Portable Power Station Or Battery Box and Inverter? - AllPowers S2000pro vs Hardkorr 135Ah Battery

[@CameronOwen101]

Van looks mint! Can't wait to see more of it. I've pivoted to looking at caravans over campervans recently. Going to hire one for a bit and see if it feels like a better fit for the kind of exploring we want to do.

[@Off.Track4x4]

Hey Cam, thanks for watching and commenting. We started off looking at tear drop caravans, then moved onto 10ft caravan, finally ended on a 19ft6 caravan. We noticed everyone starts small and works their way up, why not just go to the end point and save some money. We are not disappointed and very happy with that decision, I'll be doing a buyer's guide in a few weeks. As I spent over a year looking.

[@CameronOwen101]

@@Off.Track4x4 Nice, look forward to it, we are not in a rush to buy.

[@andrewgalea7319]

A DC to DC converter allows you to charge your Powerstation while driving. Pecron have a plug and play unit that allows you to charge at up to 500 watts while driving. Ups the voltage and charges through the solar input. Check something like that out.

[@Off.Track4x4]

I took at look at the Pecron, looks very interesting exactly what's needed. Would be handy if they were internal through

[@fauzanahmed48]

I ordered one from Pecron directly, and it arrived from China to NSW in 3 days, just last week. $300 delivered. Works well, charges my Zendure at 410W (it's limited to 10A input). Happy days

[@davidmoore7303]

Use a small inverter off your start battery when driving pluged into the house charging spot. Ecoflow now on one of theirs has an Anderson

[@Off.Track4x4]

Yeah I was thinking that, but it just seems a bit silly to go 12v to 240v then 240v back down to 12v. EcoFlow have made an external DCDC charger. Do you know which one has the Anderson plug? I'd love to get my hands on it.

[@garylienert]

Congrats on the new van. It looks awesome. Allpowers uses ternary lithium batteries hence the lower lifecycles/higher discharge rate compared to your diy HardKorr battery box which I am assuming has a Lithium Iron Phosphate battery. If I had to choose just one, I am still leaning on a DIY setup. Just with the corrugated roads I travel on, replacing a failed component seems a lot easier on a DIY setup, compared to replacing a failed component in the Portable Power Stations

[@Off.Track4x4]

Thanks Gary! We love the van hey best thing we have bought! Your correct the "s" series is Ternary but they offer the "R" series which is LiFePO4. You get a bit better cycle life 3,500 cycles. Bluetti and EcoFlow I think are around 3,000. All alot lower then stand alone battery. I'll give my final verdict after my camping test. I'm pleading with all my contacts at Australian companies to make one, but due to needing an electrician to sign off they aren't interested.

[@worthy_escapes]

A solution re charging the power station. Not sure if it has different charging modes/wattages, but some do. Run a low voltage disconnect, to a small pure sine wave inverter (500w etc) and then you can get decently fast charging in your vehicle while driving. Also a couple of companies are setting up victron DCDCs for some power stations (bluetti etc).

[@Off.Track4x4]

Funny I was going to mention using an Inverter instead of a DCDC charger, but knew people would jump on me for it 🤣😂 There would be a little bit of power wastage from changing 12v to 240 then 240 back down to 12v. My guess is only about 2-3amps or 38watts. I think it's a great idea and about the same price as a DCDC changer.

[@brianventura4519]

The biggest issue with the all in ones is if it fails for whatever reason it essentially renders it unusable where as the Hardkorr setup is unlikely to have every separate component fail. In my case I have multiple batteries, multiple charge controllers and multiple solar panels. Which are all interchangeable.

[@Off.Track4x4]

Very good comment Brian and might thoughts before getting sent one. With the price of this unit doesn't matter if it all fails its pretty much the same price as just a hardkorr battery.

[@kevinlorryman781]

Weekender LOL i live full time on a powerstation with solar

[@Off.Track4x4]

Hey mate, can I ask what size powerstation and solar? As I honestly have doubts that this could do two days camping

[@kevinlorryman781]

@@Off.Track4x4 vtoman 1500wh 1500 inverter . 400 watt solarpanel which is awsome.. does all we need . We power a caravan when touring and a static caravan . Got a small bluetti aswell

[@Off.Track4x4]

400w solar panel definitely helps, I only have a 200W solar blanket. Need the whole day to recharge the unit.

[@kevinlorryman781]

@@Off.Track4x4 mine is 4 to 5 hours on solar and on mains power 1 hour