Wonder how much of the TAT could a CI handle ...

[TheSongDogHouse]

With the right tow vehicle?

Top Tips Learned While Traversing 7,163 Miles of the TransAmerica Trail In A Modified 2025 Subaru Crosstrek

There are weekend warriors who car camp and then there are transcontinental travelers living out of their vehicle for weeks, months, or even years.Both are great forms of getting out there, but for my husband, Andy Lilienthal, and me, the latter suits us better. We drove and camped in a...

www.thetruthaboutcars.com

Good words for the EcoFlow Delta3 discussed here elsewhere...hmmmm.

I have this recurring dream of making the TV the power supply for Dometic fridge fulltime there but how?

 

[Jenn]

With the right tow vehicle?

Top Tips Learned While Traversing 7,163 Miles of the TransAmerica Trail In A Modified 2025 Subaru Crosstrek

There are weekend warriors who car camp and then there are transcontinental travelers living out of their vehicle for weeks, months, or even years.Both are great forms of getting out there, but for my husband, Andy Lilienthal, and me, the latter suits us better. We drove and camped in a...

www.thetruthaboutcars.com

Good words for the EcoFlow Delta3 discussed here elsewhere...hmmmm.

I have this recurring dream of making the TV the power supply for Dometic fridge fulltime there but how?

That was interesting. What a great trip! I kept waiting for her to talk about the weight frame of the crosstrek. The subaru outback has the best towing strength but the roof weight capacity is really limited . To have their heavier tent and two adults on the roof means the car must have an amazing weight capacity. But she didn't say what it is. She also mentioned they would use a more aerodynamic tent next time. I've seen Utubers using some nice looking roof top tents.

I have the larger ecoflow battery. The plugs are all over it in weird places. I dont not like it but it takes some looking around to remember where something is. I just got today, one of the little ecoflow river units. No opinion yet other than I like the size and weight and it will match up with the ecoflow solar panel. And it was on sale.

 

[TheSongDogHouse]

I think there are folks going somewhat over roof rack limits...but since I haven't used a cartop tent myself, I cant say for sure.

My TV is a 2017 VW Alltrack, with some mods that make it similar to an Outback Wilderness appearance/capability

How Much Weight Can You Put On A Subaru Roof?

If you're looking for a Subaru Outback roof rack system, it's critical to understand the roof rack weight restriction and the manufacturer's recommended weight limit for your vehicle's roof. In this article, we'll answer these two frequently asked concerns to assist you in selecting the...

offroadtents.com

 

[JohnC]

That was interesting. What a great trip! I kept waiting for her to talk about the weight frame of the crosstrek. The subaru outback has the best towing strength but the roof weight capacity is really limited . To have their heavier tent and two adults on the roof means the car must have an amazing weight capacity. But she didn't say what it is. She also mentioned they would use a more aerodynamic tent next time. I've seen Utubers using some nice looking roof top tents.

I have the larger ecoflow battery. The plugs are all over it in weird places. I dont not like it but it takes some looking around to remember where something is. I just got today, one of the little ecoflow river units. No opinion yet other than I like the size and weight and it will match up with the ecoflow solar panel. And it was on sale.

I have the Delta 3 and the nicest feature on it is that the on/off and display panel and the power plugs are all on the same side of the unit unlike my old Delta Mini. I like that feature a lot more than you might think.

I also bought two River 3 Plus units last fall during black Friday. I really like them for charging small things like phones, ipads, laptops, camera batteries, ebike batteries and the fridge. It fits in the galley with the lid closed which allows me to charge the fridge at night if I find myself with poor skies for charging via solar on the 560, during the day.

The nice thing about the smaller units is that they can charge quickly and easily in my car during the day when I'm out and about. And with two, I can be using one while charging the other.

FYI for anyone interested in any of the Ecoflow products...their pricing is a mess. It is always changing and sometimes the cheapest price is buying direct from them, or sometimes the best price is through Amazon (still buying from Ecoflow), or sometimes Costco or other retailers sell them at a really good price. So, do you homework and do a lot of googling before you buy. Oh, and make sure the models you compare are EXACTLY the same. They sometimes partner with Home Depot (and others?) to make a very similar looking unit but one that has a smaller capacity, sells for less, and looks like a deal but isn't because it's not really the same capacity as the main unit.

 

[dustinp]

That was interesting. What a great trip! I kept waiting for her to talk about the weight frame of the crosstrek. The subaru outback has the best towing strength but the roof weight capacity is really limited . To have their heavier tent and two adults on the roof means the car must have an amazing weight capacity. But she didn't say what it is. She also mentioned they would use a more aerodynamic tent next time. I've seen Utubers using some nice looking roof top tents.

I have the larger ecoflow battery. The plugs are all over it in weird places. I dont not like it but it takes some looking around to remember where something is. I just got today, one of the little ecoflow river units. No opinion yet other than I like the size and weight and it will match up with the ecoflow solar panel. And it was on sale.

I agree with John on the pricing, another option is to buy factory refurbished units from EcoFLow's eBay store with very large discounts. We've had a good experience with the EcoFlow Delta 2 and solar panels we bought a couple years ago for camping. Since then we bought a couple of their larger 3600 WH Delta Pro storage units from their eBay store at about half of their original price to power our home during an outage. Since they were factory refurbed they came with the same 5yr warranty as a new one, and they looked like new as well.
They need to be exercised quarterly, so in doing that we found we can power our home for about 12hrs living pretty much normally. With a dual voltage hub they will run our 240V well pump as well. The newer Delta 3 Pro and Ultra units will power 240V appliances with a single unit, without needing the hub, and I'm seeing the prices on them coming down now too, since they have both been out over a year. That is something else to consider too. It's both reassuring, and frustrating that they are constantly coming out with newly designed sogens to meet the needs of their customers, but that also means that whatever you buy, you can be relatively sure that there will something even better to be had in very short order.

For those cloudy days, or those without solar, they also make a smart inverter generator that monitors the storage batteries state of charge, and when it gets down to the level you dial in to its settings, it automatically turns on to recharge the storage unit to whatever level you also dial in, and then turns itself off again, so it only runs as long as it takes to recharge the sogen unit, rather than needing it to run continuously to provide continuous power. So depending on which sogen unit you have, and which smart generator, and of course your usage, you could run the gen about an hour to maybe get 12 hrs of continuous power, making you a much more tolerable camping, or neighborhood neighbor.

 

[TheSongDogHouse]

I agree with John on the pricing, another option is to buy factory refurbished units from EcoFLow's eBay store with very large discounts. We've had a good experience with the EcoFlow Delta 2 and solar panels we bought a couple years ago for camping. Since then we bought a couple of their larger 3600 WH Delta Pro storage units from their eBay store at about half of their original price to power our home during an outage. Since they were factory refurbed they came with the same 5yr warranty as a new one, and they looked like new as well.
They need to be exercised quarterly, so in doing that we found we can power our home for about 12hrs living pretty much normally. With a dual voltage hub they will run our 240V well pump as well. The newer Delta 3 Pro and Ultra units will power 240V appliances with a single unit, without needing the hub, and I'm seeing the prices on them coming down now too, since they have both been out over a year. That is something else to consider too. It's both reassuring, and frustrating that they are constantly coming out with newly designed sogens to meet the needs of their customers, but that also means that whatever you buy, you can be relatively sure that there will something even better to be had in very short order.

For those cloudy days, or those without solar, they also make a smart inverter generator that monitors the storage batteries state of charge, and when it gets down to the level you dial in to its settings, it automatically turns on to recharge the storage unit to whatever level you also dial in, and then turns itself off again, so it only runs as long as it takes to recharge the sogen unit, rather than needing it to run continuously to provide continuous power. So depending on which sogen unit you have, and which smart generator, and of course your usage, you could run the gen about an hour to maybe get 12 hrs of continuous power, making you a much more tolerable camping, or neighborhood neighbor.

Thanks @JohnC and @dustinp