Checkup Today

[LJones]

I had my 45 day checkup today. Everything looks good. However, I am not happy with my AHI hovering at times near 5. The doc gave me permission to bump up the pressure on my machine. Since it is an auto they are not worried about it. I am compliant, but they say the insurance will not buy the machine for me for several more months... So, that leads to my dilemma.

I am planning on moving to Mexico in December. Doing such will cancel my insurance. I am willing to buy a machine. I have a Respironics 760 Auto. I have found one on a reputable resell site for about $650. Is this a good idea? I am going to check with the rental place first to see what they would sell this one for.

Another issue will be that we will not have electricity in Mexico. I will have a solar station to charge batteries. Are the batteries for these things ok?

[LJones]

That is through Supplier #2

[justMongo]

I bought my S9 from them -- open box, zero hour special; and I am very happy with them.

You can use batteries; but need the appropriate converter or inverter.
I don't know about PR machines. For the resMed S9, one can upconvert to 120VAC then use the powerbrick that comes with it; or get their 12V to 24V converter. With the latter being the better solution since there is only one step in the conversion.

Investigate what power accessories are available for the PR machine.

[Ghost1958]

Respironics REMstars are battery friendly. They can be hooked up directly to a 12 volt battery with no inverter needed with the adapter cord. Wont last long with the humidifier running unless you go with a deep cycle marine battery or something.

According to the good folks that build them in PA that I spoke too they can also run on modified sine wave produced by a regular gas powered generator with no issues as long as the generator produces enough power. That is direct from the techs mouth to my fingers to your eyes here LOL. Id stick in a surge protector and if it blows the brick the Techs name was Allen. Give him the cussing not me LOL.

If you look at the brick the thing is designed to handle a pretty wide range of HZ and volts. Since they build them to travel the brick is designed to handle some pretty crappy power grids in other countries.

[justMongo]

Optima yellow top, sealed AGM, lead-acid, deep cycle batteries are my favorite for backup power in my HAM shack.
They are heavy; so, I would not want to backpack one.

[archangle]

I had my 45 day checkup today. Everything looks good. However, I am not happy with my AHI hovering at times near 5. The doc gave me permission to bump up the pressure on my machine. Since it is an auto they are not worried about it. I am compliant, but they say the insurance will not buy the machine for me for several more months... So, that leads to my dilemma.

I am planning on moving to Mexico in December. Doing such will cancel my insurance. I am willing to buy a machine. I have a Respironics 760 Auto. I have found one on a reputable resell site for about $650. Is this a good idea? I am going to check with the rental place first to see what they would sell this one for.

Another issue will be that we will not have electricity in Mexico. I will have a solar station to charge batteries. Are the batteries for these things ok?

Sometimes you have the option to buy earlier with your insurance. If not, you might talk to the DME (CPAP seller) and ask if they'll make a deal on your unit.

You can also look for people selling machines on Craigslist, but I don't usually see good bilevel machines for sale. Be sure to get a good data capable machine.

You can do solar, but it's harder than it looks at first. If you buy, for instance, a 100W panel, it's only 100W on a clear day, at noon, and with the panel tilted at the proper angle to the south. Because the sun moves, and changes position through the seasons, you only get a certain number of equivalent hours of sun each day. You also need a location where the panels are in the sun all day.

Then you need a big enough battery to last through enough cloudy days to keep you going. You need a good charge controller to properly charge the batteries.

If you use a PRS1 Respironics machine, you can use DC power directly. This will be more efficient in terms of power usage. With ResMed, you need to buy the ResMed DC to DC converter, which will be more efficient than using a DC-AC inverter and the regular power supply.

However, if your sleeping position isn't near the solar panel, you may want to use an inverter, because it's inefficient to "pipe" 12V power around vs. 120V power.

You probably need a fairly large solar panel to keep the CPAP going. Probably something like 60 watts.