Portable Power Stations

[ac_]

When I go camping I either take my toy hauler/ tent trailer. On it I built a battery box, and I have a RV battery in it. I usually bring my laptop to watch movies after a long day of Jeeping or quadding. I also have a plug in cooler and I plug it into a power port wired off of the battery. My Jeep also have two batteries so I can plug my cooler into my Jeep also. I also bring a Honda 2K gen for charging the battery during the day, and use the battery at night for power and quiet times.

The batteries in my Jeep are yellow top optimas around 300 a piece, and the batteries in my trailers are xpower rv batteries. that run about 400 a piece. Now I know you are going to cringe when i tell you how much I pay for batteries, but I after I have wired everything and have everything working, I find these power stations.

I am talking about the Yeti or the Jackery power stations.

This is what I am talking about
https://www.rvwithtito.com/articles/jackery-explorer-1000-portable-power-station/
or

https://www.goalzero.com/shop/power-stations/goal-zero-yeti-1250-portable-power-station/
Now these are about $1000 each, now do my batteries seem like a better deal or what?

So my question is why are these so damn more expensive than batteries I mean more than double. I can sort of answer part of it, because it has a pure sine wave inverter in them. That is great if you are listening to a nice stereo possibly, but in my camper I have a $400 battery with a pure wave inverter and it was still less than 600 bucks including all of the wiring.

I am curious if there is something I am missing. I mean they are getting rave reviews both of them, but are they worth the cost?
Does anybody have one and what is your experience if so?

 

[Mike_H]

Lithium batteries are much more expensive than FLA (flooded lead acid). When you jump to lithium, you not only need the cells, but you need some sort of battery monitor to make sure it doesn't turn into a bomb (experience an event, in battery parlance). You can't just plug it into a typical battery charger or again, you'll experience an "event".

Size is also a consideration. Those units are pretty small for what they are, and when it comes to electronics and batteries, small is expensive.

Finally, it's marketed to the overland crowd... So tack on 25% because that is popular and that particular crowd doesn't mind paying.

 

[Mumblewood]

For my camper I have a Honda eu 2000i generator. It will run 8-12 hrs on a tank of gas (under 1 gallon) depending on what’s on. It’ll charge the battery in the camper while plugged in. It’s super quiet. The only thing I can’t do is run the A/C and microwave at the same time. I also keep a marine grade deep cell battery in the camper for when I can’t use it at night, but when disperse camping I just run it all night since it’s super quiet and it doesn’t bother any of my friends anyway. When I bought it I got it for around $800 new back in something like 08 and it’s worked flawlessly. I can let it sit for a year and it’ll pull start in 2-3 pulls. After that it’s 1 pull ever other time I use it during a trip

 

[ac_]

Lithium batteries are much more expensive than FLA (flooded lead acid). When you jump to lithium, you not only need the cells, but you need some sort of battery monitor to make sure it doesn't turn into a bomb (experience an event, in battery parlance). You can't just plug it into a typical battery charger or again, you'll experience an "event".

Size is also a consideration. Those units are pretty small for what they are, and when it comes to electronics and batteries, small is expensive.

Finally, it's marketed to the overland crowd... So tack on 25% because that is popular and that particular crowd doesn't mind paying.

I was kind of figuring the overland thing also. The battery I am using is an AGM not a flooded led, but I understand where you are coming from. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Seems like the solution I am using is probably better plus 70% less cost. Thanks for confirming what I already thought.

 

[Mike_H]

I was kind of figuring the overland thing also. The battery I am using is an AGM not a flooded led, but I understand where you are coming from. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Seems like the solution I am using is probably better plus 70% less cost. Thanks for confirming what I already thought.

AGM is still a lead acid battery chemistry, just uses a different method to keep the electrolyte in suspension so it doesn't spill when you flip it over. AGM stands for Absorbed Glass Mat...

 

[ac_]

For my camper I have a Honda eu 2000i generator. It will run 8-12 hrs on a tank of gas (under 1 gallon) depending on what’s on. It’ll charge the battery in the camper while plugged in. It’s super quiet. The only thing I can’t do is run the A/C and microwave at the same time. I also keep a marine grade deep cell battery in the camper for when I can’t use it at night, but when disperse camping I just run it all night since it’s super quiet and it doesn’t bother any of my friends anyway. When I bought it I got it for around $800 new back in something like 08 and it’s worked flawlessly. I can let it sit for a year and it’ll pull start in 2-3 pulls. After that it’s 1 pull ever other time I use it during a trip

It sounds like you and I have the same story. I do the same exact thing with the same gen. I used to have a converted cargo trailer that I converted to a toy hauler camper, and I had an AC put in it. It was a 13.5 and I had to run a 3000I, and although it was quiet, I was still worried about the sound at night, so I bought a nice inverter and some decent batteries that would run the fridge and entertainment all night then spend the day recharging the batteries, and running the a/c with the gen, but as time went on I had to change my plan, to selling my cargo trailer, and buying a flatbed to haul my Jeep, so I bought a new 4x4 and a slide in camper, and I also downgraded to the 2000i honda and like you it won't run the AC and the microwave at the same time, but it will run both. I ended up buying it used for 500 bucks and it has been awesome.

I bought a pure sine wave converter for my entertainment, so if I do get too worried I can shut the gen off at night like before in the trailer.

But I also have a tent trailer that I recently welded on a battery tray, and installed an AGM RV battery on and also use the same 2000i gen, but I was just making sure that I was doing the right thing. Which reading your story sounds a lot like mine. Thanks for confirming what I thought and helping me save an extra 1000 dollars. Ha

 

[ac_]

AGM is still a lead acid battery chemistry, just uses a different method to keep the electrolyte in suspension so it doesn't spill when you flip it over. AGM stands for Absorbed Glass Mat...

Makes sense. I really like them I have two of them in my Tj mounted sideways. I just wished they could figure out how to make them lighter. It is like having a person sitting under my hood of my TJ.

 

[Mike_H]

Makes sense. I really like them I have two of them in my Tj mounted sideways. I just wished they could figure out how to make them lighter. It is like having a person sitting under my hood of my TJ.

Lead is dense. So is water... That makes lead-acid batteries heavy. That is their biggest downfall.