So the questions is as the Jump start battery, went real well, just for a led light ( 1 strip of a Korr led light), and only used 1 bar of power of the 12 bars that it has, for 3 nights recently, instead of using a dedicated battery of 45ah agm, or a 20ah lithium. No other need for the power in my camper at this stage( although, may need to run a computer off the power using a 300 watt PS invertor at some later stage) in the future. What a dedicated battery would do is make it easier to charge with solar, as opposed to the Batt Pak, that is charged thru the cars 12 volt socket or 240 volt plug. If I could work out a way to charge the batt pak with the 80 watt solar portable panels, I would just stick with the batt pak at this stage. So what is a good suggestion stick to the batt pak for current use, or go the whole hog and get a dedicated battery up in the front box( and if doing it will be a bit of a job, and a bit more cost).
-- Edited by Bicyclecamper on Wednesday 27th of October 2021 03:46:39 PM
Yeah, this batt pak, isn't the same as our last Lion Batt Pak, in we went around OZ, using only it in 05', for the whole 9 months as we had no battery in that 80's model van. That batt pak was only 19ah, but as we were moving on every 3 days or so, we never really drained it using a flouro lamp. Was hoping this batt pak could be the same. It does have a quite large led light on it, and could run a fair while so all night and only use 6 bars. How do I measure the low load?
The only batteries in my pop top van are in the LED torches and portable lighting, when we free camp occasionally, we have a gas fridge and stove and LED's all round.
My jump start battery has a 400w inverter, tyre pump, light etc, the battery died after 7 years but a new battery fixed it.
We have a large TV in the van with a built in DVD player and we can watch a long video from the battery inverter without flattening the battery, it can be charged from the 12v plug as we drive around as well.
A side trick with this battery is if we have a blackout at home we normally can't use the instantaneous gas hot water heater as it requires 240 volts to control the ignition and temp control computer in the house. We can just plug it into the inverter and have hot water in the house.
When the battery died I was gong to buy a new one but they don't have the inverter in them now, it's been deleted. I also have a small solar panel to keep it charged when it is stored in the shed.
I could never understand the need for heaps of power if you are holidaying in a caravan.
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GROWING OLD IS COMPULSORY, GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.
Well, I think we will stick to the Jump Starter for a while, but now I have a car battery, that has a dead cell, so not useable for the car, but still has useable power, so maybe will put that in the box upfront. And just carry the batt pack, as a back up. It would be a waste of a good car battery if I chucked it, as it's indicator say's it is still okay.
Hi Ric
If your jump starter has a LA battery as it most likely does being 24Ah, it will be an AGM type. So another option is to just buy a 24 Ah AGM battery and wire it yourself and you can see what you need to do. It may not be much cheaper though.
Those jump starters usually have a socket to plug in a charger for trickle charging. You could plug in a small solar panel there. Mine has. I usually charge mine by connecting the clamps to the battery terminals for a while.
Note the small lithium jump starter work ok for starting but have very small Ah capacity for long time running lights and computers.
Jaahn
Yeah, like I said above, I think we will stick to the batt pak, but will probably fit the old car battery, I have surplus now, as it reads 12.8 volts, but unreliable as a engine starter, as every now and then it acts like it is flat, so hence it has a dead cell. But should be okay for just led lights. Have decided not to take the laptop out with us for our extended weekends, or even for 2 week jaunts. So wont need it. I f the lockdowns end, by next year, will be going on a 3 month jaunt, then maybe our battery needs will change .
Hi Rick just before we left on our recent trip up to Cairns. I saw a 80 ah battery in the camping dep at Kmart. $175. It fits my battery pack so has been used as aux to run the car fridge and I was recharging it through portable solar blanket and controller Worked well. I usually charge my other battery pack through the leads with a battery charger not the normal 12v plug in Cheers Stew
