Summer and Fall are two major seasons for road trips from one city to the next in your car, or for one big one across the country in an RV. Whether you live in the northern states, or down south where the weather tends to cool off a little this time of year, the conditions are great for some sight seeing and long drives.
Planning Ahead
Any kind of oxygen travel requires plenty of detailed planning to make sure everything goes smoothly, and traveling by car with your portable oxygen concentrator is no different. The first and most important step, is getting the OK from your doctor to go on your trip. Sometimes we feel well enough to do something, but your doctor might be able to see a potential danger that could spring up somewhere down the line.
Travel can be exhausting to even people with good lung function, let alone for someone with COPD, or any other need for oxygen therapy. This is especially true during the summer time. If you plan on going somewhere with a hot climate, your doctor may tell you to wait until the whether cools off.
Once your doctor gives you the green light, you can stock up on medications and anything else you might need which relates to your oxygen therapy needs. You might wish to bring along an extra battery or two, just to make sure you don’t need to worry about charging up your batteries while driving from one roadside attraction to the next. If that’s the case, you can purchase one or two extras and have them all charged up before you start out on your journey.
The Technical Details
It’s true that not all portable oxygen concentrators are capable of charging and running from your car battery at the same time. For example, the battery needs to be removed from the Sequal Eclipse 3 before you can plug it into your car’s outlet. If you don’t take the battery out first, the Eclipse 3 will automatically start to charge the battery, as well as run exclusively from the car’s battery while charging the battery. Doing this with the powerful Eclipse 3 will result in draining your car’s battery.
The good news is, the Eclipse 5 is capable of not charging while it is running from the car’s battery. This is convenient for people who need the high oxygen flow the Eclipse provides, because you won’t need to bother with removing the battery while driving.
You will also need to have your battery tested to make sure it can handle running your portable oxygen concentrator, while driving for long periods of time. An older car battery might need to be replaced before you can take your road trip. You won’t want to have to buy a new battery while you are on your trip, or losing power while on the road.
Scott joined American Medical Sales and Rentals in 2008 as a Web Manager and Content Writer. He is a writer and designer. He is extensively trained on oxygen therapy products from leading manufacturers such as Inogen, Respironics, Chart, Invacare, ResMed and more.
Scott works closely with respiratory therapists and oxygen specialists to educate the community about oxygen therapy products, COPD, asthma and lung diseases. He writes weekly columns and is passionate about educating the community on oxygen therapy and respiratory issues.
-
Scott Ridlhttps://www.oxygenconcentratorstore.com/blog/author/scott/
-
Scott Ridlhttps://www.oxygenconcentratorstore.com/blog/author/scott/
-
Scott Ridlhttps://www.oxygenconcentratorstore.com/blog/author/scott/
-
Scott Ridlhttps://www.oxygenconcentratorstore.com/blog/author/scott/
