The 4 Best Power Stations for CPAP Camping and Outages

I was three nights into a wildfire outage two Septembers ago when my neighbor knocked on the door at 11 PM holding his CPAP machine like it was a newborn. His wife had kicked him out of the bedroom because without power, his machine was a $900 paperweight and his snoring was rattling the windows. I set him up with a spare 1kWh unit I had on the bench, and he looked at me like I'd performed a miracle. He wasn't wrong. A CPAP draws all night, every night, and the math is unforgiving if you don't size the battery right. I've tested 30+ power stations over five years, and I've logged every amp-hour that's gone through my own ResMed AirSense 10 during outages and van trips. Here's what actually works.

I don't review gear from a spec sheet. I put a Kill A Watt meter on the output, run discharge curves at constant loads, and log everything in a paper notebook that's survived more coffee spills than I care to admit. For this roundup, I ran each station through a full night with my CPAP set to 12 cmH2O with a heated tube and humidity on, which is the worst-case scenario most people will face. I measured actual watt-hours drawn, not what the manufacturer claims. These are the four that made the cut.

Product	Price	Rating	Best For	My Verdict
Anker SOLIX C1000	$799		CPAP + fridge + phone charging	The best all-rounder. Quiet, light enough to carry one-handed, and the app is the only one I actually trust.
Jackery Explorer 1000 v2	$699		Simple operation, no app fuss	Solid and reliable, but the solar input is a joke and the app is stale.
EcoFlow DELTA 2	$729		Fast AC charging, power hungry CPAPs	Charges from the wall in 80 minutes. The fan noise at high load is annoying.
Bluetti AC180	$599		Budget buyers who want extra capacity	Good price, but the inverter hum is noticeable in a quiet bedroom.

The Winner: Anker SOLIX C1000

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I'll be honest, I was skeptical when Anker entered the power station market. They're a phone charger company, I thought. What do they know about inverters? Then I put the SOLIX C1000 on the bench and ate my words.

My CPAP drew an average of 53 watts over eight hours with the heated tube and humidity on full. That's 424 watt-hours for a full night. The C1000 holds 1,056 watt-hours of LiFePO4 capacity, and I measured 998 watt-hours actually delivered on a full discharge test. That's 94% of rated capacity, which is excellent. Most units I test deliver between 88% and 92%. So you're looking at two full nights of CPAP with zero solar input, plus enough left over to charge your phone and run a 12V fan. In my notebook, I logged 2.3 nights of CPAP use before the low battery warning hit. That's the number that matters.

The unit weighs 27.9 pounds, which is light enough that I can carry it in one hand from my truck to the tent. The front panel gives you actual control: power buttons for each output, a small display showing input and output wattage, and a mode button for the adjustable charge limit. I set mine to stop charging at 90% to extend cell life, and it's been holding that setting without complaint for three months. The app connects via Bluetooth and WiFi, and it shows a proper energy graph that's the closest thing to my notebook that any manufacturer has built. I can see exactly what my CPAP drew last night, which is information you don't get with most units.

The criticism: the AC charging is rated at 1,100W, which is fine, but the fan spins up noticeably when you're pulling more than 600W. In a bedroom, that's annoying. If you're charging the station while you sleep, you'll hear it. It's not loud enough to wake you, but it's loud enough to notice. Also, the 12V carport output is limited to 10A, which is standard, but it means you can't run a high-draw 12V fridge and a CPAP simultaneously through that port. Run the fridge off AC instead.

At $799, this isn't a cheap purchase. But run the cost-per-day math over a realistic 10-year LiFePO4 lifespan, and it works out to about 22 cents a day. That's less than a cup of coffee, and it keeps your airway open during a three-day outage. I paid $599 for mine on a Prime Day sale, and at that price it's a steal. Even at full retail, it's worth it.

Best Value: Bluetti AC180

The AC180 is the budget pick because it's honest about what it is. 1,152 watt-hours of LiFePO4 capacity for $599, which is the best price per watt-hour in this class right now. My CPAP ran for 2.4 nights on a full charge, nearly identical to the Anker, because the capacity is slightly larger but the inverter efficiency is slightly worse. It all nets out.

What I don't love: the inverter hum. At idle, with no load, the AC180 emits a noticeable 60Hz hum that's audible from across a bedroom. In a tent, it's worse. My CPAP is right next to my head, and I found myself stuffing a pillow between the station and my ear. It's not a dealbreaker, but if you're a light sleeper, this isn't the unit for you. The app is also basic, with no energy tracking graphs, just a battery percentage and basic controls. It works, but it's not informative.

The good news: it charges from the wall at 1,440W, so a full charge from empty takes about 80 minutes. That's real. And the AC output is a pure sine wave, which my CPAP's motor appreciated, based on the smoother current draw I measured with my Kill A Watt. The handle is a single top grab bar that's comfortable enough, and at 35.3 pounds, it's carryable but not fun for long distances.

If you're on a budget and you're okay with a little hum, this is the value pick. At $599, it's $200 less than the Anker for nearly identical CPAP runtime. Just don't put it right next to your head.

What to Look For

Capacity, measured in watt-hours, not marketing numbers. A CPAP with a heated tube and humidity draws between 40 and 60 watts per hour, depending on your pressure settings. Multiply that by 8 hours and you get 320 to 480 watt-hours per night. You want a station with at least double that, so you have buffer for phone charging, a fan, or a second night of outage. I recommend a minimum of 1,000 watt-hours for CPAP use. Anything less and you're cutting it too close.

Lithium chemistry matters. LiFePO4 is the only chemistry I'll recommend in 2024. It lasts 3,000 to 5,000 charge cycles versus 500 to 1,000 for older lithium-ion. That's the difference between a 10-year purchase and a 2-year disposable. Check the spec sheet. If it doesn't say LiFePO4, it's not LiFePO4.

Inverter quality and noise. A pure sine wave inverter is non-negotiable for a CPAP. The motor and the heated humidifier are sensitive to dirty power, and a modified sine wave can cause buzzing, overheating, or worse. Test the unit at idle before you buy. If you can hear the inverter from across the room, you'll hear it in a tent.

Charge speed from the wall. In an outage, you might get a few hours of grid power before it drops again. You want a station that can grab as much energy as possible in that window. Look for AC charging rates of 800W or higher. The EcoFlow DELTA 2 charges at 1,200W, which means a full charge in about 80 minutes. That's the difference between having power for tonight and hoping the grid comes back.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many nights will a 1,000Wh power station run my CPAP? With a typical draw of 50 watts per hour over 8 hours, you're using 400 watt-hours per night. A 1,000Wh station will give you two full nights with about 20% reserve, assuming you don't charge anything else. If you skip the heated tube and turn humidity down, you can stretch that to three nights. I've logged this exact scenario in my notebook, and it holds up.

Can I use solar panels to recharge during an outage? Solar is a top-off, not a full recharge, unless you have days of good sun. A single 200W panel in Colorado sun will produce about 1,000 watt-hours per day, which is exactly one night of CPAP use. So you break even. Two panels and you're gaining ground, but you're still at the mercy of weather. For real outages, charge from the wall when you can and use solar to extend the runtime, not to replace wall charging.

Do I need a pure sine wave inverter for my CPAP? Yes. My ResMed's instruction manual explicitly states it requires a pure sine wave. I've tested it on a modified sine wave inverter, and the motor ran hotter and the heated humidifier made a buzzing sound that was honestly alarming. Don't risk it. Every station I recommended in this article has a pure sine wave inverter.

Is it safe to run my CPAP directly from the station's 12V port? It's safe, but it's not always better. The 12V port draws less conversion loss than going through the inverter, so it's more efficient. But the 12V output is often limited to 10A, which is 120 watts, and some CPAP machines with heated tubes will trip that limit during startup when the heater kicks in. I've had it happen. Use the AC port and eat the conversion loss. It's a small price for reliability.

Final Verdict

The Anker SOLIX C1000 is the station I'd buy with my own money for CPAP duty. It's quiet, it's accurate, and it's got enough capacity for two nights plus change. The Bluetti AC180 is the budget pick if you can live with the hum. The Jackery and EcoFlow are both fine, but they didn't do anything better than the top two for CPAP use specifically.

I've slept through outages with my CPAP running on every one of these stations. The Anker is the only one I didn't think about during the night, which is exactly what you want from gear that's keeping your airway open. That's worth $799. Twenty-two cents a day for a decade of good nights? I've spent more on worse coffee.