I took a look around and a lot of comments mentioned to get one that uses ‘LiFePO4 Batteries’, and that seemed like a reasonable requirement.
They’re supposed to have a longer life span, be safer, light weight, and better charge/discharge efficiency which is in line with what I’d be looking for.
Some brands/models that I saw recommended:
BLUETTIcame up in more recent postsEcoflow(specifically theRIVER 2) came up a lotAnkerwas suggested a few times, but the comments weren’t that detailed
edit, added an image of what I’m referring to
If price is your main concern make one yourself. Specially if you don’t need 110
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buy a 12v battery of your choice (deep cycle are best, but car batteries will do in a pinch, UPS batteries if you want small)
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buy a tool box of adequate size for your battery, allow for extra room
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order a “float charger”
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Order USB and cigarette lighter ports as desired
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wire it all up inside the toolbox
I’ve made a few with minimal effort, they’re great for camping and my latest one even allows me to jump start a car
There are plenty of guides out there with more detailed steps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49Do__99Yr4
I’m currently making one for a friend, let me know if you guys want to see pics of the components
I have very limited experience with this but from what I’ve seen car batteries are terrible for this. They’re not designed to be drained and don’t hold up to it well. Deep cycle is the way to go.
This is only applicable if you drain them all the way repeatedly (over draining of the battery leads to sulfate forming on the plates which is)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378775303009340
I combat this by over sizing my batteries. I have a lead one in a tool box I use for camping and I recharge with a solar panel, It’s a standard car battery that for my use lasts 6 hours or so. Normally I use it for a couple hours (between dusk and time to go to bed) to use a laptop, maybe a speaker and an LED light and then I charge it during the day while I go hiking via solar panels.
If you care for them they can last a long time. There’s also charge controllers you can install to keep it between 20 and 80% charge (for best life) but that’s kind of overkill for my purposes.
Having said that, yes … deep cycle batteries are a lot better, and even more so are Li Ion and solid state … but they are also significantly more expensive, and I like to use whatever I have at hand.
Thanks for explaining. I think the people I knew who tried this didn’t take any precautions to protect their battery so that would explain why theirs failed so quickly.
Yes, please!
This one is a very small 3Ah battery because my friend is using it as a proof of concept. He wants it to power a very small Wi-Fi spectrum analyzer / packet capture device when he goes war driving.
The beauty of Lead acid batteries is that they’re very cheap at the cost of additional weight and volume If I used 18650 Lithium Ion cells I could probably get more than twice the battery capacity, but it gets more expensive and more complex (You have to do some math to figure out how to wire the batteries to add up to 12V and calculate how many amps total so you can fuse it correctly)
In the pic you can see that there’s already a float charger I’ve taken out of the case to reduce the volume it takes (I normally encase them in epoxy) and an Inverter I’m going to wire externally for him to test 110 with a battery this small
I still have to cut holes for the USB adapters and float charger port, and I have to shop for a volt meter monitor that fits his needs.
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Surelly something capable of being trickle charged from a solar panel would be a superior option, at least for camping or any sort of situation were having no access to power would last for days.
Thinking about it, the “power outage” use case is probably more than sufficiently different from “camping” that which is the one you care most about has a big weight on the requirements for the portable power station.
Project Farm on YouTube just reviewed a bunch of these battery banks. Check out the video.
Very Impressive!
Wow 23 hours ago, perfect timing
Thanks!
I am halfway convinced he has a time machine and trolls forums looking for ideas. Then goes back in time and does the test to post the results just before you ask about something.
I know what I’m watching at dinner.
I was at the 24 Hours of Lemons at HPR this year and we developed a crack in our exhaust manifold at 2am. Tried to weld it using onsite power but kept tripping the breaker. Plugged the 30A MiG in to our Ecoflow and zapped away. Still had 80% juice when done.
I don’t have a recommendation but thank you for not calling them a “solar generator”
I want a solar generator in my basement. Basically a very miniaturized Messier 82-core floating in my laundry room.
I imagine it might increase the temperature to hazardous levels sadly
Well yeah, if you don’t get the recommended containment it would, yeah.
Nonsense, I’ve installed a few, just need some duct tape.
Go with solid state. Lighter and it’ll last much longer. https://yoshinopower.com/?srsltid=AfmBOop4ZfctUfN3-XeCk8RO2vJY9pKENf9lsin80O5n-z8iinHKzerR
We have a Jackery 300 and just picked up a 1000. The 300 has been great camping and in power outages but we also just keep it in the living room to charge our small devices. It gets recharged on DIY solar setup.
The Explorer 1000 was crazy cheap for Black Friday and easily powers our chest freezers - we get frequent power outages. The only disappointment is they use a slightly different DC cable for car (ie 12V) that you have to pay extra for, but we can still charge from the inverter on the solar setup until we can source that plug - I ain’t paying the ludicrous $30 Jackery wants for a simple cable.
Bought a Jackery a few years ago for camping purposes, and I love it. We’ve never drained it completely from 100% charge. It had been sitting in the house, off for months, and we needed it this past weekend for camping. Pulled it out on TGiving day to find it was still @ 77%. Couldn’t find the charger because we recently moved, but we had the solar panels. It was charged back up to 100% within a few hours, which shocked me.
Its definitely overpowered for what we currently use/need it for, but we also lived through the 2021 Snowpocalypse in Texas, so I reasoned that it would come in handy if we ever ran into a similar situation again.
Before I opened my own business and was camping a lot I was looking at jackery, then I realized how little power I use while camping. But it seemed to be the goto brand.
Edit: spelling
I was kinda hoping for a different outcome to the tests, to be honest, but it looks like it’s really the best around (according to these tests anyway). That being said, I’d probably go with a Grecell if I was being picky about my budget.
In addition to whatever power bank(s) you end up buying, you might consider getting a portable solar charger. I’ve used mine in like 3 different power outages, either because the outages were extended or my power banks had slowly lost charge over the winter.
I got one with like four charging ports which was nice because I could charge my phone and recharge my power banks and USB lantern at the same time.
Second this. I was at camp (with my kids) this summer and able to keep my phone charged just by leaving my power bank charging at the tent while I was hiking. No more trying to find a free outlet in the dining hall, just recharge while sleeping. My power bank would have made maybe 3 days, but I was able to be gone for the whole week.
We got green bonus points at the camp inspections because I had that outside my tent as well.
Well add me to the less than detailed Anker recommenders… I’ve never used their portable power stations but I have many Anker and Soundcore (same company) products. I rate them as a “best bang for your buck” type company. I’ve never been disappointed with an item I’ve gotten from them, there are better more expensive products but I prefer best value over absolute best performance for those kind of electronic items.
This has also been my personal experience with their brand.
If I’m shopping in a new space where I can’t find a clear winner in reviews, I consider Anker to be the safe bet for a good product. Let’s hope they never logitech themselves.
I used to get a lot of items from them, and recently got some more cables, but I have had issues with some things (ex. USB-c docks)
Since this was a bigger purchase, I wanted to be sure 😄
We have a Jackery and we’re quite happy with it. It’s come in handy for a lot of random uses and they have a wide variety of charging options and capacities so you only pay for what you need. Battery life is good, build quality is good, we have no complaints.
I like my Bluetti stuff but in some aspects Ecoflow has more flexibility (dual fuel), though at a higher price point.
A few high points :
Historically (from Internet and friends, that is to say - anecdotally), Ecoflow has had better customer service than Bluetti but I’ve not had any problems with Bluetti. I’ve not had any problems with the products but they quickly refunded me the difference on their “30 day price” guarantee when I asked.
I decided against Jackery when I started this journey because they were higher priced and not using LiFePO4 yet. Not sure on prices but it seems they’ve updated the battery chemistry.
My use case is home power outage so 2kWh was my min capacity (AC200P) and I eventually got an AC300 too. I have an EB3A just because I caught it for $70.
The EB3A is annoying as desktop computer UPS, don’t try it… Unless you’re okay with it running fans when it charges pretty often whenever it drops to 99%. There were also UPS mode switching problems on older versions. Never experienced that but I stopped using it after two days because of the constant charge cycling.
EDIT: prices between brands are as I remember them when I was doing comparisons and I have not checked prices in 1 to 3 years. So, likely different now.
I think Anker products are generally pretty good. Another option that might seem a bit left field is the DJI unit if you want to shell out more for a product with more power, options and from a solid brand, it’s maybe a bit more aimed at drone pilots and videographers but it’s also viable for camping and general use as well.
I recently went through a 8 day power outage from hurricane Milton.
I bought an Anker f2000. It retails new for ~$2000. Even that can only power my fridge for maybe 23 hours.
I don’t own one, but I might recommend these coolers from Anker instead. I’d buy one if I had the space. link to refurbished unit
It last 42 hours on battery, can be charged via the car or solar, goes down to freezer temps, and the battery is detachable and can be used to charge your devices. It would be much easier to keep essentials cold for a week using this, even if it’s small, and it would be great for car camping.
I’ve been pleased with my Ecoflow River 2 Pro for the brief time I’ve owned it. I’ve been using it as a UPS for my CPAP, and I’m planning on taking it camping once it stops being so cold. I can get about 2 full nights of use out of it if I use all the comfort features my CPAP has, or probably a week+ if I turn off those things (e.g. the humidifier).
Don’t bother with anything from the brand “allpowers” I’ve had a few of their power stations and they were all junk. Your best bet really is to build one yourself. Buying a battery/inverter/mppt and a pelican style case to put it in is vastly cheaper than buying one of these power stations, and when the battery or whatever shits the bed it can be replaced easily.
Where would you acquire the items to make your own, namely the battery, and what’s the risk of killing myself trying this? Also would you be able to build in solar charging for this?
18650 batteries are easy to source and cheap. You need a battery welder (either expensive or lively to burn out in one use - there seems to be no middle ground) chargers are also available. The hard problem is everything is marketd at electrical engineers who understand details of how to put circuits together. There are no trustworthy sources of do this or but this kit (at least not that I have found)
beware that mistakes will burn your house down and insurance won’t cover it. That risk is why even though this should be easy I have not done it.
