Arkpak: Long-Lasting Portable Power Supply (but still heavy with 75lb. 31M battery)
First impressions absolutely great. Much smaller than I imagined and I'll install and fire up at the end of the week.
Some notes:
1. If there is a continuum from "home-made DIY'er isolated 2nd battery" to "Goal Zero Completely Off The Shelf", I'd put this in the middle. I'm not techie and am not about to build something for a BMW X5 and this is portable so you can pull it out and use on a campsite easily anyways. But, it is much better (and cheaper) than Goal Zero since you can buy a premium battery and swap that out when it is shot.
So, I'll agree that is could be argued that $450 is "a lot" to pay for this type of product but it could also be argued that it is "a little" for a proven, reliable set-up and that is definitely what ARK is providing. Hence, the feature last year as one of the best new products at the 2012 SEMA show.
If you're super-techie, head over to the 12v forum and there's a lot of plans to build your own. But if you're like me and place a premium on time and demand a known and portable solution, then ARK is as good as you can get IMO after a lot of research.
2. Using an AGM battery has long been favored by photogs for running gear overnight and that is my plan - keep cameras and lights and a laptop and refrigerator running overnight for several days on end out in the desert shooting timelapses (the laptop needs to stay on since it auto-adjusts the camera exposure from day into night). A 100ah battery is overkill as long as things stay on 12v and I have 12v plugs for the cameras, lights and laptop.
ARK's website does a great job of illustrating the difference between charging 12v devices and using the 110v plug and, showing how much you can keep running on a single charge of a 100ah+ battery.
3. This is logically why the Arkpak comes with "just" a 150 watt inverter. If you want or need more, you can easily and affordably add a more powerful 400 watt inverter or similar through one of the 12v ports, but you're draining the battery significantly faster because inverters are so inefficient (hence the major heat they tend to put out). If you're driving around, no problem - you can keep everything charged. But if parked in place for a few days, the mantra is definitely 12v whenever possible and you should be able to camp for a week with an ARB fridge in all but hottest Arizona.
Of course, I just happened to see that a 40" Samsung LED TV uses just 86 watts max. so having this much reliable power could also make car camping a little more entertaining and so despite things, I know that the inverter will get some workout.
4. The one thing I am going to DIY is to safely tie this down. ARB Fridges come with tie-down straps (kudos) and while ARK is providing mounts, my needs are more for a strap solution. Don't want an 80 pound projectile in a crash!
Hope this helps. I'll stick around and then update on the full user experience in early October after an extended trip to the desert.
