Finally got around to nestling my Anker power station (SOLIX C1000) into the driver side half-bin on the SmartCap. This location allows easy access when parked up -- be it tailgating or camping or whatever -- while also being easy to reach from the bed via the bin's passthrough for powering things like my Dometic fridge. Plenty of room still in the bin to charge my drone and camera batteries while on the road too, stuff like that. I do need to secure it better before hitting the trails ... but this is fine for drives like the 3000 miles I'll do on-road over the next couple weeks.
Main reason behind this set up was to have the truck charge the power station while on the road as it passes power through to my fridge. Then, when the truck's off, the SOLIX powers the fridge directly ... so it's always cooling. Otherwise, connecting the fridge directly to the truck's ProPower outlet meant I couldn't keep the fridge running when parked without leaving the truck running too.
I have a bigger Jackery that can keep the fridge going for 24 hours on a charge; way longer than I'd need before running the truck or being connected to solar, but it was too big for the SmartCap bin and took up way too much real estate in the bed. This little Anker unit is a lot more portable and can still run the Dometic for 15-16 hours from 100%, which again ... is plenty.
Also added a second half-bin to the passenger side. I was using the driver side bin for random stuff like this and recovery gear. Locating the power station in the other bin (because it's close to the bed outlet) gave me an excuse to add this one!
Still have lighting to add inside the bins (ordered), and figure out exactly what to keep in there based the type of trip (i.e., road trip versus camping) so I can better organize it.
Also plan to have the glass that covers the bin section tinted as black as possible, since the power station display is easily visible through the glass when it's on ... and you can see through the glass all together in direct sunlight. It's pretty easy when the light is right to make out what's in there and we have too many pieces of shit these days who'd love to break in. I'm using black posterboard temporarily to conceal it, LOL ...but it works!
Main reason behind this set up was to have the truck charge the power station while on the road as it passes power through to my fridge. Then, when the truck's off, the SOLIX powers the fridge directly ... so it's always cooling. Otherwise, connecting the fridge directly to the truck's ProPower outlet meant I couldn't keep the fridge running when parked without leaving the truck running too.
I have a bigger Jackery that can keep the fridge going for 24 hours on a charge; way longer than I'd need before running the truck or being connected to solar, but it was too big for the SmartCap bin and took up way too much real estate in the bed. This little Anker unit is a lot more portable and can still run the Dometic for 15-16 hours from 100%, which again ... is plenty.
Also added a second half-bin to the passenger side. I was using the driver side bin for random stuff like this and recovery gear. Locating the power station in the other bin (because it's close to the bed outlet) gave me an excuse to add this one!
Still have lighting to add inside the bins (ordered), and figure out exactly what to keep in there based the type of trip (i.e., road trip versus camping) so I can better organize it.
Also plan to have the glass that covers the bin section tinted as black as possible, since the power station display is easily visible through the glass when it's on ... and you can see through the glass all together in direct sunlight. It's pretty easy when the light is right to make out what's in there and we have too many pieces of shit these days who'd love to break in. I'm using black posterboard temporarily to conceal it, LOL ...but it works!
