We live full-time in a Brinkley Model Z 3515 fifth wheel and we do not carry a generator. Everything runs on solar, and the part of that system doing the heaviest lifting is the battery bank: SOK lithium batteries. After months of boondocking on them, including running the air conditioner in Florida heat, our verdict is simple. They are the reason we can skip the generator entirely.
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Why we bought them
When we planned the electrical system for full-time living, we knew we wanted to boondock a lot, and we knew we did not want a generator humming next to the rig. That means the batteries have to do everything: carry the fridge through the night, absorb whatever the panels produce during the day, and hold steady when the air conditioner or air fryer kicks on.
Lead acid was never really in the running. Lithium charges faster from solar, holds its voltage under heavy loads, and can be drawn down much further without damage. Within lithium, we went with SOK on the recommendation of Mobile Solar Consulting, who designed and installed our whole system. We dropped the Brinkley off with them and picked it up with panels on the roof, a Victron inverter, and the SOK bank wired in underneath.
How we use them
Here is how much we trusted the setup: our first-ever camping trip in the Brinkley was a 15-day boondocking challenge at a primitive campground in Central Florida. We drove straight from the installer to the site, which you can read about in the day-one post. The batteries carried us through every night, and by the end of the first week they had powered two people working full time, cooking every meal, living normally, with no hookups anywhere in sight.
We watch them constantly through the Victron gear that manages the system. A battery shunt counts every amp in and out, so the state of charge on the touchscreen is a real number, not a voltage guess. Most of the battery check-ins in our videos are us standing in front of that screen, and we can pull the same numbers up on our phones from bed.
The one time the bank got into real trouble was our fault. Near the end of the 15-day challenge we parked in shade, the panels stopped producing, and we watched the percentage drop a little more every hour until a neighbor bailed us out with a borrowed generator. That whole scramble is here. The batteries did exactly what batteries do: they gave us everything they had, and then the math caught up with us.
What to know before buying
Lithium costs more up front than lead acid, and a bank sized for full-time boondocking is a real investment. We think it pays for itself in usable capacity and generator-free quiet, but go in with open eyes.
Batteries are also only half the purchase. Without a shunt and a proper monitor you are guessing at your state of charge, and guessing is how you end up where we did that shady week. Budget for monitoring, and think about the whole system: panels, charge controller, inverter, and batteries all have to be sized for each other. If that sounds like a lot, it is, and it is exactly why we handed the design to professionals instead of doing it ourselves.
One honest limit to our experience: we are still in our first year on this bank. We can tell you they have sailed through Florida heat, Wisconsin heat advisories, and months of full-time use without a hiccup. We cannot tell you what year five looks like yet.
Where to get them
SOK sells direct, and our partner link takes you straight to their store. If you want the batteries as part of a full system, Mobile Solar Consulting designed and installed ours, and the code NOMADSAMOR gets you half off their design consultation, or a free soft-start for your AC with an installation of $10,000 or more.
The batteries are one piece of a bigger picture. Our full solar and battery setup covers every component around them, Starlink is what those batteries power so we can work from nowhere, and the Blu Tech AR3 water filter handles the other half of staying off-grid: water.