i have seen some comments about this might have been popup portal you will have to do a search but it will be tough to maintain your battery or batteries in your case. you would have to have fully charged batteries every night use a gen. in order to do it.
for some reason me or my wife needs our cpaps while out camping and we have done as long as 6 weeks in Europe without them. you will have to roll your own so to speak.
This is done more than it seems. It can be done both with solar and with generator or both. Regardless of the ways you choose to set it up you need to read through and become familiar with the basics in our solar resource section. Pay special attention to section 2 on reducing power consumption and section 3 on battery. First you need to look at the new 12v mobile CPAP systems that are designed specifically for this purpose. Using an inverter on a home CPAP system is a very inefficient setup and will require more power draw.
Next you'll need to identify your power usage when camping. I.E. our family of 4 uses 7-12 ah daily on average and heavy usage days with lots of device charging we occasionally hit 18-20 ah. Once you get ur led bulbs, and get your usage efficient and know your base daily needs then you can find out what the CPAP will draw for Xhours it will run and add that to your base. Once you have that number you can design the necessary system to meet and replace the necessary energy and off you go. The key to your system will be basic power reduction, the CPAP machine, and the trailer battery solution first. Next, how you will reliably recharge those batteries. You will want to put the lions share of budget into the 12v CPAP and trailer batteries, then you could go solar with a generator as a backup or just a generator for now and build out a more robust solar option later.
I agree with what Greg said regarding getting a CPAP that uses 12 volts. You might want to look closely at your existing unit, if it has a "Transformer" on the "Plug End" you might discover that the output of the transformer is actually 12 volts DC. If that is the case all you need is a cord that will plug into both your CPAP and your Scamp DC outlet. If not, you should get a CPAP designed to operate on 12 volts.
The reason you want to have a 12 volt CPAP is because, if you use an inverter in your Scamp to "Invert" your 12 volts into 120 volts (to use with your existing machine) you will loose energy converting the 12 volts into 120 volts and then loose energy again when (possibly) converting it into the voltage your CPAP uses (maybe 24 or 36 volts).
With this being said, there is a new product out called a "Solar Generator" that is being sold on Amazon. Basically, this is a large Lithium-Ion battery bank with a built-in inverter (for 12 0 volts) along with a couple of 12 volt and 5 volt USB outlets.
This might be a good option for CPAP users, whereas, they can eliminate relying on the Scamp's battery to power their life-saving CPAP machine and alleviate any worries that their Scamp accessories will drain the Scamp battery and not be able to power their CPAP machines all through the night.
A couple of notes about these "Solar Generators"...
First, there is nothing "Solar" or Generator" about them. They are large Battery Banks that can be recharged using a "Solar Panel" and they can be used in lieu of having a "running" (gas) "Generator", hence the name, "Solar Generator".
Second, if you choose to buy one of these (or a pair for both of you) don't focus on their rated "Wattage". The Wattage refers to the maximum load that can be plugged into the "Solar Generator". You need to focus on the "Amp Hour" rating, this tells you how much energy can be stored inside the Battery Bank, the More Amp Hours (Ah) the better.
If you do purchase one of these, you will need to have a method to recharge them daily (or every other day if you are lucky). You could hook them up to your existing Solar charging system, or charge them from the Scamp Battery (after the Scamp is fully charged (or near full)). Just ensure that you have enough extra charging capability to charge this and the Scamp Battery daily.
The big advantage of using one of these is that your CPAP is NOT tied into the Scamp's battery and is powered by a dedicated power source.
I bought a transformer that allows me to use a 12v source. I tried it out at home first to see how long I cousl use it. after 2 nights use (without the humidifier) the voltage in the battery was 12.84v . I figured that it would be good enough to use as in most cases I would be traveling and the battery would be recharged. My machine is a RESMED S9.
i have seen some comments about this might have been popup portal you will have to do a search but it will be tough to maintain your battery or batteries in your case. you would have to have fully charged batteries every night use a gen. in order to do it.
for some reason me or my wife needs our cpaps while out camping and we have done as long as 6 weeks in Europe without them. you will have to roll your own so to speak.
good luck
bob
This is done more than it seems. It can be done both with solar and with generator or both. Regardless of the ways you choose to set it up you need to read through and become familiar with the basics in our solar resource section. Pay special attention to section 2 on reducing power consumption and section 3 on battery. First you need to look at the new 12v mobile CPAP systems that are designed specifically for this purpose. Using an inverter on a home CPAP system is a very inefficient setup and will require more power draw.
Next you'll need to identify your power usage when camping. I.E. our family of 4 uses 7-12 ah daily on average and heavy usage days with lots of device charging we occasionally hit 18-20 ah. Once you get ur led bulbs, and get your usage efficient and know your base daily needs then you can find out what the CPAP will draw for Xhours it will run and add that to your base. Once you have that number you can design the necessary system to meet and replace the necessary energy and off you go. The key to your system will be basic power reduction, the CPAP machine, and the trailer battery solution first. Next, how you will reliably recharge those batteries. You will want to put the lions share of budget into the 12v CPAP and trailer batteries, then you could go solar with a generator as a backup or just a generator for now and build out a more robust solar option later.
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thanks for the tips!
kfsmith
I agree with what Greg said regarding getting a CPAP that uses 12 volts. You might want to look closely at your existing unit, if it has a "Transformer" on the "Plug End" you might discover that the output of the transformer is actually 12 volts DC. If that is the case all you need is a cord that will plug into both your CPAP and your Scamp DC outlet. If not, you should get a CPAP designed to operate on 12 volts.
The reason you want to have a 12 volt CPAP is because, if you use an inverter in your Scamp to "Invert" your 12 volts into 120 volts (to use with your existing machine) you will loose energy converting the 12 volts into 120 volts and then loose energy again when (possibly) converting it into the voltage your CPAP uses (maybe 24 or 36 volts).
With this being said, there is a new product out called a "Solar Generator" that is being sold on Amazon. Basically, this is a large Lithium-Ion battery bank with a built-in inverter (for 12 0 volts) along with a couple of 12 volt and 5 volt USB outlets.
This might be a good option for CPAP users, whereas, they can eliminate relying on the Scamp's battery to power their life-saving CPAP machine and alleviate any worries that their Scamp accessories will drain the Scamp battery and not be able to power their CPAP machines all through the night.
A couple of notes about these "Solar Generators"...
First, there is nothing "Solar" or Generator" about them. They are large Battery Banks that can be recharged using a "Solar Panel" and they can be used in lieu of having a "running" (gas) "Generator", hence the name, "Solar Generator".
Second, if you choose to buy one of these (or a pair for both of you) don't focus on their rated "Wattage". The Wattage refers to the maximum load that can be plugged into the "Solar Generator". You need to focus on the "Amp Hour" rating, this tells you how much energy can be stored inside the Battery Bank, the More Amp Hours (Ah) the better.
If you do purchase one of these, you will need to have a method to recharge them daily (or every other day if you are lucky). You could hook them up to your existing Solar charging system, or charge them from the Scamp Battery (after the Scamp is fully charged (or near full)). Just ensure that you have enough extra charging capability to charge this and the Scamp Battery daily.
The big advantage of using one of these is that your CPAP is NOT tied into the Scamp's battery and is powered by a dedicated power source.
As Always,
Happy Scamping !!!
I bought a transformer that allows me to use a 12v source. I tried it out at home first to see how long I cousl use it. after 2 nights use (without the humidifier) the voltage in the battery was 12.84v . I figured that it would be good enough to use as in most cases I would be traveling and the battery would be recharged. My machine is a RESMED S9.