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  • #1

    newbie portable battery thread

    Hello everyone, new to this forum and also to the world of CPAP, nice to see so much support out there, and great to feel rested and alive again!
    Have looked through the battery/camping threads, as I am after a portable solution for my yearly Scottish canoeing and wild camping holiday. Has anyone got any experience running the Resmed S9 autoset (I'll leave the humidifier at home!) off a battery, and if so, how long can i expect to get at moderate to high pressure levels? Is the super CPAP battery still the only real portable option, or is there anything cheaper out there? I see a couple of you have used them and seem to rate them, how do they stand up to the test of time? And finally, one supplier says I need to charge it off the mains, another says I can recharge it while driving my car from the 12v dc supply. Does anyone know who's right? Sorry for all the questions, but £300 for the battery and £60 for a converter is a lot of cash and I want to get it right!
    With thanks, olchon
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  • #2
    Hi and welcome! Enjoy the forum and I'm sure someone will come along and help you with the camping thread!

    Do run us through your story when you have time!

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    • #3
      Originally posted by olchon View Post
      ... And finally, one supplier says I need to charge it off the mains, another says I can recharge it while driving my car from the 12v dc supply. Does anyone know who's right?
      The Super CPAP battery can only be charged from a 240V supply (seems a crazy oversight not to let it be charged from a 12V supply!). The information that comes from the suppliers also says you can only charge it from a mains power supply.

      Having said the official line, not for my experience...I had no problem charging it from an inverter supply on a boat or in the car when I wanted to. It isn't quick though, using my CPAP for 8 hours (running at 16cm H2O) needed about 2 hours to top up during the day.

      Just to add to the confusion, the battery comes with a main power converter which takes 110-240V 50-60Hz 1.2A and converts it into a 15V 3A supply for the battery. From other stuff I know about Lithium Polymer batteries I would be very wary of using an alternative power supply for it - they have a habit of heating up rather a lot if they are charged too quickly.

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      • #4
        Be very carefull using a Resmed machine on a battery as I have read that they use different polarity to other makes of machine.
        Resmed S9 Autoset
        Resmed H5i humidifier with Climateline
        Resmed Quatro Fx and F&P Forma masks

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        • #5
          Originally posted by silvercarper View Post
          Be very carefull using a Resmed machine on a battery as I have read that they use different polarity to other makes of machine.
          The simple answer to that is to make sure that what connects the battery to the Machine is the converter made and supplied by Resmed.

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          • #6
            Thanks for your help. After taking your advice into account and doing a bit more web hunting it looks like the best thing available is the super cpap. It seems that there are different versions of this battery, a 222Wh version with max 6a output (lithium ion) and a 266Wh version with max 20a output (lithium polymer). The former apparantly can be recharged from a dc supply, the latter ?who knows?! As a reply from the manufacturer is likely to be a long time coming and I need the battery before midge season, I have gone ahead and ordered it.It'll connect to my S9 via the converter available from resmed. I'll let you know how I get on..... Thanks again. M.
            Last edited by olchon; 17 March 2011, 15:25.

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            • #7
              follow up

              had a great week wild canoe camping up in the highlands, blessed with the best weather on record!
              super cpap battery and res med adaptor served me well. with the res med s9 I got 4 nights before needing to recharge at a wigwam near Gairloch (about 30 hours), then 3 nights after that (I imagine the usage lowered due to some excessive wine consumption, not that I would advocate that on this forum!! ). The battery and the adaptor came in at £360 total. Not cheap, but goes to show--OSA needn't be a restriction to enjoying your freedom!!
              Thanks everyone for your help.....
              Sleep tight!
              Max

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              • #8
                Great to hear Max, thanks for sharing.

                Altitude also plays a role in battery life. The higher you go, the quicker it'll run out (don't ask me why).

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