Since moving into the Airstream in August 2021 we have camped across the US and driven up to Alaska for the summer. In that time we have experienced it all: rain, cold winter nights, short winter days, weeks of sunshine, weeks of rain, hot summer days, small issues with our solar panels, and even midnight sun.
Our overall experience with our Battle Born system has been exceptional, and exactly what we were hoping for with a larger battery bank. Our larger battery bank allows us to live full-time in our Airstream camping off-grid without having to worry or check our battery levels constantly. On a day-to-day basis we are largely running 12v applicanes/lights/charging ports, and occasionally turn on the inverter to use charge our computer, and external batteries. More recently, we have just added Starlink to our setup, so we are using our inverter for longer periods of time while using the satellite for internet on the road—more on Starlink battery usage later!
We have had two small hiccups with our system, so let’s get into those! I mentioned a number of times in this blog that we prefer to camp off-grid or boondock at some amazing campsites. Well, to get to those campsites we have to drive down miles and miles of washboard and rutted dirt, and gravel roads, which causes a lot of vibration in a camper. The vibration can loosen screws, bolts, and nuts in any build, and thats just what happened to us. After a few months on the road, we had a connection on one of our batteries become loose. After troubleshooting for awhile, we figured out the issue and we now make it a point to check cable connections periodically to ensure nothing has vibrated loose!
The second issue we had in the last year actually has nothing to do with Battle Born Batteries—we had two of our flexible solar panels fail, and started noticing a huge difference in charging and keeping our batteries topped off. The unfortunate timing of our solar panels failing was timed with rainy season while we were in Alaska. The combination of solar panel issues, less towing time while we were camping in each location for 2 weeks, and the lack of sunshine was the first time we experienced noticeable drops in our battery storage. Our solution until we could order replacement solar panels and travel away from the rainy forecast, was to book one or two nights a month at campgrounds and fully charge our battery bank. This was a fun test to see just how far we could stretch our batteries with minimal charging, and a great example of why having multiple ways to charge up a battery bank is so important!
We are looking forward to another year on the road, and another year of living life powered by the sun!
