I am wanting to buy/make a little rechargeable power station.

The fancy commercial built ones are around $500 use lithium batteries and give about 10.8v with 48ah.

This seems to from the description for a little more power than I need (not a bad thing) and the smaller units that are about $250 seem to be a little underpowered possibly.

So I was thinking buy a $150 12v 110ah AGM deep cycle battery and dropping it in this little power box.
Newport Vessels Trolling Motor Smart Battery Box Power Center with USB and DC Ports, Black, Medium https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0..._encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Only thing lacking is a standard standard wall plug. But off the top of my head can’t think of anything specifically I would be running that needs it.

Would I be able to run a small cigarette style inverter off the battery?

Only things I know are lithium batteries are lighter and have more charge cycles.
But not too terribly concerned with that considering the price difference.

Personally, I don't feel the lithium batteries offer any more for the price they are. I am getting ready to install a solar system at my home, and every vendor I have talked to, tries to push the Li batteries. I realize, over time, the cost benefit is there, but, to me, just doesn't seem worth the extra cost up front, as compared to a flooded cell battery.

As for your original question, yes, one deep cycle will run a small inverter. As an example, when the wife and I lived in our fifth wheel, building our house, I used one deep cycle battery, with a 75 watt inverter to power our satellite dish (a powered tailgater) and receiver, all day long. I had only 100 watts of solar powering it. Just be mindful of your voltage and you should be fine. Good luck with your project!

What are you trying to charge with it? Cell phone, tablet, that kind of thing? One advantage of Lithium over Lead Acid or AGM type batteries is that you can discharge them much further. The 110ah AGM battery will only give you around 55ah of usable capacity. ALthough reading the description makes it sound like they were intending to use this one for a non-lithium battery

There are some pretty good smaller LiFePO4 batteries that aren't outrageously expensive. I would shop around on Amazon.

quote:

Originally posted by spike86:
What are you trying to charge with it? Cell phone, tablet, that kind of thing? One advantage of Lithium over Lead Acid or AGM type batteries is that you can discharge them much further. The 110ah AGM battery will only give you around 55ah of usable capacity. ALthough reading the description makes it sound like they were intending to use this one for a non-lithium battery

There are some pretty good smaller LiFePO4 batteries that aren't outrageously expensive. I would shop around on Amazon.

Yup, charge phones, run some LED lights, a little fan maybe.
Just something to take camping to have a little juice.

Can you explain the only actually having 55 ahs of use from the 110 ah battery a little more
Electricity stuff is so not my wheels house.

Lead-acid batteries last longest if you don't take them below 50% before recharging them.

You want to drag a 65 pound battery plus associated hardware to charge phones, run LEDs, and a fan while camping?

Have you thought about getting one of those small, 45 pound Honda generators to keep the battery charged?

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Lead-acid batteries last longest if you don't take them below 50% before recharging them.

You want to drag a 65 pound battery plus associated hardware to charge phones, run LEDs, and a fan while camping?

Have you thought about getting one of those small, 45 pound Honda generators to keep the battery charged?

It will be kept in the bed of the truck. Not to the point of spending the coin on a dual battery system as much as I would like to do it.

It makes zero sense to me to have an extra battery in the bed of the truck. Install it in the truck which (at least on trucks I've done) will be less money and then its fully charged for free and all the time and can be recharged on demand.

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
It makes zero sense to me to have an extra battery in the bed of the truck. Install it in the truck which (at least on trucks I've done) will be less money and then its fully charged for free and all the time and can be recharged on demand.

I’d be interested to know how you wired up dual battery systems for under $200.

Every kit I have come across for my truck is $500+ not including batteries.
https://sdhqoffroad.com/collec...riant=33031316275300

I could never do this one because it looks like a ridiculous rats nest of wires.
https://www.genesisoffroad.com...dra-dual-battery-kit

You could run a small cigarette lighter inverter off of that.

You could wire in a second battery pretty economically IF you chose to do so. Could be done a few ways.

1. Just wire the 2 batteries together however whenever you drain the batteries, it would drain both.

2. Put a marine battery selector switch in to select between battery 1, battery 2, or both. Leave it on both with the vehicle running to charge both batteries, switch to 1 of the batteries when camping so the other stays charged

3. OR put a second battery and a battery isolator from the alternator lead to each battery. That way both batteries would get charged, but the isolator wouldn't let one battery drain the other battery. Connect all of your camping stuff to the 2nd battery.

Check out Ali Express for some cheap LiFePO4 batts...


The advantages in usable power and deeper discharge without damaging them I think are worth the extra costs. There are some caveats though, like dont charge them when temp is below freezing.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001563505796.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001030205250.html

quote:

I’d be interested to know how you wired up dual battery systems for under $200

I have ford superduties and my experience is on those. The factory offers a second battery as an option. Thus the space is available and parts were easy to do. Done it several time <$100. I have no personal experience on a Tundra, but if there's a spot for it under the hood you should be able to fabricate a simple mount for way less than price that you show. Its a tray with a hold down. Those hold down parts are pretty much <$10 for the tray and whatever you need to fabricate won't be expensive. The cables are readily available or you can easily make your own. I'm pretty darn sure it can be done inexpensively but I don't have a Tundra to look under the hood. If its a mess on space then I am wrong.
Having said that if all you want is a bit of a power port device, then you can easily make that. A battery box and a blue sea systems power panel should be about $12 for the box and $60 for the panel and a few bucks for wiring and fuses. A simple connection to the truck (could be through the trailer connector if you don't want to hack something) and away you go with a way to charge it. Inverters chew up amps like you won't believe, so you would get a few minutes at a few watts for literally no reason.

We have a 2500gln tank for watering the garden beds. I have a 12v RV water pump that draws around 5a hooked to it that runs off of two Deka Marine Master 12v 65ah batteries. I keep them running with two 10w solar panels in series on a 20a PWM charge controller. The easily run the water pump for an hour or more strait. It's not plumbed to house water so I can drain everything in winter and have one less thing to worry about freezing.

Batteries about $107 ea
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Deka-...ine-Battery/50183765

Solar panels $26 ea
https://smile.amazon.com/ECO-W...id=1619494567&sr=8-4

20a PWM charge controller $15
https://smile.amazon.com/Contr...id=1619494509&sr=8-2

Inverter $28
https://smile.amazon.com/Power...id=1619494955&sr=8-7

I would not do a battery in parallel with your vehicle battery unless you get the exact same battery you already have. They like to be the same in terms of size and AH or you can have a charge imbalance.

I would fab a box/enclosure and then just mount the battery(s),charge controller, and inverter inside with the panels on top. Boom, solar generator.

Trapper already said it, but the reason is because a lead acid battery can be permanently damaged if discharged below 50%. Its supposed to be better with AGM, but I don't know how much better. Lithium can be discharged nearly 100% and the voltage drop off isn't as severe as it gets drained.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

quote:

Originally posted by spike86:
What are you trying to charge with it? Cell phone, tablet, that kind of thing? One advantage of Lithium over Lead Acid or AGM type batteries is that you can discharge them much further. The 110ah AGM battery will only give you around 55ah of usable capacity. ALthough reading the description makes it sound like they were intending to use this one for a non-lithium battery

There are some pretty good smaller LiFePO4 batteries that aren't outrageously expensive. I would shop around on Amazon.

Yup, charge phones, run some LED lights, a little fan maybe.
Just something to take camping to have a little juice.

Can you explain the only actually having 55 ahs of use from the 110 ah battery a little more
Electricity stuff is so not my wheels house.