CPAP machine

[wildcard]

Does anybody know of or even uses a CPAP machine for breathing ploblems at night? My wife does,and problem being its ok when you are on mains power but not all marinas, especially in Greece you cannot get it. The machine does convert to 12 volt but that is taking a lot out of my batteries. There must be on the market a 12 volt small dry cell that I can charge up after a nights sleep, I just don't want to carry another large batterie for this machine, Can anybody help please?

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[VicMallows]

Sorry, know nothing about a CPAP machine. But by your own admission, it's taking a lot of power out of your (presumably boat) batteries. In which case your only solution is to provide additional battery capacity and/or charging. Since it's used at night, maybe a wind-generator? The first thing is to find out / measure just how much power it's using. Should be easy to measure with an ammeter. For example, if I guess that the machine uses 60 watts, thats 5 amps per hour, and I'm not surprised your battery is pretty low by morning.

Edited: out of curiousity, have just done a google search on CPAP. Of the few that actually quote a power consumption, its between 36 watts and 65 watts, so guess wasn't far out. Suggest your instruction manual might have the info.


Vic

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by VicMallows on 06/03/2004 18:42 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

Have a look at the power packs in Maplins and similar ..... lightweight and portable......

or this one .... (maybe a bit on small size though)

http://custom1.farnell.com/cpc/prod...ategory_name=&product_id=278038&cookie_test=1

Sorry about not making it clickable - but sure you can cut and paste ...

<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.qqbaltic.com/index.html>http://www.qqbaltic.com/index.html</A> For all those disbelievers ! /forums/images/icons/cool.gif

 

[wildcard]

many thanks to you both for that valuable lnformation

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[thaxter]

I have been using CPAP for about 12yrs and have the same problem! I usually just dont use the machine for a few nights, however I have recently found out that I now have angina so I will have to rethink my sailing/ sleeping arangements. I stop breathing around 200 times a night without the CPAP and of course the heart goes under stress each time that happens( something I can no longer afford to risk) A chap at my sailing club recons that he has heard of a "solid state" 240v converter which apparently uses very little battery power. he is trying to get more info for me, if its any use I'll let you know

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[VicMallows]

The trouble is, the power consumption will be the same, whether you convert the voltage or not.... plus a bit extra (about 10%) lost in the conversion process. The only gain will be if your external convertor is more efficient than the device's internal one, assuming it actually works off 240v. I suspect it may actually work on 12v anyway, and the MAINS is converted to 12v, in which case no gain.

Vic

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