sleeping apnea in a motorhome

[triumph]

Having to have a cpap machine running all night, i dont think i will be the only one with this problem ,can anyone give me advice how to cope with power when not on hook up.

[colin]

This has come up before, best suggestion I thought was to use efoy.

 

Link below to one of the retailers that sell them.

http://www.roadpro.co.uk/retail/product_list.aspx?prod=Efoy+Fuel+Cells

[MandyAndy]

Hi,

Friends of ours that come away with us had this problem a couple of years ago, they got a solar panel, 2 large batteries and a small gennie. They don't seem to have had a problem since.

 

They did use one of the large power packs from Halfords but found this ran out in the early hours and was a nuisance.

 

We are all leaving for the Christmas markets today in Germany so will have a word with him and see what he is doing, we are staying on a couple of Aires and spelplatz they should have EHU but I know the one tonight won't have so will ask what he does.

 

Mandy

[Guest Peter James]

I just run my engine to charge the battery when not on hook up, like the ice cream men do. I realize its not the most efficient way to generate electricity, but certainly cheaper for me than buying extra equipment. I also find the constant low hum of the engine far less obtrusive than a little generator than sounds as annoying as a buzzing fly.

[art338]

I also found the simplest was to run the van engine.

 

art

[Guest JudgeMental]

Mandy&Andy - 2010-12-01 6:13 AM

 

We are all leaving for the Christmas markets today in Germany so will have a word with him and see what he is doing, we are staying on a couple of Aires and spelplatz they should have EHU but I know the one tonight won't have so will ask what he does.

 

Mandy

 

sorry of topic *-) Mandy you have been to Christmas markets before, I remember your posts....in weather like this, are the roads in Europe better then here? as I may have to go up to near Hamburg before Christmas to PX camper (miss vat increase) :-S

 

 

 

[Mel B]

Eddie ... I thought it was the UK that had the vat increase so what difference does it make going to mainland Europe? 8-)

[Brian Kirby]

German VAT to reclaim and UK VAT to pay on import.  UK VAT increases to 20% 1/1/11, so invoice date before then gets UK VAT @ 17.5%.

[Mel B]

Ahhhh, now I understand. :-D

[Guest JudgeMental]

Wow, I did dat without movin nufink :-D

 

a bit banjacked for going what with some commitments and the weather.......I am sure once I can get to Dover it wil be OK on the otherside, as road ,mangement far better there I hope :-S

[Clive]

This subject makes me think several times before offering quick answers as your life could depend on how you interpret my answers.

 

So, let’s do some maths first. I am not sure how serious your Sleep Apnoea is so initially I will assume the worst case scenario.

If you sleep 8 hours and run a pump consuming about 3 amps for the duration you will be consuming nearly 25 ampere hours. This is not something that would be a problem providing you were using a fully charged 85 ampere hour battery to run your pump. You said that you may want to camp wild on route. From this I deduce that you would only be stopping overnight and continuing your journey the following day. But my concern is if you stop early and have all sorts of other 12 volt equipment running, lights, diesel heater perhaps, satellite TV etc how much of the stored energy in your battery would have already been used before you go to bed?. So my inclination would be to use a second “split charge” system to run your second battery and use this second battery exclusively to run your medical equipment. This way you would know that the battery had sufficient charge in it for a night’s sleep.

Does your pump have an alarm that would wake you should it fail for any reason? This would be my concern. As it is a compressor I would expect an audible alarm triggered by a pressure switch that was held open by the air pressure but would close should the pressure drop below acceptable limits. Perhaps a simple circuit to monitor the mains output from your inverter and sound an alarm should the inverter output fail for any reason?

 

 

If your wild camping is for more than just one night then alternatives exist.

 

As it’s a night application a generator would not be sensible as it alone would probably stop you sleeping. However when your life might depend on it perhaps the expense of an EFOY Fuel cell would be justified. We are talking a lot of money depending on which model you chose. The model capable of keeping up with the demands of your pump continuously is the EFOY 900 and will cost around £2400.00 but its quiet and will work day and night if necessary.

 

Whatever you do I believe you should use a professional to install the equipment for you if your life depends on it.

 

If your Sleep Apnoea is not the life threatening variety then I would parallel up the batteries using 6 or 10mm sq cable fitting a 25 amp fuse in the positive connection close to the positive terminal of each leisure battery. I would also ensure that some alarm function is operational should the equipment fail during the night.

 

I hope that these thoughts have been of some help.

 

C.

 

 

[triumph]

:-) thanks for all advice my sleeping apnea is not life threating if pump fails can find i nod off next day i will be off mains for up to 4weeks found last year 2 110 amp batts where not enough with other usage all so had a sollar pannel 120watt think a gennie is only w ay to go whats the best to go for. thanks

[doonhamer]

I have been using a ResMed in the van for some time on a 1000 Watt inverter.  I have two 100 Ah batteries and a 40 Ah solar panel and given decent weather wild camp most of the time. 

[MandyAndy]

Went on last Wednesday night, yes mad, yes stuck in Operation Stack, yes took us 5 hours to do half a mile on M20.

 

Finally got onto train at our booked time of 1.23am and arrived in Bray Dunes at 3.15am.

 

Roads in UK just got worse and worse, best we have ever seen M25 and Dartford Tunnel, we flew through them. Onto A20 for chip shop and catch up friends also at chip shop 10mins in front of us.

 

They got to Bray Dunes for 10.30 :-S sadly for us as we ate the snow came, we rejoined M20 and right into the back of operation Stack, won't go into details but did get onto train in the end.

 

Roads in France where not bad on Motorway but not good as it was snowing there also, small road to Aire was a nightmare but we and another van also with us made it through . Got up next morning and set off at 9am and you would not believe it was same road system, completely clear of snow and just a wet road and drying fast, they are so much more efficient than us.

 

Clear roads then all the way to Cologne. :-> where we had a fantastic time on 5 out of the 7 markets there. Then on to Aachen where we all love the best, plenty of room on Aire even on a Saturday night, however market was packed but it did keep you out of the cold wind.

 

Mandy