Off grid Power banks - anyone using one?

Sea Change said:
For about three years we ran everything off a 270Ah battery, so nearly three times the capacity of the Bluetti. This did all our basic domestic loads including cooking. But there wasn't a lot of spare capacity there- one cloudy day and we had to turn the gas back on.
We upgraded to 550Ah and it made a huge difference, giving us a day in reserve.
For this season we are upgrading to 1111Ah, or nearly the equivalent of twelve Bluetti units.
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Our needs are way more modest on board. We have a 48v 320ah battery at home, which does a day quite comfortably, and if solar is a bit lacking, we can charge overnight on cheap rate mains. I think we are looking at this, Fogstar Drift 12V 300Ah Lithium Leisure Battery (Gen2) for our on board, and about 500w of panels. But we can only endure about 2-3 days at anchor. Black water and fresh water become a problem, Chiara is only a baby.
 
Chiara’s slave said:
Our needs are way more modest on board. We have a 48v 320ah battery at home, which does a day quite comfortably, and if solar is a bit lacking, we can charge overnight on cheap rate mains. I think we are looking at this, Fogstar Drift 12V 300Ah Lithium Leisure Battery (Gen2) for our on board, and about 500w of panels. But we can only endure about 2-3 days at anchor. Black water and fresh water become a problem, Chiara is only a baby.
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You've got to make sure your system meets your usage.
We anchor 100% of the time, we are full time time live aboard, and we go alongside for water maybe every 4-6 weeks, depending on how much rain we've caught, how frugal we've been, etc. We have 1350w of solar.

For modest needs, a single 300Ah battery would be plenty. It's more than we had for our first three years, and we were running a fridge, a freezer, and an induction hob.
 
All_at_Sea said:
I might have to re-think this! I think I need a bigger capacity unit and I see some offer add on batteries...
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One of the biggest advantages of a Bluetti or similar is that you probably don't need to tell your insurance company. But in terms of Ah/£ they are very expensive.

You should do a power audit and see just how much capacity you need.
 
PaulRainbow said:
Not saying they are no good, they certainly seem to work for some people/circumstances. But, the OP says "so we can easily run kettles and a microwave whilst at anchor which we want to do a lot this summer in the Baltic"

Is the AC180 suitable for that ? I don't think it is.
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Agree, you cant get out more than is in the internal battery. We specifically look at the required power of things we use on the boat. Our kettle is a 'Tesco Value' job, old now, but only 1500w.

The OP will find if he takes out more than his engine or solar can put in while he is using it, it will quickly stop providing current.

Ask me how I know! I was surprised, however, just how long it kept going.

Well pleased with ours, great bit of kit, within its design parameters.
 
Even with the Bluetti we are still frugal with electrical use. The fridge is the main consumer , We use a gas kettle and have gas cooking with an electric kettle for use when on shore power .

The Bluetti I have can be charged by connecting solar panels directly to the Bluetti . Or by fitting a battery to battery charger the Bluetti can be charged from the boats engine. I don't have solar panels or the battery to battery charger but thought it may be worth mentioning.
Bear in mind a lithium battery charges up a lot faster than lead acid batteries . I am thinking a fold out solar panel might be something I could consider as I don't really have much scope for permanently fitted solar.

One other thing I am considering is a low power electric outboard for the dinghy and charging that off the Bluetti could be done .
 
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