In my previous post, I listed out some of the equipment I bought so I’d be able to use my CPAP at Sturgis.

Friday night I hauled my new 12V marine battery and inverter into the bedroom. I know there is a joke in there somewhere, but I, as a mature and responsible adult, am ignoring it. When it was time to go to bed, I took my Volt-Ohm Meter, wrote down the measurement, plugged in my CPAP, turned it on, and went to sleep for 6 hours.

– Volts before: 12.2V

– Volts after: 12.15

I was a bit flabbergasted. I assumed it would use much more of the charge, but I was very happy with the result. Next I unplugged the CPAP, plugged in the Dyson fan, set it on level 7 (10 is the highest) and had it oscillate for the next 5 hours.

– Volts before: 12.15

– Volts after: 11.95

I was very pleased with these results. Saturday night I plugged both the CPAP and the Dyson into the inverter. The Dyson was still on level 7 and oscillating. I slept for 8 hours.

– Volts before: 11.95

– Volts after: 11.7.

Far less usage than I expected, but based on all these results, I am confident that we will be able to run the Dyson at Sturgis. We also borrowed some battery operated fans in case they are needed.

I took the battery and the solar charger outside. The battery really wasn’t that low, but I still wanted to try the charger out. I left it out for a few hours and it went from 11.7 to 12.1. It had been raining and was overcast most of the time. The charge controller prevents the battery from overcharging so I’m not really sure how fast it got to 12.1 and stopped.

My plan for Sturgis is to use the battery until it gets below 10V and then set it up to charge that day. When we get back to the campground that day we’ll see where it sits. We’re going to be gone for 12 days and I’ll only need the battery for 9 of them. We’ll mostly be charging our phones on the bike, but even occasionally charging off the battery, along with the CPAP and Dyson usage, I don’t think we’d actually kill the battery by the time we head back. I’ll let you know if anything goes wildly off track with the expected results.

Leaving for Sturgis in 48 hours…and counting…