HomePortable power station for camping: what size you need
For a weekend with a 12 V fridge, phones and lights, a 1 kWh station is enough: the starting list in the tool below uses 342 Wh a day, so a 1,024 Wh model lasts 2.46 days before it needs a recharge.
Battery size you need, rated capacity
417Wh
Counts 82% of a battery's rated capacity as usable and adds the inverter's own draw while anything runs on AC: the formula in Jackery's runtime calculator. How the maths works
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Jackery rates it at 1,070 Wh and 23.8 lb, the most capacity of any model here under 24 lb, with a 12 V, 10 A car port for the fridge.
Anker rates it at 2,048 Wh, 41.7 lb and 800 W of solar input, with a 12 V, 10 A car socket. It runs the fridge, phones and lights list for 4.91 days, or 2.12 days with a CPAP on 12 V added.
BLUETTI rates it at 1,024 Wh and 25.3 lb with up to 1,000 W of solar input, for trips where you recharge from panels.
EcoFlow rates it at 286 Wh and 10.4 lb with 220 W of solar input. It runs the Dometic fridge for 20 hours, so it suits phones, a lantern and headlamps: 3.99 days on those.
A 12 V compressor fridge runs around the clock, so its daily average matters more than its rated draw. Dometic and ICECO publish energy use per hour or per day, which already counts the time the compressor is off:
Phones and lights use little. A Samsung Galaxy S25 (4,000 mAh) holds about 15.4 Wh at an assumed 3.85 V, a Goal Zero Lighthouse 600 lantern 18.98 Wh and a Petzl CORE headlamp battery 4.5 Wh.
Over an 8-hour night, a CPAP or a heated blanket uses more than the Dometic does in a day. ResMed lists the AirSense 11 CPAP at 56.1 W typical and 73.2 W peak in its user guide. Wilmar rates its W6049 12 V blanket at 50 W and Sunbeam its 120 V blanket at 100 W.
A station makes 120 V AC with an inverter, and the inverter draws power of its own while it is on. The site's formula, taken from Jackery's runtime calculator, adds 10 W under 1,000 Wh, 15 W from 1,000 to 1,499 Wh and 18 W from 1,500 Wh. A 12 V fridge plugged into the station's car socket skips that draw, which matters for a load that runs 24 hours a day.
The CPAP shows the difference. On the 1,024 Wh EcoFlow DELTA 3, an AirSense 11 runs 12 hours from an AC outlet and 15 hours from the car socket through ResMed's Air11 DC/DC converter.
Check the socket before you buy:
One appliance at a time, from the makers' own figures, counting 82% of each battery as usable plus the inverter's own draw (method).
| Model | Capacity | About 36 L fridge (Dometic)12 W, DC | 47 qt fridge (ICECO)21 W, DC | CPAP on AC56 W | CPAP on 12 V56 W, DC | 12 V blanket50 W, DC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus | 286 Wh | 20 hours | 11 hours | 3.5 hours | 4.2 hours | 4.7 hours |
| Anker SOLIX C300 | 288 Wh | 20 hours | 11 hours | 3.6 hours | 4.2 hours | 4.7 hours |
| BLUETTI Elite 30 V2 | 288 Wh | 20 hours | 11 hours | 3.6 hours | 4.2 hours | 4.7 hours |
| Jackery Explorer 300 | 293.8 Wh | 20 hours | 11 hours | 3.6 hours | 4.3 hours | 4.8 hours |
| BLUETTI Elite 100 mini | 1,004.8 Wh | 2.9 days | 39 hours | 12 hours | 15 hours | 16 hours |
| EcoFlow DELTA 3 Classic | 1,024 Wh | No 12 V socket | No 12 V socket | 12 hours | No 12 V socket | No 12 V socket |
| EcoFlow DELTA 3 | 1,024 Wh | 3.0 days | 39 hours | 12 hours | 15 hours | 17 hours |
| EcoFlow DELTA 3 Plus | 1,024 Wh | 3.0 days | 39 hours | 12 hours | 15 hours | 17 hours |
| Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2 | 1,024 Wh | 3.0 days | 39 hours | 12 hours | 15 hours | 17 hours |
| BLUETTI Elite 100 V2 | 1,024 Wh | 3.0 days | 39 hours | 12 hours | 15 hours | 17 hours |
| DJI Power 1000 V2 | 1,024 Wh | No 12 V socket | No 12 V socket | 12 hours | No 12 V socket | No 12 V socket |
| FOSSiBOT F1800 | 1,024 Wh | 3.0 days | 39 hours | 12 hours | 15 hours | 17 hours |
| Dabbsson DBS1000 Pro | 1,024 Wh | 3.0 days | 39 hours | 12 hours | 15 hours | 17 hours |
| Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 | 1,070 Wh | 3.1 days | 41 hours | 12 hours | 16 hours | 18 hours |
| BLUETTI AC180 | 1,152 Wh | 3.3 days | 44 hours | 13 hours | 17 hours | 19 hours |
| Jackery Explorer 1500 v2 | 1,536 Wh | 4.4 days | 2.5 days | 17 hours | 22 hours | 25 hours |
| Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 | 2,042 Wh | 5.9 days | 3.3 days | 23 hours | 30 hours | 33 hours |
| EcoFlow DELTA 3 Max | 2,048 Wh | 5.9 days | 3.3 days | 23 hours | 30 hours | 34 hours |
| Anker SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 | 2,048 Wh | 5.9 days | 3.3 days | 23 hours | 30 hours | 34 hours |
| DJI Power 2000 | 2,048 Wh | No 12 V socket | No 12 V socket | 23 hours | No 12 V socket | No 12 V socket |
| FOSSiBOT F2400 | 2,048 Wh | 5.9 days | 3.3 days | 23 hours | 30 hours | 34 hours |
| BLUETTI Elite 200 V2 | 2,073.6 Wh | 6.0 days | 3.3 days | 23 hours | 30 hours | 34 hours |
| Dabbsson DBS2300 Plus | 2,330 Wh | 6.7 days | 3.7 days | 26 hours | 34 hours | 38 hours |
| Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus | 3,840 Wh | 11.1 days | 6.2 days | 42 hours | 2.3 days | 2.6 days |
| EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 | 4,096 Wh | 11.9 days | 6.6 days | 45 hours | 2.5 days | 2.8 days |
The sizing tool above starts with a Dometic CFX3 35 running 24 hours, two phone charges, one lantern charge and two headlamp charges. That list uses 342 Wh a day, so it needs 417 Wh of rated capacity per day. Here is how long each size lasts on it:
A bigger fridge changes this. Swap in the ICECO VL45 ProS and the day's total rises to 570 Wh: 1.47 days on a 1,024 Wh station, 2.95 days on a 2,048 Wh one. Add a Lasko 507 desk fan on AC for 8 hours to the Dometic list and a 1,024 Wh station lasts 1.24 days instead of 2.46, because Lasko rates the fan at up to 27 W and the inverter adds 15 W.
Say you camp two nights with the Dometic CFX3 35, a CPAP, and the same phones and lights. One day, with the CPAP on 12 V through ResMed's DC/DC converter:
That is 791 Wh a day, or 964 Wh of rated capacity. A 1,024 Wh station lasts 1.06 days, so one night. The 2,048 Wh Anker SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 lasts 2.12 days, so two nights. Plug the CPAP into an AC outlet instead and the C2000 Gen 2 lasts 1.80 days, because the inverter runs for the 8 hours the CPAP does.
The 8 hours is an assumption, and 56.1 W is ResMed's typical figure (its peak is 73.2 W). Check with your doctor or equipment supplier about running your CPAP on battery power. More figures are on the CPAP page.
A heated blanket can use more than the fridge. The Wilmar W6049 12 V blanket is rated 50 W, so 8 hours uses 400 Wh. The Sunbeam 120 V blanket is rated 100 W and goes through the inverter, so 8 hours on a 1,024 Wh station uses 920 Wh, counting the inverter's 15 W.
On a 1,024 Wh station the 12 V blanket runs 17 hours and the 120 V one 7.3 hours. Add the 12 V blanket to the fridge, phones and lights list and the day's total is 742 Wh: 1.18 days on the Jackery Explorer 1000 v2, 2.26 days on the Anker SOLIX C2000 Gen 2. With the 120 V blanket instead, the Explorer 1000 v2 lasts 70% of a day.
Cold also limits the battery itself:
A station's maximum solar input is the most power it accepts from panels. This page does not estimate what a panel delivers where you camp, so size the battery for the days between recharges and treat solar as a way to add days to a trip. The makers' limits:
The station takes no more than that from panels, whatever their rating. Check the input voltage range too: BLUETTI lists 12 to 60 V for the Elite 100 V2 and Anker 11 to 60 V for the C2000 Gen 2. Each model page quotes the maker's solar input spec, for example the BLUETTI Elite 100 V2.
At a drive-up site you can leave the station in the car. At a walk-in site you carry it, along with the fridge. The makers' weights by size:
For a fridge weekend, two 1 kWh models weigh under 24 lb: the BLUETTI Elite 100 mini (1,004.8 Wh, 23.59 lb) and the Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 (1,070 Wh, 23.8 lb). On the fridge, phones and lights list they last 2.41 and 2.57 days. If you only charge phones and lights, a 286 to 293.8 Wh model covers them for 3.99 to 4.10 days at 7.1 to 10.4 lb. The list of every model by size shows each one's weight beside its capacity and price per Wh.
For two phone charges, one lantern charge and two headlamp charges a day (59 Wh), a 286 Wh station lasts 3.99 days. Add a Dometic CFX3 35 fridge running 24 hours and the list uses 342 Wh a day, so a 1,024 Wh station lasts 2.46 days. Add a CPAP on 12 V and a 2,048 Wh station lasts 2.12 days.
It depends on what you run. For a weekend with a 12 V fridge, start with a 1 kWh model that has a 12 V car socket, such as the Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 (1,070 Wh, 23.8 lb), which runs a Dometic CFX3 35 for 3.1 days. For a CPAP plus a fridge, look at the 2 kWh class.
If you only charge phones and lights, a 286 to 293.8 Wh station covers two phone charges, one lantern charge and two headlamp charges a day for 3.99 to 4.10 days. The EcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus gives 15.2 charges of a Samsung Galaxy S25 or 4.4 charges of a MacBook Air 13-inch.
From its car socket, a 1,024 Wh station runs a Dometic CFX3 35 (11.8 W average) for 3.0 days and an ICECO VL45 ProS (21.3 W average) for 39 hours. A 286 Wh station runs the Dometic for 20 hours.
A 1,024 Wh station runs a ResMed AirSense 11 for 12 hours from an AC outlet, or 15 hours on 12 V through ResMed's DC/DC converter. Ask your doctor or equipment supplier whether your CPAP can run on battery power.
Yes, up to each model's solar input limit: 220 W on the EcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus, 400 W on the Jackery Explorer 1000 v2, 800 W on the Anker SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 and 1,000 W on the BLUETTI Elite 100 V2.
Specifications are the makers' own published figures, read from these pages. Prices are fetched from the stores at build time and dated where they appear.