backchannel: “I just bought X – will it work?”

from /r/overlanding:¹

I ordered a 2000 watt Anker F2000 with 400 watt of panel. I’m debating if this is overkill for charging laptops, lights, running a diesel heater, running a fridge, and maybe running something like starlink. Any thoughts?

My thought is: figure out what you actually need instead of throwing $1,800 at random gear and hoping real hard.

One immediate hurdle that comes to mind is this spec:

Cigarette Lighter Output: 120W(12V/10A) ×2 

means the “power station” DC output is likely insufficient to start the diesel heater. Unfortunately he probably won’t figure this out until winter out in the middle of nowhere….

1. edited for clarity ↩