I'm looking to upgrade my Yeti 400. It only has 60w of solar panels hooked up to it. Its now at least 6 years old and doesn't work great. Usually it's close to dead and it isn't being used much.
I always wanted to have a system that works for my engel refrigerator while camping, charging kids phones and tablets, maybe a TV, and maybe the smallest heater (240w-500w) possible for a few hours in the night. I realize the heater is a huge draw.
Right now I'm eying a Renogy 100w panel, maybe an extra foldable 100w panel to use when we need more juice when camping, and maybe something like a Bluetti AC100? Small is important as our van is a Westfalia and there isn't much room for the kiddos.
The Engel uses between 10w and 39w. As a baseline, I'd like to comfortably keep that running for at least 2 days if there is no sun. Anything else is a bonus.
I have a honda eu2200, but I'd rather not lug that around as a backup.
So does selling the Yeti 400 (lead acid) make sense? Or should I keep it, add batteries and just upgrade the solar panels? I'm reading about a DIY LifeP04 battery setup, but I'm worried that's too many moving parts for kids to be breaking while we're driving around..
I always wanted to have a system that works for my engel refrigerator while camping, charging kids phones and tablets, maybe a TV, and maybe the smallest heater (240w-500w) possible for a few hours in the night. I realize the heater is a huge draw.
Right now I'm eying a Renogy 100w panel, maybe an extra foldable 100w panel to use when we need more juice when camping, and maybe something like a Bluetti AC100? Small is important as our van is a Westfalia and there isn't much room for the kiddos.
The Engel uses between 10w and 39w. As a baseline, I'd like to comfortably keep that running for at least 2 days if there is no sun. Anything else is a bonus.
I have a honda eu2200, but I'd rather not lug that around as a backup.
So does selling the Yeti 400 (lead acid) make sense? Or should I keep it, add batteries and just upgrade the solar panels? I'm reading about a DIY LifeP04 battery setup, but I'm worried that's too many moving parts for kids to be breaking while we're driving around..