It's interesting to read your takes on portable battery power stations. Hopefully others with similar needs may consider it as an option. I hope you don't mind me chiming to tell our story.
Would I prefer to have Lithium batteries, a solar array on the roof, an MPPT charge controller, and a big inverter? Absolutely! However, the cost, tools, time, and expertise to upgrade what we have now, at least based on our current camping style is prohibitive. A portable LiFePO4 battery bank can make sense if you don't need lots of continuous days to run AC gear.
Being on the east coast, with limited BLM options, we primarily camp at state parks with some HH locations thrown in. When possible, we try to get water+electric sites, but some state parks don't offer them or have a limited number. So far, we haven't had consecutive stops at campgrounds w/o electric service, so we haven't been without electricity for more than 3-4 days. Our AC needs are for the following items, in priority order: Keurig, toaster oven, recharging a laptop, microwave, A/C fans.
Earlier this spring we pulled the trigger on an Anker 767 during the Earth Day sales and used it for the first time over 3 weeks traveling through VT, ME, and Canada. We had two 3-night stays at state parks without electric service and 2 one night Harvest Host stays without electric. We are very happy with the decision.
We have two modes of operation:
- Short stays where and we don't need the microwave or A/C fans - we set the Anker up in the trailer.
- Longer stays, or when we need the microwave or A/C fans - we set it up in the outside back storage (this storage space in the 1985 model is awesome) and connect the 30A cable from the trailer to the Anker. For this, I drilled a 3" hole through the floor of the storage bay and installed a pair of 3" circular hatches (one from the top and the other from the bottom) so the hole would be closed when not used. The AC output can be turned on and off with the Anker app via Bluetooth. If wanting to optimize usage, we just turn off the main battery disconnect so the Anker isn't charging those batteries.
The bottom line is that a portable battery bank may not offer as much runtime and convenience as a fully integrated solar system, but it can increase your camping flexibility when you don't have access to electrical service.
