RE: Sleep Apnea & Dry Camping

[garym053]

 
Hi! I have just been diagnosed with pretty extreme Sleep Apnea and will be on a CPAP machine for the forseeable future! I am now concerned about running it while dry camping and was wondering if anyone on the board has been through this or knows of someone who has.
 I m kind of wondering how many batteries I m going to drain on a weekend! Should I add Solar panels to help recharge? I realize that I haven t even gotten the machine so I don t know it s power consumption yet! Any advise? Thanks!

[missteri]

 garym053
I hate to say it, but DH s sleep apnea machine is one of the reasons we look for an electric site.  I really don t have experience trying to run it off of batteries.

[tlhdoc]

 garym053
DH uses a bipap machine, but doesn t camp.  On the old board someone had posted that they got about 2 nights off of a battery.  I don t know what size battery they had though.  You might want to check and see if you could charge your battery at the rangers stations, sense it is for a medical problem.

[mike4947]

 garym053
Gary, have a sit down with the doctor and get as much info on manufacturers of the machines as you can. There are several and I ve seen at least one that has 12 volt capability for dry camping. (actually it has a 12 volt system for battery use in case of power failure) Also the power requirement vary depending on exactly what functions and the " strength"  the machine has.  If a local hospital has a apnea clinic they are a great source of info on the machines.

[garym053]

 garym053
Hi! Thanks for your input! I did talk to my doctor about camping and battery options. I really won t know much about specs until I actually get a machine which is in the hands of a home health care company! If I had ordered it through the internet, I would have it by now!!
 I DID notice that at least one company makes a machine with a 12V circuit wired in while other companies sell 12V to 120V inverters. I wonder if the one with the 12v circuit uses less juice than going through an inverter?
 I have 2 100A or greater deep cycle batteries, I plan on taking both!
 The point about recharging at the rangers station is a good one. Although I hesitate to ask because we are friends and we do quite a bit of volunteer work at the campground and wouldn t want them to think we re asking for favors!
 Anyway, I appreciate the replies and if you have any further thoughts, please pass them along!

[aldebnj]

 garym053
I have a Bi-Pap from Respironics (Pro model with Bi-Flex) and it has a 12 vdc jack on the rear.  Typically you will use less power going direct than through an inverter because of the power lost in the inversion process.  I just got my machine and haven t camped with it yet but my family is excited about not having to listen to me snore in the future.  We also only camp with hook ups. I have two daughters, 16 and 11 and they do not want to give up all the comforts of home but at least they go with me.
 
 Al