Power banks for camping

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Doomrider74

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Hi folks.

Sorry if this is a little off topic but I'm doing a photography trip on Vancouver Island in a few weeks and I'll be car camping. I need something to charge a MacBook Pro, camera batteries (Nikon) and a smart phone (Samsung).

Any recommendations?
 
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depends on how big you need. i have a previous version of this guy that i use when flying.

www.goalzero.com

New Sherpa 100AC

The New and TSA approved Sherpa 100AC Wireless Charging Power Bank charges phones, tablets, and laptops with 60% faster USB-C charging and 95 watt-hours of power (25600mAh). Bring your wall outlet wherever you travel with the Sherpa's AC port, and keep your phone powered up with best-in-class...
www.goalzero.com www.goalzero.com

i like that the new ones have two usb-c ports. unfortunately their one without the ac inverter does not :-/
 
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FWIW, I carry one of these while camping. I charge it while driving and charge batteries with it at night. The Nikon Z9 charger plugs right into it via USB-C and it charges a MacBook Pro (also USB-C) or my iPhone with appropriate cable.

www.ravpower.com

RAVPower 20000mAh PD Pioneer 60W 2-Port Power Bank PB201

Free shipping on any order at RAVPower. Designed with a PD output port to power up to 60W – when charging just one device – also accompanied with a colossal 20000mAh battery, this RAVPower Portable Charger can quickly and reliably top-up your laptop during remote working situations.
www.ravpower.com www.ravpower.com

I charge the power bank via a small lighter socket USB charger when I’m in motion. For longer van camping trips I have a Goal Zero power station with solar charging but for quick tent camping trips in my Jeep I just go with the power bank and charging while I drive.
 
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DRwyoming said:
FWIW, I carry one of these while camping. I charge it while driving and charge batteries with it at night. The Nikon Z9 charger plugs right into it via USB-C and it charges a MacBook Pro (also USB-C) or my iPhone with appropriate cable.

www.ravpower.com

RAVPower 20000mAh PD Pioneer 60W 2-Port Power Bank PB201

Free shipping on any order at RAVPower. Designed with a PD output port to power up to 60W – when charging just one device – also accompanied with a colossal 20000mAh battery, this RAVPower Portable Charger can quickly and reliably top-up your laptop during remote working situations.
www.ravpower.com www.ravpower.com

I charge the power bank via a small lighter socket USB charger when I’m in motion. For longer van camping trips I have a Goal Zero power station with solar charging but for quick tent camping trips in my Jeep I just go with the power bank and charging while I drive.
Click to expand...
That power bank is like my tether tools but it’s 27,000 mah. Works great!
 
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DRwyoming said:
FWIW, I carry one of these while camping. I charge it while driving and charge batteries with it at night. The Nikon Z9 charger plugs right into it via USB-C and it charges a MacBook Pro (also USB-C) or my iPhone with appropriate cable.

www.ravpower.com

RAVPower 20000mAh PD Pioneer 60W 2-Port Power Bank PB201

Free shipping on any order at RAVPower. Designed with a PD output port to power up to 60W – when charging just one device – also accompanied with a colossal 20000mAh battery, this RAVPower Portable Charger can quickly and reliably top-up your laptop during remote working situations.
www.ravpower.com www.ravpower.com

I charge the power bank via a small lighter socket USB charger when I’m in motion. For longer van camping trips I have a Goal Zero power station with solar charging but for quick tent camping trips in my Jeep I just go with the power bank and charging while I drive.
Click to expand...
That looks like it would do the trick but it really annoys me when they don't include the charger for these things 🤬
 
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I've been thinking about getting a power bank but currently use an inverter that plugs into the cigarette lighter in my 2000 Toyota Tacoma. Works great. I plug the regular nikon en-el15 charger into the inverter. I take 3 batteries for my d500 and go for 2 weeks plus, cycling the batteries every couple of days. Occasionally I'll plug my laptop into it as well, and charge our phones.. I don't worry about charging when the truck is parked at our camping spot as the little batteries don't draw much power.
Of course mirrorless will use batteries at a different rate....
--Alan
 
John Navitsky said:
depends on how big you need. i have a previous version of this guy that i use when flying.

www.goalzero.com

New Sherpa 100AC

The New and TSA approved Sherpa 100AC Wireless Charging Power Bank charges phones, tablets, and laptops with 60% faster USB-C charging and 95 watt-hours of power (25600mAh). Bring your wall outlet wherever you travel with the Sherpa's AC port, and keep your phone powered up with best-in-class...
www.goalzero.com www.goalzero.com

i like that the new ones have two usb-c ports. unfortunately their one without the ac inverter does not :-/
Click to expand...

The Goal Zero Sherpa 100 AC is also the largest size power bank allowed on commercial flights. On road trips I keep it plugged in to the car's power outlet, and the laptop & camera battery charger plugged into the Sherpa 100 AC so that I can use the laptop and charge camera batteries when the car is parked. At times I feel like I'm juggling chargers and that a larger power bank would be handy (will test this soon). I certainly would not recommend a smaller power bank.
 
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Do not use your car lighter or any other outlet attached to your car battery. That is not meant for charging laptop and stuff while camping.
In South Africa we live with Load shedding - so we are expert at power supply and portable battery packs 😂
The Ecoflow products are great. So is the new Jackery and a couple of new products in the same line. The consist of a battery, inverter and fitted outlet and inlet plugs ready to use.
Some packs have dedicated output plugs for laptops. (Depends what you use)
Take note before you buy: not all power supplies charges efficiently from the vehicle while driving - (they don't tell you that) especially if you charge something from it while trying to also charge it up via your alternator.
Solar panels works very very well to charge it when stationery at your camp site. (provided you have sun/light)
Some portable battery units takers HOURS to charge on off-shore power - check the input settings. Not good it takes 8 hours to charge up between cycles.
You also buy the size that will supply enough power to charge your units when you dont have solar etc to charge the pack. (eg if you do it at night- make sure it is a big enough battery to supply enough power for all your needs)
 
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When size and weight is not an issue as is your case (traveling by car), you can even use deep cycle lead battery. It is cheaper than fancy Li batteries and they have more capacity options (20, 50, 200... Ah).
They have a closed design so there are no problems with spilling the acid. I routinely use them for my telescope mounts. 50000 mAh should be around 170$.

You will probably need to buy as well a cable to connect them to standardized output (e.g. car lighter connector).
 
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When I travel off-grid for more than a day or two, I carry a Goal Zero Yeti400 with a slave battery in a marine box (so twice the watthours).

If it's a long enough trip with no access to power mains (charging at a motel stop), I also bring ~160W of solar panel to top them off during the day (the Goal Zero maxes at 100w input, but a 100w panel rarely puts out 100w).

I also have the Goal Zero 12v charger for the cigarette lighter (most cars have that 12v port), so it can top off when I'm driving around.

I've never run out of power with this set up; the longest period was 10 days, but most periods are 4-6 days (without power mains).

Full disclosure: when I bring the laptop, I don't use it a lot (not hours each day), so mostly it's to charge batteries (photo and drone) and camp equipment (lights).

PS: I've had this setup for a long while. If I were to start over, I would probably get a lithium unit with no power (and have no slave), and also would totally look at competitors such as Jackery.

Chris
 
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Many good suggestions above but at the end of the day it gets down to how often you are likely to use it, do you also want to be able to fly with it, are there other things you would like to charge, e.g. lights, small fridge etc etc. Do you want a backup for home in case of power outages? How big is your budget? A couple of just flight legal powerbanks would be a starting point. And just be sure to have everything fully charged before you go. Have a great trip.
 
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TonyDownunder said:
Many good suggestions above but at the end of the day it gets down to how often you are likely to use it, do you also want to be able to fly with it, are there other things you would like to charge, e.g. lights, small fridge etc etc. Do you want a backup for home in case of power outages? How big is your budget? A couple of just flight legal powerbanks would be a starting point. And just be sure to have everything fully charged before you go. Have a great trip.
Click to expand...
It's for a car camping trip and I just need it for a MacBook Pro, camera batteries and smartphone.
 
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Short answer for car camping: if you just want to bring power without solar panels, you should look at the power stations and see how much charge they have for your devices. For instance, check out this page for a smallish Yeti:

www.goalzero.com

Yeti 200X

Our lightest portable power station delivers 187 Watt Hours in a compact, ultra-portable design. Perfect for keeping your essentials charged from door to destination and back again. Charge the Yeti 200X from the sun with our portable solar panels while away from the grid and keep it topped off...
www.goalzero.com www.goalzero.com

Now scroll down a little bit to the Highlights and see the section "WHAT CAN THE YET POWER". If those numbers for phone, laptop, camera etc. are not high enough for the length of trips you need, then go to the page for the next unit up (YETI 500-x) and look at the same section for that.

You can probably find the same kind of helpful info on the product pages for competing products.

Those really small power banks from Anker? I have them and use them, but they're just not enough Watt Hours storage for a road trip with laptop, lights, camera, and phone. As you can see from the above linked to Yeti 200x, even it will only charge a laptop 4 times (and I don't think that's "plus your other devices").,

The good news is that you can plug these larger power banks into your 12v cigarette lighter port to top off while driving, and of course fully charge it those nights that you stop at a motel.

Chris
 
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I should make a correction to my post about using an inverter without a battery, charged from a "cigarette lighter". It actually is a 12v outlet that uses a cigarette lighter style outlet. The important thing is to get a pure sine wave inverter.
Some of the slightly larger portable batteries are lithium iron phosphate based. These have greater longevity and are deemed to be safer because of less chance of thermal runaway.
We got one of these for household use and I'm considering a small one for car camping. If I get one, I'll report back on it later.
 
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