Portable power station + Solar

[RoyBell]

I've been kicking around the idea of picking up one of these portable power stations. We have a camping trip (without the camper) next month and thinking now might be the time to pull the trigger on one. Instead of bringing a generator along, I think a battery setup + solar would be easier and less fuss. Then I got to thinking, what would the minimum size I would need to keep the batteries in the camper topped off?

My 320G has the Onan 5500, but why bother burning hours and fuel on a generator just to charge up the batteries? A couple weeks ago we boondocked for 4 days. We ran the generator a little each day to keep the charge up the batteries. The last day the generator was giving me issues and we weren't very conservative with the batteries and almost ran them dead. I didn't want to fire up the generator at midnight to get some more juice in the batteries so I just crossed my fingers and hoped the generator would start in the AM. It did and we charged up for a couple hours before heading out.

Now I am thinking a simple solar setup and one of these battery generators might be a good combination. I was looking at the Jackery brand and they have setups from 240W up to 1500W. Would a 300W or 500W with 100W solar be large enough for the inverter & battery charger to work? I don't know what the minimum draw is. The 1000W seems like overkill for tent camping (and starting to get $$), but I imagine would be better for the camper. What's everyone's thoughts on this?

300W: https://www.jackery.com/products/jac...olar-generator
500W: https://www.jackery.com/products/jac...olar-generator
1000W: https://www.jackery.com/products/jac...olar-generator

[Soundsailor]

I've been kicking around the idea of picking up one of these portable power stations. We have a camping trip (without the camper) next month and thinking now might be the time to pull the trigger on one. Instead of bringing a generator along, I think a battery setup + solar would be easier and less fuss. Then I got to thinking, what would the minimum size I would need to keep the batteries in the camper topped off?

My 320G has the Onan 5500, but why bother burning hours and fuel on a generator just to charge up the batteries? A couple weeks ago we boondocked for 4 days. We ran the generator a little each day to keep the charge up the batteries. The last day the generator was giving me issues and we weren't very conservative with the batteries and almost ran them dead. I didn't want to fire up the generator at midnight to get some more juice in the batteries so I just crossed my fingers and hoped the generator would start in the AM. It did and we charged up for a couple hours before heading out.

Now I am thinking a simple solar setup and one of these battery generators might be a good combination. I was looking at the Jackery brand and they have setups from 240W up to 1500W. Would a 300W or 500W with 100W solar be large enough for the inverter & battery charger to work? I don't know what the minimum draw is. The 1000W seems like overkill for tent camping (and starting to get $$), but I imagine would be better for the camper. What's everyone's thoughts on this?

300W: https://www.jackery.com/products/jac...olar-generator
500W: https://www.jackery.com/products/jac...olar-generator
1000W: https://www.jackery.com/products/jac...olar-generator

A lot depends on how you're going to use these. An energy budget would give you a good idea of how much capacity you need. While these Jackery units have the advantage of being made to work together, you're paying quite a premium for that convenience. With a little DIY work, you could easily get the same functionality for half the cost.

[RoyBell]

A lot depends on how you're going to use these. An energy budget would give you a good idea of how much capacity you need. While these Jackery units have the advantage of being made to work together, you're paying quite a premium for that convenience. With a little DIY work, you could easily get the same functionality for half the cost.

Can you elaborate on DIY work at half the cost? My main thought was to be able to dual purpose one of these battery generators. Take it tent camping and also take it when we are boondocking.

Tent camping we would be using it to charge phones and radios. Not sure much else would require electricity as most is ran off propane.
Camper would need to charge the 2x batteries mainly. The load on the batteries: Fridge (on propane), charging phones, playing the radio, any lights (kept at a minimum), water pump for showers/dishes, awnings, vent fan to get hot air out, furnace if it's cold, auto level when we leave.

It's not often we boondock, but as we explore more places with the ATVs, a lot of these remote CG don't have any hookups. That's where I think one of these with solar to charge it up during the day would be a pretty nice setup. I just don't know what size I would need.

I looked on GD website and it looks like the 320G has a 2000W inverter and 55A charger. I am not sure how everything is connected. I assume the charger is powered separately.

If it's 55A @ 12V DC, that's 650W @ 120V. Some of the chargers I looked at state 950 Watts though. With the 1000W Battery it looks like I would get 1 hour of charging before it's dead. I am not sure what the actual output/draw is if it's only topping off the battery though. I can't see it being a whole lot?

[Soundsailor]

OK @RoyBell, here you go:

100 Ah LiFePo4 battery @ $350 (https://smile.amazon.com/LiFePO4-Bat...dp/B084DB36KW/)
100-watt solar kit @ $219 (https://smile.amazon.com/Renogy-Mono...dp/B079JVBVL3/)
1,000-watt inverter @ $65 (https://smile.amazon.com/Power-Inver...dp/B0927P7P66/)
Assorted small parts and cables for $50
Total cost = $684, the 1,000-watt Jackery with half the amp hours (46) costs $1,300 (https://smile.amazon.com/Jackery-Gen...dp/B09TKZ7KS4/).

[RoyBell]

OK @RoyBell, here you go:

100 Ah LiFePo4 battery @ $350 (https://smile.amazon.com/LiFePO4-Bat...dp/B084DB36KW/)
100-watt solar kit @ $219 (https://smile.amazon.com/Renogy-Mono...dp/B079JVBVL3/)
Assorted small parts and cables for $50
Total cost = $619, the 1,000-watt Jackery with half the amp hours (46) costs $1,300 (https://smile.amazon.com/Jackery-Gen...dp/B09TKZ7KS4/).

I would still need an inverter though. That stuff you listed looks more of a permanent setup for the camper vs dual use.

[Soundsailor]

I would still need an inverter though. That stuff you listed looks more of a permanent setup for the camper vs dual use.

You're correct, I've updated my post to include the inverter. For tenting I'd go with something like this (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08ZDG6C15/) for under $200. I have one and it powers my CPAP for three nights.

[Soundsailor]

@RoyBell, looks like for your coach you could get by with the Renogy solar kit. They have a 200-watt kit also.

[robmcqueen]

Check out the Eco flow units. I have a Eco flow river pro i can run my TV and Sat receiver for about 13 hours on it. It also recharge very fast. Will charge to 80% in 1 hour and to 100% in about 1.5 hours

[robmcqueen]

https://www.amazon.com/EF-ECOFLOW-Po...f-a2c47c48c32f

[FT4NOW]

OK @RoyBell, here you go:

100 Ah LiFePo4 battery @ $350 (https://smile.amazon.com/LiFePO4-Bat...dp/B084DB36KW/)
100-watt solar kit @ $219 (https://smile.amazon.com/Renogy-Mono...dp/B079JVBVL3/)
1,000-watt inverter @ $65 (https://smile.amazon.com/Power-Inver...dp/B0927P7P66/)
Assorted small parts and cables for $50
Total cost = $684, the 1,000-watt Jackery with half the amp hours (46) costs $1,300 (https://smile.amazon.com/Jackery-Gen...dp/B09TKZ7KS4/).

Those batteries have a lot of great reviews and the pricing matches. Do you have any experience with these? You could get 2 for less than one of main lithium company equivalents. Is it a case of you get what you pay for or am I missing something?