Posted: 1/23/2009 12:11:07 PM EDT
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My dad wants something he can run his C-PAP machine off of during power outages. He was told by his C_PAP dude he needed a really good inverter for the better waveform. Fair enough but good inverters are pricey, and not all that many small ones out there
Anyone know how clean a computer UPS wave is? It seems like a much nicer package for his needs |
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I was assuming their capacity was kinda small, but I don't yet know the power requirements of the C-PAP.
I guess the guy told him that some could be used just fine with any inverter and some were more delicate and would fry from the rough power of the cheapo inverters. I wouldn't have figured there was any electronics to speak of in the machine, looks like it's essentially an air pump. I'm wondering about my kids nebulizer now too |
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They basically are an air pump, some of the newere models have electronics to monitor, but again I've run one of them off a 15 year old 200w el-cheapo inverter with no issues. Power useage does vary depending on pressure, you can expect 25-30W power consumption when running.
Doesn't your kids' nebulizer have a 12V port? My mother and brother have nebulizers and they both have 12v as well as 120v connections. If not the modified sine wave of typical 200-400w inverters should work fine as well. |
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Quoted:
Most of the computer UPSes are the same inverter technology as the inverters at walmart. Square wave or modified sine wave. -Foxxz i kinda figured it was nothin but a nicely packed trollin motor battery and inverter Do they make something that would plug into a 120v line and put out a pure sine wave? A power cleaner so to speak. |
| My CPAP machine, a Respironics M series, has an external brick power supply that delivers 12 VDC to the unit. The external power brick is a switch-mode power supply so a modified sine wave inverter is actually better than wall power. I built a simple power cord with a connector that mates with the main unit so I can run it off 12V batteries directly. With the humidifier on, mine pulls about 50W though the current draw varies tremendously depending on whether I'm exhaling or not. YMMV. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Most of the computer UPSes are the same inverter technology as the inverters at walmart. Square wave or modified sine wave. -Foxxz i kinda figured it was nothin but a nicely packed trollin motor battery and inverter Do they make something that would plug into a 120v line and put out a pure sine wave? There are devices called power conditioners that basically take 120vac, rectify it to DC, and then output it back to 120vac. Hard to say what they are putting out unless you check the specs. They make pure sine wave inverters but they are 5x more expensive than a normal inverter and less power efficient. Talking almost $1/w for most units. http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&channel=s&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=rqB&q=pure+sine+wave+inverter&btnG=Search You certainly need to check out what the power usage is for your device. It is likely printed somewhere on it. Or get a kill-a-watt meter. -Foxxz |