Maintenance & Restoration

rgrugg · 08-15-2012, 02:56 PM

What size inverter would be needed to properly operate an oxygen generator. A friend living close to 500 miles away wants to attend our college homecoming. He'll need to be able to operate his oxygen generator on the way to and from our house. His oxygen generator draws just a hair less than 5 amps. Thanks for your help.

Thomas G. · 08-15-2012, 03:22 PM

If it draws 5 amps at 120 volts, that is 600 watts. I'd go with a 1000 watt inverter to be on the safe side. The other question is whether it needs a pure sine wave to operate. My guess is that it does need a pure sine converter, which is more expensive.

Example: http://www.donrowe.com/inverters/prowatt_sw_1000.html

Just a thought, can you rent something from a local medical supply, or use a tank temporarily?

floyd · 08-15-2012, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgrugg

What size inverter would be needed to properly operate an oxygen generator. A friend living close to 500 miles away wants to attend our college homecoming. He'll need to be able to operate his oxygen generator on the way to and from our house. His oxygen generator draws just a hair less than 5 amps. Thanks for your help.

You should double check the power reqirements for his oxygen generator to be sure... 600W seems like a lot. Also check to see whether it requires pure or modified sine wave. I looked one up for an example and it said max was 1.7A. another at only 0.5A.

Still you could buy a car plug-in inverter...

Take your actual Amps, multiply it by the voltage and you get wattage. Small inverters are sold by wattage output.
EXAMPLE... 1.7Amps times 120Volts equals 204Watts.
If it's 0.5A then you would need 60Watts of power.
I'd suggest allowing an extra 10-20% excess capacity.

Look Here....
Inverter Car Plug - Compare Prices, Reviews and Buy at Nextag - Price - Review

rgrugg · 08-15-2012, 04:03 PM

Nowhere did I say 600 watts. He told me 150 watts which I neglected to include in my original post. They have one built in in their car but nobody including the Ford dealer can tell him anything about it. Thanks again.

Thomas G. · 08-15-2012, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgrugg

.............. His oxygen generator draws just a hair less than 5 amps. ............

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thomas G.

If it draws 5 amps at 120 volts, that is 600 watts. ...........

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgrugg

Nowhere did I say 600 watts. .............

honda03842 · 08-15-2012, 04:28 PM

Oxygen generators are actually oxygen concentrators. They typically use a compressor. Compressors generally have high startup currents, usually above their rated wattage.

I would agree with at least a 1000 watt inverter. As to a sinewave converter, I doubt this is needed for running a compressor. As well all the internal electronics will convert the AC to DC and should function just fine.

Our Inverter is a Black and Decker that only cost us $59 at the Black and Decker outlet store. It is not a sine wave converter. We've used it to run everything in the trailer without issue. As well we have used it to run a small AC refrigerator with a compressor.

It's apparant that you will not have an AC connection and will be running off batteries. I assume the concentrator does not have to run continuously, 4-5 amps at 120VAC is a lot of current for any battery to supply.

honda03842 · 08-15-2012, 04:40 PM

Late to the party on the 500 watts though many of them are rated at 500 watts.... 150 watts is a much lower level of power and easier to accomplish but even this level will probably not run off the cigarette lighter inverter and probably require hard wiring to the battery.

Most of the oxygen concentrators use compressors. If his doesn't.... do you think you could give us the brand and model number and I'm certain one of us could more fully answer the question.

Raz · 08-15-2012, 05:23 PM

My understanding is portable battery operated units are available that will plug into a cigarette lighter to help charge the battery. Perhaps a local medical supply house will rent one for the time need. Just a thought.