Portable 'back-up' power

[francene]

Hello all,
Has anyone ever used one of these for powering 12v in their trailer?


3-in-1 Portable Power Pack with Jump Starter

Fran

[Mike Magee]

It contains a 17 Ah lead acid battery. So you could run it down about 9 Ah before you start harming the battery. It might be ok for a few LED bulbs and an occasional use of the water pump; that's about it.

I should mention that I once (maybe 5-6 years ago?) bought a cordless drill with 2 batteries from HF, and the batteries were total junk. They would not hold a charge worth a hoot. Fortunately I was able to return them within the time limit, although the store manager gave me a hard time. Since then I don't buy battery powered anything there.

[DougOlson]

I have a similar unit from Duracell, 18Ah, and cost a little more than the one you showed. It'll run my cpap for a night, can just run my wife's nutribullet blender. The function I have used most is the tire pump to top up the trailer tires.

[francene]

Originally Posted by DougOlson

I have a similar unit from Duracell, 18Ah, and cost a little more than the one you showed. It'll run my cpap for a night, can just run my wife's nutribullet blender. The function I have used most is the tire pump to top up the trailer tires.

Thanks for the advice, Doug. Sounds positive.

Fran

[Byron Kinnaman]

I used to have something like that. Since I became a ham radio operator I carry a second battery in my truck. I started with a used 50amp hour gel cell and now have a 74 amp hour marine (deep cycle) battery. Cost = $5.00 for gel cell and about $60.00. When I got the "3 in 1" power source the air compressor did even last for single use and ran the battery down.

I did use the 50 amp hour battery when I missed and ran the house battery down on 5° night to run the furnace. (I tried to get one more day before getting out the solar panel).

[francene]

Thanks Byron and Anne. I plan to get a simple Solar system but thought for cloudy days in Washington state it might be useful to have a battery backup.

[gordon2]

Originally Posted by francene

Thanks Byron and Anne. I plan to get a simple Solar system but thought for cloudy days in Washington state it might be useful to have a battery backup.

Add battery capacity to your solar system to get you through the cloudy days.

Two 6 volt golf cart batteries in series is a popular way to do that.

That will work much better than any marginal battery booster thingamajig.

[francene]

O.K., Gordon. Two 6 volt batteries.
Hmm, I guess I can put them on the tongue.

Thanks for your suggestion.


Fran

[Mike Magee]

Those golf cart batteries have very thick, heavy lead plates which make them durable and forgiving (able to take abuse). They have good amperage capacity, too. Two 6V batteries are wired together in series to make a 12V. As long as your tow vehicle will be fine with the extra hitch weight, this is a great way to go.

[Larry C Hanson]

Hi,

Two Trojan T105 golf cart batteries would be a bit heavy
on the tongue ( 62 lbs x 2 = 124 lbs plus cables, etc.)
in my opinion. For your small trailer I would favor a
Trojan SCS-225 130AH 12V deep cycle battery at 66 lbs.
Mine has served quite well for 9 years and is still going
strong. I run LED lights, XM radio, 600W inverter for
running juicer, occasional ham radio, etc. I use a 160W
solar panel and controller to keep it all running.

Larry H