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 Topic: Allpowers portable power station and sola
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16/2/2021 at 10:57am
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Joined: 16/2/2021 Standard Member
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Good Morning,
We have a Citroen Berlingo which slowly turns into a small campervan. We are looking for a power solution which keeps us a bit independent if necessary.
For what we need the power: LED lights, USB (phones), cooling box 12v, 40-50w and maybe laptop. Without the cooling box, it would be easy, but we need one.
Things we have already considered:
- Leisure battery and split charger. Not an option because doesn't feel safe about it, plus, it's not portable then.
- Hubi 10k, not enough power because of the cooling box.
So, we were thinking about getting an Allpowers portable power station and a solar panel. This would be the perfect solution for us, but:
During the day we will go hiking or visiting places and usually that means driving somewhere. And the idea of leaving the solar panel and the power station on the pitch doesn't feel very safe. The other option would be to fix the solar panels on the roof of the Berlingo but I don't want to do any drilling and the whole installation would probably cost a lot of money.
Do you have any suggestions? Or would you say it's safe to leave the power station and the solar panels on the camping ground?
Thank you so much for your answers.
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16/2/2021 at 3:48pm
Location: London
Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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I do feel you are pushing the bounds of possibility trying to run a Peltier/Thermoelectric coolbox from ANY vaguely portable/cost effective battery source.
Allpower suggest a 40w fridge (coolbox) will run only for 7 hours or so on a charge! That's not even a full night's use!
If you have a 100/120w solar panel (typically somewhere near upper end of portable panel size), that's a theoretical output under ideal conditions, reality expect only something in the region 30-50W in bright summer sun unless you constantly move panel to track the sun and it's angled perpendicular to sun to capture max energy which will get you maybe 55-60W. And then significant output will only be for 8 hours or so per day during peak sun. Out of mid summer sun, the output drops off considerably, right down to virtually nothing on a short dull grey winter day!
Your coolbox alone will use all of the output from solar panel, so the battery will get no or minimal charge, so after exhausting initial charge (presumably obtained from a mains charger before holiday), you'll have virtually no power available to run anything after sun down!
Peltier/Thermoelectric coolboxes are really the worst of all worlds, they don't cool very well, only to around 14C below ambient (certainly not to 4C or below necessary for safe storage of perishable foods in normal summer temps), so if ambient is 28C, coolbox will only get down to 14C, don't forget, if it's inside a vehicle, ambient will likely be hitting 40C or more in the sun! They are also very inefficient, consuming a lot of power for a minimal cooling effect. They also run constantly, as they don't have a thermostat, so their 40-50W (3.5-4.5A) load is constantly drawn from battery 24 hours a day. They are best regarded as a conventional coolbox with a bit of assistance in extending the iceblock life, certainly not a substitute for a fridge.
If you want/need a fridge, maybe you should consider a 12/240v camping compressor fridge, which is far more efficient and has a thermostat so that it is only running occasionally, you should get days of use out of even a modest leisure battery before recharging is necessary, but far more within the scope of a solar panel being able to maintain battery charge. Alternatively, a 3-way (12v/240v/Gas) camping fridge run off a gas cylinder on site (needs to be outside your vehicle - a utility/toilet tent or drive away awning is ideal. Both will give you true fridge performance. Like the coolbox, the 3-way fridge consumes too much power on 12V to be run off a battery, but can be run inside the vehicle with it's engine running OK. Both obviously can be run off 240v EHU if available, but also have scope for off grid use.
IMHO, I do feel your budget for a Allpowers portable power station, could be better spent on a better fridge solution.
Trying to run various fridge options on/off grid is a common enough question, try searching the forum for previous debates/advice.
As to security of expensive equipment on site, out of site/out of mind is the first rule generally, but obviously anything that is not secured is potentially vulnerable. Commercial/club camp sites tend to be pretty good, mostly due to honesty of fellow campers rather than any on site security measures. When you think about it, most people are leaving assorted camping equipment worth many hundreds of pounds every time they leave their pitch!
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via mobile 16/2/2021 at 2:01pm
