CPAP, Camping, and Solar follow up

[Breathetonight]

Last winter into spring I posted several inquiries about camping off the grid with a CPAP. This is to follow up on what worked for me. Our camping is by way of a small FG trailer with DC power on board meaning battery and no generator. WE can plug into shore power when available but we do go off grid for weeks at a time.

My main CPAP is a ResMed S10 Auto which requires 24V. To avoid the inverter / converter problem i shopped around and bought a used Phillips system one series 50. These require 12power up front so no inverting or converting. I also purchased the following:
1. $45 An ~100 Ah "Economy" Interstate deep cycle marine battery.
2. $45 A DC cord adapter set for the PR system one.
3. $265 A 100 A Renogy portable solar charger kit with travel case.
4. $150 PR M series 50 system one from CL
.
This set up while not cheap, was easy to set up and worked well for me while in the mountains this past summer. I really wanted to trim the costs down as much as possible but it was apparent that I would not be able to get by much cheaper doing it myself.

Using the instructions found here I was able to set the System one CPAP to my prescription and shut off all other power drawing functions. I also found instructions here for making a simple manometer for checking the pressure accuracy. Every thing checked out.

Pros of my solution:
1. Relatively cost effective
2. I have a 12 V CPAP back up for home emergency use.
3. I have a solar charger for the trailer battery
4. I have a substantial battery for cold weather jumping if needed.

Cons:
1. The group 27 lead acid battery is heavy No backpacking.
2. The solar charger, while portable, is still a bit bulky and heavy.
3. the battery needs a bit of maintenance charge in the off season.

I still have to tweak wiring the trailer for the extra battery and add a extra rack for it on the tongue. All-in-all we are pleased with the way it worked for us (me).

Thanks for the advice
Breathetonight

[justMongo]

"4. I have a substantial battery for cold weather jumping if needed."

You might want to keep that on a Deltran Battery Tender.
I have a car I don't drive often; and I keep it on a Battery Tender. Always cranks strong.
I have the California Model thanks to Fascists in Sacramento.

[esrepairman]

Thanks for sharing your setup. I am sure many others will benefit from it.

[cliftonio]

Nice work. I have take mine trailer camping a few times and no issues (but I have been staying at full hookups, so no different than a hotel)

A thought that did come to mind was how your insurance providers handle these 2nd systems. Not in that how they pay for them but from not using your primary they don't decide to take the machine back (my understanding is Medicare and now most health insurance companies will take back the unit of you don't use it 4hrs a day averaged over a month). So if you are camping with a secondary unit you are not using your primary and therefore not doing the required 4hrs/day

[PaulaO2]

I still have to tweak wiring the trailer for the extra battery and add a extra rack for it on the tongue. All-in-all we are pleased with the way it worked for us (me).

Thanks for the advice
Breathetonight

Thanks for the follow up!

There are several lightweight but expensive batteries that might work for you for backpacking. Google GoalZero for a start. There's other brands but that's what I found in my bookmarks when I just searched for what I had saved.

So if you are camping with a secondary unit you are not using your primary and therefore not doing the required 4hrs/day

If using a second machine, you just provide the data from both machines.

[foss]

Very good information. Thanks for posting.

[JamesW]

From an Aussie here are my experiences setting up for camper trailer touring with CPAP. Camper trailers are pretty popular over here and are usually very well set up for off the grid stays. I have 232 amps of batteries on board with 160 watts of portable solar panels. The 12v fridge/freezer and lighting etc is taken care of by the solar when we camp for up to four days. The on board 20 amp battery charger can be plugged into mains power when we are use a RV park and the CPAP will be run off mains power. My CPAP will drain about 60 amps out of the batteries overnight running off an 12v inverter, so I am adding another 160 amps of solar to give up to 18 amps per hour of charge back into the battery bank during sunny days. If the weather does not play along I can go without the CPAP for a couple of nights on the road. Not perfect but manageable. This is my camper trailer on a trip a couple of years ago.

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[JWR]

Nice setup! Thanks for sharing your system with us camping with cpap comes up all the time and it's nice to see how many different ways to make it happen .

[SideSleeper]

Nice camper--a little different than our pop-up units. We have a travel trailer and are out in the summer without electrical hookups. My Christmas present was a Battery Power Solutions C-100 CPAP Battery Kit. My husband's ResMed S9 uses the 12 volt cigarette-lighter plug in the trailer. We have a generator to recharge things every morning. I wanted something small I could handle as that was safe inside the house or trailer. Our trailer batteries would run down more than we wanted at night with two machines running off of them, especially if it was cold and the furnace was running.

[Breathetonight]

I should mention that the Renogy solar charger kit brought the battery back to full charge in about 3 hours of full sun after about 8 hours of CPAP blower use.