Last night around 10pm I heard a generator fire up. Took a stroll and found it about 300 feet away. No problem for me as I could barely hear anything in bed. Got up during the night and opened the door and could hear it still running. My guess was a Cpap.Yep, talked to the owner this morning and that's what it was for. Thank goodness it's a Honda and I was not parked next to him. I politely suggested he needs to get an inverter and more batteries. He had no idea what an inverter is.He was real nice about it, her, not so much. I guess I'm kind of amazed anyone goes to a campground expecting to run a generator all night for any reason.

Yes, my hubby now has to use a CPAP and thankfully we have a bank of 6v deep cycles and inverter due to having a solar system. When we have electricity, no problem, but can use the batteries and inverter otherwise. He was told by the CPAP tech to turn off the heater/humidifier on the machine to save on power on the batteries.

I remember somewhere in the dim past seeing something exempting necessary medical devices from the generator time rules. Can't find this info right now.I'm not intending to whine here, but just display the situation of a medical device user. I've been a CPAP user since 2013. Without the CPAP, I can get almost no sleep. My RV does not have a generator or solar. (Yes, it could have those, but I had it without them long before I got the CPAP.) I have spent quite a bit to be able to run the CPAP in the RV. My insurer pays the full cost of CPAP equipment for home, but would not pay for the 12V cord made by the CPAP manufacturer or for the small lithium power packs which I sometimes use when running low on 12V coach battery power. Their latest trick was to issue me a new CPAP machine for home, which requires more power than my current RV system or portable packs can reasonably supply. My old CPAP still works, so I use it in the RV but now have to pay out of pocket for any supplies or repairs for it.Does your neighbor have the right to run his generator all night for CPAP? Possibly, maybe even probably. I'm not sure if this issue might come under rules on access for persons with disabilities. A CPAP is a necessary medical device. It's not like he was running the generator to play computer games and watch movies. That said, I think that we medical device users need to do our best to be considerate neighbors in camp. Night noise is not considerate. Will campgrounds come up with quiet and not so quiet area divisions? Or electrical hookups for medical device users? Time will tell.

Tiger4x4RV wrote:Does your neighbor have the right to run his generator all night for CPAP? Possibly, maybe even probably. I imagine he would have said that if so. The ranger comes through often, if I happen to see him I'll ask if there is an exemption for that. This campground has full hookups too, so there's that.Judging by the wife's comment of "well, we just won't come back here anymore", I kinda doubt they have an exemption.Exemption or not, I'd be moving if that was next door to my bedroom. There are plenty of other solutions besides a generator.

This battery isn't cheap, but it will run your machine for a few nights on a single charge if you turn off your humidifier and heated hose. Or if you have an inverter but it isn't pure sine, you can plug in the battery to charge and run your machine (including heated hose and humidifier) off the battery for cleaner power. It will supply power to the cpap and charge at the same time.

dedmiston wrote:This battery isn't cheap, but it will run your machine for a few nights on a single charge if you turn off your humidifier and heated hose. Or if you have an inverter but it isn't pure sine, you can plug in the battery to charge and run your machine (including heated hose and humidifier) off the battery for cleaner power. It will supply power to the cpap and charge at the same time.Thanks for the feedback and product link. It's always good to have extra information.

Running generator all night - Cpap | Good Sam Community

wanderingaimles
Explorer
May 21, 2021
It takes a special kind of arse to complain about something they can barely hear, but apparently feel an innate need to complain about.

IF ut's not causing an overt issue, let them be.
KD4UPL
Explorer
May 20, 2021
This guy was running his generator due to simple ignorance, not need. ADA or not I don't think you can just do anything you want to power your medical device. He could of used a battery and 12 volt cord; he admitted to being ignorant of that. He could have used a battery bank and an inverter; he admitted he didn't know what that was either. What if he hadn't known about inverter generators either and was using a really loud open frame generator. What if he was ignorant of portable generators and had a tow behind 20 kW diesel unit to run his CPAP.
The point is, there has to be some effort and reasonableness on the part of the "needy" person as well.
I once camped by a guy who ran his loud generator all the time because his refrigerator didn't work on propane anymore, just electric. It had been that way for some time. He just didn't feel like fixing it and ran his loud generator all day.
rlw999
Explorer
May 20, 2021
dedmiston wrote:
This battery isn't cheap, but it will run your machine for a few nights on a single charge if you turn off your humidifier and heated hose. Or if you have an inverter but it isn't pure sine, you can plug in the battery to charge and run your machine (including heated hose and humidifier) off the battery for cleaner power. It will supply power to the cpap and charge at the same time.

I was going to recommend something similar, there are lots of portable power stations like that (they are sometimes called "generators" by people that don't know what a generator is). Most have an inverter for 120V power along with a 12VDC power outlet for devices that can use 12V (like most CPAP machines)

They aren't cheap, but neither is adding an inverter or upgrading batteries in an RV. And they have the advantage of being portable, if if you're going out where you'll have power during the day, you can bring it along to recharge and take back to the RV with you at night. Or you might be able to plug it in at the campground office to recharge during the day.
rlw999
Explorer
May 20, 2021
2oldman wrote:
He was real nice about it, her, not so much. I guess I'm kind of amazed anyone goes to a campground expecting to run a generator all night for any reason.

Not that surprising, there are a lot of new RV'ers out there that don't know the etiquette and probably figure "If I can sleep while the generator is running, so can everyone else".

At least it was a nice quiet Honda and not something like the Onan in my RV -- despite the name "Microquiet", it is neither Micro, nor Quiet (when compared to a small inverter generator). For what Onan charges for Onan generators (list price is like $4000 for a 4000W Onan gas generator), they should be able to sell inverter generators, a Honda EU30000 is less than $2500. I wonder how much RV manufactures pay for those Onans - they must be pretty cheap since pretty much every RV manufacturer uses them.
ReneeG
Explorer
May 20, 2021
theoldwizard1 wrote:
Most CPAP machines have an optional 12VDC power supply. No need for inverter.

Two 6V golf cart batteries would work well.

The 12V connector would work well if you have one. Our FW does not, so we have to turn on our inverter so it can be plugged in to the outlets that run off the inverter and 6V batteries.
2oldman
Explorer II
May 20, 2021
ferndaleflyer wrote:
I go to lots of race tracks where the only power is what you bring with you
That's a whole different story from a campground with generator rules.
2oldman
Explorer II
May 20, 2021
Janss wrote:
Do you know why they had to use their generator when there are hookups?
The hookups are in another area.

theoldwizard1 wrote:
Most CPAP machines have an optional 12VDC power supply.
He didn't know that either. And he only carries one battery. Not exactly well-prepared for dry camping.

Fresno Tundra Driver wrote:
When she said "well, we just won't come back here anymore." did you say thank you?
LOL. Felt like asking her if they go to other campgrounds and get away with this.
valhalla360 wrote:
it's not worth getting excited.
I'm always excited about helping a fellow camper to learn a better way to do things.
Fresno_Tundra_D
Explorer
May 20, 2021
When she said "well, we just won't come back here anymore." did you say thank you?
valhalla360
Navigator
May 20, 2021
With ADA rules, they will have a tough time prohibiting it.

But heck, if you couldn't hear it anyway, why complain. The new inverter generators under light load (and cpap would be a light load even for a small generator) make so little noise, it's not worth getting excited.
time2roll
Nomad
May 20, 2021
2oldman wrote:
He was real nice about it, her, not so much. I guess I'm kind of amazed anyone goes to a campground expecting to run a generator all night for any reason.
You were infringing on her freedom. "Don't Tread on Me"