By Nanci Dixon
One of RVtravel.com’s past surveys told us that 35 percent of readers use, or their partner uses, a CPAP machine. If you’re one of those people and struggle with where to keep your machine at night or while in transit, or don’t know how to use your machine when you boondock, this is for you.
We needed a small stand to put my husband’s CPAP machine on in our motorhome and an easy way to transport it while we traveled. We didn’t want to have to take the machine apart every night or have to empty out the water chamber.
We found a simple wooden box that fit the small sliver of space next to the bed to put it on at night, sort of like a table. Then, while in transit, we can fit the machine inside the sturdy box for storage.
When we wanted to boondock, we needed to find a way to run his CPAP machine all night. We found a great lithium battery pack specifically suggested for CPAP machines. Here are similar lithium battery packs. The dual batteries provide enough power for several nights—as long as we’re using it without the heated water setting. On the one we have, the batteries are rechargeable with 120-volt power, which works perfectly with our solar panels recharging our house batteries during the day. It can be recharged with 12-volt power by running a car or RV engine. The battery kit also has some handy adapters to run small appliances, and charge phones or other devices.
##RVT1155
Be a lot less expensive to buy a CPAP device12v adapter and use it through your RV batteries.
Exactly!! CPAP’s run on 12 VDC. They plug into a 120VAC outlet with a cord that has a converter on it (from AC to DC power). So it’s very inefficient to go from a battery system that is inverted to AC power, then converted back to DC power.
My wife started using a ResMed 11 in May, 2023. When running on our Progressive Dynamics 2,000 watt inverter it took 30-40 amps overnight (according to our Victron BMV-712, that I know our overnight use before using the ResMed) using humidity (she can’t use it without humidity).
After about 30 nights using the inverter, I purchased a 12v to 24v converter with the ResMed plug on Amazon using the cigarette plug for a television that we don’t have. It uses only uses 15-20 amps with the 12v converter when using humidity.
The 20 amps happens when in Arizona, with low humidity. The 15 amps is when we’re camping with the outside humidity above 50-60%.
I’ve had great luck with the 12V Resmed adapter, and of course it eliminates the overhead of the inverter. I also am lucky in that I do NOT need the humidifier, even in the dry hot desert. Lastly, I’ve found that keeping the air tube temperature at 60F works just fine for me, all year round. The overall result is that I barely crack 15AH per night, which is a small portion of my 400AH lithium pack, and easily charged back with my 500W of roof solar..
CPAP yes…Phillips NO…Resmed is the one for sure.
Thank you, Nanci! 🙂 What an elegant and efficient solution to the problem! The box is such a functional solution! 🙂 Thanks again and safe travels! 🙂
Your link to amazon shows lots of batteries but not the specific one you have used. Could you please tell me the name of the battery?
Hi, Jim. Here’s what Nanci said when I sent her an email: “This is the replacement for the BPS CPAP battery in the article. The old one is discontinued. Same manufacturer. Ours has lasted at least ten years.” The link in the article has been updated so that it goes to the replacement product, plus to the page with similar products to choose from. Thank you for asking. Take care. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com