A friend of mine (Yes, I have one) is buying prebuilt shed and put it in the woods. She wants to be able to run her CPAP machine for a night or two at most every weekend, or so. What does she need as far as solar panel power? How big of a battery? How big of an inverter? TIA

On Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 2:10:15 PM UTC-7, Hank wrote:
> A friend of mine (Yes, I have one) is buying prebuilt shed and put it in the woods. She wants to be able to run her CPAP machine for a night or two at most every weekend, or so. What does she need as far as solar panel power? How big of a battery? How big of an inverter? TIA

Your friend wants this shed placed in the woods you might want to tell him solar panels need sunlight to function, he might want to choose a wind generator instead they produce significant more power than solar that are only about 80% efficient at the best of time. We have a 5 KW air turbine to run the entire house that includes 2 AC units, and being by the ocean with a nice breeze we average about 100 Kw per day that’s fed into the grid and provides more than enough, all he would need is more the likely something in the 600 watt range and he would have plenty to also run lights as well and the nice thing about wind it works 24 hrs.

On Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 6:24:28 PM UTC-4, Technobarbarian wrote:
> On Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 2:10:15 PM UTC-7, Hank wrote:
> > A friend of mine (Yes, I have one) is buying prebuilt shed and put it in the woods. She wants to be able to run her CPAP machine for a night or two at most every weekend, or so. What does she need as far as solar panel power? How big of a battery? How big of an inverter? TIA
> Hey, I have some recent experience with this. I use this battery for my wife's machine.
>
> ML35-12 - 12 Volt 35 AH SLA Battery- Mighty Max Battery Brand Product
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K8V2VD0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
>
> This will run her machine all night with a little left over. The inverter I use plugs straight into her machine where the ac transformer normally plugs in. That way I don't get any power loss from converting dc to ac and back to dc when it actually goes into her machine. If you search Amazon you can probably find dc inverters that will plug straight into her machine from her dc power source. That's where I found the one I'm using for my wife's ResMed machine.
>
> If she has room in her vehicle her best bet would probably be to install an isolated battery deep cycle battery in her vehicle and use that to power her CPAP.
>
> To have any idea what size solar panels she would need you need to know how much power her machine needs. It would help to know what machine she is using. The power specifications would be useful if she has them.
>
> TB
Update...I told her what she was going to need. Before I told her the type, size, and such, whe went to a place called Harbor freight and the guy there told her what she needed and and she bought the 100 watt kit and all the other pieces (one stop shop). It had 4 panels, controller, Battery, 2000 watt inverter. It came with everything except the power wire to the inverter which I made one up for her so we could test it. It was very easy and worked very well. It supplied her cpap all the time she slept, which was only 6 hours. The battery voltage dropped from 13.0 to 12.6. I felt the items she had bought would be sufficient to do what she wanted to do. I then made a harness which included a fuse and polarized plugs so she or her daughter wouldn't be able to hook up backyards. I told her to try different things and keep an eye on the voltage so to determine the limits of the unit. She called me back about 10 minutes later to tell me it wasn't working. I went over and found she blew the fuse (whew). After asking what did, she said she plugged in a toaster! The fuse was only 5 amp. LOL. Changed the fuse to a 10 amp but told her not to use anything like a toaster of hair dryer, and buy a few extra fuses. She and her daughter will be testing it out this weekend.. Wish ME luck. LOL

On Monday, October 9, 2023 at 9:24:17 PM UTC-4, robert caprel wrote:
> On Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 2:10:15 PM UTC-7, Hank wrote:
> > A friend of mine (Yes, I have one) is buying prebuilt shed and put it in the woods. She wants to be able to run her CPAP machine for a night or two at most every weekend, or so. What does she need as far as solar panel power? How big of a battery? How big of an inverter? TIA
> Your friend wants this shed placed in the woods you might want to tell him solar panels need sunlight to function, he might want to choose a wind generator instead they produce significant more power than solar that are only about 80% efficient at the best of time. We have a 5 KW air turbine to run the entire house that includes 2 AC units, and being by the ocean with a nice breeze we average about 100 Kw per day that’s fed into the grid and provides more than enough, all he would need is more the likely something in the 600 watt range and he would have plenty to also run lights as well and the nice thing about wind it works 24 hrs.

I suggested that. Due to the fact it is farmland and she gets a tax deduction (agriculture), nothing permanent can be erected (according to her and zoning). The "she shed" isn't considered permanent because it can be moved anytime. Yep, more stupid shit.
..

Hank wrote:
> On Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 6:24:28 PM UTC-4, Technobarbarian
> wrote:
>> On Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 2:10:15 PM UTC-7, Hank wrote:
>>> A friend of mine (Yes, I have one) is buying prebuilt shed and
>>> put it in the woods. She wants to be able to run her CPAP
>>> machine for a night or two at most every weekend, or so. What
>>> does she need as far as solar panel power? How big of a
>>> battery? How big of an inverter? TIA
>> Hey, I have some recent experience with this. I use this battery
>> for my wife's machine.
>>
>> ML35-12 - 12 Volt 35 AH SLA Battery- Mighty Max Battery Brand
>> Product
>> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K8V2VD0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
>>
>>
>>
This will run her machine all night with a little left over. The
inverter I use plugs straight into her machine where the ac
transformer normally plugs in. That way I don't get any power loss
from converting dc to ac and back to dc when it actually goes into her
machine. If you search Amazon you can probably find dc inverters that
will plug straight into her machine from her dc power source. That's
where I found the one I'm using for my wife's ResMed machine.
>>
>> If she has room in her vehicle her best bet would probably be to
>> install an isolated battery deep cycle battery in her vehicle and
>> use that to power her CPAP.
>>
>> To have any idea what size solar panels she would need you need
>> to know how much power her machine needs. It would help to know
>> what machine she is using. The power specifications would be
>> useful if she has them.
>>
>> TB
> Update...I told her what she was going to need. Before I told her
> the type, size, and such, whe went to a place called Harbor freight
> and the guy there told her what she needed and and she bought the
> 100 watt kit and all the other pieces (one stop shop). It had 4
> panels, controller, Battery, 2000 watt inverter. It came with
> everything except the power wire to the inverter which I made one
> up for her so we could test it. It was very easy and worked very
> well. It supplied her cpap all the time she slept, which was only 6
> hours. The battery voltage dropped from 13.0 to 12.6. I felt the
> items she had bought would be sufficient to do what she wanted to
> do. I then made a harness which included a fuse and polarized plugs
> so she or her daughter wouldn't be able to hook up backyards. I
> told her to try different things and keep an eye on the voltage so
> to determine the limits of the unit. She called me back about 10
> minutes later to tell me it wasn't working. I went over and found
> she blew the fuse (whew). After asking what did, she said she
> plugged in a toaster! The fuse was only 5 amp. LOL. Changed the
> fuse to a 10 amp but told her not to use anything like a toaster of
> hair dryer, and buy a few extra fuses. She and her daughter will be
> testing it out this weekend. Wish ME luck. LOL
>
Is she a Democrat?

--
bill
Theory don't mean squat if it don't work.

On Thursday, October 12, 2023 at 7:40:43 PM UTC-4, bfh wrote:
> Hank wrote:
> > On Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 6:24:28 PM UTC-4, Technobarbarian
> > wrote:
> >> On Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 2:10:15 PM UTC-7, Hank wrote:
> >>> A friend of mine (Yes, I have one) is buying prebuilt shed and
> >>> put it in the woods. She wants to be able to run her CPAP
> >>> machine for a night or two at most every weekend, or so. What
> >>> does she need as far as solar panel power? How big of a
> >>> battery? How big of an inverter? TIA
> >> Hey, I have some recent experience with this. I use this battery
> >> for my wife's machine.
> >>
> >> ML35-12 - 12 Volt 35 AH SLA Battery- Mighty Max Battery Brand
> >> Product
> >> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K8V2VD0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
> >>
> >>
> >>
> This will run her machine all night with a little left over. The
> inverter I use plugs straight into her machine where the ac
> transformer normally plugs in. That way I don't get any power loss
> from converting dc to ac and back to dc when it actually goes into her
> machine. If you search Amazon you can probably find dc inverters that
> will plug straight into her machine from her dc power source. That's
> where I found the one I'm using for my wife's ResMed machine.
> >>
> >> If she has room in her vehicle her best bet would probably be to
> >> install an isolated battery deep cycle battery in her vehicle and
> >> use that to power her CPAP.
> >>
> >> To have any idea what size solar panels she would need you need
> >> to know how much power her machine needs. It would help to know
> >> what machine she is using. The power specifications would be
> >> useful if she has them.
> >>
> >> TB
> > Update...I told her what she was going to need. Before I told her
> > the type, size, and such, whe went to a place called Harbor freight
> > and the guy there told her what she needed and and she bought the
> > 100 watt kit and all the other pieces (one stop shop). It had 4
> > panels, controller, Battery, 2000 watt inverter. It came with
> > everything except the power wire to the inverter which I made one
> > up for her so we could test it. It was very easy and worked very
> > well. It supplied her cpap all the time she slept, which was only 6
> > hours. The battery voltage dropped from 13.0 to 12.6. I felt the
> > items she had bought would be sufficient to do what she wanted to
> > do. I then made a harness which included a fuse and polarized plugs
> > so she or her daughter wouldn't be able to hook up backyards. I
> > told her to try different things and keep an eye on the voltage so
> > to determine the limits of the unit. She called me back about 10
> > minutes later to tell me it wasn't working. I went over and found
> > she blew the fuse (whew). After asking what did, she said she
> > plugged in a toaster! The fuse was only 5 amp. LOL. Changed the
> > fuse to a 10 amp but told her not to use anything like a toaster of
> > hair dryer, and buy a few extra fuses. She and her daughter will be
> > testing it out this weekend. Wish ME luck. LOL
> >
> Is she a Democrat?
>
> --
> bill
> Theory don't mean squat if it don't work.

She's not too smart, but not dumb enough to be a Democrat. Thanks for asking!

On Thursday, October 12, 2023 at 2:40:07 PM UTC-7, Hank wrote:
> On Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 6:24:28 PM UTC-4, Technobarbarian wrote:
> > On Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 2:10:15 PM UTC-7, Hank wrote:
> > > A friend of mine (Yes, I have one) is buying prebuilt shed and put it in the woods. She wants to be able to run her CPAP machine for a night or two at most every weekend, or so. What does she need as far as solar panel power? How big of a battery? How big of an inverter? TIA
> > Hey, I have some recent experience with this. I use this battery for my wife's machine.
> >
> > ML35-12 - 12 Volt 35 AH SLA Battery- Mighty Max Battery Brand Product
> > https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K8V2VD0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
> >
> > This will run her machine all night with a little left over. The inverter I use plugs straight into her machine where the ac transformer normally plugs in. That way I don't get any power loss from converting dc to ac and back to dc when it actually goes into her machine. If you search Amazon you can probably find dc inverters that will plug straight into her machine from her dc power source. That's where I found the one I'm using for my wife's ResMed machine.
> >
> > If she has room in her vehicle her best bet would probably be to install an isolated battery deep cycle battery in her vehicle and use that to power her CPAP.
> >
> > To have any idea what size solar panels she would need you need to know how much power her machine needs. It would help to know what machine she is using. The power specifications would be useful if she has them.
> >
> > TB
> Update...I told her what she was going to need. Before I told her the type, size, and such, whe went to a place called Harbor freight and the guy there told her what she needed and and she bought the 100 watt kit and all the other pieces (one stop shop). It had 4 panels, controller, Battery, 2000 watt inverter. It came with everything except the power wire to the inverter which I made one up for her so we could test it. It was very easy and worked very well. It supplied her cpap all the time she slept, which was only 6 hours. The battery voltage dropped from 13.0 to 12.6. I felt the items she had bought would be sufficient to do what she wanted to do. I then made a harness which included a fuse and polarized plugs so she or her daughter wouldn't be able to hook up backyards. I told her to try different things and keep an eye on the voltage so to determine the limits of the unit. She called me back about 10 minutes later to tell me it wasn't working. I went over and found she blew the fuse (whew). After asking what did, she said she plugged in a toaster! The fuse was only 5 amp. LOL. Changed the fuse to a 10 amp but told her not to use anything like a toaster of hair dryer, and buy a few extra fuses. She and her daughter will be testing it out this weekend. Wish ME luck. LOL

That should work just fine. If she needs more power she can always add a second battery. She could also squeeze more hours out of her battey by using an inverter that was made for her CPAP. I actually have 2 of those 35 AH batteries because this is primarily my emergency power system and I can go 2 days without needing to recharge my batteries. I put my batteries in 50 caliber sized plastic "ammo" cases and added 12 volt and USB outlets to the cases. Thanks for the update.

TB

On Friday, October 13, 2023 at 1:23:01 PM UTC-7, robert caprel wrote:
> On Thursday, October 12, 2023 at 2:40:07 PM UTC-7, Hank wrote:
> > On Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 6:24:28 PM UTC-4, Technobarbarian wrote:
> > > On Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 2:10:15 PM UTC-7, Hank wrote:
> > > > A friend of mine (Yes, I have one) is buying prebuilt shed and put it in the woods. She wants to be able to run her CPAP machine for a night or two at most every weekend, or so. What does she need as far as solar panel power? How big of a battery? How big of an inverter? TIA
> > > Hey, I have some recent experience with this. I use this battery for my wife's machine.
> > >
> > > ML35-12 - 12 Volt 35 AH SLA Battery- Mighty Max Battery Brand Product
> > > https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K8V2VD0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
> > >
> > > This will run her machine all night with a little left over. The inverter I use plugs straight into her machine where the ac transformer normally plugs in. That way I don't get any power loss from converting dc to ac and back to dc when it actually goes into her machine. If you search Amazon you can probably find dc inverters that will plug straight into her machine from her dc power source. That's where I found the one I'm using for my wife's ResMed machine.
> > >
> > > If she has room in her vehicle her best bet would probably be to install an isolated battery deep cycle battery in her vehicle and use that to power her CPAP.
> > >
> > > To have any idea what size solar panels she would need you need to know how much power her machine needs. It would help to know what machine she is using. The power specifications would be useful if she has them.
> > >
> > > TB
> > Update...I told her what she was going to need. Before I told her the type, size, and such, whe went to a place called Harbor freight and the guy there told her what she needed and and she bought the 100 watt kit and all the other pieces (one stop shop). It had 4 panels, controller, Battery, 2000 watt inverter. It came with everything except the power wire to the inverter which I made one up for her so we could test it. It was very easy and worked very well. It supplied her cpap all the time she slept, which was only 6 hours. The battery voltage dropped from 13.0 to 12.6. I felt the items she had bought would be sufficient to do what she wanted to do. I then made a harness which included a fuse and polarized plugs so she or her daughter wouldn't be able to hook up backyards. I told her to try different things and keep an eye on the voltage so to determine the limits of the unit. She called me back about 10 minutes later to tell me it wasn't working. I went over and found she blew the fuse (whew). After asking what did, she said she plugged in a toaster! The fuse was only 5 amp. LOL. Changed the fuse to a 10 amp but told her not to use anything like a toaster of hair dryer, and buy a few extra fuses. She and her daughter will be testing it out this weekend. Wish ME luck. LOL
> There is usually a very good reason for the size of the fuse, and solving the problem with replacing it with something larger inevitably creates a fire hazard and or over heating of wiring.

The 12 volt outlet in your car is usually wired to handle a 15 amp fuse. He would need to have pretty light wiring to overheat it on a 10 amp fuse. I would suggest glancing at the manual. It mentions that these things aren't built to handle heating devices. They're great for small motors and electronic devices as long as it isn't something so sensitive that it can't handle a modified sine wave.

TB