CPAP Question

[rickC]

Was wondering if anyone has had experience running a CPAP machine for one or two nites on the battery. Would like to dry camp only and not run a generator all nite. The brand is ResMed S-9 Auto. Have a 2020 Hawk waiting to be used.

 

[longhorn1]

We have a 2014 Grandby with 2 AGM batteries and 100W solar on the roof. I have a ResMed 10 and never had any problems. You need to get the 12 volt adaptor from ResMed. With solar and driving to sightsee we have never had an issue. Please provide additional information. How many and what type battery or batteries? Do you have solar and what size panel? We also have a Goal Zero 400 Lithium power pack. Bought that for home emergencies and take it with us. Also bought their portable solar panel to charge it in camp or with 12 volt while driving. I have experimented at home and plugged my CPAP in and gotten 4-8 hour nights on one charge. We also have a generator as a back-up. Make sure to get the ResMed 12-volt cord designed for your CPAP. Go have fun. JD

Was wondering if anyone has had experience running a CPAP machine for one or two nites on the battery. Would like to dry camp only and not run a generator all nite. The brand is ResMed S-9 Auto. Have a 2020 Hawk waiting to be used.

 

[Beach]

I use a Devilbiss DV54, both in the camper and at home, it's quiet, compact, runs on 115v or 12v(no adapter required). Can't remember the amp draw but it was fairly low. I have, 60w solar and a 55 a/hr battery. Never had an issue with it running the battery down, except one time when it rained 3 days straight. We rarely stay more that 3-4 days in one place so that helps as the truck is charging then..

 

[rickC]

OK thanks much. I have the stock AGM battery (1). Also have portable 80 watt Zamp. Would not want to depend on the solar with the limited sun in my camping situations. Your experiment at home seems tho to answer my question. 4 - 8 hours is a pretty close call for the nite. Good info tho. Is the 12 volt adaptor from ResMed necessary ? Couldn't you just plug into a power inverter ? I have a Ampeak 750 w ). With the limited camping with the wife maybe the easiest answer is putting in a pair of earplugs if you get my drift.

 

[longhorn1]

No, Four days with 8 hour sleeps, 32 hours total.

OK thanks much. I have the stock AGM battery (1). Also have portable 80 watt Zamp. Would not want to depend on the solar with the limited sun in my camping situations. Your experiment at home seems tho to answer my question. 4 - 8 hours is a pretty close call for the nite. Good info tho. Is the 12 volt adaptor from ResMed necessary ? Couldn't you just plug into a power inverter ? I have a Ampeak 750 w ). With the limited camping with the wife maybe the easiest answer is putting in a pair of earplugs if you get my drift.

 

[longhorn1]

OK thanks much. I have the stock AGM battery (1). Also have portable 80 watt Zamp. Would not want to depend on the solar with the limited sun in my camping situations. Your experiment at home seems tho to answer my question. 4 - 8 hours is a pretty close call for the nite. Good info tho. Is the 12 volt adaptor from ResMed necessary ? Couldn't you just plug into a power inverter ? I have a Ampeak 750 w ). With the limited camping with the wife maybe the easiest answer is putting in a pair of earplugs if you get my drift.

My testing found that I could get 4 nights on the Goal Zero with 12-volt, but barely 2 nights plugging in to the Goal Zero with 110. Everything I have seen on YouTube and read says 12-volt gets considerably more time than 110. You will use more amps with 110.

 

[rickC]

Thanks so much again Longhorn. You motivated me to do my own experiment with what I have on hand. Last nite plugged CPAP into Ampeak 750 w inverter which in turn clipped into battery terminals. Battery is Les Schwab AGM RV Deep Cycle 6/19 (my trolling motor battery). The meter showed 12.78 at start and 9 hours later with CPAP on was 12.37. Think it should work for couple of nites. Happy with that knowledge. Now with the 80 watt Zamp solar boost is anyones guess. My dry camping (fishing) consist of couple of months in one spot and solar is just to keep phone, batteries, etc. topped off. It is a small panel and don't expect much else. Wife and CPAP not with me on those trips but would be interesting to see if panel could "keep up".

 

[philos65]

If you don't use the humidifier you'll be fine. I used my resmed s9 and humidifier camping with a 55 amp hour optima battery and it lasted about 6 hours before the machine shut off. I believe the combo draws about seven amps an hour. I have two 235 watt panels that in ideal conditions will generate 14 or 15 amps an hour. I like using the humidifier enough to bump up the power capacity of the solar system. The first link below has current draws for the different resmed machines.

https://www.resmed.com/us/dam/documents/products/serviceandsupport/battery-guide/198103_battery-guide_glo_eng.pdf

https://www.bestcpapprice.com/ResMed-S9-Series-DC-adapter-for-S9-Escape-Elite-and-Autoset-CPAP-machines_p_920.html

http://www.cpaptalk.com/viewtopic/t102749/Airsense-10-large-power-draw.html

http://www.cpaptalk.com/viewtopic/t98936/Using-ResMed-S9-and-humidifier-in-my-vehicle.html

 

[CraggyMan]

After looking at the costs involved in a more portable and expensive CKRAP machine I decided to just spend some of the money on upgrading our battery/PV system on our 2016 Fleet. I have a ResMed Airsense 10 for home so I just picked up the 12v adapter to give it a go.

The 2-12v-agm batteries as supplied from 4WC seemed to be close to the end of their useful lifespan so after watching the discussions on various upgrades I had a local shop here in Bend Battery do the work.https://www.bendbattery.com/
Doubled our PV panels from 160w to 320w, along with a single 12v Battleborn Lithium battery and Victron monitor/controllers.

Just before the Covid-19 nightmare really clamped down we were just completing a month long road trip to Big Bend NP and points south. The new system had no issues keeping up with both the ResMed and various combinations of using our furnace and 2-way fridge. I started out not using the humidifier option as I was worried about running the battery down too far but after trying it out one night there were no issues. Probably a bit of overkill on the system but....

 

[BFH4N]

Here's a relatively inexpensive 12-Volt adapter for the Resmed Airsense 10:

https://www.amazon.com/KFD-Airsense-AirCurve-Machines-Replacement/dp/B07P6H994Q

 

[Vic Harder]

After looking at the costs involved in a more portable and expensive CKRAP machine I decided to just spend some of the money on upgrading our battery/PV system on our 2016 Fleet. I have a ResMed Airsense 10 for home so I just picked up the 12v adapter to give it a go.

The 2-12v-agm batteries as supplied from 4WC seemed to be close to the end of their useful lifespan so after watching the discussions on various upgrades I had a local shop here in Bend Battery do the work.https://www.bendbattery.com/
Doubled our PV panels from 160w to 320w, along with a single 12v Battleborn Lithium battery and Victron monitor/controllers.

Just before the Covid-19 nightmare really clamped down we were just completing a month long road trip to Big Bend NP and points south. The new system had no issues keeping up with both the ResMed and various combinations of using our furnace and 2-way fridge. I started out not using the humidifier option as I was worried about running the battery down too far but after trying it out one night there were no issues. Probably a bit of overkill on the system but....

Sounds like a nice system! What do you typically find the battery SOC to be after a night of typical usage?

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

From one of our dealers and his personal experiences . . .

<<<

Most CPAP machines have optional 12 V travel power cords available. This is the best way to run a CPAP on the road in my experience. If your client is unsure that a 12 V option is available to them, they can look up their machine on http://www.cpap.com/cpap-battery-power/cpap-dc-cables.php to see what is available for their specific machine or contact their durable medical equipment provider although often the providers are unaware of the 12V option as I have found.

I do not recommend using an inverter for a CPAP machine. Inverters are not efficient and modified sine wave inverters do not provide the clean power sensitive equipment requires. If a client does not have a 12 V option for their medical equipment then a pure sine wave inverter is going to be their only option.

The two machines that I have experience with have consumed only 1 amp per hour while in use with 12V power cord. That being said a dual battery system should be ample in most circumstances.

Some CPAP machines have heated humidifiers as an option. This option typically does not have a 12 V alternative. Typically the humidifier is a separate unit. I do not use a humidifier as I find them to be too much maintenance, instead I carry over-the-counter saline nasal spray to moisturize before putting on my mask and going to bed. Much simpler and power wise.

I hope this information is helpful to you and your CPAP using clients.

<<<

 

[Batman]

We have a 2017 Fleet with 160 watts of roof top solar and the two original AGM batteries. My wife uses a ResMed Airsense 10 CPAP with a humidifier in the camper. We purchased ResMed 12V DC adapter to power the CPAP off the camper batteries. So far we have not had a problem with the batteries being able to power the CPAP, 60L compressor frig and lights and while still keeping the voltage reading on the Zamp solar controller above 12.3 every morning. However, I expect several days of cloudy weather would reduce battery charging and require dramatically reducing power use or supplementing solar charging with something else. I have added a portable 50 watt solar panel which helps a little on those overcast days. I don't think we have storage space for anything more.

 

[CraggyMan]

Sounds like a nice system! What do you typically find the battery SOC to be after a night of typical usage?

I'm finding it hard to isolate exactly how much the ResMed unit actually uses but seems like it's in the neighborhood of 10-15% of battery for a typical night. I need to pay more attention to use and see how the humidifier affects the power draw. Hard to predict what a typical night of use was as weather was really variable on this first trip with the new system. Warm nights we would not be using the furnace but the fridge would be working harder and of course opposite on the cooler end. My unit is cranked pretty high in regard to pressure due to my particular affliction so not sure if this changes the power use.