Connecting power station to round rings on popup

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bgray9

New Member
Mar 30, 2023
7
Hi,
We are looking at buying a power station to have more electricity for multiday camping trips. The current battery is a basic battery mounted on the front of the popup with the metal rings on the wires to connect to the existing battery. My question is how would I connect those wires to a power station? The stations I have looked at don't seem to have that kind of connection available. Is there an adapter or something? Thanks!
 
davido

davido

Super Active Member
Jul 17, 2014
1,509
I get it:


Deep cycle batteries have wing-nut connections. The OP has battery cables that have metal rings on the ends, to install beneath the wing nuts. The OP is asking how to connect his portable battery bank to the trailer's ring-connector cables.

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Last edited by a moderator:
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bgray9

New Member
Mar 30, 2023
7
It's the flat round rings on the end of the wires that go into the popup. A nut locks each of them down on their respective poles on the battery.
 
B

bgray9

New Member
Mar 30, 2023
7
davido said:
I get it:


Deep cycle batteries have wing-nut connections. The OP has battery cables that have metal rings on the ends, to install beneath the wing nuts. The OP is asking how to connect his portable battery bank to the trailer's ring-connector cables.





View attachment 90407
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Yes. I want to make sure I can use the portable power station to help run the furnace fan in the popup. We were camping last weekend and it got to the low 40s and the existing battery just doesn't run the furnace for very long at all.
 
S

SteveP

Super Active Member
May 21, 2015
2,732
See this thread:

Connect a Solar Power Generator to 12v System?

Greetings everyone! I was wondering if anyone knows how I might connect my solar power generator to the 12v system in my 2001 Jayco Qwest 10X? Is there a way to connect a 12v out from my Bluetti EB70 to the system? Thank you so much if you might now how to make that happen. :) :)
www.popupportal.com www.popupportal.com
 
davido

davido

Super Active Member
Jul 17, 2014
1,509
Does the Jackery, or whatever portable battery bank you own, have a 12v cigarette lighter style plug?

If so you can buy a plug for a few dollars on Amazon. Install some insulated alligator clips on the end (or buy one that already has them), and you're done. Just make sure that they don't come in contact with each other while in use.

The maximum output amperage of your portable battery will limit what things you can run, all at the same time. But it shouldn't be much of a problem. Your water pump is probably 5A. Your furnace is under 3A, and your LED lights, if all of them are turned on at once, are a couple of amps. So if you take a shower while running the furnace with all the lights turned on, that's 10A draw. Just be mindful of that limitation.

Since you probably don't want to be trying to recharge the device through its cigarette lighter port, don't plug your trailer into Shore Power while the portable battery is connected to your trailer's battery connectors. But I would be surprised if the portable bank doesn't have some built-in protection if needed.

Don't leave the portable bank hooked up to your trailer's battery cables while they're also hooked up to the main battery. That will just cause the portable bank to try to charge the larger main battery, resulting in neither of them staying charged very long.
 
PopUpSteve

PopUpSteve

Administrator
Staff member
Gold Supporting Member
Dec 22, 2002
21,739
Southeastern PA
OK, well take a look at this post:

Jackery Explorer 500 Portable Power Station - First Impressions

I was gifted a Jackery Explorer 500 Portable Power Station by a relative as an early Christmas/Birthday/Christmas/Birthday/Christmas/Birthday [LOL] present. They know from experience that I need to use my CPAP when camping. To quote them, I sound like a "wounded tiger using a chainsaw while...
www.popupportal.com www.popupportal.com
 
BikeNFish

BikeNFish

Super Active Member
Apr 24, 2017
4,634
Maplewood, MN
It is impractical to expect to run your camper from a power station. What you are asking to be done, there are ZERO affordable power stations available that can do what you are asking it to do.

I have used my Jackery to recharge my pup battery before, but not run the entire camper from it. Is it possible? Yes, but only for a few hours.

If you really wanted to do that, then you should plug your pup's electrical cable directly into the power station 110 outlets. But like I said, this is HIGHLY impractical and VERY inefficient. You would be wasting your time money attempting to do this.

The best way to use a power station is to use it as an independent power source to run you small electrical needs while camping, such as cell phone charging, running a CPAP, running some small lights, charging a laptop, etc. Those are the jobs that power stations are designed for. Not running a pup's refrigerator or furnace for extended periods of time. Those jobs are solely for your pup's battery.

With that being said, if you want to spend $4,000 on a power station that can run you pup for a day or two, look at this JACKERY 3000 PRO.
 
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jmkay1

jmkay1

2004 Fleetwood/Coleman Utah
Oct 10, 2013
8,215
Northern Virginia
Just throwing this out there. when I discovered my Battery wasn’t enough to run my furnace longer than a couple nights. I bought a bigger battery that could still fit on my tongue and added a solar panel. with the combination and a little conservation I can get through a Long time. Now it’s actually the propane that goes faster than the power. With that said I keep my solar panel free so I can chase the sun if needs be. i was fortunate and found a 100 watt renogy solar panel kit on Amazon for under $200. the battery cost me a bit too and had to replace the old battery box but well worth it.
 
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bgray9

New Member
Mar 30, 2023
7
Our popup camper only has a ceiling light, the water pump, and the fan for the furnace. We have a 100 watt renogy solar panel kit that we already use with the existing battery. That battery is a couple years old and is a Duralast 24, but maybe it is weakening and not providing as much power as it was.

I got the idea for the power station from a fellow camper who had trouble with his regular battery and used the power station to run his furnace for an hour or two in the morning and evening. He has a Goal Zero Yeti 1000.
 
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bgray9

New Member
Mar 30, 2023
7
Johneliot said:
You might be able to accomplish what you want with a lithium battery.
Click to expand...

don't you have to do some reworking of your electrical system if you are switching to a lithium ion battery?

Also, back to my question from before: Can I just put an adapter on my Shore Power line and then run that into an AC plug on the power station? Are there drawbacks/problems to such a setup?
 
NMroamer

NMroamer

Super Active Member
Apr 21, 2016
1,106
Albuquerque NM
bgray9 said:
don't you have to do some reworking of your electrical system if you are switching to a lithium ion battery?

Also, back to my question from before: Can I just put an adapter on my Shore Power line and then run that into an AC plug on the power station? Are there drawbacks/problems to such a setup?
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That will not work for very long. Do some research and find out that a power station is just another small battery in a fancy box with an AC converter and very limited power.
 
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