After several months of researching and testing, I upgraded the battery and charge controller. Thank you for all of the feedback and recommendations, keep it coming! My apologies for the lighting, but it was late and wanted to get the video out there. I'm working on the new setup and will post an update when I'm done.

What's New?

Swapped out 12V 12Ah lead acid battery for LiFePO4 equivalent along with a solar charge controller to match LiFePO4 charging requirements.

LiFePO4 Battery

Solar Charge Controller

Wiring Diagram

Pros

Lighter
- 3.5lbs vs 7.5lbs / 1.6kg vs 3.4kg
Depth of discharge to 80% vs 50% (115W vs. 72W) usable capacity in theory
Built in Battery Management System (BMS) that protects against over discharge, etc.
- Shifts the battery management from the charge controller to the battery and simplifies the controller
Charge controller is MPPT vs PWM

Cons

Battery is 4X the cost of lead acid equivalent
Solar charge controller that is LiFePO4 not as prevalent as PWM controllers
Discharge challenge
- Please watch video for full details on what happens when battery is fully discharged
- Tricked charge controller and BMS by "jump starting" the system

SOLAR AMMO BOX GENERATOR PROJECT