Deep cycle battery help

[BenjAllie]

Hello

I just bought a sprinter van and I'm using it to transport my grandma on a week long road trip. She is on oxygen and uses portable oxygen during the day and her oxygen concentrator with a CPAP machine at night. I bought one lead acid deep cycle battery. Do you think this will be enough power for the oxygen concentrator? Do you think a battery box is a good idea? Any ideas on where to store the battery?

Also I am on a tight budget(thus the lead acid battery) and have no knowledge about energy systems. I know that a inverter is needed to get energy out of the battery and that I need to hook the batter into a power source like the alternator and or solar to charge it, other than that I'm the dark on the subject and could use some advice on cheap solutions. I have done a little research on solar kits and other energy management equipment and it seems like even just a few battery can cost upwards of 1000$!

My budget is really tight and I have a very limited amount of time before I have to leave on my journey so I can't wait for items that take many day's to arrive. luckily I have amazon prime so I have been able to get alot of essentials shipped fast but a few things I really wanted like a maxxair fan aren't available in California due to being out of stock everywhere and not available on amazon prime.

Thanks so much

-Allison

 

[Roamers]

Need the spec on the concentrator and CPAP, and what size battery?

You will need to charge it somehow. I don't have my notes handy, but doubt 7 nights of CPAP alone is in the cards without charging.

 

[marklg]

Hello

I just bought a sprinter van and I'm using it to transport my grandma on a week long road trip. She is on oxygen and uses portable oxygen during the day and her oxygen concentrator with a CPAP machine at night. I bought one deep cycle battery. Do you think this will be enough power for the oxygen concentrator? Do you think a battery box is a good idea? Any ideas on where to store the battery?

Thanks so much

-Allison

My CPAP machine uses about 10 Ah per night. A deep cycle battery typically is about 70 AH and you can only use half of that before you risk damaging the battery, so that is 35 Ah. So maybe three nights. You do need a way to charge it. Do you have an inverter for the CPAP or does it run off 12V?

I'm thinking that unless you really know for sure what you need, and if it will do it, the risk of guessing wrong is no CPAP, possibly life threatening. I tested mine out at home for a few nights where I could switch to a wall outlet if needed, and I don't absolutely need the CPAP.

Batteries are heavy. You absolutely need to fasten it down securely. Is it a sealed battery? If not, hydrogen needs to be vented or there is a fire hazard.

There are packaged systems designed to do this kind of thing safely. No idea if they are rentable.

Regards,

Mark

 

[BenjAllie]

Need the spec on the concentrator and CPAP, and what size battery?

You will need to charge it somehow. I don't have my notes handy, but doubt 7 nights of CPAP alone is in the cards without charging.

It's a group size 27F battery and I believe merklg is right about 10Ah per night. I am considering hooking it into some wires that are coming out of the floor of the cargo area of the van that where left from a refrigeration unit that was removed before I bought it, they seem to be hooked into the alternator because when a touched them together there was a spark(Dangerous)!

 

[BenjAllie]

My CPAP machine uses about 10 Ah per night. A deep cycle battery typically is about 70 AH and you can only use half of that before you risk damaging the battery, so that is 35 Ah. So maybe three nights. You do need a way to charge it. Do you have an inverter for the CPAP or does it run off 12V?

I'm thinking that unless you really know for sure what you need, and if it will do it, the risk of guessing wrong is no CPAP, possibly life threatening. I tested mine out at home for a few nights where I could switch to a wall outlet if needed, and I don't absolutely need the CPAP.

Batteries are heavy. You absolutely need to fasten it down securely. Is it a sealed battery? If not, hydrogen needs to be vented or there is a fire hazard.

There are packaged systems designed to do this kind of thing safely. No idea if they are rentable.

Regards,

Mark

I was definitely going to buy an inverter and ether hook it up to the alternator or if I can find a cheap solar setup I would rather put pannels on the roof to charge it. The battery isn't sealed so I would ether be mounting them under the van or getting a batter box with a ventilation pipe/hose to vent the hydrogen outside the cab.

 

[autostaretx]

How/where are you spending your nights?
In the Sprinter? Campgrounds? With power?
In a motel (or similar)?

If you're in a motel (etc) instead of solar buy a battery charger you can plug into the wall.
(heck: buy one anyway ... insurance back-up)
One that can supply 10 amps to the battery will refill a 10AH day in two hours.
Far cheaper than any form of solar. (bring extension cords, too ... 100 or 150' of them)
(i just looked up a 27F ... damn, that's a heavy battery...)

Batteries only out-gas when they're being charged, so a plastic battery box when it's riding (not charging) in the Sprinter would be adequate ... and yes... tie it down securely. The battery's plastic case will have a hole (and maybe angled fitting) for the vent hose .. they're pretty dinky (1/4" diameter). Drill a hole in the Sprinter's floor and dump it down there.
------------
If the CPAP can accept 12 volts DC, that's far more efficient than running your battery through an inverter then into the CPAP's power lump (if it has one) then into the CPAP. You'd be looking at a 15 to 20% energy loss.
Find out from the manufacturer if the CPAP would be bothered by a "modified sine wave" inverter (that's the cheap kind). Many electronics devices do NOT like MSW power ... so your inverter cost may rise from $50 to $300. ("pure sine wave").
----------------

How much solar you'd need .... 10 AH (let's double that) ... 20 AH means at least 3 hours of *direct full sun* on a 100 watt panel. ... and you will rarely get the fully-rated power from a solar setup.

---dick

 

[Roamers]

You can save some power if you can avoid the inverter. The brick on my CPAP actually has 12 v DC output, so a simple adapter let's me run off auto battery rather than going through inverter.