Portable Power Station For Small Trailer

[jwh92020]

I'm thinking of doing a very simple camper conversion in a 5 x 8 trailer. Looking at a 12v Whynter fridge. Whynter says it uses 20 amp hr in a 24 hr period. Fridge and 3 - 3 watt led lights and phone charging will be the only 12v items. I'm thinking of using a portable power station for the 12v system. I'll bring in 20 amp 120v service for ac & other heavy power uses. Power station will be charged with portable solar panel(s) or shore power. What size power station would you suggest?

 

[Bud Martin]

I'm thinking of doing a very simple camper conversion in a 5 x 8 trailer. Looking at a 12v Whynter fridge. Whynter says it uses 20 hr in a 24 hr period. Fridge and 3 - 3 watt led lights and phone charging will be the only 12v items. I'm thinking of using a portable power station for the 12v system. I'll bring in 20 amp 120v service for ac & other heavy power uses. Power station will be charged with portable solar panel(s) or shore power. What size power statikn would you suggest?

What do you mean using 20hr in 24hr period?
What is the spec of the fridge?
You should collect the Wh uses per day to see how much power your consumption will be, then you can find out what the need of the system will be and figure it for the worst case.

 

[jwh92020]

Oops. I meant 20 amp hrs.

 

[Bud Martin]

Oops. I meant 20 amp hrs.

So that will be 240Wh per day then.
Can we see the spec? I never see the DC fridge rated in Ah.
How many hours the LED lamps will be on per day?

 

[jwh92020]

From Whynter's website.

 

[bedpan]

I have a temp build in my 18' trailer right now. I pondered buying a DC fridge but opted to try the apartment size fridge I had in my garage (something like this - Fridge ). I ran it on a crappy 1000w pure sine wave inverter I had kicking around.. I was pulling about 50Ah per day.

So one 100Ah would last me 2 days without any other major loads. I was fortunate enough to have access to a a few Lithium batteries so I built out the system with 3 batteries or close to 6 days without a lot of fan or light usage...

I added in a 50A DC to DC Charger so I could charge with my truck anywhere I was and a couple 100W panels that I could keep a little extra juice going.

So for about $1000 in Batteries, inverter and some chargers and panels you could get by fairly well.

I think those DC fridges are expensive.. I figured if I could use what I had I can put the money into something else... Those Apartment fridges are pretty cheap especially right now.

 

[rdhood]

Just another data point:

I have been testing a Decen Portable refrigerator with an Awanfi 518wH power station. At 72F ambient and cooling to 32F, it will use 20aH (much like Whynter suggests) over a 24 hour period... much like the Whynter that you are looking at. BUT, if you want freezer temp of 0F or if the ambient temperature is 92F, I suspect that it would draw much more power. A good maximum test would be a 90F day and cool to 0F.

BTW, I bought the Decen 47 liter AC/DC compressor refrigerator on Amazon Last week for $185. European Amazon has good reviews. While the Whynters, Iceco, Dometics are expensive, the Chinese refrigerators are still dropping in price. If this Decen lasts the warranty period, I will consider it a decent buy.

Currently, I am building a 280aH LiFePO4 battery that will keep a refrigerator and an electric blanket going for at least a week of camping. Solar input would keep them going for a lot longer.

 

[12VoltInstalls]

Looking at a 12v Whynter fridge. Whynter says it uses 20 amp hr in a 24 hr period.

I couldn’t find a 12V fridge, just a 3.4CF 120V and a bunch of electric coolers.

Fridge and 3 - 3 watt led lights and phone charging will be the only 12v items. I'm thinking of using a portable power station for the 12v system.

Those are usually A WHOLE LOT OF MONEY for not very much power.
You can have twice the capacity or more for the same money and your solar panels, too.
It’s $432 for a 1012LV and a 100Ah lithium battery is $350, 200W of panels you were buying anyway are $165
That’s very much what I mean by a lot of power for the money.

47 liter AC/DC compressor refrigerator

1-1/2 cubic feet is not a refrigerator it’s a cooler. 5CF is a compromise. I have a magic chef 4.7CF two door upright refrigerator/freezer and THAT’S doable for one person: $200. I haven’t tried it yet but an Element 7.5CF is new in the box and was $219,99. You’d need more panels and another battery but it would be fine with the 1012LV-based system noted above.

 

[jwh92020]

I have a temp build in my 18' trailer right now. I pondered buying a DC fridge but opted to try the apartment size fridge I had in my garage (something like this - Fridge ). I ran it on a crappy 1000w pure sine wave inverter I had kicking around.. I was pulling about 50Ah per day.

So one 100Ah would last me 2 days without any other major loads. I was fortunate enough to have access to a a few Lithium batteries so I built out the system with 3 batteries or close to 6 days without a lot of fan or light usage...

I added in a 50A DC to DC Charger so I could charge with my truck anywhere I was and a couple 100W panels that I could keep a little extra juice going.

So for about $1000 in Batteries, inverter and some chargers and panels you could get by fairly well.

I think those DC fridges are expensive.. I figured if I could use what I had I can put the money into something else... Those Apartment fridges are pretty cheap especially right now.

Those are all the same things I've thought about, the idea of tbe power station is a "can I" type of thing.

 

[jwh92020]

I couldn’t find a 12V fridge, just a 3.4CF 120V and a bunch of electric coolers.

Those are usually A WHOLE LOT OF MONEY for not very much power.
You can have twice the capacity or more for the same money and your solar panels, too.
It’s $432 for a 1012LV and a 100Ah lithium battery is $350, 200W of panels you were buying anyway are $165
That’s very much what I mean.

 

[bedpan]

There

Those are all the same things I've thought about, the idea of tbe power station is a "can I" type of thing.

I have used my trailer as portable power station Neighbor needed some power in his yard and my trailer was there. He plugged in and the party speaker started ;-)

I understand what you mean though. Just thought I would share my experience.

 

[12VoltInstalls]

You can do it. That’s what the forum is good for: learning. It’s only complicated cuz you don’t know yet

 

[jwh92020]

Your point is well taken. Part of the reason I've been looking at power stations is the fact that it could be pulled from the trailer and used for other things, primarily our frequent 2 to 3 hour Oklahoma "brownouts" that occur when a cow passes gas. It's a PITA to run cords from outside and fire off the generator for a couple of hours. If I'm not home, my wife is SOL as she physically can't pull start the genny. She could bring a power station in and run cords in the house

 

[jwh92020]

There

I have used my trailer as portable power station Neighbor needed some power in his yard and my trailer was there. He plugged in and the party speaker started ;-)

I understand what you mean though. Just thought I would share my experience.

I appreciate the input. Thx

 

[12VoltInstalls]

She could bring a power station in and run cords in the house

have used my trailer as portable power station

Or plug a cord into the solar shed…

 

[wme]

Well there always Will's milk crate solar generator. Built one and it's all good. Runs the wife's CPAP for 4 nights OR the fridge for 10 HR.
A Weize 50ah (640wh) runs a 1kw pure sine inverter along with a USB/12v socket block.

 

[HarryN]

I built this for a buddy with a trailer. It sits under a fold down bench.

It is a 24 volt system with a DC - DC converter for the nominal 12 volt loads. Most of the loads are 24 volts, really the only 12 volt load is that stupid max fan.

I am more conservative than most, so design around using ~ 50% of the max continuous battery amp discharge rate. In this case the 1100 watt inverter is paired with 2 battle borns. It is fairly easy to run a power cord in to the house.

 

[NickYoungNY]

So that will be 240Wh per day then.
Can we see the spec? I never see the DC fridge rated in Ah.
How many hours the LED lamps will be on per day?

240wh per day, as a general rule of thumb, if you merely get a 1000Wh Power Station：Working times = 1000Wh X 0.85 / 240wh =3.5 days, normally less than 3.5 days.