Plugging in an oxygenator
I am on oxygen 24/7. I have a Yeti 3000X in case the power goes out. A few nights ago the power went out at 3:30 am. Fortunately, I was awake when the power went out and plugged my oxygenator in. That got me to thinking.
What if I hadn't been awake? So I thought the best thing to do would be to plug in my oxygenator into the Yeti while it's plugged into the wall. That way, if the power goes out and I'm not awake, the Yeti will continue to power up my oxygenator.
I wanted to make sure this would work so I plugged my oxygenator into the Yeti and after a few minutes, I got the warning beep from the oxygenator meaning there was no power going to it.
Question: Shouldn't I be able to plug in my oxygenator to the Yeti so it can take over in the event of a power outage? If so, is there a setting that will allow me to do that?
Answers
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Hi @jimarv,
Can you please tell us the make and model of the Oxygenator and what port you are connecting it to on the Yeti and how many watts it draws when running?
If it is connected the AC port, it should not timeout but will shut off when the power profile hits its lower limit the AC port will turn off. Are you using the Performance profile?
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It is a Respironics EverFlo 20001. I used the AC port on the Yeti. Below are the specs.
l20VAt +1070, 350W, 60 Hz
I'm using the "Performance" profile.
As mentioned I need the Yeti to take over automatically when a power outage occurs. I figured plugging the oxygenator into the AC plug, while the Yeti was plugged into the wall would allow me to find out if the Yeti could charge and still provide power to the oxygenator. It must have "timed out" as you stated. It only took a few minutes. That doesn't give me much confidence that the Yeti will take over if there is a power outage in the area and I'm asleep.
What power profile will provide me with a setting that would fit my purpose?
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I would expect your Oxygenator to run 8 hours on the Yeti after power stopped, and if in the Battery saver mode, it should run at least 4 hours after the power goes out.
3000(W-hr) / 350 Watts = 8.5 hrs although you probably lose some because you are running through the inverter.
3000(W-hr) x (85%-20%) x 80% (guess on inverter loss) / 350 Watts = 4.45 hrs so I figure 4 hours.
Did you turn on the AC outlet bank? Was the Yeti 3000 fully charged or at least 80% charged?
Good luck. I was investigating buying a Yeti for exactly this reason for my mom, but she passed away due to complications of her illness while I was still looking into it.
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Thanks for your comments Thomas.
Yes, I turned on the AC outlet. Yes, the Yeti was fully charged.
I suspect the issue had to do with the power profile. I changed the power profile and sure enough a storm went through the area and we lost power. I plugged my oxygenator into the AC outlet and the Yeti did its job. That all happened during the late afternoon, so I was able to manually plugged in my oxygenator.
If power incident had happened while I was sleeping, I would hope that somehow I would be awakened by the brief alarm that's built into the oxygenator. The ideal situation is to keep the oxygenator plugged into the AC outlet at all times with the Yeti plugged into the wall. That way if the power goes out, the Yeti will take over for several hours while I'm sleeping.
I posed this question, "Shouldn't I be able to plug in my oxygenator to the Yeti so it can take over in the event of a power outage? If so, is there a setting that will allow me to do that?" An administer asked for a lot of details regarding my model, etc. which I provided. Sadly I never heard back from him/her.
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That's a shame they never wrapped it up with you.
I was only pulling at straws because your thought process seemed very solid to me. I would hope the Yeti could be configured to do exactly what you want.
Maybe you could buy a regular computer UPS and do it that way. Mine is a lead-acid battery. I can tell because it is heavy as the devil, but it does the job. If the power goes out, it comes on in milliseconds. I don't know how long it would last driving a 95 Watt load though.
Best of luck to you my friend.
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Hi @jimarv,
Sorry for the delay in following up!
While the Yeti is receiving power from a wall or solar charger you can continuously power devices from the Yeti's output ports. The power coming in will bypass going through the battery and will go directly to help with output demands.
To keep the power flowing as long as you have incoming power or battery capacity, here are some things to avoid:
- Running more power out than you are recharging. ( i.e. You are running a some lights and fans at 300W and only charging with 120W )
- Running the Yeti outside its temperature limits. Charging and Discharging are disabled to protect the battery from damage if temperatures are too high or too low.
- Running the Yeti inverter near rated max while in a space that is close to hot temperature limits. The inverter DC to AC process produces some heat and that heat will cause the temperature limits to trip sooner than the ambient air would.
- Blocking the vents on the sides of the Yeti. The air should be allowed to flow from the left side into the Yeti and out the Right side. Not enough air flow will cause the temperature limits to trip even sooner.
