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Let’s Talk Batteries!
Now days when you think overlanding gear or camping gear one item is always on the list, a portable power station capable of recharging numerous ways like AC, DC, or solar. The reason these are on the list is because other camping gear has evolved like 12v fridge/freezers, lights, diesel heaters and yes portable air conditioners. Roughing it no longer means roughing it unless you run out of power which is what this blog post is all about. Portable power stations very in price the smaller ones roughly 288WH cost around $300 and larger units 1,000WH - 1,500WH cost anywhere from $800 to $1,600. But how much power and what power station do you need? Well that depends on what your looking to run and for how long. To figure out what power needs you have just figure out what each item uses add them together and I use 10hrs
to make it last all night. So let's say a diesel heater, light, and fridge use 150W x 10hours =1500WH so you'd need a power station costing close to $1,000 but what if I told you there's another alternative to give you the features of a power station and around 1520WH for about $650 saving you hundreds from buying a largest power station. How you might ask well it's simple purchase a small 300WH power station for $300 next you'll want to buy a Power Queen 12.8V 100AH lithium battery for $339 off Amazon and one more thing a 12v to 24v 10amp converter. Connect the 12v - 24v converter to the Power Queen Battery and connect the output side of the converter to the solar port on the portable power station and it'll think it's getting solar at night basically trickle charging the power station. I have my system setup like this and I get 197W input to the power station and use 150W coming out so still charging the power station with 40W. This is a budget friendly way to have the larger power capacity without spending the money on a large power station and you can expand your system buy just adding another Power Queen 12.8v 100AH battery to give you over 2700WH for less than a $1,000.
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