solar power for dry camping & cpap machine
***Link Removed******Link Removed***Hello, I recently purchased a 2006 Thor Wanderer 30' travel trailer. I was disappointed that I could only run my cpap machine when the trailer is plugged in. I al...
Forum Discussion
12thgenusa wrote:
First of all, welcome to the forum.
You can probably do as others have suggested and power the CPAP off 12v if you have a 12v receptacle near by and can adapt the machine to take 12v directly. However, that doesn't help you with powering laptops. Your picture doesn't come through BTW.
If powering those items is all you really want and not "everything", two 100w panels, two batteries connected in parallel and a 1000w or even a 600w PSW inverter will do nicely. Connecting the shore power cord to the inverter directly is a simple way to do it, but if you do it that way you must remember several things.
1. Make sure your converter is unplugged or breaker off or it will deplete your battery bank quickly. If your converter breaker also powers some of the outlets as mine did you will have to separate the wires and add another breaker or tripping the breaker for the converter will also turn off the outlets you probably want to use.
2. Make sure the fridge is set to gas not auto or the inverter will try to power the heat element.
3. Make sure the water heater is set to gas for the same reason.
4. Don't even try to turn on the air conditioner.
5. Remember that even though all the outlets are live, you cannot power "everything".
I have my inverter wired to "whole house" through a manual transfer switch that simultaneously interrupts the circuits for the converter, fridge, water heater and air conditioner so I don't have to remember to turn things off or back on.
I run a 2k PSW inverter that I leave on at night to power a CPAP. With the humidifier on it takes about 24Ah per night including inverter losses.
Thank you for your reply 12Gen,
I tried to edit my original post to get my google doc images to show. I can't see images in anyone's posts. I am not proficient enough in electronics to do the things you suggest. And I really can't afford to pay an electrician. I had no idea running my cpap in the travel trailer was going to be so difficult. I was so happy when I saw those AC outlets with a little table to put my machine on!
