Upgrading my house battery, go up in size or double up?

[al1florida]

Based on the posts here and most of the reviews on Amazon, the generator should be fine. However, with the significant number of Amazon buyers reporting problems you might consider giving it a thorough work-out (load test) using both fuels -- or at least whichever fuel you intend to routinely use.

The Suaoki I would be tempted to return. There are a lot of 1-2/3 star reviews. Here are three:

2.0 out of 5 starsCPAP will run for 4.5 hours MAX

ByMom of Twoon March 14, 2018

Size: 150Wh Solar Generator|Verified Purchase
CPAP will last 4.5 hours MAX. I need more sleep than that. Nifty little device otherwise. Wish it worked for me. If you are looking for something to last a full night on a CPAP, this won't work. I have tried it the last 2 nights to make sure it wasn't a fluke. Battery was completely drained at 4.5 hours.
79 people found this helpful

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2.0 out of 5 starsNot suitable for CPAP, everything else is great.

ByVincavecon March 24, 2018

Size: 150Wh Solar Generator|Verified Purchase
Overall, this is a solid battery pack. I list it as 2 stars for its performance in powering my CPAP machine. My CPAP is a standard 120 v plugin, and the Suaoki lasted around 4-4.5 hours each night. (I've played with it for 3 nights running)

Not suitable for overnight power for the CPAP. Everything else is fine, the packaging, attachments, lights, handles, everything people wrote about in other reviews. I really do like it. But I got this specifically for the CPAP and it just doesn't have the juice for that.

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Very useful device but it runs on modified sine wave

Bymeijion April 1, 2018

Size: 150Wh Solar Generator
I was having fun testing out this device to see what I could run or charge with it, and all was going well, until I plugged a battery pack into it. After about an hour or two, I came back to find my battery pack very hot and smelling of burnt plastic and metal. At first I thought it was my battery pack, but then I researched some reviews and q&a on the product page, and came across "modified sine wave". Basically, modified sine wave is not as good as pure sine wave, but is cheaper to put into inexpensive devices. The problem is that certain items should not be run on modified sine wave, including sensitive devices which may overheat and get damaged. Apparently, my battery pack was not made to run on modified sine wave.

Pretty much everything that is pictured in the product page should work fine with modified sine wave, like laptops, phone chargers, bulbs. But if cpaps are considered to be medical equipment, that is one item that probably should not be run on modified sine wave.

I'm not yet sure if I'll be returning this item, or just limiting its use to charging phones, laptops, and devices safe to use on modified sine wave. It is useful, and cheaper than pure sine wave devices.

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Needless to say, those are just three reviews, but there are 36 "critical" (Amazon's term) reviews. That's 26% of the total.

As usual product reviews leave out a lot of details. A CPAP with the humidifier heater on will really drain the battery quickly. If the heater is off, the battery may power the CPAP fine for 8-9 hours or more.

 

[sajohnson]

Champion dual fuel it is. The price and dual fuel trumps (no pun intended) the other factors in my book. Would love to have a Honda sure, but for half the price and dual fuel it's a no brainer. Especially for my needs as hurricane backup supply here in south Florida. The ability to use both fuels will really come handy should we need it like we did during Irma.



After speaking with the Suaoki support and digging deeper into my CPAP machine's stats I"m still going to give the battery backup a few more tests. CPAP should be using only 7 watts per hour per the manufacturer. So, I would think I should be able to get close to 3 nights of use using roughly 45 watts per night. The battery backup claims 150 watts. We'll see, I still might keep it.



As for the generator, I needed one regardless so that is why I pulled the trigger. If I do take it, it will be to top off the house battery for a few hours during the day and keep it off most of the time.

As usual product reviews leave out a lot of details. A CPAP with the humidifier heater on will really drain the battery quickly. If the heater is off, the battery may power the CPAP fine for 8-9 hours or more.

Absolutely -- all Amazon reviews, both positive and negative, must be taken with a grain or two of salt. That's why I said, "Needless to say, those are just three reviews, but there are 36 "critical" (Amazon's term) reviews. That's 26% of the total."

Any review (good or bad) may not be deserved. Good reviews often go something like this:

"It arrived on time; it's shiny; I like the color; I got a great deal (because other similar items cost much more -- often with good reason); I haven't used it yet but it seems well made..., etc, etc.

Same with bad reviews. It could be, as you suggested, that both CPAP reviewers left out relevant details, like whether the heater was used. That's a good point, and something to attempt to determine. Perhaps some of the positive reviews have more complete information -- like CPAP settings, actual power used, and total run time.

One thing is for sure -- we cannot simply look at the % of 4-5 star vs 1-2 star reviews. It is important to actually read a good number of each and try to determine which ones seem authoritative.

For those who aren't aware -- when purchasing an inverter, it is important to know whether any device you may possibly operate with it requires "pure sine wave" (PSW) power. That is often very difficult to determine. Mfrs do not generally make that info available in their specs. For that reason, we decided to go with a PSW inverter (MS2000) in our rig.

Most appliances and devices can operate OK on modified sine wave (MSW) power, but some cannot -- and the ones that have a problem with MSW are often destroyed by it.

Just something to keep in mind.

 

[mazda2924x]

I also use a CPAP and have a second battery in the bedroom, put it under the bed and run a power inverter from the battery and plug in the CPAP to it, never have a problem as it draws so little, I leave the heater off.

 

[Neisman]

If the battery goes pretty much dead in the middle of the night when they a drink of water, it will be very large inconvenience.

Call me frugal, but I would not replace a battery because it might go dead and probably discard a perfectly good battery.
Nor would I discard a deep discharge battery because I discharged it a few times. Doing so, I would be buying one every year.
When/if it stops holding a charge, I would recycle it and buy a new one.
I was brought up with the code "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without". That does not make me better than someone else, just more frugal.
Respectfully submitted IMHO, of course