Good on you sir! It will be interesting to how quickly the solar panel can charge up the battery in a practical application. I have a smaller solar panel that I use to charge up my phone and smaller battery packs, but it sometimes struggles when the conditions aren't quite right.
I've even thought about using one of the battery packs with built-in AC outlet. Besides capacity, I think the main issue would be wattage (I think).
I too looked into battery storage with an integral inverter so I could have the AC option, but I felt that for the weight gain, I probably would not use the inverter enough to warrant it. My controller is actually supposed to arrive tonight, so I am looking forward to hooking everything up and checking voltages.
Yeah, I was thinking about slinging up my hammock in the backyard to do a full test of the setup, starting with a fully charged battery, running it all night with my 12V CPAP, checking the next morning of it's capacity, then hooking it up to the solar and see how much it charges through the day.
Here in Boise, it has been rainy, windy, and overcast, so if it could charge it back up in all of that, I would be golden in the summer months!
I still need to find some two-wire SO cord or something similar that is the biggest gauge wire I can use with the connectors and then make up some "pig-tails" to hook up the controller to the battery and solar panel. I'd like to go with the lightest weight, but biggest wire gauge, cable that I can find to minimize weight addition and resistive loss.
I'm like Mountianman. I just sit mine on my stool/chair beside my hammock. I use a motorcycle battery. Machine is set up straight DC without humidifier. Works great.
Robert
This thread has been really helpful. I use a Dreamstation CPAP and really can't do without. I tried a Microstart XP-10 batttery to power it but found it was an immediate fail due to peak amps. Now I am waiting on a Freedom battery that is supposed to work with my machine. I will be testing everything out next month and give a report for it. Recharge will be from a motorcycle while riding. Still trying to figure out placement for CPAP and battery.
This battery will work with your Dream Station. I have two of them ans amps arent an issue.Originally Posted by MC-Advntr
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I would rather be in the woods... my dog would rather be in the pool. My wife thinks we are both nuts.
Following here, as I use the same battery. Actually own two of them and can get 4 nights. Interested to see how your charging system works out.
I would rather be in the woods... my dog would rather be in the pool. My wife thinks we are both nuts.
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/tra...somnetics.html
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/Tra...t-Battery.html x2
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/som...r-charger.html
CPAP fits right into my ridgeline organizer. takes about 2 days for solar charger to charge a battery(if left still in 1 spot) and its sunny. if its cloudy and or raining or your trying to charge while on the move it will take about a week to charge 1. If I had to do it again, I would buy a third battery and not the solar charger. Each battery lasts me about 17 hours. so 2 good 8 hour nights sleep. This CPAP is a little louder than my home model, but I only seem to notice it when I'm home in a quiet room. When I'm out on the trail, I don't notice it at all. The CPAP machine itself weighs almost 1 lb. Each battery weighs around 1.5 lbs. and solar panel is about .5 lb. So all together, CPAP + 2 batteries + Solar panel, I'm carrying around 4 1/2 lbs.
Last edited by Hefty Hanger; 04-20-2018 at 09:47.
I have high hopes for your test, I think it's going to go well.
My confounding issue is that I have a 24v machine (ResMed AirSense 10), so I either have to get a 24v battery, a 12v battery with a ResMed 12v to 24v adapter, a 12v battery with the 12v 'cigar lighter' outlet with a ResMed 12v car adapter kit, or.......a battery with the 110v inverter built-in, which seems to be the simplest most cost effective way to try it.
The other option for me is to just get a 12v 'travel' machine.
Try looking into the cost for a 12vdc power supply that will work with your machine to use with a 12vdc battery like mine. From an electrical perspective, staying DC will be most efficient in power and weight. I saw one on a YouTube video but I don’t have a part number. I too have a 24vdc Resmed CPAP that I use at home. Much quieter but I have not looked into the dc power supply for it yet.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
So, last night my solar panel controller arrived. I was excited enough to scrounge through the garage and find some #14 speaker wire to do some temporary hook-ups with the new battery, the controller, and the solar panel. The controller installation instructions state a minimum of #12, so I will be looking for #12ga-two wire cable for the final setup.
At dusk, I was out on my back patio, in my socks, trying to capture enough sunlight to see if the system would work. Great thing was when I picked up the solar panel, allowing sunlight to hit it, I could see the controller indication go GREEN and see the battery indication show it was charging! EXCITEMENT! (Yeah, my life is boring enough to make this a big deal to me...) So, at least now I do know that the system will charge the battery, even with VERY little sunlight. I won't be able to hang this weekend, as my hammock and 12V CPAP are up in the mountains at our place with the travel trailer.
We are planning on going up to the trailer next weekend though and I am planning on spending at least 1 night in the hammock, with this setup and then charging the following day and reporting back. I will go ahead and weigh the whole setup and let you guys know how much this ends up adding to the pack, in total. I'll also see if I can run down the weight specs on the individual components so you can mix and match and then get an idea of the impact on a pack.
Happy Hangin!
Jonathan
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