Long term solar charging for my CPAP.

[sjc3081]

I have a marine battery and Honda EX 700C generator for short term needs. I get 10 nights power on the battery alone. I wish to set up for long term SHTF. Any ideas on what solar panel I would need and the device to charge and maintain my battery. Also what battery is best. I’ve searched but the info is too general. The rear of my house faces south and gets great morning and afternoon sun. I am planning a semi permanent mount outside my second floor bedroom window.
Thanks Steve

[Allen]

I have multiple friends who've lived and worked off of Goal 0 for substantial periods of time, either van life or during CA wildfires & PSPS.

https://www.goalzero.com/

Your biggest challenge is going to be winter - panels will give you some charge during cloudy days, but nothing like during the summer. Have you considered a noise reducing enclosure for your gen set?

[sjc3081]

Yes Im considering a noise enclosure. Ill call Goal Zero, thx.

[jstone]

if you want the best you can get stay away from goal zero and there proprietary mess. Get yourself a portable solar panel kit something like 230 wats, a small victron solar charge controller, a battle born batterie, and a small inverter charger that will allow you to use the generator to charge the battery if sun becomes an issue. if youre getting 10 nights of use out of your current battery the battle born will probably give you at least 50% more. this set up shoukd never require the generator to be used but is therd for emergencies.

i set up stuff like this everyday, and goal zero is not going to give you near what this type of set up will. without the battle born batterie this type of set up is generally much cheaper.

[sjc3081]

Thanks I’ll look up the products you recommended.

[kerplode]

I grabbed a lithium Goal Zero about a year ago. It works pretty well for what I'm using it for. I went that route because what I wanted was a tidy pre-fab box I could easily move around, or toss in the car to take along as needed, and not a DIY bodge-job of 10 separate things and a rats nest of wires. And it charges just fine with 200W Renogy panel.

But yeah, if I was doing a permanent install, a DIY setup is probably a better plan...

[lordmorgul]

Do some research on what ham radio battery and solar setups typical use in customized ammo boxes. I’d recommend a 12V LifePo4 battery setup with a solar charge controller, AC charger option for when you have fuel for generator, and an inverter to run the AC or better yet construct a DC input for the machine. You may want to have one used normally and a second machine configured for 12V if you’re looking for the duplication for redundancy and alternatives for power source in a disaster.

I have setup a 50Cal ammo box with 3 10Ah LifePo4 batteries inside that have internal battery management system electronics (3 so there is redundancy if one fails others get recharged without the failed one). To that box I added a Bioenno solar charge controller, Thornwave Labs PowerMon for Bluetooth charge and use monitoring, USB outputs, 12V outputs, 120W Bioenno solar panel (suitcase style two panels folded together). This is heavy so not a back-packing setup, but it will work great for camping, emergency radio Comms, charging laptops and cellphones, etc.

Once you’ve setup one of these the advantage of being able to reconfigure, replace batteries, insert other adapters, etc is way better than the product being offered by GoalZero or other solar generator companies. They are making commodity products and selling on trend, they will not stand up to hard use, and some are using either Sealed LeadAcid, AGM or Li Ion batteries rather than the far superior and safer LifePo4 technology.


Andrew - Lancaster, CA
NRA Life Member, CRPA member, Calguns.net contributor, CGF / SAF / FPC / CCRKBA / GOA / NAGR / NRA-ILA contributor, USCCA member - Support your defenders!

[jstone]

Do some research on what ham radio battery and solar setups typical use in customized ammo boxes. I’d recommend a 12V LifePo4 battery setup with a solar charge controller, AC charger option for when you have fuel for generator, and an inverter to run the AC or better yet construct a DC input for the machine. You may want to have one used normally and a second machine configured for 12V if you’re looking for the duplication for redundancy and alternatives for power source in a disaster.

I have setup a 50Cal ammo box with 3 10Ah LifePo4 batteries inside that have internal battery management system electronics (3 so there is redundancy if one fails others get recharged without the failed one). To that box I added a Bioenno solar charge controller, Thornwave Labs PowerMon for Bluetooth charge and use monitoring, USB outputs, 12V outputs, 120W Bioenno solar panel (suitcase style two panels folded together). This is heavy so not a back-packing setup, but it will work great for camping, emergency radio Comms, charging laptops and cellphones, etc.

Once you’ve setup one of these the advantage of being able to reconfigure, replace batteries, insert other adapters, etc is way better than the product being offered by GoalZero or other solar generator companies. They are making commodity products and selling on trend, they will not stand up to hard use, and some are using either Sealed LeadAcid, AGM or Li Ion batteries rather than the far superior and safer LifePo4 technology.


Andrew - Lancaster, CA
NRA Life Member, CRPA member, Calguns.net contributor, CGF / SAF / FPC / CCRKBA / GOA / NAGR / NRA-ILA contributor, USCCA member - Support your defenders!

Almost no cpap machine can run with only 30amp hours backing it up all night. There is virtually no setting for cpap machines that are only going to require 1-2 DC amps per hour. Most cpap machines are around 1 to 2 ac amps. Ac amps are roughly 10 to 1 DC amps. This set up could work for maybe 5 percent of cpap machines settings out there. This isn't even accounting for heat and humidifiers which most use. I have set up systems for cpap machines regularly and not one would be able to run 8 hours on this set up.

[lordmorgul]

Almost no cpap machine can run with only 30amp hours backing it up all night. There is virtually no setting for cpap machines that are only going to require 1-2 DC amps per hour. Most cpap machines are around 1 to 2 ac amps. Ac amps are roughly 10 to 1 DC amps. This set up could work for maybe 5 percent of cpap machines settings out there. This isn't even accounting for heat and humidifiers which most use. I have set up systems for cpap machines regularly and not one would be able to run 8 hours on this set up.

The battery size was not a suggested as the right answer, the approach was. Yes an analysis of total load necessary to meet the desired safety, margin, and cloudy day overage to make it sustainable is needed. Also, batteries built this way are expandable infinitely, just more boxes. More batteries is better than bigger batteries.


Andrew - Lancaster, CA
NRA Life Member, CRPA member, Calguns.net contributor, CGF / SAF / FPC / CCRKBA / GOA / NAGR / NRA-ILA contributor, USCCA member - Support your defenders!