Jared & Kayla Payne
After completing their sixth year of advanced music school and receiving their Master’s Degrees, Jared and Kayla were tired of being in small practice rooms for eight to ten hours a day. They had always loved hiking and camping and worked for an online piano teaching company. Instead of paying thousands of dollars in rent per month, Jared and Kayla decided to begin working, traveling and living out of their RV full-time in May 2023. However, their travel trailer came with lead-acid batteries that could not hold a charge for very long and required frequent recharging for multiple days at a time. This really put a damper on Jared and Kayla’s freedom and flexibility while balancing sightseeing and working on the road. We recently spoke with them about what it was like to upgrade to longer lasting and more reliable RELiON lithium batteries.
Jared and Kayla’s Power System Includes
Their Jayco Jay Flight 26BH travel trailer’s energy system consists of two RELiON RB300 lithium iron phosphate batteries, 1,760 watts of solar power from SanTan Solar, and a Victron Multiplus inverter/charger power. This system powers everything in their trailer, including air conditioning, a microwave, Starlink internet, a fridge, a space heater, a digital piano, a blender, a toaster, an air fryer, laptops, cameras, drones, phones and ipads.
Why Jared and Kayla Switched to Lithium
“We chose to go with lithium batteries because they’re highly recommended in the industry, especially if you’re adding solar. The ability to use almost the full capacity of lithium batteries is also amazing compared to lead-acid batteries. Our trailer actually initially came with lead-acid batteries and it was really rough. We couldn’t power any of our AC appliances, only DC items like lights and water pumps. They also required around 2 to 3 days plugged in to fully charge, and they didn’t last us very long on one charge. We were always having to run the generator. Plus we couldn’t deplete them lower than 50%. The difference is night and day after switching to lithium.”
Why Jared and Kayla chose RELiON
“We chose RELiON specifically because of their wide variety of battery sizes and options. No matter what type of build you are doing, you can find a RELiON battery that is the right capacity and physical size! Plus the 10 year warranty brings a lot of peace of mind.”
What was the installation of the energy system like, in particular the batteries?
“So easy! It was a plug and play installation. We just had to make sure the batteries were at the same voltage, added them to our electrical system, and charged them up to 100%!”
How has your lithium system allowed you to challenge your limits?
“Ever since installing our new system, we have not had to run our generator once. This is huge! We can essentially camp off-grid indefinitely as far as electricity is concerned. Now we are mostly concerned about running out of water, not power.”
Jared and Kayla’s advice for people considering switching to lithium batteries:
“The initial investment can seem overwhelming, but we really do wish we had switched sooner. It’s completely changed how we can camp and live full time in our trailer, powering everything from phones to the air conditioner!”
What Jared and Kayla love most about RV life
“The freedom and flexibility to go explore wherever we want, whenever we want. Now, with our electrical system, we never have to worry about having power. We also love that we can camp for free and save lots of money compared to rent.”
Follow along with Jared and Kayla’s travel trailer adventures through their website, YouTube and Instagram.