Portable power guides for camping, RV & van life
Every guide here follows the same order: work out the number first, choose the product second. That one habit — your real daily watt-hours — is what stops you from buying a power setup that cannot get your fridge through the night, or one twice as big as you actually needed.
Written for US car camping, van life and RV owners. No brand cheerleading, no invented test data — arithmetic you can check, and honest "it depends" where it applies.
How Much Power Does a 12V Fridge Really Use?
The pillar guide. One formula — running watts × hours the compressor actually runs — plus the 25% buffer most people forget, and the 24-hour test to run before your first trip.
Read the guideAll guides
Six ways into the same number.
How Many Amps Does a 12V Fridge Draw?
Running amps are not amps per hour. How duty cycle turns a rating into real Ah per day.
Read guide → Battery sizingHow Long Will a 12V Fridge Run on a 100Ah Battery?
Rated amp-hours are not usable amp-hours. The arithmetic, and why the answer is a range.
Read guide → Battery sizingWhat Size Battery Do You Need for a 12V Fridge?
One day, two days or three days off-grid — and what that means in amp-hours at 12V.
Read guide → Battery sizingWill a 12V Fridge Drain Your Car Battery?
Parked overnight versus driving are two different problems. The options, cheapest first.
Read guide → SolarWhat Size Solar Panel Runs a 12V Fridge?
100W vs 200W vs 300W — and why panel ratings never match what you actually harvest.
Read guide → Power stationsWhat Size Power Station Runs a 12V Fridge?
700Wh vs 1500Wh, how many fridge-days each really covers, and the recharge time nobody mentions.
Read guide →How to use these guides
- Work out your daily watt-hours. Start with the pillar guide — running watts × hours the compressor runs, plus a 25% buffer.
- Size the storage. Battery or power station — compare usable capacity, not the headline number on the box.
- Size the recharge. Match a solar panel to your daily need, then check whether the answer is realistic on a cloudy day.
- Test it once at home. Charge it, load it with real food, and log the numbers for 24 hours before you trust it off-grid.
The Portable Fridge & Power Buying Checklist
A free 3-page checklist that runs the same order as the guides above: your daily watt-hours, 7 fridge checks, 8 power station checks, the 24-hour test and a shortlist table to compare models side by side. Instant access, no cost.
In the works
New guides are added in order of how often the question comes up.
- Free 12V fridge power calculator — put in your own numbers, get your daily watt-hours
- 12V fridge vs ice cooler: the honest cost comparison
- Off-grid fridge options compared: 12V, propane or generator
- Wiring and fuse sizing for a 12V fridge install
- Fridge temperature settings, ventilation and why it stops cooling