Posted by jumpstart on November 21, 2009 at 09:39:10:Hi,
I've been on CPAP for just on 7 years, tape my mouth, don't use a humidifier and have come to regard sleep apnea as a mild inconvenience - except when there's no electricity available. This week I attended a work function on an island where the electricity generators are turned off overnight, and accommodation is in shared rooms. All my reading on DC power for my Remstar Plus indicated that I'd need a battery big enough to crank a Jumbo Jet in order get more than 7 hours use from my machine.
The plate on the back of the machine says it draws 3 amps, however that figure would be at a maximum pressure of 20cm H2O - my setting is 7cm H2O. I purchased a car jump starter which has a capacity of 18 amp hours - I figured that my machine at 7cm H2O was probably drawing a bit less than 2 amps which would give me a bit over 9 hours of use - I sleep for about 5 hours a night, so my jump starter would just about do the trick.
Not only did my jump starter keep the machine humming for 2 nights, the gauge on the jump starter indicated there was plenty of juice left so I ran it on the battery at home for another 2 nights - after 4 nights and some 20 or so hours of use the jump starter needs a recharge.
This has been a great find - no more pitching my tent way, way away from other campers as I now have 4 nights of sleep in my AUD$99 (about USD$90) jump starter which packed straight into my luggage, is about 10"x10"x8", weighs maybe 20 pounds, can start my car if the battery is flat and has a built-in compressor to pump up tyres and air mattresses!!
To anyone needing DC power for their CPAP, I hope this helps.
- Re: DC operation of CPAP aspen31 08:16 12/11/09 (0)