You could have a marine type battery(s) installed with an isolater so that it charges from the van's alternator when running but can't run the main battery(s) down when parked. Then use an inverter to power whatever you need 120v for.
I bought a NOCO Boost Plus 1000 AMP jump starter for the boat in case we wore down the battery playing tunes. I fully charge it in spring, stow it on the boat and take it out for the winter when we store the boat.
We came home from vacation in January to a totally dead battery in our pickup(dome light.) The NOCO charger had not been charged since before the boating season started in May, Started my 5.3L gas engine in the time it took to walk from the battery to the ignition at 10F.
My charger comes in a 3"x4"x8"(?) box. Very compact. It has a USB OUT as well(and a flashllight), but I haven't had reason to use/test that at all.
@Musicman I bought this Aeiusny battery pack a few years ago for that very reason to hook up to a old 100 watt solar panel I made for a bicycle trailer camper (and that big stove I have in my van went in that camper, with the flexible solar panel over it.) I thought it looked great, but everyone commented on how I built a mobile meth lab.
I'm out of that 100watt solar panel, down to this suitcase 80 watt panel:
I'm expecting the batteries to die sometime this winter as it is a couple of years old now. I did buy it with the intention of switching out the inner batteries (they look like massive AA batteries sealed in a multirow pack) bjt have a good feeling that operation will just F the whole thing up and leave me without a battery pack. Luckily I have plenty of backup smaller powerbricks, stuff I can charge off that solar panel. The onky thing that solar panel cannot charge is my Aeiusny. It only puts out in USB, and the input for the Aeiusny is traditional solar adaptors or a wall outlet. It has plenty of USB sockets, just nothing will charge it.
It does have a weird DC connection I've never seen before (think it is four prong, or four seperate single prongs) but don't know if it charges the device or only for discharge. I dunno.
If it dies completely and I have a job I'll just get a jackery. It seems to of became the North American standard AFTER I bought this. I don't knkw if they charge off USB, and I doubt my solar panel will do much during the winter.
@Dignaga A popular company here is Jackery. People love it. It can be charged multiple ways. They even have an expansion battery pack that people use to power their RV. One model even has a 30 amp plug on it.
@Musicman I know about Jackery now, and even seen them sold in harbor freight (suggesting a level of compatibility with their other stuff).
My big question right now however, if can I jump a car off my portable battery with a cheap car jumper, like off Amazon in the $30- $40 range. If I gotta spend $90 to $150 dollars on a car jumper, I might as well buy a $150 gas generator. Then at least I can camp out during a blizzard for a few days watching TV on my 32 inch, or running a small heater (350 to 450 watt) to keep the temperature somewhat tolerable (above freezing) while up. But if I go the generator route, planning on using THAT electricity, what would be the cheapest and smallest device I plug in to instantly jump a dead battery?
