Travel CPAP / battery operated CPAP

In my attempt to find the best way to have an emergency backup off the grid, and also foreseeing future travel, I've been wondering about the newer small CPAP machines that have come on the market in the last few years. I'm wondering if people would be willing to share experiences with these.

* How well do they work?
* Do they provide only straight CPAP or is there some version of Auto PAP or Bi-level available?
* For the ones that offer humidification, how well does the humidificaction work? [I always use a humidifier and at a pretty high level, otherwise my nose gets chapped].
* How long does it run on battery if you use a humidifier?
* Do insurance companies usually cover mini CPAP machines?
* Anything else you want to mention.

Thanks in advance for info.

jpek wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2020 3:56 am

Do they provide only straight CPAP or is there some version of Auto PAP or Bi-level available?

fixed cpap and auto/apap are available but no bilevel.

jpek wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2020 3:56 am

How long does it run on battery if you use a humidifier?

battery life depends on pressures used and using a humidifier will significantly reduce that battery life because humidifiers are a huge power hungry item.

jpek wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2020 3:56 am

Do insurance companies usually cover mini CPAP machines?

Not normally at all....especially if they already bought you a regular machine. They don't like to pay for 2 machines.

jpek wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2020 3:56 am

How well do they work?

Biggest complaint seems to be machine motor noise and/or breathing noises are quite annoyingly loud.

jpek wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2020 3:56 am

In my attempt to find the best way to have an emergency backup off the grid, and also foreseeing future travel, I've been wondering about the newer small CPAP machines that have come on the market in the last few years. I'm wondering if people would be willing to share experiences with these.

this is prolly overkill as it's not really travel friendly. but if your looking for something off grid and are a handy individual-

viewtopic/t176763/Homemade-Resmed-A10-c ... it=battery

the guy has put a LOT of work into this.

I bought an OmniCharge 25,600 and sourced the proper cable to go from the battery's 24V output to my ResMed Airsense 10. Running it for one night (7 Hours) between 6.8 and 9 cm and no heated hose or humidifier, I was left with three battery level lights illuminated out of 4. I'll be using mine for a backpacking trip or two this summer, but it's also nice to have in the event of a power outage at home.

I bought an AirMini specifically for travel and have used it on multiple trips. A few were short, domestic trips both by plane and car. Most were longer (up to 3 weeks +) international trips.

The noise level is significantly higher than my Airsense 10 Autoset for Her. However, since I hate the P10 mask, I hacked the hose to use my preferred Bleep mask . That had the unexpected side effect of decreasing the noise level ALMOST to the same as my Airsense! It did also remove the humidification, but I was willing to make that trade-off for the 2 benefits. Especially since I only use the AirMini when I travel. If you can use either the nasal pillow or nasal mask, there is the Humid-X humidification option.

Another reason I went with the AirMini is it is an autoset machine with the same 3 modes as my home machine: CPAP, APAP, and APAP for her. I was able to use the exact same setting, which I see as a plus.

There is a battery available, but I have not purchased it. I do not need it when traveling. Our power is fairly stable (knock wood, hopefully I haven't jinxed myself!). And we DO have a generator, which we have never had the occasion to use, thank God!

There are several vendors who offer a 30-day trial. That is what I did. I would suggest you try one of those, just in case you decide a travel machine is not for you.

I have the Dream Station Go; I travel quite a bit and don't want to be dragging around a massive machine.
I do have a battery, which i don't use (of course) when in a hotel, but there just in case.

Testing it without humidifier and pressure not above 11 cm/H2O i would be able to run 2 nights; so with humidifier or higher pressure it will be tough to get more than 1 night out of it. Which bring you back to 'how to charge' if you're not anywhere close to an outlet. Solar powering only gets you so much. I have not tried to charge on 12/24V. As charging on 120V takes about 3 hours, i doubt you'll get to enough charge on a 12/24V source.

The biggest setback, although not for me, is the noise; while most machines come it at 23-25 db, the Dream Station Go clocks in at close to 30db. Doesn't bother me, since i'm actually sleeping, but if there's anyone else around it could be an issue.

The machine works for me, but when you are longer off the grid it might not be the right choice

zonker wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2020 12:02 pm

jpek wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2020 3:56 am

In my attempt to find the best way to have an emergency backup off the grid, and also foreseeing future travel, I've been wondering about the newer small CPAP machines that have come on the market in the last few years. I'm wondering if people would be willing to share experiences with these.

this is prolly overkill as it's not really travel friendly. but if your looking for something off grid and are a handy individual-

viewtopic/t176763/Homemade-Resmed-A10-c ... it=battery

the guy has put a LOT of work into this.

Most of this is way, way above my head. I'm not very handy and know nothing about electricity. But this link, buried inside the thread was very useful: https://www.resmed.com/us/dam/documents ... lo_eng.pdf. Now I just need to find someone to walk me through the rest of the details.

jpek wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 18, 2020 6:28 am

Most of this is way, way above my head. I'm not very handy and know nothing about electricity. But this link, buried inside the thread was very useful: https://www.resmed.com/us/dam/documents ... lo_eng.pdf. Now I just need to find someone to walk me through the rest of the details.

it's over my head as well. hope you find a way!

Let's start by going shopping for breakfast...

If you want to eat 1 egg and 1 slice of bacon each morning for breakfast, buying a dozen eggs and a pack of bacon that has something like 14 slices will give you enough for a dozen mornings.

If you are very active and decide you need 4 eggs and 4 slices of bacon for breakfast, the initial purchase will only last you 3 days.

Battery capacity is rated in Amp Hours. Machines run by using Amps. If you purchase a battery with a capacity of 1 Amp Hour and use it to power a machine that draws 1 Amp, you can theoretically expect your machine to run 1 hour before having to recharge the battery. Real life is always a little less than theoretical.

Looking at your hand out document you can get an idea of how much energy your machine draws for different pressures and if you are using a humidifier at various humidifier settings. Taking this current draw, you then estimate how long you will be using the machine each night, multiply the two and come up with an estimate of how many Amp Hours you need in your battery to supply your needs.

An example using a DC to DC convertor.

The AirSense 10 AutoSet for Her running at a pressure of 10 with no humidifier draws just under 1 Amp. If you plan on using it in that configuration for 8 hours a night for 7 nights, we have 1 x 8 x 7 = 56 Amp Hours of use. You need a battery with no less than 60 Amp Hours of capacity to make this work.

In contrast the humidifier takes additional power to run. If you take the same unit and add the humidifier and heated tubing you can get up to a draw of just under 5 amps. If you plan on using that configuration you end up with 5 x 8 x 7 = 280 Amp Hours. In this case you will need a battery with no less than 300 Amp Hours of capacity.

Thinking back to breakfast, if 1 dozen eggs represents a 60 Amp Hour battery, a 300 Amp Hour battery will be like visualizing 5 dozen eggs. Larger, heavier, and more expensive.

Keep in mind that I have not considered having any extra battery capacity for a cushion. In real life you would add some extra to the battery size to allow for wear, temperature changes, and so on.

The hookup is simple. The battery has 2 posts. Pick up a cigaret adaptor that has a red and black clamp (like this https://www.walmart.com/ip/Car-Cigarett ... /394556955). Hook the red to + on the battery and the black to the - post. Plug your convertor into the adapter and the other end plugs into your machine. You are ready to go.

HoseCrusher wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 19, 2020 3:26 pm

Let's start by going shopping for breakfast...

If you want to eat 1 egg and 1 slice of bacon each morning for breakfast, buying a dozen eggs and a pack of bacon that has something like 14 slices will give you enough for a dozen mornings.

are you saying i can power my cpap on a full english breakfast?

Well, let's see now...

First we would have to look at how much methane you produce and then go from there...

It's not quite that easy, you need to count the size of the eggs, and the fat to lean ratio of the bacon plus how long you cook it, to know if the quantity of breakfast will fill your needs.

While batteries have ratings, manufacturers fudge (Lie) about Amp Hours and how they are measured makes a difference in the real world use, also as the battery is drawn down the voltage drops, low enough to no longer power the XPAP, making the full rated battery not useable. It pays to double the quantity of Eggs & Bacon you have on hand before you cook. Jim

HoseCrusher wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 19, 2020 3:26 pm

Machines run by using Amps.

Machines run by consuming energy which is stated in terms of Watts, not Amps. The current draw of the machine (stated in Amps) and be determined from the Watt rating if the voltage is known.

The AirSense 10 AutoSet for Her running at a pressure of 10 with no humidifier draws just under 1 Amp. If you plan on using it in that configuration for 8 hours a night for 7 nights, we have 1 x 8 x 7 = 56 Amp Hours of use. You need a battery with no less than 60 Amp Hours of capacity to make this work.

Discharging any battery down to near zero capacity is generally a bad idea. If the expected usage us 56 AH, the battery capacity should be 70+ AH.

HoseCrusher wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 19, 2020 6:41 pm

Well, let's see now...

First we would have to look at how much methane you produce and then go from there...

if i could produce the gas, i wouldn't have aerophagia.