What Size Power Station Do You Need for Camping?

Why these hours

The 12 V fridge is set to 24 hours because it is plugged in the whole trip. Its compressor cycles, and our figure for it (about 18 W on average, against 45 W running) already counts that, so the full day is the right input. Two phones get one full charge each (about 2 hours at 10 W). Two LED bulbs run 4 hours, roughly dusk to bedtime. The CPAP and the electric blanket each get one 8-hour night.

For a sense of how conservative the fridge figure is: Dometic rates its CFX5 45 at 1.05 Ah per hour at 12 V with 90°F outside and 39°F inside. That works out to about 13 W, so our 18 W leaves room for hot afternoons and lid openings.

Campground generator rules, and why a battery gets around them

In national parks the baseline is a federal noise rule: you can’t run a generator louder than 60 dB(A) measured at 50 feet, and even quieter noise can be cited if it’s unreasonable for the time of day (36 CFR 2.12). Each park then sets its own generator hours, and they are short:

• Yosemite: generators only 7–9 am, noon to 2 pm and 5–7 pm. Quiet hours 10 pm to 6 am.
• Lassen Volcanic: 8–10 am, noon to 2 pm and 5–7 pm, and the park asks you not to run them continuously.
• Theodore Roosevelt: 8 am to 8 pm. Quiet hours 10 pm to 6 am.

None of those windows covers the night, which is exactly when a CPAP or a blanket runs. The rules we read are written for generators, and a battery station has no engine to make noise. Check your own park’s page before you go, since these rules differ from park to park.

Recharging with solar

For trips longer than a weekend, solar decides whether you can keep going. Our calculators assume a panel delivers about 75% of its rating in good sun and default to 4.5 peak sun hours a day. On those figures a 200 W panel puts back about 675 Wh, more than the weekend or cold-night kit uses in a day, though less than the CPAP kit. Under trees or in a cloudy week, plan on much less.

The solar charging calculator checks a panel against your model’s input limits and tells you how many hours of sun it takes.

CPAP and cold nights

A CPAP is one of the easiest loads to camp with, and the humidifier is what doubles its use. Our CPAP page has the makers’ figures. ResMed also sells a DC converter for the AirSense 11 that runs from a 12 V or 24 V outlet, so a station’s car port can feed it without the inverter in between.

Cold affects the battery as well as you. Jackery lists the Explorer 1000 v2 as able to discharge down to 14°F (-10°C) but charge only from 32°F (0°C) up. A station left in a freezing car may run your gear and still refuse solar until it warms. Our cold-weather guide covers this in more depth.

Tips

• Run the 12 V fridge and the CPAP from the station’s DC ports when you can. Skipping the inverter saves energy, and our math already gives DC devices a better efficiency (90% vs 85%).
• Pre-chill the fridge at home on wall power. Pulling a warm cooler down to temperature is the hardest work it does all trip.
• Keep the station in the tent or cab at night in cold weather, out of direct sun in hot weather.
• Read your park’s rules before packing a gas generator. Several parks limit generators to a few hours a day.

Questions

Other uses

• Can a Power Station Run an RV?
• What Size Power Station Do You Need for a Hurricane?
• Using a Power Station as Backup for Medical Devices

Sources

1. ecfr.gov/current/title-36/chapter-I/part-2/section-2.12
2. nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/campregs.htm
3. home.nps.gov/lavo/learn/management/camping_regulations.htm
4. nps.gov/thro/planyourvisit/camping-regulations.htm
5. dometic.com/en-us/product/cfx5-45-electric-cooler-97000050755
6. shop.resmed.com/cpap-spare-parts/airsense-11-converter/p/39231
7. faq.jackery.com/hc/en-us/articles/52303615153051-Explorer-1000-V2-Basic-…