Ok so this is a strange question but I gotta figure some solution out.
I have recently been diagnosed with sleep apnea. So I just got a CPAP machine for use while sleeping.
To fill those of you in that are not farmiliar with sleep apnea, it is a disorder where the opening to your trachea closes periodically through out the night. So your sleep is constantly interrupted by your body having to open this passage back up and gasp for breath. You don't actually wake up but, technically your body and brain leave the sleep mode. In fact you almost never enter REM sleep. So let's say you sleep 6 hours a night, your body only receives about an equivilent to 2-3 hours of rejuvination from normal sleep. This actually effects a lot of your normal body functions. It raises blood pressure, it slows your metabolism to almost a stop, and in general your brain doesn't function as it should. Additionally every once in a while someones body doesn't re-open your breathing passage quick enough and you die. Ala Reggie White. This is very rare though. So this disorder is corrected by using a CPAP maching. The CPAP is basically a machine that pumps air through your nose down to your treachea and keeps the passage open all night.
So I just got my CPAP machine and am so siked about actually getting real sleep for the first time in years. But here is my dillema. I am a true festivarian! I will be attending several festivals this summer, as I normally do. So what I am wondering is if there is anyway to run my CPAP maching off on an extra 12V SLA battery. I imagine there has got to be a way to convert the plug, but what about the voltage. The unit does have a jack for 12V power and you can order a car adapter incase your power was to go out and you needed to sleep with the CPAP. But it takes 6 weeks to order, and I will have already attended 2 festivals by then, Haymaker next weekend, and Bonnaroo. Plus I have a wonderful air mattress that I use in my tent and would like to avoid sleeping in my car if possible. I desperately want to be able to use the CPAP at festivals. We all know that the festivals are hard on your body and mind and we all know that you get maybe 4 hours of sleep a night if you are responsible and don't party too much. So imagine if through out Bonnaroo you got an equivilent to only 1 or 2 hours of sleep each night. You are not gonna be doing as much dancing as you would like to by the time Saturday afternoon rolls around, and you would feel like hell on Sunday, and Monday driving home would also be hell. Add into the equation that I am a very large man and struggle physically at festivals anyway(the heat, the walking, the standing, the dancing, the lack of nutrition) its a tough task for any 300 pounder like myself. But live music is my passion, and even with all of the things I just mentioned I would not trade the festival experience for almost anything.
I know there is a way to run my CPAP off of a 12V SLA, I just don't know how. Since it has a jack for 12V power can I just go to radio shack and buy some adapta plugs to make this work, or is there more involved in this equation. Please someone help me out.
Thank You,
Joe