So you have finally made your mind about going on that trip you’ve been planning on. You might have everything in place but are you carrying electronics with you? Maybe a small karaoke machine or some fairy lights? If yes, how do you plan on powering them? Are you gonna use a generator?
While generators are a good and easy solution for mobile power needs, they can be noisy and give off smoke that might ruin the calm and soothing experience you’re probably looking for. One of the greener and more efficient ideas is to use a battery powered setup.
How to set up a battery powered system for camping?
There are a lot of ways you can set up a battery powered system for your campsite. But before we talk about these setups,let us talk a bit about the type of batteries you need for such a setup. Deep cycle batteries have the special property of storing charge and releasing it slowly over a long period of time. Choosing a Deep cycle battery is like the same type of batteries you use in your inverters and solar setups at home and not the ones you use to start your engine in your car.
This property of deep cycle batteries makes a very good choice for campsites. There are a lot of specifications to choose from and you can always find the best batteries if you calculate your total requirements on the trip. Deep cycle batteries are very easy to handle and carry.
They come in all sorts of different sizes and display various capacities. Bulky batteries tend to have a lot of power but if you’re at a campsite,chances are that you will not require such heavy applications.
The capacity of any given deep cycle battery is measured in Ampere-Hours. Common batteries can range from a few Amp-hours or even have around 100 Amp-hours or more.
The capacity of the deep cycle battery that you need to take along with you will depend on the type of appliances you wish to take along with you.
How to find the best capacity of deep cycle battery for a camping trip?
As we have discussed, the capacity of a deep cycle battery is measured in Amp-Hours. To determine what the power of the battery you take along with you should be, you must calculate the total power consumption and account for the length of your trip. Let’s say your hourly current requirement is around 5A.(which is a lot and your requirement will probably be way lower than this) a 100Ah deep cycle battery will be able to power your appliance for almost 20 hours.
Now again, the current usage in the above example is quite exaggerated but you can do your math and calculate a lump sum amount of electric charge you need for the whole trip to enjoy . Once you have an approximate number, get yourself a battery higher than that number and you should be just fine.
Additional Accessories
Well one of the issues with using batteries is that you cannot directly plug in your appliances into a battery(you can in some cases but it is never recommended). You must also carry a small inverter setup along with you to be able to power the setup. Luckily, inexpensive inverters meant for such trips are easily available in the market to make your life way easier.
You can also carry a small solar panel along with you and charge your battery if it ever runs out while you’re still on your trip. If you carry a solar panel, you can also carry a lighter capacity battery and you’ll probably be fine.
Conclusion
In this article, we have briefly discussed why deep cycle batteries are a good companion for your camping trip and talked about their benefits and drawbacks. Hope you found this article informative.
