Just enough, too much and you carry a lot of extra weight unnecessarily, too little and you cannot safely meet work/life demands. I’ve obsessed about this one question, tweaking and experimenting for years. The magic number is 1.2 kWh.
Starlink (gen 3) averages 70w (but 100w is safe), a work laptop will max out at 100x (usually 70w if Arm chip), and phone maxes out at 6w (usually 4w). This estimate assumes I use Starlink for 10 hours a day, six for work and four for personal stuff including live streaming, and that two of those hours are spent charging the battery every single day (at which time I can independently top off the laptops themselves and a few other battery bricks). There is also a little room from the trickle solar charging while moving (which is usually barely enough to reliably charge the phone within a solar day).
A Jackery Explorer 1000 Plus seems to be the perfect size. It provides 1.264 kWh. At one point I attempted this with just recharge bricks, 5-10 of them. But that was before Starlink. It didn’t work even with just the hotspots. Power is the hardest challenge of this entire system.
Recharging by AC outlet is always the fastest, two hours tops. This is one of those times where an Arm chip makes a major difference.
Taking one rest day every seven where I stay at the same spot with a power outlet for two nights in a row takes a lot of the stress off and gives me time to relax, to laundry, and get to know an area better than usual. Unfortunately, no amount of rest days increases the total kilo-watt hours I can carry. They do, however, provide an opportunity to make up missed work during the week because I was forced to ration power to make it through two or more days without powering up. Knowing a rest day is coming maximized peace-of-mind. In the extreme case that I miss one or two days of charging and work, I know I can make it up honestly and effectively within the next 2-5 days. That is sustainable.
When making long stretches that cover distances without opportunity to recharge I can cut the personal stuff or wait and work more another day when there is more power available, say working four hours one day and taking only two hours for personal stuff (like livestreaming). Taking a single four-hour short work day is definitely easy to make up when following a weekly schedule that includes a two-night stay in the same location with power plugin available (to do laundry, etc.). I never plan to go anywhere that requires more than a single half-day (including the GDMBR). If and when I did, I would take vacation days off to cover it.
Vacation days eliminate 1/3 of the power requirement (down to 800 Wh) allowing more personal Starlink time (livestreaming) and/or longer durations between powerups.
There are also areas where a work laptop is not required to be on at all, when most of the work can be done from the phone. A lot of collaboration, including PR review, does not require a laptop at all. Keeping that laptop lid closed as much as possible could significantly decrease the time between powerups, but counting on a daily two-hour powerup is really standard.
Bigger batteries affect the daily flow too much locking you down for four hours. The 2000 provides 2.5 kWh, but weighs an additional 20 lbs and is one inch taller than the 1000 making it just barely too big for the Burley COHO XC trailer.
The weight and bulk associated with a decent 200+ watt solar panel is ridiculous for what it provides. On the best day, I might get a single kilowatt hour of recharge. I cannot might anything if my livelihood depends on it. This isn’t a matter of keeping my phone and Garmin charged. It is a matter of career life and death.
AC charging is superior to solar because: