Hit the road, Jack – the future of 12V is portable

Forget the clunky old deep cycles of the past, lithium power has made portable power stations the future of camping.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. In English, it reads, “The more things change, the more they stay the same”. At least, that’s what Google Translate tells me. It was first written by a French bloke by the name of Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr way back in the mid-1800s, but it’s never been more relevant. At least in the RV space.

It’s something we see with a lot of accessories on and off our tow-tugs. LED lighting has gotten flashier, but it’s still fundamentally doing the same job the old camp lights did. We’re fitting flashier suspension than ever, only to go to the same places we have for decades. And don’t even get us started on the cyclical nature of RV design. But when it comes to 12V setups, portable 12V systems (aka portable power stations) have fundamentally changed what we use those magic little power outlets for and how we use them.

What is the end goal of a 12V system?

Before we get too carried away extolling on you the virtues of a portable 12V power station that doesn’t need to be bolted in, let’s take a step back and hone in on what we’re trying to achieve with a dual-battery system. In their fundamental operation, they allow you to run a 12V powered kit without the need to have your tow-tug idling away all night.

But their worth is so much more than the sum of their parts. A decent dual-battery system with enough capacity allows you to add all sorts of luxuries to your camping experience. Think a full fridge in your camp setup instead of an esky full of ice. They let you run extensive lighting systems well into the night instead of the old head torch. You can cook with them, either an absolute feast on an induction cooktop, or a quick and easy microwave meal if your caravan is a little fancy.

Heck, you can even plug in an electric blanket for those cold alpine nights. It’s not hard to see why everyone from tray back tourers to 5th wheel caravans fits up a 12V system these days.

Why should they be portable?

Finally, we get to the chase! There are a few 12V portable power stations on the market but we’ll talk about Redarc’s GoBlock because, well frankly, it’s the best we’ve seen yet. With a built-in DCDC charger, up to 100Ah of lithium power, and a brilliant locking system, it’s not hard to see why. A setup like this will cost you similar money to a conventional dual battery system hard-mounted and permanently wired into your rig. But you can pull the GoBlock (or other comparable unit) out of your tow-tug and use it to power your camp fridge at the local park for a kid’s birthday party, or on the back deck for a cheeky Sunday BBQ.

Use the portable power station to run some camp lights for the kids (or grandkids) when they camp out in the backyard. Load it into your mate’s fishing boat to help keep the catch cool or even lend it to your brother-in-law for their first camping trip. All without having to run a lead from the back of your tow-tug.

Of course, you get to use it too!

Of course, that means you can also lend it to yourself as well. The money you spend installing a portable power station in one rig, means you can swap it into another in under a minute. That same GoBlock portable 12V system you’ve got fitted up in your camper trailer or caravan for big trips away with the family can also be thrown in the tray of your ute for solo weekends away. Or even just to power the camp fridge for a day down by the water with a few cold ones.  Two 12V systems for the price of one. Clever eh?

But what’s the catch?

We’ll be honest here, we’ve kind of been wracking our brains a little to think of some cons to round this piece out but they’re really few and far between. In theory, someone could pinch your portable power station. It might be an issue for cheaper offerings floating around in the back of a ute, but the GoBlock’s matching PowerDock ties in easy mounting and fast charging with a lockable design, so that’s a moot point. 

The other thing to factor in is the various ‘new-hotness’ features you can get these days. Redarc’s permanently mounted battery systems are promoted as being able to do all sorts of amazing things with their Total Vehicle Management Systems (TVMS). Think being able to turn off all your caravan or canopy lights automatically when you fire up your tow-tug to hit the road, shut down all the external lighting from your phone in bed, or just double-check that your fridge is running without pulling over to the side of the road.

These systems are typically built around battery chargers like the Redarc Manager 30 and paired with a standalone lithium battery. We spoke to Redarc’s tech support about the GoBlock’s (or any other portable power station’s) ability to link in with a TVMS and they told us there’s no issue powering something like that off a GoBlock. However, you would lose a few features like battery charge levels and rates through the TVMS app, and you’d be limited to the 50A maximum output of the GoBlock rather than the 80A the TVMS could otherwise control. Hardly a deal breaker considering the other practical benefits, but worth mentioning regardless.

How portable are we talking?

All sounds great in theory, right? A more practical dual battery system that can run 12V accessories in and around the house that can also be swapped from vehicle to vehicle or even between campers and caravans, saving you serious coin. But how portable is it really? I mean, you could just uninstall your hard-mounted system and swap it around. But no one is practically going to do that are they?

One of the biggest aspects is outright weight. The GoBlock portable power stations run a lithium battery which in itself is very light. That means when moving the GoBlock, you’re only picking up 19 kilograms, including the battery, charger and all the outlets. To move that much in a deep-cycle battery you’d be looking at nearly 40 kilograms.

Using lithium in your portable power station also provides more usable power per Amp Hour (AH). In fact, it uses around 80% of its total capacity before it drops below usable voltage. In comparison, the old deep-cycle batteries can only push around 50% of their total capacity before things start switching off.

The design itself helps too. The GoBlock (and other high-end portable power stations) run integrated power outlets for Anderson, CIG, Merit, and USB. This means you can literally plonk it down next to any accessory and power it. Even the 12V compressor to pump up the pool toys out the back or an inflatable mattress inside for the kid’s or grandkids’ sleepovers.

Portable power stations are the way of the future

So as we bid farewell to the old ways and move towards a future where 12V is portable, will you be joining the portable power station revolution?