Respironics 560 550 system one and generators. Straight from the horses mouth

[Ghost1958]

Im putting this up because Ive seen it asked alot including myself, wondering if a PR System One Machine could run directly from a portable generator. Id seen yes no and maybe answers so

Finally after several tries at calling the Company for tech and getting recordings I went through the back door to repair which gets a live person, who was very happy to connect me to the tech dept

A very helpful tech from Respronics had this answer. I take no responsibility for this info. But for myself I will be trusting since the company in Murray PA that builds the thing should know what it can and cant do. I hope

His answer " As long as the generator in question is putting out sufficient amps watts and volts, and puts out a modified sine wave or better the PR 560 auto with heated hose 550 etc WILL run perfectly fine with no damage to power brick or machine, plugged directly into the 120v AC outlet."

Myself I will add a simple surge protector the same as I have for the power company surges.

That is straight from Respironics tech dept in Murray PA 5 min ago tech name was Adam.

As I said I will be trusting what the company says the machine will do. What anyone else does is up to them.

And that is only for the PR system one machines that I asked about not Resmed etc.

Info for what its worth to anyone.

[Galactus]

Look at that and they don't even require pure sine.

I had no doubt it would work, and had hooked mine up to test, also even tried my crappy in car unit with the POS sine it had, and that worked too. But it is really nice to see them telling people that instead of all the wasted time, money and effort I have seen in the past.

Good job, very good job!

[surferdude2]

Yeah, I wouldn't hesitate to run my ResMed stuff from any typical job site or emergency generator that I have used in the past.

BTW, If you are one of those who already has the automobile power adapter to run your CPAP while on the road, you can use that to run it at home when the power is off while charging the car battery from the 12 V.D.C. output on the generator that many/most of them have. Just think, you might be able to run it all night from the car's battery and run the generator in the daytime to do the recharge. That way you wouldn't have to listen to the noise all night. Just be sure you keep the generator in a place that is as well ventilated.

Or you could buy a spare car battery (deep cycle one would be even better) and use it instead of your car's battery. Either way would do and at the same time satisfy the folks who are concerned about the generator's output waveform. That would be much cheaper than buying a pure sine wave output generator.

[Galactus]

I almost did forget to say that despite saying it all the time. Make sure to keep the generator far enough away from the house to avoid any fire or C02 poisoning as it is odorless and tasteless.

And as to gennys that deliver pure sine, easier and less expensive is a standard generator, and add a computer UPS, one that delivers pure sine. This way if anything happens to the generator you still can replace it with an inexpensive one, and the same for the UPS. Also using a UPS you could run a nice cord inside the house to the UPS while leaving the genny far outside and away.

[archangle]

ResMed S8 humidifiers may be damaged by a modified sine wave MSW voltage, which many generators and inverters put out. ResMed S9 machines, including humidifiers, are OK with MSW.

There are links in my signature line to the ResMed specs.

I suspect that Respironics M series and older humidifiers may have the same problem. PRS1 is probably OK, but I've never found any documentation from Respironics on this.

Curse you Respironics for not documenting this anywhere!

I think the problem comes from powering the humidifier directly from the AC line and using a phase fired controller to perform a "dimming" function.

[Ghost1958]

Yes sir archangel I have the PRS1 machine 560 but asked about the 550 also. The company tech didnt really seem to interested in the model just saying a Respronics machine would run the same with no damage on modified sine as it does on house AC. Does not require pure sine wave only run of the mill modified sine as most inexpensive gens put out.

I never checked on Resmed. I had to do the old Big Sandy two step on the phone to get thru to their tech dept just with Respironics LOL.

However when I did figure a way to fool the canned message options and get a live person in sales they were very friendly and pleasant and put me thru to tech in less than a minute, who were also very helpful. And one can run the heated hose humidifier just the same as long as the basic wattage amp volts etc is able to be carried by the generator with no ill effects long or short tem on the power brick or the machine. As I said just passing what the company tech told me for what its worth to anyone.

It would better though if they simply added that little bit of info to the manual in the specs LOL.

[OMyMyOHellYes]

I almost did forget to say that despite saying it all the time. Make sure to keep the generator far enough away from the house to avoid any fire or C02 poisoning as it is odorless and tasteless.

CO.

[Sleepster]

The native supply for Respironics machines is 12 volts DC. You could use your generator or solar panels to keep a 12-volt battery charged, and then run the Respironics machine directly off the battery using the proper pair of cables designed for that purpose. That's what I plan to do the next time the grid goes down.

One of the above-mentioned cables can plug directly into a cigarette light lighter socket in your car, boat, RV, etc.

[surferdude2]

I think the problem comes from powering the humidifier directly from the AC line and using a phase fired controller to perform a "dimming" function.

That understandable since by the term "dimming" it implies that the controlling action that adjusts the output power delivered to the humidifier is depending on a voltage waveform clipping (aka limiter) circuit. When clipping a modified waveform it would be difficult to determine what energy value would result prior to the clip as versus a pure sine wave. It could be higher or lower depending on the rise time and overall shape of the waveform before the clip. Since voltage is the determining factor for actuating the clip, power delivered has no say in the process and could be delivered higher (or lower) than intended (were talking watt-seconds here).

I suspect it would be higher in most cases since for a run of the mill generator's voltage regulation scheme to work properly would require the generator to supply an excessively high voltage and then clip it at the 120 volt level. That would yield a modified waveform output (flat topped) with a higher average power content as opposed to a pure sine wave output.

It would be nice if the manufacturers of these devices would recognize the importance of running them from a generator on occasion and give some "up front" guidance in the documentation that is given to the users.

EDIT: BTW, Ghost1958, Thanks for taking the time to research this and sharing it here. No doubt it will put some minds at ease.

[Galactus]

I almost did forget to say that despite saying it all the time. Make sure to keep the generator far enough away from the house to avoid any fire or C02 poisoning as it is odorless and tasteless.

CO.

Oooooooooo a grammar police person....... Now I see how it is around here. At least we should correctly correct it then as;

CO2.

How's that?