As someone who spends a lot of time in a small RV without a electrical hookup, I need a larger battery bank to meet my power needs. Although my AC180 is enough to keep me going for one or two nights if I’m super stingy what I plug in, but if I need to use my Air Conditioner unit, or if I’m off-grid for a few days, the combination of the AC240+ B210 was a much better solution for me. It’s also water and dust resistant so I have no concerns about it collecting dew overnight, or if it rains. Just make sure all the rubber covers are securely closed. Having said that though, I have left my RV power cable plugged into it during some very heavy down pours without any issues.
They pack a combined 3,686Wh of power but these aren’t designed for the typical Overlander, or weekend car camper though. These packs are heavy weighing a combined 133.5lbs (60.55kg), and thay are physically larger than they could be due to their IP65 water & dust resistance. That extra protection makes them on the chunky side.
With that in mind, they aren’t exactly suitable for the back of a Jeep, or the trunk of a car, but they make a great addition to an RV with higher power demands like a fridge, AC unit, microwave, etc. If you connect some solar panels, this could be a great solution when visiting campsites without any power hookups, especially on BLM or Crown Land. Although, without good exposure to the Sun, solar panels aren’t very useful, so keep that in mind when choosing a campsite in wooded areas. If you have a gas generator, you may find that you still use it to top up the battery packs occasionally, but you’ll be burning gas a lot less often, allowing for a quieter camping experience overall. Your neighbours (human and wildlife alike) will appreciate that.
What’s really neat about this system is that you can scale it up for more demanding applications. You can combine up to four B210 expansion batteries (in parallel) to the AC240, and you can double up the whole thing (two AC240’s + four B210s) with a phase-synch cable. Now you would have a maximum of 20,272Wh of power, which is enough to act as a whole home back-up power supply system lasting several days. Maybe skip doing the laundry though, but it could certainly handle the demands of a washer & dryer machine also.
Getting a larger system (the max configuration is shown below) also allows you to save money by using power from the batteries during the day, when electricity costs are high, and recharging it at night when the price per KW is lower. The schedule can be easily configured through the app on your phone, and shows your cost savings over time.
