What is best battery power pack?

GPS: a bigger-screen Android device with a prepaid Tracfone SIM on VZW.

Google Maps, Earth, and Navmii for when no data connection available.

Search for info on What3Words, Navmii uses that as well as lat-long.

Good discussions on GPS: http://forum.expeditionportal.com/forums/45-GPS-and-Computers-(Hardware)

John, i just read a bunch of E.P. equipt. reviews, they don't seem very trustworthy, and in some cases not really reviews more like endorsements, am i wrong?

I use my phone as a gps, with service or without. It does not need service to work.

My Anker Powerpack just got here and is charging up. I can't wait to use it. I love the size too. It is super small.

Zizzer_Zazzer_Zuz said:

I can say this with almost absolute certainty ... there are no all in ome units tjat you need to worry about off gassing. All of them use SEALED lead acid batteries and do not carry this risk.

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Sealed Lead Acid batteries, a type of Valve Regulated Lead Acid battery, has a valve precisely so it can vent if needed. They can vent, but unless abused they probably won't. And once they vent the owner cannot put the hydrogen back in to make them work again the way a FLA owner can replace water.

frater secessus said:

Sealed Lead Acid batteries, a type of Valve Regulated Lead Acid battery, has a valve precisely so it can vent if needed.  They can vent, but unless abused they probably won't.  And once they vent the owner cannot put the hydrogen back in to make them work again the way a FLA owner can replace water.

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That's accurate. Once the gas has escaped, it's gone and the battery life/capacity has been degraded. 

One big advantage (I think) is that it's more of a "forget it" battery. There's a lot of discussion about venting and dangers of venting within the confined space of the vehicle. You can cut a hole and rig a vent for the battery, keep a window open slightly, whatever. Some people are very sensitive to chemical odors so they may prefer the SLA.

Good point. And it seems the chemically sensitive are over-represented in vandwelling: I think this life helps them get away from the chemical onslaught.

New relevant thread from elsewhere, hope that's OK http://forum.expeditionportal.com/showthread.php?t=172756

John61CT said:

New relevant thread from elsewhere, hope that's OK http://forum.expeditionportal.com/showthread.php?t=172756

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another link from within the article that you listed above (http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/135855-Ark-Pak-Questions-and-Queries?p=2316974#post2316974) said this:

[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Hi Moabian [/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]sorry for the late reply i can confirm that the Ark Pak AP730 is LiFeP04 compatible, i want to strongly advise you that it is [/font][font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]NOT[/font][font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif] Lithium ION compatible under no circumstances do we advise or encourage you to put a Lithium ion battery into the Ark Pak the reason being is the Lithium Ion batteries require an extremely complex charging curve and any slight error can cause a catastrophic failure of the battery.[/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]if you have any more questions please ask.[/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Regards [/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Brett from Ark[/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]end of quote[/font]


[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]So what "extremely complex charging curve" is the ARK pack rep talking about for lithium ion batteries?   :huh:
[/font]

Blowing smoke, pay no attention.

CYA decision based on USian crazy liability laws.

The supplied AC charger is grossly underpowered against usual mobile House bank standards, so I would advise not using that anyway except when the batt is only lightly used and you have shore power available at least overnight.

I suppose if they skipped putting in current-limiting circuitry, a depleted LFP batt might burn it up demanding too many amps.

This is not in any way "complicated", just them saving money in a way that risked overheating maybe even fire.

I thought LiFePo4 is a Lithium Ion chemistry.

Yes, one of many.

What made you think otherwise?

Ah I see

This world isn said:

i can confirm that the Ark Pak AP730 is LiFeP04 compatible

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I think he left out the NOT

Freudian slip

John61CT said:

Ah I see

I think he left out the NOT

Freudian slip

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One would think the Ark rep would remember... lol

Covfefe!

We purchased the 1000 watt-hr Lithium chemistry goal zero battery power pack which comes with a 1500 watt 3000 watt surge pure sine inverter, 12V outlet, 4 usb chargers, two solar inputs (max 250 watts input) and a AC charger (rather slow, about 65 watts in).

It is pretty nifty.   It actually has a bit more than 1000 watt-hr, more like 1050 watt-hr.  It is very light for the stuff you get, about 41 pounds.   Compact.   We used it on a 5 day trip on our sailboat and took it into our hotel room one night to charge up.   So much better than having to bring a generator on the sailboat and much more stealth to charge up our sailboat's 12V Lifeline AGM battery which gets run down during the day powering our radio and gps/depth sounder/chart plotter.  

It is not cheap at $1000 from Costco, but it has a 2 year warranty (and this is Costco, so you know it is going to be easy).  Sure you could build a battery out of a cardboard box, duct tape, some Chinese LifePO4 batteries with a 30 foot or 30 minute warranty after you pay $200 return shipping, but would you want to sleep on top of it while in the middle of the Puget Sound?

I see other uses for it already.  We might even use it to supplement our main RV house bank...use it to keep the laptops charged or something.  Great for camping too.

Only problem I have with it is the smallish AC charger which actually gets quite hot when kept inside the unit in the holding place.   I am using it outside the unit so it can get some convection cooling but I see that as a failure point in the future.   Capacitors and such in AC-DC converters fail quicker when held at high temperatures.   With a 150 watt AC charger that had proper cooling or was so efficient that it did not need much cooling, I would give the whole unit 5 stars.   I have to ding it a half star for the AC charger (which has not failed but if anything is going to fail, I bet that will be it).

IGB said:

Only problem I have with it is the smallish AC charger which actually gets quite hot when kept inside the unit in the holding place.   I am using it outside the unit so it can get some convection cooling but I see that as a failure point in the future.   Capacitors and such in AC-DC converters fail quicker when held at high temperatures.   With a 150 watt AC charger that had proper cooling or was so efficient that it did not need much cooling, I would give the whole unit 5 stars.   I have to ding it a half star for the AC charger (which has not failed but if anything is going to fail, I bet that will be it).

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I had done a quick review I think on Costco's site(only place I can find selling the 1000WH one, but might have been a review of their 400WH) which a couple people had to get their AC chargers replaced.  Seemed like Goal Zero shipped them out new one's hassle free... but seems to be a problem.  Keep us informed.  I'm still trying to decide what to use for a battery bank.
How long(roughly) does it take to recharge from solar(plus how much solar?)

Yes I would directly connect external better quality chargers rather than using built-in, unless light usage and overnight shore power available.

If you have 1000 watts of solar, under an hour is enough.

A full day at 150W if well depleted.

But a grand for 80AH, just doesn't make sense to me.

John61CT said:

Yes I would directly connect external better quality chargers rather than using built-in, unless light usage and overnight shore power available.

If you have 1000 watts of solar, under an hour is enough.

A full day at 150W if well depleted.

But a grand for 80AH, just doesn't make sense to me.

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Well you do get a 1500 watt continuous 3000 watt surge pure sine inverter in the deal too which is worth something ($250?)

So it is more like $750 for the 1000 watt-hr battery with a 2 year warranty at Costco.

How much is a 1000 watt-hr lithium battery with a 2 year warranty from Costco or some other American company?  Does such a beast even exist?   I figure this battery pack has a little more juice than my 125AH 12V Lifeline AGM which are around $350 each and weigh 71 pounds where this thing is 41 pounds with the inverter and  AC charger (plus the dinky built in PWM solar charger which can only handle about 250 watts of panels).