Portable power for a CPAP machine: one night, and three

Who this is for

You run a CPAP every night, and you want it to keep running when the power goes out: one night for certain, and you are working out what three would cost you. This page sizes a battery against your CPAP's power draw. It does not certify therapy, and the person to ask about your own machine is the supplier who sold it to you.

If what you actually want is the fridge, the router and the lights through the same outage, read our page on portable power stations for home backup instead; that plan is built around a compressor restarting, and this one has no motor in it at all. And if your CPAP's own maker sells a battery for it, that is the more specific tool and these are the wider one.

How much battery you need

Nothing in this plan kicks in and out. A CPAP draws 30 to 100 watts and holds there, so the starting figure and the running figure are the same and there is no surge to size for. Over an 8-hour night that comes to 240 to 800 watt-hours, and the whole decision is which end of that range you sit at.

The heated humidifier and its tubing are what open the range that wide. The load model covers a CPAP with the humidifier off; turn the heat on and draw can climb past the top of it, in some cases several times over. Plenty of people run the heat from the wall and leave it off on battery, which keeps them near the bottom end. Before you decide which station to trust, read the power supply rating printed on your own machine.

We size on the hard end rather than the easy one. Of the 58 stations we evaluated, 44 are workable at all, 38 clear one 8-hour night on a CPAP outright, and 6 land in a middle band. The usable-battery figure on each card is what inverter conversion loss and the station's own standby draw come out of, and that standby draw runs all night whether the CPAP is plugged in or not. Where a pick clears the target by a little, read that margin as marginal, not as spare.

One 8-hour night on a CPAP, run against all 58 units we track: 44 clear at least the best case, 11 do not, and 3 could not be judged (a missing maker figure or an unresolved recall identity). Every figure is from the maker’s own page or manual; nothing here was tested by us. The method.

Day two and three

Three nights is 720 to 2,400 watt-hours, three times what a single night takes. The Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 does not reach it, the Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 reaches the bottom of it, and only the Anker SOLIX F3800 covers the top, with the humidifier off. If the grid comes back between outages, a wall top-up settles the whole question and no panel is needed.

If it does not come back, the refill is solar, and the picks are not close. Both Jackerys cap their solar input at the same modest figure, and one review found Jackery's own site advertising a higher input across six panels than the Explorer 1000 v2 will actually take, which is a way to buy panels you cannot use. The Anker SOLIX F3800 accepts several times the solar the Jackerys do, though one three-week test saw its input fall to a fraction of its good-sun peak under cloud, and it is the only pick that takes expansion batteries, which work at night when panels do not.

Hooking it up safely

Plug the machine into the station’s AC outlet, or use the maker’s DC cable if your machine has one; DC skips the inverter and its losses. Turn the humidifier and heated tube off unless you need them, because they are most of the draw.

Taking a CPAP camping

The one to carry is the Jackery Explorer 1000 v2: much the lightest of the three, and not by a little. Reviewers of the F3800 needed a second person to get it upstairs and into a vehicle, and say its wheels roll it into position rather than take it anywhere. For one 8-hour night on a CPAP in a tent, the smallest box that clears the numbers is the right one.

Both Jackerys carry a car-style DC socket, and DC would skip the inverter, but we did not capture whether those outputs match a CPAP's own DC cord; ask the machine's maker before you go. Cold matters too. All three keep running well below freezing and none will charge below it, so the panel you set out at dawn puts nothing in until the box has warmed. Leave the screen and the light off while you sleep; the Jackery app toggles both.

Refilling is the car or a panel, and both Jackerys take either through the same pair of DC inputs, wired in parallel, so two panels of different wattage cannot share them. One reviewer had the Explorer 1000 v2 full from two panels in good sun in a few hours. A station smaller than these may carry a single night with the humidifier off, but we did not size one; it sits outside what this page evaluated.

A dedicated CPAP battery or a power station?

The two do different jobs. A battery sold by your CPAP's supplier is matched to that one machine and tested against it, and therapy continuity gets settled there, in a conversation with the supplier rather than with us. A station is the broader tool: the box that carries the machine overnight also charges the phones, runs a lamp and the router, and takes a panel when the outage outlasts the charge.

What we cannot do is line the two up. We captured no specifications for dedicated CPAP batteries, so there is no runtime here to compare, no price to compare, and no ground for saying either one lasts longer or costs less. Anyone ranking one above the other is working from figures we did not collect. Ask the supplier what they sell and what it is approved for, and take the picks here as sizing for the general case.

Buying it right

A search for any of these models returns bundles, sibling models and, often, the same unit under two listings at different prices. We link only a listing whose own title states the bare unit and its exact battery and output; the box should say the same. Check the seller is the maker or Amazon itself, and that the model number on the label matches the one on this page.

Jackery Explorer 1000 v2

• The listing we verified: “Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 Portable Power Station,1070Wh,1500W”, $559 when checked. Title states 1070Wh and 1500W, matching our record exactly.
• “Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 and Extension Cable,1070Wh,1500W AC”, $499: a bundle, not the bare unit; the extra hardware is in the price.
• “Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 Portable Power Station,1070Wh,1500W (Dune White)”, $589: the same unit under a second listing at $589; we link the cheaper verified one.

Jackery Explorer 2000 v2

• The listing we verified: “Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 Portable Power Station, 2042Wh, 2200W AC Output”, $999 when checked. Title states 2042Wh and 2200W, matching our record exactly.
• “Jackery HomePower 2000 Plus v2 Power Station, 2048Wh, 2400W AC Output”, $1,071: a different model that a search for this one returns.
• “Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 and 2x200W Solar Panels, 2042Wh, 2200W AC Output”, $1,639: a bundle, not the bare unit; the extra hardware is in the price.

Anker SOLIX F3800

• The listing we verified: “Anker SOLIX F3800 Portable Power Station, 3,840Wh”, $2,200 when checked. Title states 3840Wh and the exact model name with no variant word; it does not state a wattage, so output was not cross-checked against our 6000W record. (previously verified ASIN, re-checked by direct lookup)
• “Anker SOLIX F3800 Portable Power Station and 400W Solar Panel, 3,840Wh”, $2,400: a bundle, not the bare unit; the extra hardware is in the price.
• “Anker SOLIX F3800 Portable Power Station, 3840Wh, LiFePO4 Batteries, Ultra-High 6000W AC Output with 120V/240V, Solar Generator for Home Backup and Outdoor Camping (Renewed)”, $1,759: Listing is renewed/refurbished, not the new base unit..

What this page can’t promise

This page sizes equipment. It cannot promise therapy: it does not know your machine, your pressure, your settings or how your outage will go, and a battery built and sold by your CPAP's own supplier is the reference point for keeping therapy going, not a general-purpose station. Ask that supplier before you rely on any of these overnight.

Nothing here was tested by us. The specifications are the makers' own, read off their pages and manuals and cited under each pick, and where a maker's pages disagree with each other we say so rather than take the better number. No owner forum threads exist for these three models yet, so everything labelled here as a report comes from hands-on review sites.

The competition

Every unit we track was run against the same plan. The ones that clear at least the best case are below with their own shortfall; the ones that do not are listed with the rule they fail.

Other plans we sized

• Home backupThe best portable power stations for home backup

  A fridge, the internet, a few lamps and everyone's phones through a day without the grid, indoors, with no engine to run. Sized on the harder end of every range.

• Camping and road tripsThe best portable power stations for camping

  Two nights of phones, a laptop and a few lights is a small job with a wide range, and the range is what catches people out. All three picks cover the easy end of it on one charge; the hard end takes a panel at the site or a full charge before you leave.

• Portable generatorsThe best portable generators for home backup

  Three generators judged on the one number that decides the job: the watts on tap for the second a fridge and a chest freezer both restart at once. Not battery capacity, and not the running total.

• ComparedThe one-kilowatt-hour class: Jackery 1000 v2, Anker C1000, EcoFlow DELTA 3

  The most-searched 1 kWh power stations on one table, run against the same fridge plan, with expansion, solar input and warranty from the makers.

• ComparedThe home-backup class: DELTA Pro 3, SOLIX F3800, Explorer 5000 Plus and the rest

  The largest portable power stations on one table, run against a full-day household plan, with expansion paths, 240V output and the makers' gaps marked.

• RefrigeratorHow much battery it takes to run a refrigerator, and which power station does it

  A fridge is the appliance everyone wants kept running, and the one whose appetite varies most from house to house. Size it on the harder end of that range and the choice of station mostly makes itself.

• Sump pumpThe best portable power stations for a sump pump

  A sump pump is a motor that starts hard and then runs in bursts: the starting surge decides which station can start it at all, and the weather decides how much energy it drinks. Sized on the harder end of every range.

• FurnaceThe best portable power stations for a gas furnace

  A gas furnace burns its own fuel and asks the grid only for the blower and the control board, which is the good news. The bad news is that both are wired into the house, so the battery is half the job and an electrician is the other half.

• Well pumpThe best backup power for a well pump

  A well pump is the hardest start in an ordinary house, and it is wired in at 240 volts rather than plugged into anything. That is why this plan usually lands on a generator, and why every figure here is sized on the harder end of its range.

• ComparedAnker SOLIX F3800 vs F3800 Plus: the real differences

  The Anker SOLIX F3800 and F3800 Plus side by side from Anker's own figures, judged against one full-day household plan, with the real differences marked.

• ComparedJackery Explorer 1000 v2 vs 1000 Plus: the expandable one or the cheaper one

  Jackery's Explorer 1000 v2 and 1000 Plus on one table from the maker's own figures, judged against one fridge plan, with the 2000 v2 for scale.

• ComparedJackery Explorer 1000 v2 vs Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2

  The two 1 kWh units people compare most, from the makers' own figures, judged against one fridge plan, with the older C1000 and the DELTA 3 Plus for scale.

• Camping with a fridgeThe best portable power stations for camping with a fridge

  Put a compressor fridge in the back of the car and it becomes most of the battery: it is the one thing in your kit that keeps drawing while you sleep. We size this page from the hard end of every range.

• GuidePower station or generator: which do you actually need?

  This is the decision that comes before choosing a product, and it is the expensive one to get wrong in either direction. A battery bought for a well pump is wasted money; a standby generator bought to keep a router alive is a great deal more of it.

• GuideHow to connect a power station to your house

  These four methods differ less in how much power they move than in what they can reach: a cord reaches a plug, transfer equipment reaches a circuit. The fifth thing people try, a cord into a wall socket, can kill the line worker restoring your power.

• GuideSolar panels for a power station: how many, and how long

  Panels are where the optimism creeps into a backup plan. The arithmetic is simple enough to do on the back of an envelope, and the answer it gives you is the best case, not the likely one.

• GuideExpansion batteries: what an extra battery for a power station actually does

  An extra battery for a power station is the cheapest-sounding fix for the wrong problem about half the time. It buys hours, it does not buy watts, and the pack you buy has to be the exact one your station was built for.