CPAP battery solar charging question

[Mr_Biggles]

I purchased a Pilot 12 Plus battery to use with my CPAP machine while off grid. I’m thinking of getting a Colman 55W solar kit to top up the battery while on 2/3 night camping trips. I don’t know much about solar kits. Would this kit be large enough for the battery ?

[Bumpyroad]

SidecarFlip wrote:


On the Resperonics passover humidifiers, CPAP.com has them for 58 bucks but they don't last very long. Flimsy plastic and the latches break, why I made one from Tupperware, much sturdier. Insurance or not, 58 bucks for a plastic box with bad hinges, I find to be exhorbinant.

mine has operated just fine for many years. no moving parts, just periodically slide hoses off and rinse out. I would blame your problems on "operator error". did you have one and experience failure or just blowing smoke?
bumpy

[SidecarFlip]

beemerphile1 wrote:
I don't know what a Pilot 12 is but our Respironics CPAP runs from the 12vdc battery system of our RV. A Resmed CPAP is actually 24v but has an adapter available to operate from the RVs 12vdc system.

Edit;
OMG! That stupid battery costs $289 on Amazon! Maybe the OP can send it back, for RV use it isn't necessary.

I have 2 of them, got them on sale for a buck and a half each. I also use on to power my ATN night vision scope I use on my varmint rifle (22-250).

I don't find 300 bucks for the pair to be too outrageous considering the complexity of the packs.

Battery isn't stupid, not perusing for a sale is not too bright.

[SidecarFlip]

My machine has no 'brick', it's 110 so I run mine in the camper via a 2000 watt PSW inverter that is hardwired to an outlet in the bunk area. The inverter also runs any other 110 appliance I might need.

I use the same machine when I hunt and there is nothing but a tent. I use 2 of the Li-Ion packs with a small inverter No humidification but my home brew passover Tupperware humidifier. I recharge them from a cigar lighter in a truck which is usually handy or a quad.

On the Resperonics passover humidifiers, CPAP.com has them for 58 bucks but they don't last very long. Flimsy plastic and the latches break, why I made one from Tupperware, much sturdier. Insurance or not, 58 bucks for a plastic box with bad hinges, I find to be exhorbinant.

[beemerphile1]

19ah battery in a multi purpose jump starter:


https://www.stanleytools.com/en-us/products/automotive-tools/other-tools/power-station/500-instant-1...

$94 on Amazon

[Boon_Docker]

beemerphile1 wrote:
I don't know what a Pilot 12 is but our Respironics CPAP runs from the 12vdc battery system of our RV. A Resmed CPAP is actually 24v but has an adapter available to operate from the RVs 12vdc system.

Edit;
OMG! That stupid battery costs $289 on Amazon! Maybe the OP can send it back, for RV use it isn't necessary.

Wow, what a ripoff. Only 19 Amp hr at $15 per Amp hr.
A pair of 6 V deep cycle batteries = 230 Amp hr at less than $1.50 per Amp hr.

[kerrlakeRoo]

MrBiggles, with 2 6v golf cart batteries you have over 200 amp hrs available, the Pilot 12 plus has 19 Amp hrs.
Your existing batteries are much more capable. If you are truly afraid to use the same batteries that power the rest of your RV, get an additional 100 Amp hr AGM put it in the pass thru and use it with 100 watts of solar. You would have more power available, and the ability if you experience long rainy spells to switch over to the main batteries in a pinch, as well as being able to charge with jumper cables from the tow vehicle.

[time2roll]

I recommend 100 watts minimum solar for the effort.

[Mr_Biggles]

I didn’t buy one. I bought 2 ! My wife also uses a CPAP machine. We have 2 Trojan T-105’s on our trailer. That would probably work for one CPAP , but not 2. And I didn’t want 2 12 volt marine batteries sitting on the floor in our trailer. So I bought the two Pilot-12 batteries. They are about the size of an old VHS cassette box. They should last about 2 nights with the humidifier off.
I don’t really want to carry around a generator.

[beemerphile1]

I don't know what a Pilot 12 is but our Respironics CPAP runs from the 12vdc battery system of our RV. A Resmed CPAP is actually 24v but has an adapter available to operate from the RVs 12vdc system.

Edit;
OMG! That stupid battery costs $289 on Amazon! Maybe the OP can send it back, for RV use it isn't necessary.

[kerrlakeRoo]

Have you already purchased this battery? If not . check your CPAP. If it uses a brick in the power cord at home, it likely is actually using 12 volt power and you could run it direct from your RV battery.
Better to put the money for the Pilot 12 into a second battery for the camper and permanently install at least 100 watts of solar and have use of the power for other things as well.

[2oldman]

Mr Biggles wrote:
Sun power makes a portable 40W solar kit that claims to charge the battery in 4-5 hours.

Before you talk to a salesman, go armed with these facts:

A 40w panel will produce maybe 32w on a good day. That will put about 2.5a into the battery at peak production. In 5 hours that would be 12.5amp-hours. That means your 100ah battery could only be discharged 12% for that claim to be true.

You can't go by these mfr claims, or product reviews, or testimonials.

[Mr_Biggles]

We are going off grid for the first time. I don’t really want to run the truck to to charge the battery. Sun power makes a portable 40W solar kit that claims to charge the battery in 4-5 hours. So solar charging is possible.

There’s a solar supply store in town. Maybe I’ll pay them a visit.

[Bumpyroad]

assuming the OP has insurance, I got a passover humidifier "ready made" think it is a respironics but that really doesn't matter.
bumpy

[Boon_Docker]

2oldman wrote:
I did a bit of reading about this battery and it appears it has to be charged from its own 120v charger. If that's the case, you may find it difficult to connect the output of a solar controller to it.

It may require you to have an inverter/batteries already on board. 100w is just barely enough.

You can purchase an optional 12 V car charger for the Pilot 12, so it can be charged with the trailer battery.