what estimates say...

The portable batt has more than enough power to be my cell backup too.

Probably not a good idea to even consider a 25' 12v extension. on a 12v line, voltage drop might be excessive on that length. But I see no reason not to use a good 110v extension cord. Here are the Power specs for the Dreamstation, as good 12v power point with a 15A fuse should work just fine. Just get a good power plug, not one of the cheap cigarette lighter types.

Electrical
AC Power Consumption (with 80W power supply): 100 – 240 VAC, 50/60 Hz, 2.0-1.0 A
Note: Power supply is part of the medical electrical equipment.
DC Power Consumption: 12 VDC, 6.67 A
Fuses: There are no user-replaceable fuses

The best thing about using the 12V connection is that if shore power goes off in the middle of the night, the CPAP keeps running just like it did. No sleep interruption at all.

I also recently moved to a Dreamstation from my older model CPAP. I had a special 12V outlet installed, just to run my CPAP. Planned on doing the same with the Dreamstation. However, the power plug on the dreamstation is not the same as the one on my older Series One. But there is a 12v power cable available for the Dreamstation, and it is available from Respironics or your CPAP provider. If you need further information, PM me and I can give you the exact part number that you need. BTW, the power wire that I already have was not long enough to reach, So I just got a length of #16 wire and spliced it in to make it longer. I am still using my older Series One in the MH, but plan on using the Dreamstation there later. Wired in direct to 12v is by far the best solution, and I can run mine for at least two full nights just on the coach batteries if necessary.

Moved from Class C.

There's no electrical reason why most any extension cord would not work fine with a CPAP machine. They don't use a great deal of power, relatively speaking. I would guess that the warning is more to avoid liability if someone should for instance pinch an extension cord between the bed and the mattress or something like that.

The direct DC connection would be preferable if you're dry camping as it avoids conversion losses in an inverter and in the power brick for the CPAP. If you have shore power, it doesn't make much difference one way or the other.