Portable Power Stations

[JJB100]

I have been looking at the Portable Power Stations that are coming on the market.

So, if I have a second battery in the engine well and have a portable Power Station of say 720Wh ($1400)

Would this save me fitting the battery, DC DC Booster, Sine-Inverter, Solar charger, Wall Charger and cables? Making the fit out easier for about the same cost.

These Power Stations can charge from solar panels and can fast charge at home.

I would be reluctant not to have a back up battery but these Stations are an attractive alternative.

Would be interested in your comments or experience with theses Power Stations.

Regards

John

 

[Davent]

You mean like an arc pak?
I use one and does every thing I need it to. Can charge it while driving, and solar when I'm camping. Run my Engel, charges detector batteries, head torch, UHF etc.
Expensive, but so far so good.

 

[Nightjar]

Wouldn't it save many $'s just buying a battery and fitting it in a box and add the necessary fittings.
$1400 seems a bit over priced?

 

[Goldtalk Leonora]

Any thoughts on the arkpak versus the redarc go block? The latter selling for close to 3k!!! The arkpak half that....I cant see a lot of difference???

Appreciate peoples thoughts.

 

[Davent]

How much is the arc pak now days?
Think mine was$699

Now that's a great deal !

 

[Ridge Runner]

I have at leased 4 of them,

After much testing there is a couple of things I have learned and one thing is if it is only to run a fridge then It only has to supply power during the Dark hours if you have 100 to 200w of solar hooked up ready for when the Sun comes up.

a 500/512wh unit will run a fridge even in freezer mode if you have it hooked up to the Cigar socket while Driving OR 120w solar panel,

On hot days where the power draw will be higher a 716wh unit is the safer option and it will give you a bit in reserve.

Any of the 1000Wh Units offer trouble free power if you have 100-300w of Solar hooked up and during the night you might see the power meter drop to around 20 to 30% from running the Fridge and lights etc,

Move up to the 1500Wh or Bigger and you have enough to live off grid for months/years with a couple of Solar Panels, and you have a couple of days backup power even on Rainy days, because even when it rains you are still going to get some power pumped back In, These Units can handle Inputs of anything from 100w up to 2400w++ and the power becomes limitless even on bad days.

Units that have a wide range of input Voltage allow you to really make the most of using multipul panels and for Smaller 512 and below single panel units you need them to have a voltage range that goes from 8v - 25v so they get the most out of single panels,

If the size of the unit not do match these guidelines then you will have trouble further down the line.

Another thing to allow for is the power reserve where they hold back a certain amount of power to protect the Battery IE

A 512Wh might hold back 20% so out of 512wh it will only have a useable power of 409.6Wh = 80/20%, Where as some 500wh units hold back 10% which means they can have an output of 450Wh=90/10%. Also how many Cycles they have is another major factor, along with what type of Charge controller they have PWM or MPPT ?.

Hope that helps, :Y:

 

[condor22]

It depends what you want to run from it..... 720Wh is around 60Ah. If it is an AGM the usable is around 30Ah

A reasonable 100Ah AGM will cost around $3-400 and you'll get around 50 Ah usable. Then you need to add a battery box and connectors, plus charging etc.
A Dometic PLB 40 Lithium will cost around $900 and you'll get approx 32Ah usable, but fast charging and at a fraction of the weight.
A Companion Rover 40 Lithium will cost around $539 with a similar usable and weight as the Dometic.

I have a couple of the Companion Rover 40's, they have inbuilt charging, solar input and all the connectors and probably cost less than a 100Ah AGM setup. The other plus is the longer cycle life of Lithium.

 

[Ridge Runner]

It depends what you want to run from it..... 720Wh is around 60Ah. If it is an AGM the usable is around 30Ah

A reasonable 100Ah AGM will cost around $3-400 and you'll get around 50 Ah usable. Then you need to add a battery box and connectors, plus charging etc.
A Dometic PLB 40 Lithium will cost around $900 and you'll get approx 32Ah usable, but fast charging and at a fraction of the weight.
A Companion Rover 40 Lithium will cost around $539 with a similar usable and weight as the Dometic.

I have a couple of the Companion Rover 40's, they have inbuilt charging, solar input and all the connectors and probably cost less than a 100Ah AGM setup. The other plus is the longer cycle life of Lithium.

Yes and the Dometic PLB has a claimed 2000 cycle life @ 80% compared to my new 80Ah AGM with it's 340 cycle life @ 50%.

Some Jackery products have a 500 to 1000 cycle life

PowerOak / Bluetti products have a cycle life from 1000 to 6000 cycles, Thats a lot of Watts with a capacity of 5120Wh X 6000 Cycles. :inlove: :inlove: :inlove: Thats over 30,720,000Watts erfect:

 

[Redfin]

Prices appear to be coming down across the board.
https://www.tentworld.com.au/buy-sale/companion-70ah-lithium-power-station

 

[Ridge Runner]

Prices appear to be coming down across the board.
https://www.tentworld.com.au/buy-sale/companion-70ah-lithium-power-station

Thanks for posting that,

It's got really good all round specs and a very useable Wh rating, :Y:

Well Done. erfect:

 

[condor22]

It might have good specs, but be aware it is not LiFeP04 it is LiNiMnCoO2 (NMC) a different Lithium chemistry. It's cycle life is only 800 and a 9-14 hour recharge time

The Rover 40 is LiFeP04 and has a 2,000 life cycle and twice the warranty. Recharge is 8-10 hours, but I don't let mine go much lower than 50% before charging anyway.

I did check the 70AH Companion before buying and I figured 2 x Rovers were better value re cycle life and when using one, I can recharge the other.

 

[Ridge Runner]

It might have good specs, but be aware it is not LiFeP04 it is LiNiMnCoO2 (NMC) a different Lithium chemistry. It's cycle life is only 800 and a 9-14 hour recharge time

The Rover 40 is LiFeP04 and has a 2,000 life cycle and twice the warranty. Recharge is 8-10 hours, but I don't let mine go much lower than 50% before charging anyway.

I did check the 70AH Companion before buying and I figured 2 x Rovers were better value re cycle life and when using one, I can recharge the other.

Thats the exact same reason why I went with 2 PLB's in the begining from 20% SOC they take about 4.6 hours / 4hrs 36mins to charge at around 17% per hour, The other Bonus of the SoGens below 1000wh is most of them can be charged from the Cigar socket, Once you get in to the bigger ones to charge them from 12v you need either a small 300w 12v inverter and plug in the wall charger in to it which give about 216 to 220w or models above the 1500wh and upwards you need to buy the 12v boosters which take the 12v power from the socket and can boost it up to 500w depending on the Input voltage, They also make a 500w wall charger for mine as well so I might invest in both of those,

I am thinking about buying another 1800Wh or the 2400Wh model within the next few weeks which will give me about 6000Wh +/- layful: :inlove: :inlove: erfect:

 

[JJB100]

Thanks All,

A lot of really good information and advice.

Right, time to chew it all through.

regards

John

 

[Solid Luck]

I'm still very happy with mine that I got over a year ago. Put it in the car last Sunday morning fully charged and plugged a 35 litre fridge in.
I have a trickle charger that runs of a ciga socket. Got back yesterday arvo and left the fridge plugged in. It is still at about 50% capacity this morning.
I was charging my phone and the 6000 battery overnight.
All up I only did about 300 k's of driving and that kept the charge up a bit.
If I took the solar panels the charge would be a lot higher now but I can't be bothered carting them around.
800 cycles or not, it's still going to last a long time.

 

[Smoky bandit]

Duel battery charger Ac/Dc .$280
Duel battery.105 amh .$200
220w solar pannel. $200.
Maybe another $80 in Anderson plugs and wire .
Will run everything i need Fridge and Freezer ,Lights and phones and detectors for as long as I need.
Or as long as the car can be started and run or there's some sort of daylight every second day. :Y:

 

[user 22230]

Duel battery charger Ac/Dc .$280
Duel battery.105 amh .$200
220w solar pannel. $200.
Maybe another $80 in Anderson plugs and wire .
Will run everything i need Fridge and Freezer ,Lights and phones and detectors for as long as I need.
Or as long as the car can be started and run or there's some sort of daylight every second day. :Y:

I run basically same set up, has been same for past five years or more and even with one battery replaced still under a K in cost :Y: Runs two fridges, water pump, Travel buddy, lighting, winch on camper and caters for all phone, detector etc charging requirements. Again my findings have been a quality controller such as Victron with moveable panels is the key to good yield. :Y: Replenishing power used is the key, because if that's not up to task the set up will fail regardless of how many K you have spent.

 

[user 22230]

I have at leased 4 of them, :Y:

I have to ask why four?

 

[RM Outback]

I have at leased 4 of them, :Y:

I have to ask why four?

Because RR is the club house leader of testing new products More than likely he's given one or two away to family or friends, that's the type of bloke he is :Y:

If you want an appraisal on anything from Thermos to Cold weather gear and anything 12 volt related RR is your man :Y: if he doesn't know he'll have a look at it :beer:

 

[Smoky bandit]

I have at leased 4 of them, :Y:

I have to ask why four?

RR buys 4 of everything :lol:

 

[user 22230]

I have at leased 4 of them, :Y:

I have to ask why four?

Because RR is the club house leader of testing new products More than likely he's given one or two away to family or friends, that's the type of bloke he is :Y:

If you want an appraisal on anything from Thermos to Cold weather gear and anything 12 volt related RR is your man :Y: if he doesn't know he'll have a look at it :beer:

Sounds like a generous hearted soul and a good mate to have :Y: