maryfair

We don't have an RV at the moment. We had a fifth wheel for several years when we full-timed. We were planning to buy a small (@30 ft.) motor home until we realized we needed to solve the oxygen concentrator issue first. 

Randy and Helen,

Your set up sounds like something that would work for me. Do you stop using the Inogen concentrator at 8am or do you run it off something else?

From what I've learned in this thread I've decided that the Joule would probably not be a great set up for me. 

Mark,

I'll work on that. it would reduce my power usage considerably.

Mark,

Here's where I got the information about the 120 watt unit:  https://www.oxygenconcentratorstore.com/home-concentrator-comparsion/

It's the Inogen at Home 5L that says it's a 120 watt unit. I currently use 3 liters per minute and have the Respironics EverFlo unit. Maybe I misunderstood something.

jcussen,

Thank you for the link to that article--it was very interesting. I will keep in mind that I might not get as much out of batteries at higher altitude.

Kirk,

While researching concentrators in an attempt to find out how much electricity mine uses I discovered that there is one that provides the same output as mine while using only 120 watts (it's an Inogen which is a good brand). Medicare rents my concentrator from a medical equipment company so I thought I would see if that company (or another one in the Fort Worth area) rents the Inogen. 

jcussen,

The Battle Born batteries sound like a great solution. They would supply enough watt hours and I don't expect to be RVing for more than 13 years.

John T,

Thanks for all that information. What you are saying about what we would need seems very sensible. We have a lot to think about---and cost out. 

6 hours ago, Kirk W said:

The only oxygen concentrator that I am familiar with does not cycle as it has to supply a constant stream of about 90% oxygen. Talk with your physician to determine whether you can use a pulse dose (intermittent flow-IF) or will need continuous flow (CF). I would think that the pulse dose type of unit would require less power than the continuous flow models. 

 

Kirk, I've been using the oxygen concentrator for 2 1/2 years and I have to use it on continuous flow. I wanted to buy a portable oxygen concentrator but my pulmonologist advised against it because I'm on 3 liters continuous flow and that is the most portable concentrators can produce so I would have no "cushion."

Thanks for answering the question about cycling. I guess we don't have to buy a "Kill-A-Watt." 

1 hour ago, mptjelgin said:

In my second post I described how the Joule's Pro Package, with the 4000 watt-hour battery would theoretically run a 310 watt concentrator for 12 (ish) hours, so it makes sense that your 350 watt concentrator would need a slightly larger battery to do the same. 

Again, it is advisable to not plan on running the batteries completely down over and over again.  Plan on including some excess capacity. 

Also, your device not draw 350 watts all of the time.  Using the Kill A Watt Device that has been mentioned a couple of times will give you the true number that you need to know. 

I was not aware that it was not advisable to run the batteries down over and over again. I guess we would need even more battery power that we had thought. I tried to find out if the concentrator draws a constant 350 watts or if it cycles. There is nothing on the concentrator and I could not find any information online. Clearly,  we would need to buy a "Kill-A-Watt" to find out. 

Thank you Mark, jcussen, John T. and Bill Joyce. I am working on digesting all the information you have provided. Due to what you've told me about recharge time and the weights of different types of batteries, it would seem that the lithium ion set up would be better although more expensive. It may be that this is simply not doable for us.

At the moment I am trying to wrap my brain around this:

3 hours ago, oldjohnt said:

Instantaneous POWER IN WATTS = Volts X Amps, ENERGY is Volts x Amps (IE Watts) X Time 

I know my concentrator (110 volt) uses 350 watts per hour. So, if I needed 12 hours of operation I would need a set up capable of producing 4200 Watt hours? I don't think there is any way that that is not out of our price range but I will continue to work on it.

Mark (if Teri did this research, I apologize for the sexist assumption),

Thank you so much for all the information. My concentrator uses approximately 350 watts per hour which would give me 11.428 hours of use with the Joule Pro Package. We are hoping that that is not the best solution we can find. I had hoped to set something up that would power the concentrator for two days and recharge off the generator in one day. I now realize that that was ridiculous. We are going to look into the possibility of adding 2 deep cell batteries or a second generator. We gave some thought to solar but Pete's family lives in an area of upstate New York that literally does not have enough hours of sunshine for solar to be reliable.

Anyway, thank you for your time, we appreciate your help.

jcussen,

Thanks for the response. My knowledge of electricity is almost non-existent so I don't know how one would go about determining if it will supply the required power. I do know that electricity is (sadly) not generated by magical thinking so I assumed the Joule Case battery would have to be recharged. I don't know if that can be done from a plug in the coach when it is hooked up to shore power or with the generator.

I've been looking into the possibility of using a Joule Case Lithium Ion Battery Module as a power source for my 110 volt oxygen concentrator which needs to run 24/7 in our motorhome. Does anyone know if this could work and if it is safe.

Also, could anyone point me to instructions for changing the rig information that shows up below (ours is outdated).  

Thanks to all who contributed information to this thread. My husband went to look at the Class A we were interested in and it turns out it has a gasoline generator and the miscommunication was not due to my senior moment--the original ad said the coach had a propane generator but then the picture showed what I was pretty sure was a diesel or gasoline one.

We decided against purchasing the coach because we have not figured out how I can have oxygen 24/7 without running a generator. We will continue to investigate. 

Twotoes,

I wrote the wrong thing--our generator is not gasoline, it is propane. I think of propane as a gas and I have a LOT of senior moments. Sorry.

Linda,

We were originally planning to use solar panels as the coach is pre-wired for them but it appears to be a rather expensive undertaking and were hoping there was a cheaper alternative. We never planned to run our generator all night in a place where we had neighbors--we've been next to people who did that. We were planning to use park power in RV parks and were looking for a solution for boondocking on BLM land.

Thanks for the welcome.

Kirk,

I'm glad to hear that Pam's respiratory problems have improved.

I mislead everyone when I said the coach we are considering buying has a gas generator--it is a PROPANE generator.

Dutch,

Thanks for the suggestion regarding a portable concentrator. I am on 3 ml oxygen continuous flow and there are only a couple of portable concentrators that produce that. I believe you can get up to 6 ml using pulse delivery but that does not work for me. Since this lung disease is progressive, if I bought a portable concentrator I could end up with inadequate oxygen in a matter of months. We are considering buying one anyway since there don't appear to be a lot of options.

Thank you, Kirk. I remembered that Pam used oxygen and I was hoping you would offer some advice on this. I should have said in the original post that we are hoping to do a good deal of boondocking (on BLM land) so we wouldn't be on RV park power. We thought we would only use the batteries in case of emergency. I was concerned that it might not be good for the generator to run it 24/7 for days at a time.

My husband and I were full-timers from 2007 through 2010 and were members of Escapees.. We are now looking at a used 30 ft. Class A gas motor home which we would like to buy and travel in as much as possible. I have pulmonary hypertension and am on oxygen 24/7. I use an oxygen concentrator which must be plugged in to a 110 volt electrical source. Is it possible (reasonable?) to run an rv gas generator 24/7? 

I just started lurking here this week. I came because I joined the RV Consumer Group and read their material and ratings for 5th wheels. I discovered that it would be hard to get a good full-timing 5er that didn't need something stronger than a pickup to pull and stop it safely. Unfortunately, I think it will take me a year of reading in here to get enough of a grip on the subject matter to even ask a question.