Boondocking with a CPAP device.

[Puzzlme]

Just wondering if anyone has a solution to running a CPAP medical device while camped without power? I'm taking a month this summer to travel in my motor home. I'm a complete newbie but I'm thinking I'm probably not the only one traveling with this type of device. What do you use to power yours? Looking for tips, not looking forward to sleeping without it.
Thanks

[B and B]

Hi,
My unit has a 12 volt cord available for it. Use your coach battery, not start battery, to power overnight. The humidifier will draw a lot more current, I would recommend you avoid its use.I have 2 machines and the newer res,Ed one draws half the power of the older one.

Brian

[BamaBob]

6 Actual (DW) uses one (Icon model with humidifier) And she can use the whole unit on the battery pack they have. Only problem is they are expensive. I agree with B&B - see if you can get a 12V cord but you will have to go without the humidifier I believe

[garbonz]

get an inverter, an extra battery, and a battery monitor and you should be okay.. how many amps goes the CPAP draw? From what I can tell it can be from about 1.5 amps without a humidifier to 5 or so amps. an 80 am deep cycle should be enough for one night assuming max draw, up to several night at the lower amp draws.

[OldCoot]

I believe the older (5 yrs) ResMed are 12v, BUT to run on battery (cigarette lighter socket), they are wired with the center as negative which is just the opposite of normal. Ask me how I know after burning out fuses 2x. Finally they revealed their dirty little secret.

[Frank-VA]

ResMed S9 CPAP Battery Pack

[Pitstop88]

I'm a respiratory therapist and I just want to commend you guys for being so faithful about wearing your cpap. Way to go!

[rbq]

We traveled around Alaska for 1 1/2 week in a rented motorhome. I have a 12 volt plug that I plugged into the 12 volt outlet in the motorhome. I filled the humidifier, but didn't turn it on due to the power draw. It worked fine. Just had to be sure & remove the tank before travelling.
For use in our tent trailer and now in our hybrid I have used an AGM battery that I got from Cabellas. Last year I decided to wire in a 12 volt outlet below my bed where I had previously used the AGM battery. It works fine using my 6 volt battery setup on the coach. Just have to watch the battery level & charge with generator when it starts to get low. Just can't sleep without the CPAP. Gotta have it!

[SKnight]

I've got three and soon to be four group 27 Interstate deep cycles feeding an inverter, When I get a chance I'm going to measure the actual amp draw on the line to see what I should be able to expect with regard to duration. I considered the 12V version, but my therapist made me feel like they were troublesome so I went with a regular Fisher Pykel Icon.

[Puzzlme]

Thanks.
I should be able to sleep like a baby.

[B47]

Originally Posted by Pitstop88

I'm a respiratory therapist and I just want to commend you guys for being so faithful about wearing your cpap. Way to go!

I wouldn't go without mine anymore. It's really made a huge difference in my sleeping at night. It was worth doing the sleep studies away from home and Thanks to BCBS to get to where I am now.

My Doctor told me either Reggie White or Reggie Jackson (don't remember which one) died in his sleep without a CPAP and I had all the same signs he did.

[GL1800Rider]

Originally Posted by Puzzlme

Just wondering if anyone has a solution to running a CPAP medical device while camped without power? I'm taking a month this summer to travel in my motor home. I'm a complete newbie but I'm thinking I'm probably not the only one traveling with this type of device. What do you use to power yours? Looking for tips, not looking forward to sleeping without it.
Thanks

First off, I have been setting up cpaps for 14 years. if yours is a Respironics M Series or System One or Resmed S9 they are all DC powered and use a converter. Battery packs are expensive for them. Just go buy a good deep cycle battery and an inverter, turn off the humidifier and it should run for about 3 nights. If you have an ICON be sure to unplug it when not using as the humidifier plate stays on all the time to provide humidity quicker.

Hope this helps

[Puzzlme]

Originally Posted by Pitstop88

I'm a respiratory therapist and I just want to commend you guys for being so faithful about wearing your cpap. Way to go!

The best thing that happened to me was breaking my CPAP machine......
Until I did that I would use it once and not for a few then use it again and quit. When it broke....I couldn't wait to get it back and have used it every night since.

[SKnight]

Originally Posted by B47

I wouldn't go without mine anymore. It's really made a huge difference in my sleeping at night. It was worth doing the sleep studies away from home and Thanks to BCBS to get to where I am now.

My Doctor told me either Reggie White or Reggie Jackson (don't remember which one) died in his sleep without a CPAP and I had all the same signs he did.

It was Reggie White. First thing my Dr did was pull up the report and show me, before my first sleep study.

I can function better on four hours of sleep (Still bad, I know. I can't go to sleep in the first place.) than I could on eight or ten before. That's why I spent an afternoon installing provisions for four batteries and my inverter.

[gptraveler]

I've read many older posts on this topic.
I didn't want to spend a lot of money on an adapter for my CPAP when boondocking, so I searched high and low. I have an older machine and they longer make the adapter for it. I was thrilled to find this one which claimed to work with my model. Today I ran the machine for 9 hours using battery power. In the end, my battery registered as "good" and the machine remained cool to the touch. I can recommend it after this simple test.
Can't beat it for $20.
Owell 12V DC Power Cord with reverse polarity for ResMed S8-series CPAP Machines

[aeblank]

Good job on the cord.

If you look at the output label of the existing power supply and measure the diameter of the plug, it gets easier. That one is pretty common, just buy looking at it. I probably have one in my drawer.

Or if you can find the pn of the real one, Amazon will have knockoffs for cheap. Digikey is another good source. You can filter by multiple criteria.

[daniel13]

I have a bipap and use it every night we camp. We boondock mostly and I have two six volt batteries that we purchased with the intent of getting the highest capacity we could and have no problems at all. The state parks we frequent only allow five hours a day for generators and we usually recharge in less time than that. We use the heater, radio, lights and a converter for recharging phones and such and never have a problem.

[gptraveler]

It never ceases to amaze me just how much knowledge of these things the forums contains. We are using a 12V marine battery, no generator, and would like to use power for all of the things you mention. Boondocking is down the road a bit for us and we also want to get a small solar panel.

[SidecarFlip]

I actually own 4 machines, 3 are older and one small one an S8 with the snap on humidifier. Amazing how cheap the machines are when not dealing with a third party health insurance provider, I bought my S8 outright new, for 400 bucks. The insurance / rent the machine sscam is a rip off.

I have tons of supplies and I set my machines to what I'm comfortable with at pressure wise, I've had 2 sleep studies in 25 years, last one 15 years ago.

Because I hunt and spike camp hunt (on horseback) I need to run my S8 completely off grid for at least 2 nights at a time so I own a pair of Lithium Ion rechargeable packs that are fully self contained and can be charged from a cigarette lighter plug or solar panels. I built myself a passive humidifer for spike camping and use bottled water for it. never an issue. I can get 3 days of use on the S8 from 2 packs and the packs weigh about 5 pounds total and are fully self contained, even have digital volt meters and percentage of power left readouts built in. Nor cheap (200 bucks a unit) but not being a zombie hunter is worth the expense. heck, I can drop 10 grand on a hunt so a couple saw bucks is chump change anyway.

In the RV (and I 'boondock' 99% of the time, usually on my Northern Michigan property, in the woods off road, down what is referred to here as a 'seasonal road', aka: 4 wheel drive only access, I run an AIMS Power 1500 watt PSW remote switching inverter with 2 Trojan 6 volt golf cart batteries. The inverter is hard wired to a dedicated wall outlet (marked 'Inverter Only'). I can run all night with heated humidification and the systems on in the camper (fridge and all) and still have 65-70% battery left in the morning (according to my SeeLevel readout, which is as good as a Trimetric. A couple hours of my Inverter Generator (Champion 2000 watt) on economy mode and my batteries are close to 100% again.

I tend to run my genny in the AM when we get up. Don't like or want a genny running at night. I like to sleep in silence or close to it. I dislike noise at night in the woods.

[aeblank]

I live on an up north (to some people anyway) seasonal road. Where you at?