The Dometic PLB40 makes powering your off-grid appliances a breeze. The PLB 40 is shock, heat, and UV resistant, so you can take it anywhere.
It’s also lightweight and equipped with a stainless steel carry handle, so it’s easy to get in and out of the car or ute.
The Dometic PLB 40 is designed to power your fridge, USB devices and can even support small inverters (up to 150w). The unit includes 2 x 12v outlets (one heavy-duty) plus 2 x USB charging ports.
You can monitor the performance of your unit with the included LCD display. The LCD display gives you an indication of the overall level of charge, which ports are in use, and a variety of error lights that indicate if the unit is affected by a blown fuse, high temperature, and low temperature.
If you want to see how the PLB40 compares against other portable power stations, check out our comparison guide here.
How Do I Charge The Dometic PLB40?
There are three different ways you can charge your Dometic PLB 40. It includes adapters for charging through your vehicle’s 12v power system, an AC power adapter for when at home, and you can also plug a solar panel in and charge that way.
The car adaptor and solar panels both connect to the unit with an Anderson plug connection.
When charging by solar, you can do it with or without a solar controller. Ensure that the output from the panel or controller does not exceed 10 amps or 25V DC.
Dometic PLB40 Battery Chemistry
The battery is powered by Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4), which has numerous advantages over traditional lead-acid batteries. One of the key advantages of Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries is that they do not reduce in charge under high load.
For lead-acid batteries, when the discharge rate is high, the lead-acid battery is only able to provide around 60% of the rated capacity. But lithium iron phosphate batteries are able to provide 100% of their rated capacity regardless of the discharge rate.
Another advantage of lithium iron phosphate batteries is that they are able to provide a more consistent level of output over their entire discharge cycle. In comparison to lead-acid batteries that start out strong but slowly fade in their discharge cycle.
There are many more positive things I could mention about lithium iron phosphate batteries, but the last two benefits I will mention are that they recharge a lot quicker than lead-acid batteries. And they operate much better in high temperatures as well.
The only thing that lead-acid batteries can do better is that they can take on charge in cold temperatures, whereas lithium iron phosphate batteries will not accept a charge when it is very cold.
The Dometic Portable Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery Pack is designed to handle over 2000 charging cycles in its lifetime. So even if you recharged it every day, you should theoretically get over 6 years of use out of it.
How Long Does The Battery Last?
It depends. It is impossible to state with confidence how long a battery will last without detailed information about what devices are going to be connected, for how long, and what the weather conditions are going to be.
If you plan to use this portable battery pack to power your fridge, then the weather will have a big influence on how long this portable battery will last.
If it is winter, and you are trying to maintain temperature overnight, then this battery pack might be suitable, but if it is summer, and you are hoping this unit can power your fridge throughout a hot day (without further charge), then the 40 amp hours are likely to be drained quickly.
It all depends on what devices you hope to use it for. If you are planning to use it for LED lights and phone charging, then the Dometic Portable Battery Pack will last a very long time.
Warranty
The Dometic PLB40 comes with a 12-month warranty, like many other Dometic products. If you have any problems within the first 12 months, take your unit back to the place of purchase with the original purchase receipt.
See more in the product manual here: https://www.dometic.com/assets/60/05/dometicplb40_opm_4445102605_apac(en)_11_2020-02_76005.pdf?att=true
Summary
The Dometic PLB40 is a sturdy, lightweight, features a fully portable battery pack with fantastic lithium-ion phosphate battery technology inside.
Given the three-way charger, and robust, lightweight casing, and easy setup, this is a really popular option for people looking to power their off grid campsite. But for me, I don’t quite see the value proposition for this as a $900 product.
Given you only get 40Ah of battery storage, you could easily get far more storage and the same functionality, by buying a battery and encasing it inside a battery box.
Not only is it cheaper, but if you have an issue with the battery, you can just replace it with a new one.
A downside of these sealed Dometic units is that if something goes wrong with the battery, then you have to discard the whole unit.
And if that happens after 12 months when the warranty period is over, then you are back to square one and need to buy a new unit.
I can understand why people would be drawn to the stylish design, and rugged case, but the limited battery storage, and ability to change a damaged battery leads me to feel it is not worth the $900 price tag.
