What the spec sheet says vs. what we actually got.
Eight years, one ProMaster, two power stations, real climates. Every number below is from gear we owned and ran — not a launch-week press kit.
Rule of the house: a measured charge time and a spec charge time are not the same promise.
How we label every figure on this page — order of trust is measured → spec → reported → estimate:
Measured tested firsthand on our own unit · Spec manufacturer-stated · Estimate planning figure · How we test →
Recharge speed — wall outlet
The single number that decides whether a cloudy week wrecks you. Going from the Yeti to the Elite turned a full-day charge into a lunch break.
Battery longevity — cycle life vs. real life
Rated cycles are a lab number. Here's what the road did to them.
| What we ran | Spec / claim | What we measured | Conditions | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goal Zero Yeti 1400 (NMC) | Spec ~500 cycles rated | Measured ~7 years full-time (2018–Nov 2025); gradual fade, then a sharp drop after 8 months in storage. Eventually zeroed out on an induction burner. | Daily cycling, all climates. Maintained at 30–80% during the storage stretch and still lost real capacity. | Yeti 1400 review |
| BLUETTI Elite 200 V2 (LiFePO4) | Spec 6,000+ cycles rated | Measured in progress — owned since Black Friday 2025. We won't fake a number we haven't lived yet. | Daily driver since the Yeti retired. We'll update this row as the years stack up. | Elite 200 V2 review |
Cold weather — the number nobody puts on the box
A spec sheet won't tell you the battery quits before you do.
| What we ran | Spec / claim | What we measured | Conditions | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goal Zero Yeti 1400 (NMC) | Spec lithium low-temp charge cutoff | Measured won't accept a charge once internal temp drops near freezing — solar controller just sits there in full sun. Dead until warmed 6–24 hr indoors. | Two to three Colorado winters. Van interior dropped below freezing overnight; we hauled the unit into a Lakewood house to thaw. | Cold weather killed my charging |
Fridge draw & solar harvest
The two figures every "how many watt-hours do I need" calculator gets wrong because they use rated numbers, not lived ones.
Solar vs. driving: where the watts actually come from
The calibration step that fixed both our stations
Both the Yeti 1400 and the Elite 200 V2 drifted on their battery-percentage readout. The fix is the same on almost any station, and it’s the first thing we do with a new unit: run a full 100% → 0% → 100% calibration cycle. Drain it under load, then refill it at a steady wattage with nothing pulling from it, starting the moment it reads zero. Do it the day you unbox.
Put these numbers to work
Every measured figure on this page feeds our 7-Day Off-Grid Simulator. Pick a station, a season and your loads, and it plays out a full week hour by hour, using this data as its inputs. It will tell you whether you make it, or the exact hour you don’t.
Citing this data
Writers, forum posters, fellow spreadsheet people: every number on this page is free to cite — just link back here as the source. It’s one van, one couple, and gear we paid for ourselves, labeled spec vs. measured, and we keep updating as the miles stack up. Methodology lives at how we test and label claims.
Grab a ready-made citation — pick whichever format your platform takes:
Real-world van power data (8 years measured): recharge times, fridge draw by climate, cold-weather cutoffs — https://www.createavanlife.com/real-world-power-data/
[Real-World Van Power Data: Measured, Not Marketed](https://www.createavanlife.com/real-world-power-data/) — 8 years of measured recharge times, fridge draw, and cold-weather data
<a href="https://www.createavanlife.com/real-world-power-data/">Real-World Van Power Data: Measured, Not Marketed (Create A Van Life)</a>