Sierra

Every machine is delivered to the supplier with a SD card already in it. If you don't have a card then the supplier must have removed it. The normal card is a 4 GB, but any full sized SD up to 32 GB should work. The only way your doctor can see the detailed data is if you bring the SD card in so they can download the data and view it. The detailed data cannot be viewed wirelessly to my knowledge. The summary data sent via MyAir is of limited used.

To view the data you need a PC or Mac and need to download the OSCAR program and install it. You will need a SD card reader. If your computer does not have one built in, the easiest way is to buy a small portable SD reader (about $10) that plugs into your USB on the computer. Your can remove the card and download the data daily, or do it periodically. I believe the 4 GB card will hold up to one year of data before it starts to overwrite it.

Here is an example of the daily report screen from OSCAR. Other historical data is available under the Statistics and Overview tabs. It tracks all the setup changes made to your machine since it was new (providing there was a SD card in it).

It certainly sounds like a defect with your particular machine. The chip that provides this over the wireless service is one of the ones that is in short supply due to problems in the factory that make them. Perhaps they are using lower quality chips or ones that have not been fully tested. ResMed has actually released an AirSense 10 machine that does not have this wireless chip, and sell it at a lower price. They are trying to meet demand for the machines despite the chip shortage.

It would seem you will have to work with the supplier to get a new machine. Or, the other alternative is simply not use the wireless service. I have an AirSense 10 that appears to be sending data somewhere but I have never signed up to MyAir. It appears to me to be a very limited application and is mainly intended to monitor compliance with using the machine. Some who get their machine provided by the healthcare have an obligation to use the machine for 4 or more hours a day, or they lose the machine.

The other option is to download OSCAR which is a freeware program that does detailed tracking of all your data. Due to the wireless data limits very little summary data is actually sent to the MyAir app. OSCAR on the other hand can track second to second data for the whole night. All this data is stored on your SD card, and is available to view with OSCAR. In my opinion OSCAR is far more useful than MyAir.

We just got back from a 4 day camping trip where the new Amazon DC to DC converter was used each night by my wife. It worked perfectly with both the heated hose and humidifier turned on. The original S9 DC to DC converters from ResMed would only last 15 minutes or so before they tripped out on overload. The Amazon converter is half the price and actually works!

All I have used are ResMed APAP machines, so not much help to you on a Phillips or Dreamstation. I also have not installed OSCAR, and just keep using my SleepyHead program. Other than a couple of minor bugs in how it displays machine setup detail, it seems to work fine for me. I am from the school of "if it isn't broke, don't fix it!".

As I say, I have not used OSCAR, but my recollection from SleepyHead is that when you download it you get two versions; OpenGL, and Broken-GL, or something like that. The idea is if one does not run, then you try the other. Not sure if OSCAR does the same or not. But, you could check and try both versions to see if that cures your problem. Another thought is that you could try SleepyHead to see if that works on your older machines. I could probably manage to get you a copy. I don't think it is available on line any longer.

I suffer from mixed apnea and initially thought I needed either a BiPAP or ASV to deal with it. However, over time I have managed to get my AirSense 10 AutoSet to deal reasonably well with it. My long term AHI is now 0.87, compared to initially where it was in the 5-7 range. The secret seems to have been to switch to fixed pressure CPAP Mode and optimize the pressure to minimize both OA and CA events. I currently run 11 cm fixed. Also of significant help was turning EPR back to full time and setting it at 2.0 cm. May not work for everyone, but has so far for me. I think my machine was mistaking either CA events or hypopnea events for OA events and then raising the pressure to deal with them when in Auto mode. The increased pressure in turn caused more CA events and AHI went up.

The best way to check to see if it is any kind of apnea event is to use OSCAR to view the time period where the suspected events have occurred. It should be possible to tell if it was apnea and what type.

From the OSCAR data you have posted about all I can see is that your CA events seem to be on the high side. It would be much better if you just posted one Daily report screen that is not zoomed in on a specific period of time. For example if you could do a Daily screen from July 27 that would be helpful. Make sure it shows the pressure graph as well as the Event Flag bar. I would like to see when and at what pressure you are having the CA events.

A thorough cleaning is about all I can suggest. When we travel we just bring our home AirSense 10 AutoSet machines with us. They pack up easily and don't take up that much room. With air travel you can bring them on board without charge as they are medical equipment.

RO water depending on the type of RO is not quite as pure as distilled water. The purest water would be deionized water. Ultra purity is not really a concern as long as the water is clean and bacteria free.

We have a trailer and sometimes camp without AC power supply. To do this with both my wife and myself using a ResMed CPAP, I had purchased a DC to DC converter for my wife's S9 machine and my AirSense 10 machine. I decided on a DC to DC converter instead of just using a DC to 115 volt inverter (which we have used) as the DC to DC converters are more energy efficient. When you camp off grid the amount of energy you use becomes an issue. We have two 6 volt golf cart batteries in our trailer which is quite a bit, but not so much when you start running two CPAPs each night. To help I have a 70 watt solar panel to help recharge the batteries each day, but it still is a bit marginal. I wish I had bought a 100 watt panel!! This has not gone perfectly as my wife found out with some distress that the ResMed DC to DC converter for the S9 has a design deficiency. With returns to the vendor I have tried three different ResMed converters for her machine with none of them working properly. If you shut off the heated hose and humidifier the converter works fine. But as soon as you turn these features on, the power supply trips out on overload. Surprisingly the converter I have for the A10 works fine even with the heated hose and humidifier turned on. The two power supplies look identical except for the connections to the machine. ResMed could not resist changing the power connection to make the S9 converter not work with the A10 machine. In any case we have made do with the defectively designed converter by turning off the extra features. This does help with power conservation also.

More recently my wife got a new AirSense 10 For Her and the S9 converter is not suitable for it due to the connection fitting. So I looked for a new converter and discovered that Amazon sells a knock off converter from China. It is much smaller, and cheaper. In Canadian dollars on Amazon.ca the ResMed converter is $125 while the knock off KFD unit is $65. The reviews were very favourable so I thought I would give it a try. Delivery was 2 days and it arrived today. My wife tried it out with an afternoon snooze in our trailer. It worked well with both the humidifier and heated hose turned on. See the SleepyHead chart below. Based on this test, I would suggest this is a good alternative to the ResMed converter. If we discover any issues I will try to remember to post again. My routine has been to leave this DC to DC converter in the trailer and I use it even when connected to the grid. My AC to DC converter stays at home so I don't have to bother to bring it.

The big difference between this knock off and the original ResMed converter is the size and weight. The knock off KFD unit is much smaller and lighter. I wondered if that would mean it is less efficient. Not a quantitative measure, but as it was used with fairly high power draw I found it got warm but not hot. I think it is probably just as efficient as the ResMed version.

Hope this may be of help to those looking for an off the grid solution to using a ResMed CPAP. I believe this company also makes converters for the S9, so it may be a good alternative to the defective design one sold by ResMed.

My wife just got a new ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet For Her to replace her 24,000 hour+ ResMed S9 Auto. I set it up the same as my older AutoSet 10, with the Climate Control set to Auto with a tube temperature of 80 F (27C). With an 8 hour sleep we both pretty much use the whole fill of water in the reservoir. Neither of us has had any issues with rainout. We could not ask for better performance.

Have you considered that the Phillips machine may not be responding as well to your apnea events and that is the reason why you are getting a higher AHI with the DreamStation? I have seen many OSCAR/SleepyHead graphs from the DreamStation and it is very persistent at trying to reduce pressure all night long, and when you get an event the pressure pops up again briefly and then heads down. Pressure is up and down like a yo-yo all night long. I guess this minimizes average pressure, but it also probably results in more apnea events.

It is quite easy to tell if your machine is ignoring apnea events if you use OSCAR. Just look at the flow graph in detail and you will see every recorded event or near event. You can manually determine if an event was missed or not.