Seeking Advice on Portable Power Stations to Recharge Kayak Needs

Does anyone have any advice on portable power stations for recharging all the electronic devices batteries we use on kayaks (fish finder, Shark Shield, Bixpy, VHF Radio batteries plus personal devices such as phone. Some batteries only last the day or less i.e. Shark Shield, my Bixpy battery will not take me through the day if I using it all day...

Specifically, I am thinking of doing some truck camping when spending the night where there is no electricity and I want to recharge device batteries for the second day or more after just using up the battery on the first day. I am leaning toward a Jackery or GoalZero 300 to 700w. Not sure how much watts to buy as cost can be expensive as the watts go up.

BTW: not interested in using my car battery to recharge any or all the device as that would be a significant draw. I have to keep car running to charge my phone... takes too much time, gas and noise.

Believe it or not I really cannot find much info out there or not sure where to look. Most info is discussing work devices, cameras, phones, not related to fishing devices.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

I bought Dr Prepair 100AH LiPo4 battery last year and very happy with it.  My battery has an adapter for USB, cigarette, and solar ports and I paid around $300.

https://drprepare.com/brands/dr-prepare/

Not as nice as the ones you mentioned, but a 100ah LifePo battery has more capacity and cheaper.
I use this one...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BTBQFLDX
You can add an enclosure...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C85BD7ZS

I do a loo t of of road camping with the fam and have been using this battery for a couple of years now and has been working out great. Been thinking of getting a bigger model but so far this has worked great. Charge it all with it!

https://www.amazon.com/Goal-Zero-Portable-Inverter-Fast-Charging/dp/B082VG6N78?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=AZ6R2O6YU64WX

I have the goal zero 1000 and use it to charge 2 20ah fishfinder batteries, vhf radios, phones, run a keurig for multiple cups of coffee a day. Longest trip with it has been 4 days and I ran it down to around 50%

For sure.  I’ve been using an 18ah DB Power brand jump start battery.   I recently bought an fpv-waterproof lithium for my ff so I no longer use it for my main kayak but da  Kraken is corded for it.  I bring it now on board with a charging cable in a waterproof pouch to charge my phone if it mega depletes from navionics and photos and yapping on the speakerphone with full brightness screen for my dying eyeballs.  I also use it to run my bubbler when I get live bait the night before than I switch to an sla when I can.  I’m not sure why it trickles enough to run all my stuff apart from its intended purpose but it has been profitable for my needs.

Hi David,
We need to go fishing..... you should check out the system I have for my truck..... 200 ah LIFEpo4 with lots of usb's solar and an inverter..... same thing as a jackery and the like just much bigger ..... to be able to charge you would also need an inverter and use your power supplies that come with the devices otherwise you need transformers for each unit and whatever its resident voltage is.... like the bixpy is 24 v so you would need a transformer to get from 12 to 30 volts or so to charge it.... not sure what the sharksheild voltage is..... but because it gets complicated it would be easier to use an inverter to get to 110v and use the supplied charger for each unit.  Most of my stuff is 12v except for the bixpy but my wifes cpap is 110 volt which is why I even have an inverter.

That is why the jackeries and the like are so popular.... it has the inverter build in along with lots of usb and 12 v as well.... they are pretty cool.

Troy

For sure.  I’ve been using an 18ah DB Power brand jump start battery.   I recently bought an fpv-waterproof lithium for my ff so I no longer use it for my main kayak but da  Kraken is corded for it.  I bring it now on board with a charging cable in a waterproof pouch to charge my phone if it mega depletes from navionics and photos and yapping on the speakerphone with full brightness screen for my dying eyeballs.  I also use it to run my bubbler when I get live bait the night before than I switch to an sla when I can.  I’m not sure why it trickles enough to run all my stuff apart from its intended purpose but it has been profitable for my needs.

Interesting that it multitasks so well. I wonder if it shortens its useful life…

For the bixpy it will probably take the most to recharge. A simple example of what it will take is based on the battery specs, i'm not sure if I picked your model or not, but here it states: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17ZeqJxKepwUehe70974LoYTOGgothXXw7ZQCyqAq-Wc/edit#slide=id.g20876d5a4b3_1_219

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Bixpy PP-378 V4 Outboard Battery

Battery core chemistry: Lithium Ion Rechargeable
Nominal Voltage: 25.2V
Battery capacity: 378Wh or 15Ah
Charging 110v on an inverter will not be efficient, so you would want to estimate about 20% more than this to recharge the battery.

If you get a 700w Jackery/GoalZero it should recharge your bixpy at least once a full cycle.  The shark shield probably not very much, and your FF battery either.   I'd say 700w is a minimum for a full recharge of all your stuff once.

Getting a battery, charger, and inverter might a better option for scaling up.

I recall now that Moo Moo did a review on a charging unit?

I got a 100 ah LiFePO4 battery with built in warmer for $380 from PowerUrus.  The company got a good review from a knowledgeable YouTuber I watch. The warmer allows me to recharge it in freezing temps. I put it in a battery box with 12 volt and usb ports. Then I mounted a Renogy 700 watt pure sine wave inverter on top of the battery box. I wired it to the battery through a battery selector switch so I can power everything off when I’m not using it. It was extra work to put it all together but I’m happy with the end results. The nearest sized Jackery is a little bigger but I think I saved $900 as I recall. Now I can do 12 volt and usb charging without the overhead of the inverter and I’ve got the inverter when I need A/C.

Plus I wired in a big Anderson plug and put one on the charger cable so it’s easy to hook up and recharge.

thanks for all the good info, I've been debating a self build or pre-built for a while - with current prices, I'm leaning more toward self build.  my goals
1. recharge equipment
2. run a portable cooler/fridge (considering the unit at costco) on 12V
3. run the mr. coffee

so I'm considering a 100AH LifePo4, 700-1000W pure sine inverter, and some usb ports

the idea of not needing ice is very attractive!

for my last trip, we had one cooler for us (one 22# costco bag of ice and food), and one bigger cooler with 2 more bags of costco ice and an ice block.  True that the costco bags are only $3/each...but it's still a pain and takes a lot of space to keep the extra ice.

my only issues with the Igloo unit at costco is price and it has two chambers - so it would not be able to hold a large whole fish.

What you do get with a Jackery or GoalZero is all the options for stuff in one package; battery, charger, inverter, 12v, solar charger, expandability.  I went the route of a big 100AH battery, a 20A charger, and a simple inverter from Dakota Lithium and a folding solar panel but it cost 1200$  It lasts a long long time though for what I use it for charging FF, vhf, cell/tablet/laptop, headlamps, speakers etc.  The high amp charger means I can recharge the whole battery in less than 6 hours, so I can do a day trip to recharge somewhere.

Hey Troy, I would also be interested in seeing your setup. I currently have a 300 AH in my van and am going to upgrade to two 400 AH batteries. I am also looking to get a solar panel to help charge and have questions about charging 12 volt to 12 volt charging. I am thinking I want to charge my trolling battery with the batteries in my van, any information you have is appreciated, Ron.

Hi Ron,
No problem as I have been meaning to try to meet up with you to fish for Halibut..... I am considering Friday but need to check the weather and I think the high tide is pretty early in the morning..... whenever we get together we can check out the setup.... pretty simple as just a bunch of parts wired up for my camper shell with easy lift, lights, small inverter..... probably need to get a larger as I have not yet needed to charge my bixpy.   Currently I only have a very small inverter just to power my wife's cpap.

The battery is the biggest expense on my system.... Lifepo4 200 ah, then the solar controller then the panels.... so far works very well for me.... 4 days of camping so far with 2 100 watt panels with about 60 percent charge by the time we got home.... have 2 other solar panels for longer trips.

Troy