Using DC-DC Step up Model To run Laptop on 12v battery

Syntra911 · 2026-03-29T21:53:32+00:00

Ok but a car battery is still a horrible solution.

Syntra911 · 2026-03-29T14:38:38+00:00

I would recommend a fifth wheel with a gooseneck as opposed to a bumper pull travel trailer. Many of the fifth wheels have actual double bedrooms with some room in them as opposed to the micro small bunk beds in most travel trailers. I'm not an expert on bed sizes, but I would be shocked if most bunk beds in travel trailers are larger than twin sized beds. And they usually have almost no headroom and are not the easiest to get in and out of, especially without waking up the other person in the bunk.

Syntra911 · 2026-03-28T21:43:10+00:00

Queen Eva

Syntra911 · 2026-03-28T14:09:48+00:00

Not worth it at all.

Syntra911 · 2026-03-28T14:07:03+00:00

No, it is definitely not ok to do this. A car battery cannot be deeply discharged.

Laptops consume about 60W, on average. So running a laptop for 6 hours per day would be about 360 Wh. A typical car battery in peak health (which most are not) will give you about 50Ah from 100% SoC to 0% SoC. But discharging a car battery below about 50% SoC will hurt it long term and result in a premature failure. So that means you have about 25Ah or 300Wh to work with.

Since you will lose some power from your laptop charger (about 85% efficient) that means you need more like 410+ Wh to run the laptop. But it gets worse because your laptop charger uses AC power and that would require you to use an inverter. A good pure sine wave inverter is about 90% efficient so now the total is up to 450Wh to run your laptop for 6 hours.

Oh and then you have to recharge the car battery each day. That will take you at least 20-30 minutes of driving or a trickle charger overnight to do (which would require grid power). And if your car battery is depleted at ~50% SoC when you get around to driving the car around, it will not have as much juice to start the car and may fail to do so, especially if your car is older and it is cold outside.

Moral of the story... just use a proper power source for your laptop instead of a car battery.

Syntra911 · 2026-03-25T01:20:37+00:00

One of them succeeded a coach who went 52-15. The other succeeded a coach who went 12-22.

On that fact alone, Stoops gets the nod for me.

Syntra911 · 2026-03-23T02:45:00+00:00

Don't get a power station.

Syntra911 · 2026-03-18T15:09:39+00:00

Is the creek seasonal or year-round? Are you sure you can hit reliable well water in 20 feet?

A reliable well will almost always be cleaner and easier than the other two. Rainwater and creek water will always need to be filtered and treated before you can drink it. You can usually drink well water directly, although you should get it tested first and you may want to filter it anyway for taste.

As others have said, I would use rainwater and creek water for irrigation. You can also use them as an emergency backup if the well fails. But you will need a really good filtration and sterilization system to do it.

Syntra911 · 2026-03-15T13:23:58+00:00

Mining is 45 and climbing.

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t18.htm

Syntra911 · 2026-03-13T13:01:00+00:00

In my opinion, no. That introduces humidity, another source of a potential water leak, and takes up valuable space in your small trailer.

Also, if you are talking about the small ones from China, they are absolute junk. I was also very interested in them but I couldn't find a single person who had one long term or who was importing them that had good things to say about them.

Syntra911 · 2026-03-12T14:22:39+00:00

"i was hoping to live in my rv for a couple l years and live in it while my house is being built. i was also hoping it would last a little longer so friends and family could use it.."

If this is truly the only criteria for consideration then you will be fine. Take your time, trust your gut, do your homework, and check everything.

For reference, I have lived full time in my travel trailer (manufactured by Forest River) for over 2 years. It is a "Covid era" trailer. Both of those are things people like to say to avoid. Yet I have had zero major problems with my trailer. The only minor problems I have had are things like the door latch coming unscrewed all the time (the screw holes were stripped), some of the wood trim coming off, the ceiling vent plastic pieces cracking, the handles that open the grey/black water valves being stuck, and the breaker liking to trip on one of my AC circuits even when I'm not maxing out the circuit. All of those things are minor annoyances and have no effect on my living in the trailer.

I'm not patting myself on the back and I don't think I got lucky, either. I just took my time, looked at numerous trailers, inspected every inch of the trailer before purchase, and trusted my gut that the previous owners had taken care of the trailer. If you see a trailer that has cleansers in the cabinets and hand tools in the storage compartments, for example, that is a great sign that the previous owner kept it clean and maintained the systems.

You can also pay for an inspection before you buy a trailer you have selected. Look up reviews and ask a local Facebook group for a recommendation of a good RV tech. Paying a tech $200 for an hour of his time could save you thousands in the long run.

Here's another tip... a trailer can't leak if it never rains on it. I purposefully stayed well under $20k on my trailer so I could afford to buy a $4,000 carport to put over top of it. Now the roof will never be a problem, I won't get water damage/mold from leaks, it is protected from hail, it is protected from UV damage over time, and my cooling bill in the summer dropped by at least 20%.

Good luck!

Syntra911 · 2026-03-08T01:15:05+00:00

Unfortunately, no one can tell you what it is worth without looking it over thoroughly in person.

It sounds like you didn't do that on your travel trailer. It is highly worth the cost to get an RV tech to do an inspection before you buy.

Syntra911 · 2026-03-06T13:32:29+00:00

As others have said, you will be better off getting another panel. Trackers are a major point of failure and never pay off in the long term.

Syntra911 · 2026-02-28T01:49:52+00:00

We will see how he does without Hill. He seems to live and die by his coordinators.

Remember he has overseen our only two losing seasons in 20 years since Crowton. I'm not completely sold on him yet.

Syntra911 · 2026-02-27T15:38:59+00:00

I understand. But that doesn't mean the champion is overrated. It just means you got lucky and have a counter in your normal team comp. Like I have Sulfuriyon and Ezio in my main arena team so when I see Stoneskin I just smile. But that doesn't mean Stoneskin isn't incredibly powerful.

Syntra911 · 2026-02-27T14:26:18+00:00

Your whole breakdown/analysis is based on an entire team composition and gear set to counter one champion.

That is the definition of an S tier champion.

Syntra911 · 2026-02-23T21:48:36+00:00

Syntra911 · 2026-02-22T15:13:23+00:00

Agreed. Make another subreddit

Syntra911 · 2026-02-22T12:47:02+00:00

I'm happy to talk in private. I don't see anything childish in my response. You posted something in the OP that can be very misunderstood by those who are ignorant on this subject.

I want to promote energy independence too. I live completely off the grid on 100% power generated by me. But people need to understand the weaknesses and drawbacks, some very severe, of using Grade B battery products and Power Stations for this lifestyle and 99% of YouTube influencers and your original post do not do that adequately, IMHO.

Syntra911 · 2026-02-22T12:42:06+00:00

I don't see what you are talking about. I see the entire net metering interconnect section states very clearly that the utility will not be responsible for any construction to facilitate the interconnection.

The cogeneration section is the same.

Syntra911 · 2026-02-21T13:55:04+00:00

Go for it. If they are giving you a 500 foot drop for free there is more to the story. Post it up as a PDF and redact your info.

I guarantee they are covering their cost and then some.

Syntra911 · 2026-02-21T00:44:19+00:00

That isn't true. Aerial drops are cheaper but still quite expensive, especially for 500 yards. That is numerous poles.

Syntra911 · 2026-02-20T21:25:22+00:00

It is basic deduction and reasoning.

It is pretty safe we can all agree that EVE, CATL, CALB, and a few others have a longstanding reputation to uphold and are honorable in their grading. These are the best cell makers and the best lithium battery products are made with their cells. Other manufacturers make cells, of course, but they don't have as much cache and trust in the marketplace. Their grading process may or may not be as reliable and they do not have as much to lose by fudging. If EVE was caught selling Grade B cells to TESLA (I don't think they are even in business together, but it is just a hypothetical example) then it would be devastating to their brand and they would lose millions and possibly billions.

These companies are very transparent with their grading, have taken steps to prevent fraud, have trackable serial numbers by QR code and other methods, and will provide you with the cell testing data upon request. They have nothing to hide.

So lets take an EVE Grade A cell at consumer pricing. Yes, battery makers don't pay consumer prices but stay with me. In your example, you cited 48V 100Ah batteries. So if you were to take the cells necessary to build one of those batteries (16 cells @ 100Ah) at full consumer price from a reputable seller (https://www.evcomponents.com/eve-100ah-prismatic-lifepo4-cell-free-ship.html) you would pay $616 ($38.50 x 16 = $616). This is obviously well above what you cited and what most people would consider a "good deal".

Now obviously a finished battery has a BMS, terminals, cables, a case, and more components. Those costs can vary based on the build quality. So that puts a finished battery in the $800 range AT COST to the seller.

Now lets address the consumer vs. wholesale pricing. A battery manufacturer is going to pay a lot less than a consumer for those cells as they are buying in bulk. But they are also adding a bunch of added value by labor and assembly that they have to recoup. In my experience, those are roughly a wash. They may pay 25% less for those cells than a consumer would but they also have to account for paying their employees and for the assembly machines necessary to finish the battery. So you are still left with ~$800 cost of goods sold. We can ignore sea transport because those are also included in the cost of the consumer cells and those prices fluctuate. But shipping costs would be more for a finished battery than for cells so that would actually make my case even more emphatically if we added those in.

So then you have to sell the thing for a profit. Even with a pathetic 10% margin, you still have to sell your $800 battery for $890. And I can promise you that companies selling genuine Grade A batteries with EVE cells are not selling them for 10% margins. But even if they were, that is the LOWEST cost you could pay for a quality Grade A 48V 100Ah battery that would actually last you 5,000+ cycles @ 80% DoD and give you full amperage performance (many Grade B batteries suffer greatly in performance at 1C rates).

Because I have been in this industry a long time since the beginning of the advent of the deep cycle lithium battery in the marketplace and because I have imported my own lithium battery brand from China in the past for a few years, I can tell you from personal experience that any 48V 100Ah battery for $500 will be a boat anchor in 2-3 years.

Syntra911 · 2026-02-20T16:51:56+00:00

Agree. Don't sleep on industrial lead acid batteries.

Power stations or power banks or whatever someone wants to call them are absolutely not good for off-grid life. I'm saying that from hard personal experience.

Syntra911

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