Cpap and camping

The twenty to thirty dollar boosters and buckers on eBay have proven themselves in my case. Many are loaded 24/7 and have been so for years. Amazingly they do not drift voltage. The boosters do not track. So a booster to amplify 12 volts to say 30, then a bucker to reduce to 24.00 makes perfect sense. The efficiency in the process seems to hover right around 89%. remember, that's 89% of watts produced. For simplicity's sake call it 90%. Let's have the -PAP consume 50 watts. A ten percent vigorish is not worth comparing to an inverter. Even a 100 watt -PAP consumption is far less than inherent inverter loss plus conversion efficiency loss.

But good products are essential. Not time to bid on a bargain basement voltage adjustment device.

Those damned medical grade -PAP devices track to a certain extent and I do not like it. With a double stage voltage adjustment process the span of incoming voltage can range three or four volts while the output stays dead on 28.00

The neat part about building this stuff, is that it can be proofed in front of your very eyes. It's the packaging of home built electrical apparatus that stymies many people and that's a shame.

OldSmokey wrote:

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
DW has a Phillips IP22 Cpap. 12v 6.6 a
Now, pray tell - why would a voltage converter be necessary to convert twelve volts to twelve volts?

shh.. don't tell him that....

There's a small chance that voltage accuracy matters. I don't know, and chose to make the "Home-Built Trailer Power Adapters" more capable, more stable than the corresponding 120V power supplies running at home. But it probably doesn't matter. Here's my background "trivia" about it:

Phillips didn't even have a DC Cord for my "then-brand-new" device when I bought it. I was worried about subjecting my machine to widely varying DC Battery Voltage in the Trailer (as low as 12.2V, when abusing the batteries, and as high as 14.4V, when bulk charging). When they did finally release an over-priced cord, it was purely a cord - with no VRM, just a couple of inductors at the ends. So THEY apparently don't see a strong reason to care about it.

For Resmed, a simple "doubler" is theoretically plausible - but Resmed machines already like to die young. Subjecting them to Voltage varying between ~ 23V (discharged batteries with "Voltage Drop" at high current) all the way up to about 28V (Trailer being charged at 14.4V, the Resmed first plugged in and not yet blowing)... feels a bit risky to me. YMMV of course.

Besides, for the Resmed case, the incremental cost of "Regulator" versus mere "Doubler" is virtually nothing.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fingertip-Pulse-Oximeter-24hrs-Sleep-Recorder-Blood-Oxygen-SpO2-Monitor-Software-/182424576887?epid=530091816&hash=item2a795a2377:g:MCMAAOSw44BYfZJH

I have caught too many doctors, making far too many mistakes to trust their findings with regard to my health. A recording pulse oximeter is a BS Detector and boy have I ever grown to love employing a BS detector with regards to doctors and their declarations.

Dr Alqueda was one example. Another was an ER cardiac specialist who argued with me when I asked for a magnesium test during a atrial fibrillation event. Mine.

"WHAT! What you are asking for is foolish! A waste of money! Why magnesium is the most plentiful element on earth!" This is a verbatim transcript.

"I don't understand it - I just don't understand it" he mumbled as he handed me an Rx for 400mag Magnesium Oxide tablets.

If a 14-day course of nightly O2 measurement did not reveal blood saturation levels below what your doctor says is "minimum" then he has just hanged himself with his own rope. It's time to contact the company that handles the O2 concentrator and ask them if they can provide you with a professional recording course usually lasting a week. Then it will be doctor versus doctor. I'll step aside and watch the dog fight in comfort.

There are as many BAD doctors as there are bad mechanics. Sloppiness and condescension are the two flagship monikers of these vastly over re-numerated health hazards.

Lessee, was it the time the lady doctor finally said "Oops! Sorry about that! My finger slipped down a line when reading your urology creatine results - you really aren't dying of kidney failure".

These stuff isn't a joke. It impacted my life to the point where I am scared, angry and suspicious of the medical community.

Take my reply for what you think it's worth to you. A bad mechanic will only set you back money and inconvenience. A bad doctor can ruin your life, never mind your lifestyle.

I am bracing myself for another Too Close Encounter Of A Sleep Study. My Respironics elapsed time has nine years and when it got it - it already showed 7,000 hours. Health care at it's worst.

Ignoring a doctor's Rx is pure folly. So is accepting serious life changing orders without questioning them. There is NO FOOLING a pulse oximeter. After I finished with Dr. Alqueda, the provider of the O2 machine took over when their pulse oximeter confirmation tightened the noose. Needless use and expense of medical machinery.

Ptui!

Boy, this has wandered. My $0.02 for what it is worth.

I have had several Respironic machines fail before their time. Two of them quit developing adequate air volume at about two years of age. Had to argue with the supply company about it, as it seems the only thing their techs considered and measured was pressure. They look at you like a deer in the headlights when you ask about volume. If the machine can't deliver enough volume at the set pressure, guess what happens when you inhale..... New machine corrected my symptoms each time. Another Respironic machine developed a problem with the power inlet plug being very flaky.

I have not had these problems with ResMed machines which still tend to work fine after 5 years. Most insurance companies I have dealt with and heard about only want to replace the machines after 5 years of age, including Medicare.

For the quality difference, I will find a way to deal with the ResMed 24 volt operation. So far I have been using an inverter. But, I don't dry camp much. Considering efficiencies, I may look into a Dc - DC converter.

Unfortunately, since I am now living at 4500 feet, the doctors are saying I need O2 at night as well. This certainly complicates any chance I have of boon-docking without hook-ups or a genny all night. My current concentrator pulls 350 watts. There are portable machines that appear to use less, at a cost of course.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
DW has a Phillips IP22 Cpap. 12v 6.6 a

Now, pray tell - why would a voltage converter be necessary to convert twelve volts to twelve volts?

shh.. don't tell him that.. I have one for sale in a pretty blue box.. yours for only $299 :B:B

Those whom you describe would get treated to a vile cavalcade of noxious payback.

I did not jest with my protest of using a 25KHz response to a neighbors incessant barking yap machine. The 200 watt rated tweeter horns repose in my PO Box as I write this...

Stink bombs work wonders. But I adore using the scent of LPG odorant. Oil is used in refining to lube seals and this lube oil attracts the odorant. Tip a pot upside down, crack the valve and liquid LPG escapes. So does the oil. Careful placement upwind of the offender does two things. Drives them away. Makes subsequent rehabitation of the site less likely.

MoFo and the So' Bros, mind-numb can be countered with adequate db counter dosage of Luciano Pavarotti. The Barber of Seville is particularly effective. I use Bob Dylan's "Hey Mister Tambourine Man" pointed at an offending neighbor's house when things get out of control at 0300. For some reason Mexicans consider suicide when confronted with adequate volume of this piece while ensconced in the middle of "La Cruda", a bad hangover.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Then there are those folks who would merely suspect someone may be running a generator, walk 300' press their ear against the machine then scream bloody murder. My sarcasm lies not far from the truth.

The folks I usually encounter are the ones who park their Harbor Freight open-frame contractor generators under my bedroom window, spewing carbon monoxide into my rig and making enough noise that passing aircraft can hear them. They are invariably offended when asked why they are running it at 3 AM solely to power the boom box that they neglected to purchase batteries for.

At least you're the considerate sort, MexicoWanderer!

David .... excellent comments and observations above!

Supposedly the population is aging. When there's statistically so many out there with tinnitus that not enough able bodied Sound Police candidates can be found ... then maybe, just maybe, the Sound Police Movement will die out so that us campers who want to be fully self-contained in any conditions can be ... without incurring the Wrath of God every thime we want to thumb our nose at Mother Nature for a bit by running a generator of some type - including 23 db fuel cells.

Mel B. wrote:
A sleep doctor is just like any other DR. They have rules and theres good ones and bad ones.

I think THIS is part of/most of the problem.
What exactly ARE the training requirements and "rules" for a "Sleep Doctor" ?? This ailment is so new that I strongly suspect that there aren't any requirements in most states.

In my area, Doctors of seemingly every imaginable specialty also run "Sleep Clinics". I fully expect that my Dentist and Vet to be the next ones.

Where I demand to camp, a person could light off an M-80 and only the trees that fell without making a noise would hear it.

Not everyone likes to pull into a ashole-to-tea-kettle packed campground just in time to start their nightly jackhammer practice hour. Until a poster or responder specifically indicates they run their generator in a populated campground I like to give them the benefit of a doubt.

Having a 4 cylinder Kubota run for hours meant I had to use my head when designing the homestead. Down wind from the perpetual sea breeze which carries what sound is emitted, up the arroyo. My neighbors were amazed that a generator was running 300 ft from their open bedroom window. Even the acute hearing of a 10-year old could not discern noise.

The reason I camp where I do, where I insist I do, is to preclude the possibility of neighbors. Downwind from anyone or any alternative campsite. My 400 HP 855 NTC Cummins is not quiet.

Tiny Hondas like the old 650 and thousand watt make laughingstock out of newer generator claimed noise levels. It specifically includes newer Hondas and Yamahahahahas. A knockdown foam surround would make these little guys utterly silent.

Then there are those folks who would merely suspect someone may be running a generator, walk 300' press their ear against the machine then scream bloody murder. My sarcasm lies not far from the truth.