Building a Portable Power Station

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#303267 28-Jan-2023 18:08

After the post last week and what happened yesterday. I would like to build a portable power station.

Looks like there are some good designs on youtube using LiFePo4 12v battery packs.

Has anyone got recommendations on where to buy them from? Looking for a 100Ah pack.

Cheers

timmmay

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#3028565 28-Jan-2023 19:07

A while ago I bought two 30 amp hour AGM batteries, a decent size solar panel about 80 watts, charge controller thingy, a car USB charger from ebay, plus some appropriately sized crocodile clips. It's not even slightly portable but it's very effective. I have two batteries because then I can swap one to being used while the other is being charged.

I also have a DC UPS from a New Zealand company called constant vigil that can run my fiber modem and router.

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billgates

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#3028566 28-Jan-2023 19:10

I can recommend https://www.sokbattery.co.nz/Lithium-Batteries-NZ

Do whatever you want to do man.

timmmay

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#3028568 28-Jan-2023 19:28

AGM are a LOT cheaper than lithium. Still not cheap.

Goosey

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#3028576 28-Jan-2023 19:46

Something like this would be cool…..pricey !
(there’s other cheaper options)

I guess a good alternative to fuel… but fuel is still king of portable generators at the moment.

https://ecoflowtech.co.nz/products/ecoflow-delta-pro-portable-power-station

davidcole

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#3028585 28-Jan-2023 20:23

timmmay: A while ago I bought two 30 amp hour AGM batteries, a decent size solar panel about 80 watts, charge controller thingy, a car USB charger from ebay, plus some appropriately sized crocodile clips. It's not even slightly portable but it's very effective. I have two batteries because then I can swap one to being used while the other is being charged.

I also have a DC UPS from a New Zealand company called constant vigil that can run my fiber modem and router.

How do you wire the battery’s to charge off one charge controller? In series or parallel?

I’ve got a little solar set up for a shed with one battery…and a spare battery here was going to add a 2nd to it for more juice

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timmmay

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#3028586 28-Jan-2023 20:31

davidcole:

How do you wire the battery’s to charge off one charge controller? In series or parallel?

I’ve got a little solar set up for a shed with one battery…and a spare battery here was going to add a 2nd to it for more juice

I have them in parallel while charging. The batteries are 5-7 years old and capacity is quite a bit down. Next time I might not having them charging on solar all the time, I might just charge them once a month with a good quality battery charger. I wonder if they'd last longer that way.

neb

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#3029029 29-Jan-2023 19:31

Silicon Chip had constructions plans for a LiFePO4 UPS a year or two back, given that this is going to have to handle either high (mains) voltages or high (12-24VDC) currents unless you really know what you're doing this isn't something I'd homebrew.

Handle9

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#3029067 29-Jan-2023 21:54

timmmay: AGM are a LOT cheaper than lithium. Still not cheap.

The usable capacity is also a lot less than lithium. AGM is primarily a storage battery for backup applications and not great in applications with frequent deep discharges.

timmmay

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#3029074 29-Jan-2023 22:06

Handle9:

The usable capacity is also a lot less than lithium. AGM is primarily a storage battery for backup applications and not great in applications with frequent deep discharges.

Sounds ideal for what I use it for, but depends on the intended purpose of the system.