At the cabin, in the caravan or in a tent, the nearest socket is usually far away or missing altogether. A portable power station, charged at home and paired with a foldable solar panel, keeps your lights, phones, laptop and cool box running, with no noise and no petrol. Which model you choose depends on two things: how much you use per day and how much you can carry. Let's take them one at a time.
Step 1: work out how much you use per day
Write down your appliances, their power and how many hours they run. Here are a few typical examples:
| Appliance | Power | Use per day | Energy per day |
|---|---|---|---|
| LED bulb | 10 W | 5 hours | 50 Wh |
| Phone (charging) | 15 W | 2 hours | 30 Wh |
| Laptop | 60 W | 3 hours | 180 Wh |
| Fan | 50 W | 6 hours | 300 Wh |
| Compressor cool box (example) | 45 W | the equivalent of 12 hours | 540 Wh |
| Coffee maker | 1,000 W | 12 minutes | 200 Wh |
For the cool box we used a 45 W example; check the power on your cool box's label, because it varies a lot from one model to another. Add up the energy per day for your appliances and you have your requirement. For the station's usable capacity we calculate, as usual, with 85% of the rated capacity, because of conversion losses.
Step 2: choose the power station for the type of trip
A day of hiking or fishing: VOLTBOX 100W
The VOLTBOX 100W power station has 99.2 Wh and weighs only 1.1 kg, about as much as a one-litre bottle of water. It has a 100 W USB-C PD port (input and output), a 45 W PD port and an 18 W USB-A QC3.0 port. It charges via USB-C, from a solar panel (12-26 V MPPT input, maximum 100 W) or from the car's 12 V socket (maximum 60 W). With about 84 Wh usable, it covers two phones for a day (60 Wh) or keeps a 60 W laptop running for about an hour and 25 minutes. You can charge your laptop and phone at the same time through the two USB-C ports, with a combined maximum of 145 W.
A weekend in a tent or by car: VOLTBOX 400W
The VOLTBOX 400W power station has 256 Wh, weighs 4 kg and offers a 230 V pure sine wave output of up to 400 W, plus 100 W USB-C PD. With about 217 Wh usable, it covers a day with three LED bulbs (150 Wh) and two phones (60 Wh). It charges from the mains at up to 300 W, so in theory in under an hour, or from the sun, through the MPPT input of up to 120 W.
Cabin or caravan, with a cool box: VOLTBOX 2400W or Kit D5 2500W
The VOLTBOX 2400W power station (2,048 Wh, 22 kg) is also designed for cabins and outdoor trips, including for the cool box. In a caravan, the 12 V outputs matter: the 12 V / 10 A car socket, for the cool box, and the 12 V / 25 A XT60 output. Appliances powered directly at 12 V do not go through the inverter, so losses are lower.
The VOLTBOX Kit D5 2500W has 2,160 Wh, 2,500 W at the socket (with a 4,000 W peak) and a solar input of up to 800 W, and the kit also includes the solar panel, with plug&play connections. It is the complete option if you are starting from scratch and want everything in a single order.
What runs on each power station and what does not
- The 1,000 W coffee maker will not run on the VOLTBOX 400W, because it exceeds the socket's 400 W. On the 2400W station or the Kit D5 2500W, it will.
- A 50 W fan, on a warm summer night, runs on the VOLTBOX 400W for about 4 hours and 20 minutes (217 / 50), and on the 2400W station for around 35 hours.
- A 12 V cool box: the 12 V / 10 A car socket on the 2400W station can deliver up to 120 W (12 V × 10 A), so a 45 W cool box is well within that limit. The 12 V / 25 A XT60 output goes up to 300 W.
- Your laptop charges most efficiently directly via USB-C PD, without the inverter: all the power stations in this guide have a 100 W USB-C port.
- Cooking: for meals, a gas stove is still more practical. Save the station's energy for lights, the cool box and electronics.
Step 3: a weekend at the cabin, worked out
Suppose you have: lights (150 Wh), two phones (60 Wh), a laptop for 3 hours (180 Wh), a cool box (540 Wh) and a coffee maker in the morning (200 Wh). The total is 1,130 Wh per day.
- On the 2400W station, with about 1,740 Wh usable, you get through the first day with around 610 Wh left over.
- For the second day, top up with a 400 W panel: if it delivers 300 W on average for 4 hours of full sun, it adds about 1,200 Wh, roughly what you use in a day.
- Without a panel, the VOLTBOX 3600W station (3,264 Wh usable) would cover almost three days, but at 40 kg it suits a cabin you can drive to, not a rucksack.
With the station and the panel, a long weekend without a socket becomes realistic, as long as the sun is out.
Step 4: the right solar panel
The 200 W foldable panel weighs 5.6 kg and measures 530 × 600 mm when folded, so it fits easily in the boot. The 400 W panel produces twice as much, but it is 3.24 m long when unfolded, so you need space for it. Both are compatible with the VOLTBOX 2400W and 3600W power stations. Place the panel in the sun, facing south, re-angle it every few hours and keep the station in the shade.
Tips for outdoor use
- Fully charge the station at home before you set off.
- Keep the station away from heat: according to their data sheets, the 100W, 400W and 2400W models operate between -10 °C and 40 °C.
- In winter, at the cabin, keep the station indoors. LiFePO4 batteries must not be charged below 0 °C; for the 100W and 400W models, the data sheet specifies charging between 0 °C and 40 °C.
- Protect the station from rain and damp; the permitted ambient humidity is at most 90%.
- On long journeys, the 100W model can be recharged from the car's 12 V socket.
