Anyone full timing using a portable power station?

[SmkyMike]

Hoping for feedback from anyone that is full timing using a portable power station!  Please give as many details as you can on your pros and cons so far, an idea of your electrical knowledge (my limited knowledge is why I'm leaning toward a portable power station), an idea of your amp/watt daily usage, what portable power station you have, and any other details including how you charge it - solar, plug in at work, gas generator when cloudy, etc.  Also if you have any regrets or things you would do differently?  As a new member I'm really enjoying this forum, thanks.

 

[bullfrog]

We used an early, largest at the time Goal Zero with their solar charger in an attempt to run a diverted swamp cooler in an 8' x 8' booth in full sun. The swamp cooler used a gang of 4 computer fans and a small water pump. It was pretty much a total failure unless we fully charged it from grid power overnight and then it would barely last 5 or so hours with the solar (it was a small suit case panel probably rated at 60 watts) attached. Over the winter one of the units was left discharged in a building with no heat and we had a night below freezing after which it would no longer charge. One of the outlets quit working shortly after we started using it. It was very heavy and took 2 people to move it more than a few feet. They are not made to be easily repaired so they have been delegated to storage to be disposed of.

 

[DesertTrvlr]

I have both a jackery 1000 and a goal zero 400 that I bought a few years ago. I also use a portable swamp cooler that I purchased from home Depot that works for most of the warm days. I am able to run the Hessaire swamp cooler for about 12 hours inside of a TT off the jackery. I run my dometic cff 35 fridge off the goal zero 400 especially while traveling and propane is off. I also have three 12 volt deep cycle batteries that I use just for built-in travel trailer 12 volt power needs and can use to charge one of the portable power stations with a 12 volt adapter plug if needed. So far this combination along with the 200w solar panel kit that came with the jackery has been working pretty well, assuming I'm chasing 70° weather.

 

[travelaround]

I used a Rockpals 300 for two years. I used it daily during that time for my cpap machine overnight and other things. I charged it daily by 12v until the cord stopped working then by 110 as my van has an inverter. The 12v cord had a strange connector and the company ignored my emails asking for replacement help. I couldn't find anything to match it on the web. The solar panel that came with it was way too slow to charge it so I always used the van or other electricity. After almost exactly two years, the battery suddenly quit working! I don't know why. I still have it and may ask my electrician friend to open it to find out why... but since he's putting solar panels and electricity on my van, maybe it is not really something I need anymore. Anyhow, I don't recommend Rockpals. They ignored my emails for help two or three times.

 

[StacyK]

I’ve been full time for 6 weeks (not long...) and use a Jackery 300. My current electrical needs are very simple—phone, mini tablet, USB rechargeable light and fan, and occasionally camera batteries and their ilk. I recharge the Jackery about once a week, either using 60w folding solar panels (recharges in about 8 hours) or while driving (about 4). My electrical knowledge is minimal but enough to build my own system following the directions provided by people like Will Prowse. The Jackery ended up being free to me (long, dull story), and free was worth the price.

I don’t actually trust these little units to last, so I also have a power bank as backup to recharge my phone if needed, and some Luci lights. I can also recharge USB devices directly from my solar panels.

No current regrets.

 

[pennierose]

Looking for input on what portable charger is best. I don’t live in my vehicle but car camp often. Thanks in advance.

 

[justanothermaroon]

I've been using a Bluetti AC200 since 11/20. Recharged by a 350W panel and, on cloudy winter days, a Champion generator.

I run a desktop computer, water kettle, coffee grinder, heated mattress pad, toaster, rice cooker, espresso machine, some LED lights, and recharge some devices. Not all at once, of course! Love it and makes living full time comfortable. I'm not looking for the "live in a car, eat out of cans" lifestyle.

I got it for the intro price of $999. At that price, it was a no-brainer. I think it goes for $1500-1800 now.

 

[Sofisintown]

Bluetti AC200 also. Runs all electronics and small appliances, and the fridge.
Solar charging or grid charging.
I have lights and fan on a separate 105 AH system.

 

[[email protected]]

A little off topic but I found an ad today for new Sportsman 1000 watt gas generators on sale for only $169 at Tractor Supply online with free pickup at your nearest store. This genny starts up to 1000 watts and runs 800 watts at 56 decibles and is a 4 stroke engine. That is a great buy.

 

[izifaddag]

I have met several people with minivans turned into campers who use Jackerys. Very expensive and only for those who have very limited need for electricity.
I think they are a little wasteful. In some cases for the same amount of money you can set up a complete solar system.
I guess it depends on how much real estate you have and your style of full timing. I am a full timer and rely on solar heavily. I have 200 ah in LiFePo4, 1000 w in solar and 2 controllers.
I also use a small generator.
The portables do indeed make solar simple but they are so limited and very pricey.

 

[izifaddag]

A little off topic but I found an ad today for new Sportsman 1000 watt gas generators on sale for only $169 at Tractor Supply online with free pickup at your nearest store. This genny starts up to 1000 watts and runs 800 watts at 56 decibles and is a 4 stroke engine. That is a great buy.

That is good news. I am so tempted to buy one to parallel with my Champion also bought at Tractor Supply. Theoretically that would give me 1700 + 800.
That is downhill with the wind behind me.
The Champion is unable to give me its rated 1700 running watts. Took me a long time to figure out what is going on, I even thought my microwave was defective. So I bought a 2nd one that was identical and got the same results. I got a refund.
The problem is altitude. I am convinced of it. After research I find that Champion sell 3 main jets for the carb. Normal, 1000 - 2000 meters and 2000 - 3000 meters. So if you go up into the mountains to keep cool it creates a problem. 
A Sportsman in parallel would solve that problem. All inverter generators synch I have seen it done with up to 3 different brands all in parallel at the same time. Amazing machines.

 

[TnTravel]

I’ve been full time for 6 weeks (not long...) and use a Jackery 300. My current electrical needs are very simple—phone, mini tablet, USB rechargeable light and fan, and occasionally camera batteries and their ilk. I recharge the Jackery about once a week, either using 60w folding solar panels (recharges in about 8 hours) or while driving (about 4). My electrical knowledge is minimal but enough to build my own system following the directions provided by people like Will Prowse. The Jackery ended up being free to me (long, dull story), and free was worth the price.

I don’t actually trust these little units to last, so I also have a power bank as backup to recharge my phone if needed, and some Luci lights. I can also recharge USB devices directly from my solar panels.

No current regrets.

No "current" regrets saw what you did there lol

 

[Camper]

I have a Champion and a Sportsman inverter... my Sportsman 1000 does not have parallel ports.

 

[Matlock]

Hey Mike,

It always comes down to how much wattage do you use a day and how you are going to replace that wattage tomorrow.

I carry a goal zero 1000 lithium power station (1045 watts) and use it as a backup to my flooded house batteries.

House battery is 225 AH (2700 watts) recharged with solar and I use approx 25% or 55 AH (660 watts) of that every day. If I go two days without enough sun I'll switch over to the goal zero and can use that for 1 1/2 days before it needs charged. (Lithium allows for deeper discharge than flooded).

Occasionally, solar hasn't charged the flooded set quick enough so I'll need to start up the honda generator and run it for a few hours to charge up both batteries. Usually a couple times a month, more in winter months.

I'm considering adding a dc to dc charger so I'll have the option to top off my batteries from my vehicle alternator. It's just another charging source and I don't typically drive enough to use it at a main source of charging.

If I'm able to find a 120V outlet in my travels I charge the batteries as needed with the progressive dynamics charger, usually that's the flooded battery set as they are the most vulnerable to not being fully recharged every day. I've used this set for 4 years and am careful not to abuse them.

PS. the 55AH a day I mentioned above is to run my 12V refrigerator, interior lights, charge the laptop, mobile hotspot, cell and use a 12V TV and DVD player a couple hours a night. The 12V fridge uses the bulk of my power. Also when using the honda, I charge up any rechargeable tool and batteries as needed and usually cook a meal with my microwave while its running. It's worth noting, different battery chemistry can require different charging power and duration of charge. It's not as simple as just replacing what you have used, typically you need more.

That's my 2¢

 

[scaredycat72]

When I was fulltime, I had a Jackery E1500 that I charge with 2 - 100 watt Jackery portable solar panels and my car when driving and a 300 watt, 500 watt hour Bluetti that I charged when driving. The pros were they had a warranty, they didn't require any maintenance, I didn't have to worry about completely discharging them, I could charge them when I was driving, I could charge them by solar, I could take them inside a coffee shop/library and charge them through the wall outlet, I could use them in my house when I wasn't on the road, and I could easily sell them for cash. The only con was they could be stolen so I kept them locked to an anchor in my car. I have no idea about my daily usage other than I never ran out of power. I have no regrets.

 

[user 27148]

I started with 2 100 Watts of solar panels and 2 100 amp hours of AGM batteries. I upgraded to 4 100 and 3 amp hours of AGM batteries. I can now make a pot of coffee every single day and not worry about how much I've discharged. I also have a 2500 watt generator I got off of craigslist for general use and to charge my batteries with whenever it's cloudy out.

That is all anticodotal, of course.

The best suggestion is to figure out how much power you're going to use at any one point in time and then how much power you're going to use over a average time. It's also good to calculate what power usage you may want to use in the future that you're not considering now.

Next, it would be good to understand every available power source from shore, to generator, to solar, alternator out whatever. Then you have to get at educated on each of those to get the most out of them.