Want to add 12V recepticle

[Davidceder]

I am thinking about adding a 12V receptacle above my wife's side of the bed for her C-Pap. I want to place this close to her overhead reading lamp so I can tap off those wires. Currently we run a really long cable out the bedroom over to the charging station, about 10 feet.

Do you guys think I need a separate fuse for the receptacle or will the fuse that is already in the circuit for the reading lights work. All the lights in the bedroom are usually out when she turns it on and they are all LEDs.


Thanks

[Bama Rambler]

It all depends on what size fuse is in the existing circuit, but I suspect that it is probably a 15 amp which would be fine.

I assume that the light is locally switched so getting power when it's off isn't an issue.

[Kimber45]

the lights are 12 volt the outlets are 110. Need to come off an existing recept and hope that the circuit it is on does not get overloaded with other things.

[NJKris]

Most likely everything is off when she is sleeping, so little chance of overloading any circuits.

[Davidceder]

Thanks for the replies. The lights are indeed locally switched and are on a 15 amp fuse.

[Kimber45]

there is a big difference between a 12 volt light on a 15 amp fuse and a 110 volt outlet on a 15 amp breaker. its my understanding that cpap machines are 110 volt?

[Davidceder]

The power brick on the C-PAP takes 110V in but puts out 12V DC to the unit. Been running it for years on a 12V jury rigged setup. Just want to do something cleaner.

[kenandterry]

I’m confused......it doesn’t take much.

Does your CPAP machine need 12 volt DC OR 110 volt AC to operate?
I’m not asking if it produces 12 volt for whatever, but rather what does the CPAP
machine REQUIRE to operate.

I’m also confused by the term “power brick”.

[cavie]

Originally Posted by Davidceder

I am thinking about adding a 12V receptacle above my wife's side of the bed for her C-Pap. I want to place this close to her overhead reading lamp so I can tap off those wires. Currently we run a really long cable out the bedroom over to the charging station, about 10 feet.

Do you guys think I need a separate fuse for the receptacle or will the fuse that is already in the circuit for the reading lights work. All the lights in the bedroom are usually out when she turns it on and they are all LEDs.


Thanks

Proably won't be any hot wire at the light with the switch off.

[Clyde M]

Are you sure about the voltage? My CPAP uses 110 volt vac to power the “brick” which converts the 110 to 12 vac.
I purchased a 12 vdc to 12 vac “brick” for use in my trailer.
I haven’t tried it out yet but looking to power the same way you are. Except for 2 bricks. I’d be interested in knowing how that works for you.

After posting I had a second thought and looked at the input / output of my “bricks”. They are marked.: original = “input 110 vac with an output of 24 vac 3.5 amps. New brick = “input 12 vdc 13.5 amps with an output of 24 vac. No output amps mentioned on the label. Sorry for any confusion I might have caused.

[Bama Rambler]

A lot of Cpap machines use 12 VDC natively and have a converter (Brick) that converts 120 VAC to 12 VDC. The machine uses a DC barrel connector so it's really easy to just buy (or make) a cord to plug it into a 12 volt power outlet (cigar lighter plug).

Some Cpap machines (ResMed for one) use 24 VDC and therefore you need Boost Converter instead of just a cord in order to run it on 12 VDC.

[MtBiker]

I would tap right into the wiring for the 12V light or run a new set of wire from the breaker.
Unless the wiring currently installed is very small you should have enough current.
If your CPAP draws more current than available your wiring will start to heat up and it will be hard on the CPAP.

[NJKris]

Phillips is 12v. The AC to DC converter brick supplies up to 80 watts. The 80 watts is with humidifier heater and hose heater going, not necessary when boondocking, as the problem in an RV is usually too much humidity, not too dry.

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by kenandterry

I’m confused......it doesn’t take much.

Does your CPAP machine need 12 volt DC OR 110 volt AC to operate?
I’m not asking if it produces 12 volt for whatever, but rather what does the CPAP
machine REQUIRE to operate.

I’m also confused by the term “power brick”.

"power brick" is a transformer used for laptops, routers, and many other appliances that use low voltage for their operation or charging of internal batteries.Though you may plug a CPAP machine into a 120vac outlet many use only 12vdc to operate. You can tell by how the power cord actually connects to the CPAP machine. if you google "power brick" you will see various sizes and designs of bricks. The little charger for your cell phone is also referred to as a power brick.

If the power brick charges batteries it most likely outputs a higher voltage than the batteries are rated for. The electric lawn mower I use on my seasonal site has a power brick which outputs 40vdc to charge the 36v batteries. My laptops power brick outputs 19vdc.

You might consider the charger portion of your converter as a "power brick" as it is separate from the battery.

[Davidceder]

Hey Cavie.

I DO think there will be 12V at the light with the switch off. Them little electrons should just be waiting at the switch for me to throw the switch and make a circuit so they can pile through and light the light. Just need to tap off the hot side of the light switch. As a matter of fact I imagine the two reading lights are wired in parallel.

[rbq]

Philips Cpap is a 12 volt system. All that is needed to run it is the 12 volt cord that is made for the specific model. Resmed CPAPs are 24 volt, for them they make a converter that converts the 12 volt to 24 volt, a more expensive setup than the Philips cord, but works for the Resmed. It's a good idea to have a 12 volt setup around the house and a battery that can be used for when the power goes out & you won't loose sleep. When running on 12 volt, have to turn off the humidifier & heated hose. I live in a dry climate which makes it somewhat of a challenge with not being able to use the humidifier.
If it's not a long run & can be done easily I would run a new line from your RV converter and just install the 12 volt outlet. If easier then use the line that is already there, just make sure that the line has power to it when the light is turned off or you won't have the power. I was lucky with my RV in that my bed is on the same wall as the converter and was able to make the run from under the fridge & into a storage compartment below the bed.

[My17Ram]

Originally Posted by Clyde M

Are you sure about the voltage? My CPAP uses 110 volt vac to power the “brick” which converts the 110 to 12 vac.
I purchased a 12 vdc to 12 vac “brick” for use in my trailer.
I haven’t tried it out yet but looking to power the same way you are. Except for 2 bricks. I’d be interested in knowing how that works for you.

After posting I had a second thought and looked at the input / output of my “bricks”. They are marked.: original = “input 110 vac with an output of 24 vac 3.5 amps. New brick = “input 12 vdc 13.5 amps with an output of 24 vac. No output amps mentioned on the label. Sorry for any confusion I might have caused.

The brick converts 120vac to 12v DC - NOT AC. I bought a 12v power cord with a cigarette lighter plug from the CPAP manufacturer. It has filters built in to protect the machine electrically. I tapped into the utility light circuit on the front of my Shamrock and mounted a lighter recepticle bear the front bef.

[cavie]

Originally Posted by Davidceder

Hey Cavie.

I DO think there will be 12V at the light with the switch off. Them little electrons should just be waiting at the switch for me to throw the switch and make a circuit so they can pile through and light the light. Just need to tap off the hot side of the light switch. As a matter of fact I imagine the two reading lights are wired in parallel.

No way of knowing. There are two was to wire it. Neg and Pos at the light, Pos down to the switch and sw leg back to the light. OR neg and positive at the switch. Pos thru the switch then up to the light. This is in reference to a wall switch. Just depends on who did it. My trailer has wiring both ways. There is no wrong way. If there is a switch on the light your good to go. Just turn the light off with the switch on the light.

you have to pull the light down to see how it was done. Or take out the light switch on the wall and look there.

[pmsherman]

My DW uses a Phillips CPAP and I wanted the capability to run it directly from 12V . I had already replaced all of the bulbs in the fixtures in our Georgetown with LED panels so I had no worries about overloading a circuit. I tapped into the light circuit above her side of the bed and installed a PowerPole outlet.



We've never ended up using the outlet for the CPAP but it's used daily, especially on a traveling day for her SoClean machine. Starting 18 months ago, before she started on the CPAP, I started using a peritoneal dialysis cycler machine at night. This machine only runs on AC so we've always had AC power available at night which also gets used for the CPAP.



As an aside, a month ago we arrived at our daughter's house in CA. The second night we were there, an 18 hour power failure occurred. I didn't notice the power failure for almost two hours because I've rewired the rig to have all except three of the outlets powered from both shore power and an inverter. When shore power failed, the inverter kept everything running until it depleted the house batteries. It was easier to recharge the batteries using the 175A alternator by running the engine instead of going outside to move the power plug to use the generator.



Phil

[cavie]

Originally Posted by kenandterry

I’m confused......it doesn’t take much.

Does your CPAP machine need 12 volt DC OR 110 volt AC to operate?
I’m not asking if it produces 12 volt for whatever, but rather what does the CPAP
machine REQUIRE to operate.

I’m also confused by the term “power brick”.

"Power brick" is a box inline on the power cord. just like your computer printer. It changes 120 volts AC to either 12 or 24 volts DC. The information is on the brick.