Can Everything Be Ran on Portable Solar Powered Generators?

With the significant move towards electric vehicles, renewable energy, and a green lifestyle, it begs the question, “can everything be run on solar power?” The sun irradiates so much power that it could truly provide enough energy to run everything, as long as we can capture enough of that energy that is constantly hitting us.

The short answer is, yes, we can run everything on solar power. But multiple parts of that answer have to be explored to make it work. The different parts consist of having enough solar panels to capture the necessary energy and using that energy via solar generators. Storing the energy properly to be used when solar panels aren’t enough. And having the expandability over time since our power needs are only growing. The primary issues that most solar generators can address include needing power at night, having power when there is poor weather, and dealing with geographical limits.

Power Everything, It’s Possible

Elon Musk, who is arguably one of the brightest people when it comes to electricity and renewable energy, said that it is absolutely possible to power the entire United States with solar panels and batteries. According to Elon, “If you wanted to power the entire United States with solar panels; it would take a fairly small corner of Nevada, Texas, Utah… you only need about 100 miles by 100 miles of solar panels… And then the batteries you need to store that energy to make sure you have 24/7 power, is one mile by one mile. ”Elon said we’d need 10,000

solar power generator at portable power station

square miles of solar panels to power the entire United States. The average household uses 30kwh of energy per day or every 24 hours. There are currently about 123,600,000 households in the USA. That means the entire USA uses 3.7 billion kWh of power per day at home. This does not account for business, industrial, or any other kind of power besides home power.

On average, it’s possible to make about 2,227.5kwh per day from one acre of solar panels. Since 640 acres fit into one square mile, that means it’s possible to make 1,425,600kwh of energy per day per square mile. With 10,000 square miles of solar panels, it’d be possible to make about 14.26 billion kWh of power per day. That should be enough to power not just all the households in the USA but also all of the businesses and industrial power as well.

But people and businesses don’t operate only when the sun is out. And that is why Elon Musk explained we would need batteries in order to store the energy so it can be used on demand. During the day we’d be able to recharge the batteries completely as well as run our entire grid directly from the solar panels.

Where to Put the Solar Plants?

Many would say it’s important to diversify solar power plants. This makes sense because when poor weather comes through it is very rare that it hits the entire United States all at once evenly. Generally, if an extremely large storm is hitting the east coast, the west coast does not have a storm.

It would make a lot of sense that major parts of the grid be split up to be powered by separate solar power plants. This way if a storm is covering a solar farm it doesn’t wipe out energy for the entire US. This would be good because then individual solar power farms can grow to meet the needs of their region or section of the grid.

portable solar panels convert sunlight to ac power

But then again, certain areas get poor weather more commonly than others. For example, Arizona is the sunniest state in the entire USA. It is very common that when either the west coast or east coast has major storms, Arizona has bright sunshine. It is rare that Arizona has long cloudy and stormy days. In this regard, it would make a lot more sense to put solar panel power plants in Arizona because it is affected far less often by poor weather. This would mean that when other major parts of the country are affected by bad weather, they do not lose their power from solar panels because the solar panels are in a safe sunny area of the country.

New Mexico, Nevada, and Texas are the other top solar states due to how much sunlight they get. All four states have vast areas of land that are uninhabited and rarely have cloudy weather. By splitting the 10,000 square miles of solar power production between those four states, theoretically, it’d be very possible to never run out of power. Since it would be extremely rare that storms and poor weather would affect those areas all at the same time.

This means it makes a lot of sense to not have one major 100-mile by 100-mile solar power plant but rather have them relatively close in one region of the United States. Those states where the solar panels could go are also very rarely hit with major natural disasters. Many other states that are considered to be very sunny have natural disasters like tornadoes, flooding, hurricanes, wildfires, and earthquakes.

If 10,000 square miles of solar panels capture more than enough energy to run the entire USA then it would be wise to split it up into four 2,500 square mile solar power plants which would mean we would very likely never be without power even if one area is affected by poor weather.

Can Solar Power Meet The Growing Power Demands

portable power stations for solar power generatorsOne thing that is certain is that the United States is only consuming more power every year. Whether it’s because people are using more A/C in the summer, need more heat in the winter, because there are more electric vehicles on the roads daily, or cryptocurrency mining is becoming more popular. Regardless, the US needs the ability to continually grow its power production from year to year.

By having four major solar power farms it should be very possible to continually add more solar panels and solar components to each plant.

The power demands will change greatly over time and by region. Many states such as California are moving completely to using zero-combustion engines. Whether it is for cars, backup generators, or even dirt bikes, they are moving to have zero combustion engines anywhere. Which means they will need incredible amounts of solar panels and batteries to sustain that.

It’s a major problem since they’ve only just begun their move towards electric vehicles and motors only, and they already have major blackouts and brownouts commonly happening. They plan to use only renewable energy but can’t even sustain their current renewable energy demands. The infrastructure needs to be put in place to sustain that goal.

Don’t Wait for Them to Do it For You

The biggest flaw in this design is that people are unwilling to make enough of their own power to sustain themselves. People can do this now and be 100% self-sufficient for their own power needs and not depend on anyone else, the government or the grid to catch up with their own power needs.

To install 10,000 square miles of solar panels, power the entire United States, and never run out of power would cost tens of trillions of dollars. The solar panels alone would cost approximately 4 trillion dollars. The racks to hold the solar panels are roughly another 4 trillion dollars. The batteries are about 12 trillion dollars. Then all of the wiring and components to make it all work another 2 trillion dollars or more. Just that equals about 22 trillion dollars to do that. There’s no way that the US government can make that happen anytime soon without taxing every spare penny from people to the point of no one having enough money to put that money away for savings.

This is why it’s so important for people to get their own solar. For the average household that uses 30kwh of power per day, it can cost as low as $31,000 to go completely off the grid. That would be with 60kwh of battery capacity, 12,000w of solar panels, large enough inverters to run all possible power needs, and would last 20 years before needing to be upgraded. This is only possible if you’re capable of installing this on your own.

The big downside to all of this is that solar companies charge an arm and leg to accomplish that goal because they have to pay for their overhead, licensing, bonds, and operations. It is very expensive to run a solar company. This means a system like the one listed above would easily cost about $150,000 or more.

This is where the sweet spot comes in with solar-powered generators that work as backup power options for people’s homes. For about $20,000 it’s possible to have enough solar panels, battery, and inverter power to run all essential household devices and appliances during blackouts. If the goal is to simply make life easier when the power is out then a backup solar generator may be the perfect solution (a portable solar generator will also work).

There are no scary or tricky DIY electrical connections, no chance of hurting yourself, and no chance of shorting out equipment or causing fires. These units are pre-made. You plug them together and have an electrician install a control panel and when the power goes out your backup system begins running everything for you. When the grid power comes back on, it automatically switches back over to grid power and recharges the backup system.

how much power portable solar power generators and gas generators generate

Conclusion

It is 100% absolutely possible to power everything with solar power. The concept is quite straightforward. We have the land and good climate in multiple states for it. Financing is very difficult to do but that system would last a couple of decades before we saw significant inefficiencies in it. It could cost 22 trillion dollars to install it, but if we did that over a 10-year period, that is only 2.2 trillion dollars.

And regardless of which side of the political aisle you agree with, both sides of the aisle could stop spending more than 2.2 trillion dollars a year on things we don’t need and fund this quite easily. There would be enough jobs in the new solar power plants to provide jobs for everyone else who would lose their jobs from oil and gas.

But why wait for someone else to make this happen? Take control, and own your electricity outright. That’s the fastest solution and cheapest solution in the long run. It’s even possible to have electric vehicles with a home solar system and very likely never run out of power.

The best way to learn more about portable solar panels is by contacting Powered Portable Solar today.

Continue ReadingCan Everything Be Ran on Portable Solar Powered Generators?

Full Review of the Generark HomePower 2 Plus

Overview

The Generark HomePower 2 Plus has a sleek design, a strong inverter, and a convenient shape for transporting around the house. It is not ideal for camping, but is very useful around the house, particularly with its magnetic rolling base that can be removed or attached easily.

Battery

There are two different versions of the Generark HomePower 2, the base version and the plus version. They are nearly the same, however, the Plus version is rated for 2060 Wh whereas the starter version is rated for 1566 Wh. The difference between the two systems, 494 Wh is almost a third of the capacity of the base model and adds a significant amount of run time to the plus model.

The Generark HomePower 2 Plus has a Lithium NMC battery. This makes the power station lighter than it would have been if it had been made with LiFePo4 batteries, however, it also means that the battery will not last as long as it could have with the LiFePo4 batteries.

This power station is rated for 800 cycles to 80% capacity, which is a fairly medium amount of cycles when compared to some similar power stations of its kind. For example, the Bluetti AC200MAX is rated for 3,500 cycles, while on the other end of scale has the Jackery Explorer 2000 with only 500 cycles.

The 800 cycles to 80% capacity doesn’t mean that this power station will be dead after 800 runs. It means that after 800 runs the Generark loses the top 20% of the battery capacity. Generark says that if you only discharge the Generark HomePower 2 Plus to 20-25% each time, you can double the battery life, providing up to 5 years of daily use.

Sadly there is no expandable battery for the Generark HomePower 2 Plus, which means that you get the 2060 Wh it promises and no more.

Recharge

The Generark HomePower 2 Plus comes with both an AC and a DC charging cord for recharging, but no cords to charge via solar panels. It can be charged via solar, however, the user has to find their own cables. It seems that it uses an 8mm barrel connector so using a standard MC4 to 8mm adapter should work fine. 

This power station can charge from 0%-100% in 2.5 hours when plugged into an AC outlet and charging at the maximum capacity of 100 W, a fast charge time, though not uncommon among similar generators. The Bluetti AC200MAX can charge in 2.3 hours, the Jackery Explorer 2000 in 2.6 hours, and the Bluetti EP500 in 4.25 hours all from an AC power source, like a wall outlet.

In addition to its AC charging abilities, the Generark HomePower 2 Plus can also be plugged into a DC power source with the cord that comes with the system. There are two ports that the Generark HomePower 2 Plus can receive DC power from two cords at a time with up to 12-14 V or 240 W if it’s a 24v connection or 120w if it’s a 12v connection, which means that the power station can charge in about 9 hours of driving, though it cannot charge from both AC and DC at the same time.

The Generark HomePower 2 Plus can take 800 W max solar input. However, the power station can only take 400 W per input plug (the power station has 2 input plugs for solar). The connection to the solar panels requires an 8mm plug, which is inconvenient for the user. They can’t use just any solar panels, only those sold by Generark or Jackery, which use the same custom 8mm ports. Under ideal conditions and with full solar arrays plugged in, the Generark HomePower 2 Plus can charge in as little as 3-4 hours.

Here’s how it breaks down according to Generark:

2X DC Charging Port: DC, 12.5V-54V/ea.

Starter: 200W Max, 400W Max in total

Plus: 400W Max, 800W Max in total

The Generark HomePower 2 Plus can power other devices while also charging, but it doesn’t have a built-in UPS system, which means that while the power station can charge while charging, it charges devices with its own power rather than simply letting the power flow through the power station and straight to the device needing power. This is good for any devices that cannot have an interruption of power, however, it is not good for the battery long term. Short term it won’t do much, but after a few months up to a year or more, this will kill the battery. This is called an online UPS system.

This power station can be stored for up to a year before the battery starts to deplete, which makes it good for being prepared for emergency situations.

General Info

The Generark HomePower 2 Plus has a sleek design and a small footprint. It measures 10 x 10 x 24 in, weighs 47.6 lbs, and is made of smooth plastic. This isn’t terribly heavy, but it’s not the most convenient for camping and frequent transport. It is convenient for taking up minimal floor space in a small home and has a magnetic attachable and detachable base that has wheels, allowing the power station to be rolled around easily despite its weight. It also has a built-in handle its top. This, combined with its height, makes it convenient to pick up without having to hunch over. It also comes with a dust cover, which can be very useful for storage.

The general power button turns on the display with the first push. On the second push, it turns on the ambient lighting that’s a ring around the solar generator. This light is a white-blue color most of the time, but conveniently changes colors when the battery gets low, to yellow at 10% and red at 5%. The LCD display shows multiple things, including the charge time, discharge time, charge wattage, discharge wattage, battery percentage, low-temperature warnings, high-temperature warnings, and additional inverter information. The inverter can handle 2200 W with a surge up to 4400 W.

Ports

There are four 120 V outlets (wall plugs) that are controlled by a power button. The 2 USB A 18 W plugs, 2 USB C 100 W quick charge outlets, and the 1 12 V DC 10 A cigarette type plug are controlled by another separate power button. There are no outlets to allow an RV to be plugged in. This variety of ports allows quite a few devices to be plugged in at once.

Strengths

Generark offers a 5-year warranty on the Generak HomePower 2 Plus, which is incredibly rare for a retail power station and a definite perk. The sleek design, small footprint (tiny for the powerful inverter), and magnetic wheelbase are convenient, and the magnetic wheelbase is unique to this power station. In addition, the handle on this unit makes it convenient to pick up, as it doesn’t require much bending down.

Weaknesses

A downside of the Generak HomePower 2 Plus is the inability to attach another battery, which means what you see is what you get. If only 2060 Wh are needed, then this doesn’t matter much, but if more watt-hours are needed, there is no increasing the watt-hour capability of this power station. In addition, there is no way to increase the solar input capacity. This power station can’t be modified but is quite powerful on its own.

Because the USB and DC ports have the same power button, whenever the DC port is powered up and running, the USB ports are always running, which makes the power station drain significantly faster than it needs to and lots of power is wasted. When being run through AC, however, it runs just like it should.

This power station will cause feedback when powering a device such as a HAM radio or any other device that uses an amplifier. As long as it is being used for household use and other basic needs, this will never come into play.

The other annoyance with this unit is Generak’s imitation of Jackery with their 8mm pins, which means that the user must buy either Jackery or Generak’s solar panels. Unless you use the MC4 to 8mm adapter then you can use any panel you’d like that has the traditional MC4 connector.

Comparable Units

The most similar to the Generark HomePower 2 Plus is the Jackery Explorer 2000. They both run 2,060 Wh and cannot have battery expansions. They both also have custom 8mm input ports for solar charging and cost around the same amount, as well as they both have Lithium NMC batteries, though the Jackery Explorer 2000 only weighs 43 pounds. Other similar solar generators, such as the EcoFlow Delta Max, can run 2,016 Wh, has expandable battery capacity, and has significantly more ports. It weighs around the same amount at 48 pounds, but its footprint is significantly larger and its warranty is only 2 years, less than half of the Generark HomePower 2 Plus’s 5-year warranty.

Conclusion

The Generark HomePower 2 Plus is sleek, convenient to move, and has an incredible warranty that is unmatched by almost any other company when sold at retail. It can charge rapidly when using AC power. The ambient light is convenient for providing small amounts of light to a room and for showing when the battery gets low.

Overall, the Generark HomePower 2 Plus is a very convenient power station for home and workshop use as well as emergency energy storage, though not ideal for camping and bugging out.

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Is the Oukitel P2001 a Good Solar Power Station?

Overview

The Oukitel P2001 solar generator is a powerful tool that can run and charge multiple items at once, though it is not particularly convenient for on-the-go or outdoor use. If you’re looking for a moderately large amount of watt-hours, lots of cycles in the life of the generator, convenient cord storage, and good emergency preparedness, then this power station is a great option. However, if you’re looking for something light and simple just for camping or other light recreational use, this power station may not be for you.

Battery

The Oukitel P2001 power station has 48 LiFePo4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) cells that contain enough energy to power most appliances, including a refrigerator for an entire day.

Recharge

When plugged into an AC power source (such as a typical wall outlet), the Oukitel P2001 can charge from 0% to 100% in 2 hours. This fast charge is impressive for a power station of this size. When plugged into solar panels, the Oukitel P2001 can charge in as little as 4 hours. Though when tested, we have found that it takes 4-5 hours minimum with full direct sunlight without running any equipment while charging.

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This is also true of the car charging speed of the Oukitel P2001, as both the car charger and the solar charging cords plug into the Anderson input outlet on the left side of the solar generator, which has a maximum input rate of 500 W. These are slower than AC charging because the AC input has a max of 110 V, allowing the power station to receive more energy faster.

General Info

The Oukitel P2001 solar generator weighs 49 pounds and measures 15.5” x 11” x 13”. With 2 metal handles, it is easier to carry than if there were only one, but it is pretty hefty, and therefore not good for frequent moving. This makes it not very convenient for camping, hiking, and on-the-go use, though it is very useful when frequent moving is not a concern.

When fully charged, the Oukitel P2001 is capable of storing 2,000-watt hours of energy and over its lifetime is rated for 2,000 full cycles, ensuring long life and lots of use. Another convenient feature of this power station is the shelf life – the Oukitel P2001 can sit charged for an entire year before the battery drains, making this solar generator a good choice for emergency preparedness.

The Oukitel P2001 has a 2-year warranty and sells for around $1,699 without solar panels. Though this is a good chunk of money, the warranty, life cycles, and watt-hours help offset the cost, ensuring that customers get the value of what they pay for.

The Oukitel P2001 comes with an AC charging cord, a solar charging cord, and a car charging cord that plugs into the ports in your car for charging while traveling. This solar generator is designed for use with all solar panels that aren’t specific to only one power station.

The LCD display panel of the Oukitel P2001 has a variety of information for the user’s convenience. The display panel shows the energy input into the power station, the energy output of the power station, the percentage of battery that is charged, the estimated time remaining based on the current load being run, which ports are currently running power, and the temperature warnings that appear when the power station is either too hot or too cold.

Ports

The Oukitel P2001 has one overall power button that turns on the display screen and four smaller power buttons that turn on different parts of the solar generator. Overall there are 16 outlet ports on the power station in a variety of different types. 

On the left side of the Oukitel P2001 is the input section. Here there is a rigid plastic flap that lifts up, revealing 2 ports for power input, one AC (to attach the cord that plugs into the wall) and one Anderson port (to charge from solar panels or from a vehicle). 

On the front left of the solar generator is a 12 V 10 A cigarette lighter plug that allows you to plug in any device that you would usually plug into a car, an XT60 12 V 10 A port, and two DC5521 12 V 3 A ports. Both the cigarette lighter port and the WXT60 port have covers, though none of the other ports on the front have covers.

The middle section on the front of the power station is the USB ports. There are 2 traditional USB A ports, 2 fast-charging USB A ports, and 2 USB C ports. The right section of the front of the power station holds the light. The light has three modes, solid, SOS, and flashing. To turn it on you have to hold the power button until the unit starts beeping, and the unit beeps every time the light is turned on or off.

On the right side of the unit are the AC output plugs. Just like their counterparts on the left side of the unit, the AC and Anderson input ports, the 6 AC output ports are covered by a large solid plastic flap that you lift to plug items into the power station. The AC output plugs have a continuous output capability of 2000 W (1,100 W in UPS mode) and a 4000 W peak. This is helpful because most appliances require more energy when they start up than when they’re running, so while the power station may only need to continuously run 2000 W, it may need up to 4000 W for a few seconds while any large energy-consuming appliance starts up.

The Oukitel P2001 is able to be plugged into a power source while running other devices, which is called UPS technology. This allows the Oukitel P2001 to constantly be charging and full of power, and then if the source of the power station’s energy stops feeding it, the power station will start powering the devices plugged into it within 10 milliseconds, an incredibly fast turnaround time that allows the user to keep using their devices without a hitch. Generally, this technology works best with appliances and devices that use 1800 W or less.

Strengths

The 2 metal handles of the Oukitel P2001 are a definite perk for transportation. Another useful feature is the storage compartment located between the two handles that is a convenient size for storing the AC charging cable, the Anderson solar charging cable, and the Anderson car charging cable, ensuring that your power station and its cables don’t get separated from each other.

Oukitel advertises the ability of the Oukitel P2001 by showing that you can charge or run anything from a microwave to an electric vehicle with the solar generator, and a refrigerator can be run off of it and last an entire day so long as the door isn’t opened with high frequency. This is good for emergency preparedness and being ready in case of disaster to help keep food cold and any essential items running.

The Oukitel P2001 has an extraordinary range of running temperatures. This power station can run in temperatures as low as 3° F and up to as high as 104° F and can be stored in even lower temperatures, even down to –4°  F.

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Weaknesses

A weakness of the Oukitel P2001 is that it has no option to attach expandable batteries, so the battery capacity is fixed at 2000 watt-hours. If there is ever a need for more energy storage, the Oukitel P2001 has no way to meet that demand. Instead, the user simply has to purchase a new power station. However, with the large amount of power that can be stored in the Oukitel P2001, most users will not find the need for more energy storage.

The time remaining feature on the LCD screen is not very accurate, though when there are larger energy-consuming loads running it is more accurate than when there are smaller energy-consuming loads. This, while slightly annoying, is more inconvenient than a deal-breaker. This can easily be worked around by seeing how much battery each device takes and calculating how long the rest of the battery lasts.

Another downfall of the Oukitel P2001 is the way that the solar generator is not really designed with outdoor use in mind. It is not waterproof or particularly water-resistant. Some ports are covered, some are left exposed, and even those that are covered are covered by rigid plastic flaps that have no place to retract when the station is in use, leaving them vulnerable to being bumped and broken off. In addition, the air intake grills on both sides of the Oukitel P2001 are not well protected from rain. 

This solar generator is powerful, but cannot be left outside unprotected from the elements. As an indoor unit, or protected from weather, this unit is quite powerful. The non-weatherproof aspect of the OUkitel P2001 makes it non-ideal for camping and outdoor living, as well as its weight.

Comparable Units

The Ouktiel P2001 has a very high voltage when compared to similar solar power stations. Whereas other comparable power stations such as the Jackery Explorer 1500 is rated at 24 V, the Oukitel P2001 is rated at 51 V, allowing the user to power more devices at once than most of the competition. While the Allpowers Monster X Pro and the Pecron T600 have a capacity of 51 V, they both have Lithium NMC batteries, which means that they aren’t designed to last as long as the Oukitel P2001’s LiPo4 batteries.

While the non-increasable battery seems annoying, for this size solar generator it’s not uncommon. Only a few other power stations have the ability for the user to add batteries, including the Inergy Flex 1500 and the Lion Energy Safari ME. The downside to both of those is that they both have a small individual capacity than the Oukitel P2001. The Oukitel P2001 may not be able to add battery capacity, however, it has far more battery capacity than the Inergy Flex 1500 or the Lion Energy Safari ME do without purchasing battery-extending capabilities.

The 4-5 hour minimum charge time of the Oukitel P2001 isn’t the fastest of all the competition, but it’s pretty mid-range, with other comparable solar generators taking anywhere from the Lion Safari Energy ME taking 1.6 hours to charge up to 922 watt-hours of capacity, to the Pecron T600 take a full 14.1 hours to charge 5,657-watt hours of energy. For the amount of energy it stores, the Oukitel P2001 charges at a decently fast rate.

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Conclusion

Overall the Oukitel P2001 is a useful power station with a lot of great features. It is convenient for emergency preparedness and indoor/covered use but is not designed for light use and frequent transportation. 

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BLUETTI EB70S 800W 716Wh Portable Solar Power Station

Overview

The Bluetti EB70S is a good portable solar generator for travel, portability, and on-the-go use. However, it is not ideal for running a home or emergency prep for the long term.

Battery

While the other comparable solar generators of its size have Lithium NMC batteries, the Bluetti EB70S power station has a LiFePO4 battery. While a heavier battery than the Lithium NMCs, the LiFePO4 battery will last significantly longer than its competitors, meaning that were this unit to be drained every day down to nothing, it would last for almost ten years before going down to 80% efficiency, as it is rated for over 3,000 cycles. 

While this is a nice feature to have, it is debatable whether this is necessary, as it cannot power a full house, and is more useful for travel than home or emergency prep use. In the event of an emergency, despite its long life, the Bluetti EB70S solar generator would be unable to power a house simply because it doesn’t have the output ability or battery size. Despite this, however, it remains a good solar generator for travel and portable use.

Click Here for the Best Price on the EB70S

Recharge

The Bluetti EB70S solar power station comes with multiple ways to recharge. It comes with a wall plug that will charge it in roughly three to four hours, as well as a 12v car adapter that will allow it to charge in roughly seven to eight hours, convenient for long trips where power will be needed, adding to its portable functionality. Having the car charger is another great way to be charging the unit while it’s running a DC fridge while on the road trip. 

It has a max input of 200 W from solar panels, and with advanced MPPT technology that ensures faster solar recharge rates, this power station can be fully recharged via solar in three to four hours with the full amount of solar panels, though that can be affected by cloud cover.

General Info

At 12.6 x 8.5 x 8.7 inches, the Bluetti EB70S is a convenient size for transportation, featuring a sturdy handle that folds down into the top for easy portability. Though it does weigh more than some of the comparative generators such as the Ecoflow River Max and the Jackery, which are both slightly smaller, the battery life makes up for the extra weight, and even though it weighs more than the other units, it is still light, weighing only 21.4 pounds, which is still a convenient weight for carrying when needed. The weight is well worth it for the LiFePo4 battery, compared to Jackery and River Max’s Lithium NMC/Lithium-ion batteries, which are lighter but will not last as long.

It has a 12-month warranty, allowing plenty of time for testing before the warranty expires. It comes with a corded wall charger, a car charger, a USB-c to USB-c cable for fast charging small devices, a solar panel connector, and a simple, easy-to-read and understand user’s manual.

Ports

For a smaller unit, the Bluetti EB70S has a lot of ports, adding to its functionality. It comes with four 120 V AC outputs that can supply 700 W. These AC ports also have a peak output capacity of up to 1400 W, which is a nice added safety feature. 

The Bluetti EB70S also has one DC, 12 V, 10A car port. It also comes with two DC, 12 V, 10 A, outports that measure 5.5 mm x 2.1 mm. There are two USB-A outputs with 5 V and 3 A capabilities, which are convenient for charging phones. A unique feature that the Bluetti EB70S has is two 100 W type-C PD outputs. 

Most similar models don’t feature a 100 W type-c charger. The closest comparison is the EcoFlow River Max, which only has one, whereas the Bluetti EB70S has two, adding functionality for charging rechargeable batteries. The Bluetti EB70S has a 15 W wireless charging pad, which can be used to charge compatible phones if the other USB-A ports are being used, something which is both convenient and unique to this solar generator and the BougeRV 716wh solar generator (which is identical to the Bluetti EB70S). The Bluetti EB70S also has LED lighting that can be set to full bright or SOS flash mode for emergency use. The input port is a 12-18v, 8 A, 200 W Max port, which can be charged in a variety of ways (see Recharge).

Strengths

The 200 watts of solar input is impressive for a solar generator of this size. The Ecoflow River and Bluetti EB55 are the only comparable solar generators that have the capacity for equal solar input. The Jackery and other comparable solar generators have only 100 watts of solar input, allowing the Bluetti EB70S solar generator to charge far faster than its competitors. 

Another strength of the Bluetti EB70S is that it can both charge and discharge at the same time. Allowing you to charge the solar generator at the same time it’s plugged into and charging from solar panels, the wall, or a car. This means that the Bluetti EB70S can be running non-stop, not needing to stop to charge as long as whatever is running is taking less from the power station than what is being input.

After fully discharging, the Bluetti EB70S remains surprisingly cool, not even feeling warm to the touch on any portion of the surface. The fans are quiet and not annoying at all, an important feature of any generator that will be used for portability or travel, particularly if it will be used when camping or in an RV or trailer.

The 200 W of the Bluetti EB70S solar generator is capable of running a laptop, a USB charger, a fan, LED lights, and other small appliances, making this convenient for travel and adventuring. 

Weaknesses

The Bluetti EB70S can run a fridge, but only for about six to eight hours. Helpful in a pinch, but long term, it’s not strong enough to run a house or major appliances for long. A minor annoyance, though it doesn’t affect the function of the solar power station very much, is that of the display screen. 

The display screen doesn’t stay on, and there is no button to turn it on. This is a common complaint on many solar generators. Though they have nice display screens, they won’t stay turned on, and it makes it very difficult for the user to see what’s going on with their generator.

Click Here for the Best Price on the EB70S

The inverter is not quite as efficient as desired, running a little low at about 75% efficiency at a 1c rate (1c rate meaning it is running at the capacity that it is rated as, or full capacity). Were it to be run with a lighter load it would be more efficient, but it’s important to know just how much a generator can handle before you decide what to buy (or what not to buy).

Comparable Units

Two other units that are similar in size and capability to the Bluetti EB70S are the EcoFlow River Max and the Jackery 500. Both are midsize solar generators, good for portability like the Bluetti EB70S, but neither has the charging speed, number of ports, or lifespan of the Bluetti EB70S. 

With a 200 W solar input capacity, the Bluetti EB70S has the same solar input capacity as the EcoFlow River Max (which can take 200 W), but more than the Jackery 500 and most other solar generators similar in size and capacity. The two 100 W type-C PD ports are unique to this solar generator, with the only comparable being the EcoFlow River Max, which has one, and the identical BougeRV 716wh, which has two.

The two ports allow the Bluetti EB70S to be more efficient in charging small devices, whereas the other comparable solar generators have both less charging speed and less capacity for charging things like cell phones and other small devices.

Purchasing

The Bluetti EB70S is currently available and in stock ready to ship. Though it is similar to the EcoFlow River Max and the Jackery, the Bluetti EB70S will last significantly longer due to the  LiFePO4 battery, rather than the Lithium NMC batteries of the EcoFlow River Max and the Jackery. 

For a comparative price, the Bluetti EB70S will last 2,500 cycles more than the EcoFlow River Max (rated at 500 cycles), and 2,500 more cycles than the Jackery 500 (also rated at 500 cycles), which is particularly useful if you are an avid traveler in need of constant portable energy, as this means you will not have to replace your solar generator for quite some time, making it a more cost-efficient choice.

Conclusion

Though the EcoFlow River Max has the capability to take the same amount of solar power at 200 W, the Bluetti EB70S has a battery that will long outlast it. With more ports and more cycles, the Bluetti EB70S seems to be a more utilitarian choice, allowing for longer life and more versatile use than the competition for a portable solar generator. While not ideal for powering a house or being the sole source of power in an emergency, the Bluetti EB70S is a great choice for on-the-go and portable use.

Continue ReadingBLUETTI EB70S 800W 716Wh Portable Solar Power Station

Personal Review of the BigBlue Cellpowa500 LiFePo4 Portable Power Station

The Big Blue CP500 is a new lightweight solar generator that is one of the top-performing power stations to hit the market recently. Only bested by one or two other units, which I will explain shortly, the CP500 is definitely worth taking a look at for the price.

It has some unique capabilities like fast wall charging, LiFePo4 batteries, expanding and collapsing carry handle, and much more. Pairing it with the Big Blue 100w Folding Solar Panel is a good option as well since the Big Blue 100w Folding Solar Panel has been one of the top-performing folding panels tested.

Inverter

The Big Blue CP500 has a properly sized inverter that is rated to push out 500 watts none stop for as long as the battery lasts. It will peak at 1,000 watts meaning it’s capable of running some inductive loads, even things like smaller hair dryers, small space heaters, ebike chargers, and much more. It definitely isn’t recommended to use the CP500 for emergency backup power, it’s not large enough for that.

Click Here for a FREE Discount on the Big Blue CP500

It is capable of running a full-sized home fridge for a few hours but nothing more than that at best. And sadly it cannot run any AC load while being charged. It doesn’t matter if it’s being charged from the wall adapter, USB C ports, or the DC solar/car charger.

The inverter is a pure sine wave so it is capable of running any load that is under 500 watts of continuous output. The most practical uses I have found for the Big Blue CP500 are for running laptops, recharging drones, recharging portable power tool batteries, running CPAPs, powering a DC fridge on a trip, and keeping mobile devices like phones and tablets powered up on the go. It also does work well for a single ebike to get about one more charge back into the ebike, depending on which ebike you use.

One of the most surprising features is that the inverter has an 87% efficiency rating. 85% is considered really good, anything over 80% is considered good to average. If it’s less than 80% I wouldn’t use it at all. I was actually able to run about 525 watts continuously which is more than what the inverter is rated to.

Battery

The battery is quite incredible. It is a 534wh LiFePo4 cell battery that is rated to last thousands of cycles. There is no doubt the LiFePo4 batteries are what most people are looking for. It is very safe, has an unbeatable cycle count, and can be discharged completely without damaging the cells.

But what is most impressive to me about the Big Blue CP500 LiFePo4 battery is that it was capable of pushing out the full 525w draw of the inverter for about 52 minutes non-stop. As mentioned above that gives it an 87% efficiency through the inverter which is pretty hard to beat.

Most lithium batteries will not be that efficient through the inverter and will slowly push out less and less power as it gets drained closer to 0%. Not with the Big Blue CP500, it pushed out the full 525w draw until it hit zero. Big Blue definitely did a very good job designing the battery and making it powerful enough to do everything as advertised which is not common in the solar generator and power station world.

Recharging

The Big Blue CP500 has a very impressive recharging capability. It can recharge with a wall charger like any other power station, but it can also recharge from both USB C ports at the same time as the wall charger which is different from most other units on the market. The wall adapter charger will charge at about 90 watts. Each USB C port will allow either 60 watts in or out. When charging it will obviously push the 60 watts into the battery. When recharging the Big Blue CP500 with the wall charger plus both USB C chargers I was getting 210 watts of input which is very fast.

Recharging the Big Blue CP500 with the wall and USB chargers will recharge the entire system in just 2.5 hours. You can use the USB C charging along with the solar or car charging as well but that seems to be less practical since that means the unit would likely be outside away from USB C plugs.

The Big Blue 100w folding solar panel did very well too. It was able to generate 88 watts of solar input in the middle of winter. Generally, solar panels don’t make as much power during the winter because the sun is lower in the sky. The fact that the Big Blue CP500 was able to get that much charge into it with the Big Big 100w folding solar panel is very good. That means during the summer it should be able to get much closer to the 110-watt max solar input for the CP500.

Click Here for a FREE Discount on the Big Blue CP500

Concerns

The Big Blue CP500 is definitely an impressive unit one that I would recommend to almost anyone for easy portable power. I do not like the fact that it cannot run AC power while being charged though. This means it can’t be used as a UPS as a battery backup. I can’t have my laptop plugged into the CP500, and then have the wall charger plugged into the CP500 at the same time because the CP500 will just recharge and not run my laptop. So I wouldn’t use it as a UPS.

I also wish it was easier to reach the 210-watt recharge input without having to use the USB C ports but at the same time, it’s incredible that it can do that through both ports at the same time. The EcoFlow River Max is the only unit that truly beats the Big Blue CP500 because the River Max will recharge at 300 watts just from the wall charger and has 200 watts of solar input and can run AC equipment while being charged. So if you’re needing those features then I recommend the EcoFlow River Max.

The bottom line, the price, is that it’s a good price. Generally found about $400 the Big Blue CP500 is very affordable for all the features you get. But for less than $100 more you can get the EcoFlow River Max which has the extra features as previously mentioned. Are those extra features worth the extra price? That’s up to you.

Conclusion

The Big Blue CP500 is a good unit. Not the absolute best one on the market for lightweight power stations or solar generators but definitely worth it to many people. It has a great battery, great inverter efficiency, and is very portable. Its shortcomings can be overlooked unless you absolutely need a UPS setup which most people don’t. And most people don’t need to recharge a system like the CP500 extremely fast which means it’s okay that it only has a 90 watt wall charger which is enough for most people.

 

Continue ReadingPersonal Review of the BigBlue Cellpowa500 LiFePo4 Portable Power Station

Is the Bluetti AC200Max the New King of Midweight Solar Generators?

The Bluetti AC200Max is one of the best medium-sized solar generators to come out to date. But is it enough to be the absolute best option? Does it offer the best efficiency, power, expandability, rechargeability, and all the other necessary components to be the best option?

The top competitors to the Bluetti AC200Max are the EcoFlow Delta Max and the Inergy Flex. There are many similarities between these systems including expandable battery packs, portability, and how many items can be run off of them at the same time.

Midweight Sized Solar Generators

What are midweight-sized solar generators? They are units that are too big for simple camping or day trips but not large enough to permanently run an off-grid cabin or have 240v power capability. They generally have inverter capacities from 1,500w to 2,500w and battery sizes from 1,500wh to 6,000wh.

Click Here for the Best Pricing on the AC200Max

Inverter

The inverter on the AC200Max is a very efficient and powerful setup. It is a pure sine wave, which is to be expected from modern solar generators, and will run any AC-powered device that you can run at home very easily. With a continuous output rating of 2,200w, it is less than the EcoFlow Delta Max at 2,400w but much larger than the Inergy Flex at 1,500w. This means it will easily run any household device that you would normally plug into the wall outlet. And if there is any heavy load such as a hairdryer, chop saw, or even some air compressors, it can peak all the way up to 4,800w which is 220% higher than the continuous output capacity of the Bluetti AC200Max.

It may not have the highest continuous output of all the midweight solar generators currently available but 2,200w is still plenty of power for the standard backup power setup for most people. This means it’s easily capable of running a fridge, freezer, lights, fans, CPAP, toaster, coffee maker, hairdryer and so much more without any trouble.

But one thing that is very impressive about the Bluetti AC200Max is its inverter efficiency. It is typical for a good solar generator to have about 85% efficiency out of the inverter. Meaning for every 1 watt-hour of battery capacity you’ll get out .85 watt-hours of actual power through the inverter. This inefficiency is normal and happens because the inverter is converting battery power which is 51v DC power in the Bluetti AC200Max to 120v AC power for devices. But the Bluetti AC200Max pushes out a solid 88% efficiency which is much higher than a typical good system. This means you’ll get more power out of the battery than another system like the Inergy Flex which only has about an 80% efficient inverter. The Delta Max has an 89% efficient inverter so basically the same as the Bluetti AC200Max, both are very good.

The 2,200w inverter runs four 18amp house style outlets (NEMA 15) and one 30amp RV (TT-30) outlet. But you have to keep in mind that the 30amp RV plug can only push out 18 amps of continuous power because the inverter is rated to 2,220 watts (2,200 watts ÷ 120 volts = 18.34amps). Meaning it is not a true 30amp plug but can connect to 30amp service plugs on RVs which is a nice feature.

Click Here for the Best Pricing on the AC200Max

Battery

The Bluetti AC200Max uses the heavy but very reliable LiFePo4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) battery that is tried and true. With up to 3,500 cycles on the battery before it reaches 80% efficiency, this unit will last for many years without any noticeable decay in battery capacity. If the battery were used 3,500 times by doing a cycle once per day it would take nearly 10 years for the battery to get to 3,500 cycles. That’s incredible!

Although cycles are an important feature for solar generators it is very important to understand that it is not one of the most important features. You have to consider that unless you’re literally living off-grid with this unit and using a lot of power off of it daily that you’re not likely going to reach that 3,500 cycle mark. The reality is most people need these types of units during emergencies, or for RVing for a few weeks each summer. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But if you consider that you are using this fairly heavily then you’re looking closer to 100 cycles per year. This means you’re looking at over 30 years before you reach 3,500 cycles.

That is why it is important to have a good amount of cycles on the batteries but it is not a deal-breaker or a deal decider. It is more important to have a larger battery capacity, larger inverter, and fast solar recharge than to have a high number of cycles.

But one of the best features of the Bluetti AC200Max is its ability to use expandable batteries. Using the Bluetti B230 and B300 batteries you can expand the AC200Max to be up to 6,144wh with B230s and up to 8,194wh with the B300 batteries.

The B230 battery is the same battery that is in the Bluetti AC200Max of 2,048wh. It is just the battery packaged into another case and has external connectors to link up with the AC200Max. The B300 battery however is 3,072wh in capacity. And you can use either two B230s or two B300s attached to the AC300Max.

There doesn’t seem to be a way to use any other kind of battery with the AC200Max so you are limited to only using Bluetti batteries. But they are fairly priced and are LiFePo4 cells as well so they will last forever and are very high quality.

The downside though to using these LiFePo4 cells inside the AC200Max as well as in the B230 and B300 is that they are very heavy. The AC200Max alone without external batteries is 61lbs which is definitely quite heavy. Just by adding a single B230 battery, you’re looking right about 100lbs to handle. With a couple of B300 batteries, you’re well over 150lbs which makes it much more difficult to keep it portable, but they are expansion batteries that are externally mounted so it is easier to move them around than having a single system that is all linked together as one unit.

The batteries are not without their major flaws which I’ll talk about below in the weaknesses section.

Recharge

There are multiple ways to charge up the Bluetti AC200Max. The one that is most important is the solar recharge but it can also be charged with a wall charger, car charger, and even a lead-acid battery. It is unclear why Bluetti thought that it would be an important feature to be able to recharge the AC200Max from a lead-acid battery. But, it’s capable of doing that and that is a unique feature that is not common in other solar generators.

The AC200Max comes with a 500w AC power charging brick that is a bit heavy but does charge fairly quickly in just about 4 hours for just the base unit with no external batteries. The car charger puts in a little bit more than 100w into the battery at a time so it’s a very slow way to charge but nonetheless has that option. For midweight systems like this, car charging is very uncommon because it takes so long but is a nice feature for anyone using this system in a Van setup. At least while driving it can get a little extra charge.

The AC200Max has a high input of 900w input directly from solar. And with a special adapter that you can buy as an extra, you can get an extra 500w solar input into each expansion battery that is added. If you had two external batteries added you can have a total of 1,900w of solar input going into the whole system which is very impressive. That is only beat by the Titan solar generator which has a standard solar input of 2,000w, 3,000w inverter, and 10’s of thousands of watt-hours in battery capacity can be added to the Titan.

Click Here for the Best Pricing on the AC200Max

The AC200Max’s standard solar input of 900 watts beats the EcoFlow Deltas 800w max solar input and the Inergy Flex’s 400w solar input. The Flex is capable of adding more charge controllers as well just like the AC200Max but the Flex’s extra charge controllers are two years behind production so don’t hold your breath on getting those.

The AC200Max with no extra batteries can be charged in as fast as 2hrs and 20mins with its 900w solar input. It can be easily over-paneled which is a very nice feature to have on solar generators. With a solar input of 10-145v and up to 15amps it’s easy to get upwards of 1,500 watts in solar panels connected to the AC200Max.

Why over-panel? If the sun comes up at 8 am, but isn’t near its peak height in the sky until 10 am, that means from 8 am until 10 am you won’t be making the full power of your solar panels. As an example, if you can only get 60% of your solar panel-rated power into the AC200Max then in the early morning you’re not charging at the highest capacity. So if you had 1,000 watts in panels connected at 8 am you’d get 600 watts to go into the AC200Max. But if you had 1,500 watts in panels connected at 8 am, at 60% power input, you’d actually be getting 900 watts of solar input at the very beginning of the day.

This allows you to get more charging hours of full capacity throughout the day and makes it much easier to fully recharge the system on cloudy days or in adverse weather.

Over-paneling is one of the best features any solar generator can have and between the AC200Max, Delta Max, and Flex, only the AC200Max is capable of doing it. The Titan beats the AC200Max with up to 4,000w of solar panels being able to connect to it in over-paneling capability. But the Titan is considered a heavyweight solar generator, a different caliber, and more capable so it’s not a fair comparison.

Extra Features

The Bluetti AC200Max has many great features such as a very interactive and informative touch screen. It shows plenty of information from the load output, the recharging input, battery percentage, battery cell balances, and much more. Some people have reported that their touch screens have frozen and were not usable for many hours at some times. It is likely a bug that is no longer an issue but was most likely just an issue in early models.

The AC200Max as well as all of Bluetti’s power stations come with a 24 months warranty which is the current industry standard.

It has a very sleek and interactive Bluetooth app that allows you to connect to the unit, monitor, control, and adjust settings all from your smartphone. This is becoming more and more popular with solar generators and power stations today and works very well. As long as you’re within the short range of about 30ft from the unit you can see everything from your phone through the Bluetti app.

Weaknesses

The biggest concern besides the touch screen locking up and not being used are the external batteries. The issue is that if for any reason the total battery capacity on the AC200Max drops all the way down to zero, only the onboard battery inside the AC200Max will recharge when the sun comes back up and hits the solar panels. For some reason, the external batteries do not get any charge at all after hitting 0%. They have to be jump-started using the AC wall charger. Once they’ve been jump-started they will then begin charging from the solar panels.

That means if this was to be used at an off-grid cabin, van, RV, home, or anywhere, and you drained the battery down to zero which can definitely happen, you have to manually reset the external batteries. That is nearly a deal-breaker if this is to be used for emergency backup power, off-griding, or boondocking. At our off-grid cabin, there are times we are not there for weeks, or there is bad weather for weeks. On the one good day there’s sun in the midst of bad weather I can’t afford to be wondering if my system was fully drained and not charging the extra batteries.

The cable management. This is a big issue if you have expendable batteries. Each battery has a very heavy-duty cable that connects it to the AC200Max. Then if each battery has an additional solar charger connected to it plus the solar cables themselves, it can become quite the rat’s nest of cables. It simply requires a lot of cable management which for many people is not a strong suit or is not wanted to be dealt with in the middle of an emergency.

Also, the weight of the entire system is necessary to address. With the base unit alone being 61lbs it’s not going to be easy for many people to move it around. Having a furniture dolly may help but in the end that will only work on flat surfaces. Even the Titan which is considered a heavyweight system can be broken down into smaller parts and have a max weight of 35lbs per piece making it very easy to transport and setup again. Especially since the Titan doesn’t use external cabling to connect to extra batteries, they simply stack on top of each other. And because the Titan already has 2,000w of solar input built into the unit itself there are no external charge controllers to have more of a mess of cables.

Click Here for the Best Pricing on the AC200Max

Pricing

Factoring in the inverter size, battery capacity, and solar input which are the three most important features of any solar generator system, the Bluetti AC200Max is well priced. At about $2,099 for the average price you’ll only end up paying around $1.44 per “unit wattage.” That is very close to the Titan’s $1.42 per unit wattage which has been considered the “best bang for the buck” for years now.

Conclusion

The Bluetti AC200Max is a very good system. It’s efficient, expandable, quickly rechargeable can be over-paneled, and has a good price per unit wattage. It’s nearly tied in capability with the EcoFlow Delta Max. The AC200Max has a slightly smaller inverter at 2,200w whereas the Delta Max has a 2,400w inverter. But the AC200Max has a max battery capacity of over 8,000wh and the Delta Max can only go up to just over 6,000wh. And the Delta Max has 800w max solar input without the ability to over panel. And the AC200Max has 900w of max solar input and can be over paneled. The AC200Max has 3,500 cycles and the Delta Max 800 cycles. So nearly in every way that matters the AC200Max beats the Delta Max.

As far as midweight solar generators are concerned, it would appear that the Bluetti AC200Max is currently the very best option available. The Inergy Flex doesn’t hold a candle to the AC200Max.

If you find you want a little more inverter power, more than twice the solar input for the base unit, and more expandable battery capacity than any other unit currently in existence, then the Titan solar generator would be the next best option.

But the Bluetti AC200Max can absolutely stand on its own as the best midweight system.

Continue ReadingIs the Bluetti AC200Max the New King of Midweight Solar Generators?

Unbiased Review – Jackery Explorer 1500 Portable Solar Generator Power Station

To be upfront and 100% transparent, I have received zero benefits from Jackery in any way. I did not receive my Jackery Explorer 1500 for free or at special pricing, I have not received money from them, they haven’t even reached out to me to review this unit. With all of that said, should you even consider the Jackery Explorer 1500 solar generator a contender in the power station world?

The short answer is, maybe. But probably not. It doesn’t come close to the Titan. Are other smaller solar generators like the AC200P and Delta better suited for people than the Explorer 1500?

Overview

The Jackery 1500 is a decent unit. It’s not very heavy, has a pretty strong inverter for powering anything that uses 120v power. It has a decent-sized battery and supposedly can charge pretty quickly. Should it be used for emergency backup power, RVing, VanLife, camping, and so on? That’s what we’ll find out.

Click Here to Buy the Jackery Explorer 1500

Output Power

The Jackery Explorer 1500 is truly capable of pretty much running anything under 1,800w of power. Remember that watts are simply the result of volts and amps multiplied together. Common household voltage is 110v or 120v. They’re essentially the same thing but to keep the math simple I’ll just use 120v since that is what’s most commonly used today.

1,800w ÷ 120v = 15a. A typical outlet in the wall at home is rated up to 15amps of output. Meaning that if you can run the device out of an outlet at home, you can run it off of the Jackery 1500 as well. This is why reviewing this unit can be helpful to see if this is actually true. I have found in my testing that this is true.

Its peak or surge rating is 3,600w which is double the running wattage which is definitely adequate for most appliances.

Jackery has always put really good inverters into their systems. I have never had an issue with the Jackery 2000, Jackery 1000, or the Jackery 500 units which I have also reviewed. If it says it is capable of pushing out 1,800w then it really can. But not all things on paper for the Jackery systems have been accurate, as will be shown shortly.

All of the outlets on the Jackery 1500 are regulated which makes it very safe to use because it will keep the proper voltage and amperage going to whatever device is being run all the way down to the battery hits 0%.

It has a pure sine wave inverter which is very common in solar generators and power stations today but is not 100% guaranteed. Jackery makes sure to use top-notch quality in the inverter so they only go with pure sine wave which means you can safely run anything that would plug into a normal house outlet.

A modified sine wave is the other option and that has limitations as to what it can run and is often called “dirty electricity.” You won’t have to worry about any dirty electricity coming off of the Jackery 1500 or any of the Jackery units. That’s one thing that Jackery has always done very well.

Battery Size and Capability

The Jackery Explorer 1500 has a 1,534wh battery which is why it’s called the Jackery Explorer 1500. They rounded the number down from the battery capacity to 1,500 so they could give it that name. The 1,534wh battery is a 24v battery that is rated to 25.2v and 60.9a. It’s confusing but that’s just how solar and electronics are. The bottom line is it’s a 24v system that has 12v and 120v outlets on the front of the unit.

Using a Lithium NMC battery, or most commonly referred to as Lithium-ion, the Jackery 1500 will push power out constantly with no problem either at the max load of 1,800w or it can be trickling out power to your device at very low loads. The big advantage of using Lithium NMC is that it is much lighter than Lithium-Iron-Phosphate batteries or what is most commonly called LiFePo4.

The battery is the heaviest part of the Jackery 1500, and many other reviews have said that the weight is very manageable and easy to move around. I find in my testing and reviewing that it is indeed easy enough and portable enough to move around and use pretty easily. The total weight is 33lbs for the whole unit and I find that anything under 35lbs is not too bad for anyone to use.

The draw capacity of the Jackery 1500 is what is most impressive. Typically, it is difficult for batteries to push out more power than their own capacity and often times will not push that amount of power out until 0%. For example, the Inergy Apex solar generator has a battery capacity of 1,100wh and an inverter size of 1,500w but cannot push 1,500w out of the inverter for more than 5 minutes max. The Apex cannot draw more than 800w and run to 0%. If it’s running 900w it will quit working after a short while.

The Jackery 1500 on the other hand with its battery capacity at 1,534wh and the inverter at 1,800w is capable of running a 1,800w load all the way until the battery hits 0% which takes about 44mins. That is quite impressive that the battery has only 1,534wh but can run 1,800w continuously without interruption. The Titan solar generator is one of the only other units I have found that can do this as well. The Titan has a 2,000wh battery and a 3,000w inverter but it can run the higher loads until empty.

Many people dislike that Jackery hasn’t gotten into LiFePo4 batteries yet but it’s really a tossup between the two battery types and it all depends on what you need the system for. Lithium-Ion is good for portability since it’s lighter, but the Jackery batteries are only rated to 500 cycles which is considered low.

Keep in mind that a cycle means you have the solar generator at 100%, then discharge it to 0%, then recharge it back up to 100%. That is one full cycle. Once you’ve done that 500 times then the battery will only have 80% of its original capacity. That doesn’t mean it’s a dead unit. It just means that instead of a 1,534wh battery it would be the equivalent of a 1,227wh battery.

A LiFePo4 battery will commonly have 3,000 cycles or more, but it is much heavier. Therefore, it makes it much harder to be mobile and portable. Some other reviews like the lighter more portable option and other reviews prefer the heavier longer-lasting option. Again, it all depends on your own preference and needs.

That is one of the reasons why the Titan is so well-liked and has been the leader in solar generators for over 2 years. It uses Lithium NMC batteries which are lighter but have 2,000 cycles in them because of how they are designed. In that case, you get the best of both worlds where they’re lighter and have a lot of cycles.

Click Here to Buy the Jackery Explorer 1500

Charging

Charging the Jackery 1500 is where the most issues arise. It can be charged in many different ways including from a wall outlet at home, solar panels while camping, RVing, or during a blackout, or while on the road through the DC car charger.

The solar charging capability on the Jackery 1500 is where this whole unit begins to fall apart. It may have a good inverter and battery, but the MPPT solar charge controller is a problem. Jackery advertises that it can charge up to 500w of solar power at once which means it could recharge the battery in about 3 hours.

3 hours or less is the preferred amount of time for solar recharge. That is because there are only about 5 or 6 hours a day in the USA where you can get maximum output from solar panels.

To clarify, a 100-watt solar panel will generate 100 watt-hours of battery capacity in one hour of charging.  Watt-hours is the unit of measurement for showing stored energy in a battery.

If the Jackery 1500 could put in 500w that would be great, but it can’t. Its max input rating is actually only 400w according to the user manual. But wait, Jackery also says 500w is the max input? So how does that work? It doesn’t. This is where the advertised specs are a big problem. It is simply impossible to get 500w of power into the Jackery 1500.

But 400w of solar power is still pretty good, right? Well, sort of. A 1,534wh battery will take about 4 hours to charge up from 0% if you put 400w into it from the solar panels. The way Jackery likes to accomplish this is with their SolarSaga 100w solar panels. The SolarSaga 100w solar panels are portable folding panels that can be taken anywhere and used with ease.

But, I have yet to personally see a SolarSaga 100w solar panel generate more than 67 watts. I have that panel and have watched and read many other reviews of that solar panel and 67 watts seems to be the max that anyone can get out of it. I have heard rumors that Jackery has made some upgrades to their most recent generation of SolarSaga 100 panels and that some people have gotten upwards of 80w per panel, but I haven’t seen that repeatedly in any other reviews. Hopefully, it’s true though.

The Jackery SolarSaga 200 solar panels were made to work with the Jackery 1500 and Jackery 2000 units, but Jackery exclusively shows that the Jackery 1500 should only be used with the SolarSaga 100 panels. That is, again, very confusing.

One of the biggest difficulties of using the SolarSaga panels is that they need to be near the unit to charge because there is no long charging cable. Since they use proprietary 8mm connectors as well it’s basically impossible to get a longer cable to be between the panels and the Explorer 1500. That makes it really hard to charge the unit while using the unit at the same time without long extension cords to the fridge or whatever device.

In addition to that, they claim that in just four hours the Jackery can be charged from 0% all the way up to 80%. Let’s break down the math: 1,534wh is the total battery capacity. 80% of that would be 1,227wh. If we take 1,227wh and divide that by four hours (1,227wh ÷ 4hrs) we get 306 watts of solar charge coming in.

The claim was 500w solar input, but that wasn’t true so it got dropped to 400w absolute maximum input, but then at its very best, they’re saying 306 watts is what it will do with four SolarSaga 100 panels? That is beyond misleading. Reading the fine print is an absolute “must” for this solar generator power station.

The user manual also says that it is necessary to use at least two SolarSaga 100 panels to charge the Jackery 1500. But then why do they say the SolarSaga 200 panels are best for it if they also say only use the 100w version. Again, more confusion, that’s not okay.

The charge controller has an input rating from 12-30v and up to 10.5a. That means panels have to be connected in parallel, not series, in order for it to work. And there are two charge controllers so each one will have two panels connected to the 2 to 1 adapters that come with the system.

FYI, you cannot use your own solar panels. I’ll go over that in a minute down below.

Hopefully, you can see why this is such a problem. People will spend $1,600 on a solar power station thinking they will be able to recharge it in 3 hours, but in reality, it takes over 5 hours in ideal conditions to get it fully charged, that’s not good at all. In fact, that puts in the category of “not good enough” solar generators.

But don’t worry, the solar charging may be completely incorrect and hard to follow the but charging from AC power off of a wall outlet is all good, right? Wrong. Jackery clearly says that the Explorer 1500 will charge at 500w from a wall outlet using the AC power brick charger and I have yet to see it charge above 261 wats. That’s effectively half of what is advertised.

Either there is some serious miscommunication between the technical department and the sales department at Jackery or they’re intentionally trying to trick people into thinking they’re getting something that it’s not.

That is wrong. Period.

It has a car charger and that’s all great, but it is rare that anyone will use a car charger with any solar generator system. It simply takes too long because you can’t draw a lot of power from a cigarette lighter port in a vehicle. Jackery says it takes nearly 16 hours to charge it from a car charging port in a vehicle.

On a good note, the Explorer 1500 is capable of charging while it is running other equipment. Just as long as you have extension cords running to those devices since the Explorer 1500 has to be near the solar panels outside.

By the way, the Jackery 1500 is not waterproof. Not that you’d get much power from solar panels if it’s raining but, what if you left it outside charging and then forgot about it at night, and the sprinklers came on or it rained. That could be catastrophic to the system. Really the point isn’t it needs to be waterproof or resistant, the point is that it should be possible and easy to put a long distance between the panels and the unit like the Titan has so it can be kept safe.

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Outlets and Connectors

It has three 120v 15a rated outlets. Jackery calls it 110v at 16.4a but they’re essentially the same thing. It has two USB A type outlets for smartphones, tablets, and charging cables. Then a single USB C plug that is rated up to 60w output. It would’ve made sense and been preferable to have a 100w USB C outlet, but it’s not a deal-breaker.

No solar generator or power station is complete without at least one 12v DC cigarette lighter port. The Jackery 1500’s DC port is rated at 12v and up to 10a. Meaning that it can run up to 120w of power out of that single port.

Jackery has used the 8mm barrel connector for a very long time. But there’s an issue with it. There are two types of 8mm barrel connectors. One has a small inner pin and the other has a larger inner pin. The Jackery comes with a travel box for all of its accessories and includes two 8mm adapters that can be used with the SolarSaga solar panels.

But what this means, is you cannot use your own solar panels with a typical 8mm to PV Connector adapter. This is my number one complaint with any solar generator, compatibility. Many people already have their own solar panels.

For almost all of my solar generators, I use the Rigid 100 panels because they are the highest wattage producing 100w solar panels we have tested at Powered Portable Solar. If I am not using the Rigid 100 panels I am using the Flexx 100 panels. Why would I want to spend $300 for a single SolarSaga 100 solar panel that only makes about 67w when I can get a Rigid 100 solar panel that has multiple reports of getting 85-95w power output for about half of the price? I wouldn’t.

Jackery does have, in secret, an 8mm small pin to large pin adapter but you have to ask for it. They do not advertise or have it for sale anywhere. I also have been unsuccessful in finding that same connector anywhere else on the internet which makes me feel like Jackery knows what they’ve done and wants to require people to use their panels, or it won’t work. Not cool.

Warranty and Customer Service

Jackery provides a 2-year warranty for the Explorer 1500 which is great. 1-year warranties used to be the norm and then when the Titan came out a 2-year warranty was provided so now many other companies provide at least 2 years. This is great for us consumers and users so we have more coverage.

I have called and emailed Jackery many times and have always received a response to my emails and had my phone calls answered. When I would speak with someone, they were competent and knew how solar works, and were very helpful. In regard to their customer service, I personally have zero issues with it and have found it to be very good.

Expandability, X-Factor, and Weaknesses

The Explorer 1500 has zero expandability. You cannot add more batteries, charge controllers, link two systems together, or even connect to an RV with a 30amp RV plug since one isn’t built into the system. What you get is what you get, nothing more.

Expandability is important and oftentimes underappreciated because people often do not think about how their situations will change over the years. Some people will get a freezer and now need to run both their fridge and freeze during a blackout but cannot increase their solar input or battery capacity to be enough to fully do that. Or some will just want to use it for basic camping needs one weekend and then there’s a power outage the next and they have different needs.

That is why the Titan has been the reigning king of solar generators because it can expand up to any size of battery with the Titan batteries or other batteries. It also has 2,000w of solar input, the highest of any portable solar generator system, and can be “over-paneled” (connect more than 2,000w of solar panels) in order to get more power output longer each day.

As far as anything for the Explorer 1500 that makes it stand apart from the rest of the power stations and solar generators out there, I could only come up with one. It does have the ability to run a higher number of watts than what the battery capacity wattage is. That’s not specific only to the Jackery 1500 but it is not always common so it’s a good extra feature.

It does however do a very good job of not charging below freezing. A lot of systems will still charge below 32-degree Fahrenheit and that can damage lithium cells. Jackery put in a good level of protection there. So it’s not specific to the 1500 but is a very key feature in safety.

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Weaknesses, there are many. Obviously, solar charging and wall charging is completely misrepresented and make this system not a good choice because it cannot be charged in a single day. It takes longer than 5 hours to recharge with solar panels, and that’s if you’re not running anything off of it while charging. Most people need to run a fridge, lights, fans, chargers, or something off of the Explorer 1500 while it’s charging, which will increase the charge time. It cannot be charged in a day is indeed a deal-breaker.

Another weakness is being required to use the SolarSaga solar panels which are very expensive at $300 each, and not the highest output. The SolarSaga 200 is $600, very pricey. That’s not fair to us consumers and people who need to use this for emergency power, RVing, camping, or just portable power.

The screen will not stay on. After 10 to 15 seconds, it will turn off which is really annoying when I just want to see the state of charge from a distance or when I am walking by it. And the AC outlets are really close together making it hard to charge camera batteries, radio batteries, and other things at the same time because those have large plugs.

Those things along with only having 500 cycles make it hard to be a top choice, especially for $1,599.

The EcoFlow Delta is most similar to the Jackery 1500 in terms of specs. The Delta has a 1,800w pure sine wave inverter. It has a 1,260wh battery which is smaller than the Explorer 1500’s but not by much. But the Delta can input the full 400w that it’s rated to and can use any solar panels that you want. Plus, the Delta is quite a bit more affordable.

Price vs Value

I have come up with a way to calculate the true value of a solar generator. It includes comparing the total battery capacity, inverter output capacity, and solar input capacity vs how much it costs.

This unit of measurement I refer to as “Price per Unit Wattage” since it includes all watts and watt-hours compared to the price.

The Explorer 1500 has a Price per Unit Wattage of $1.71 which is definitely not bad at all. For comparison, the EcoFlow Delta has a price per unit wattage of $1.54. That means that you’ll get more value of the EcoFlow Delta than you would the Jackery 1500 for their current prices.

The Jackery Explorer 1500 is also very similar to the Goal Zero Yeti 1500x and the GZ 1500x has a price per unit wattage of $2.76 which is much higher than the Explorer 1500. The Titan once again has the best rating with a price per unit wattage lower than any other system on the market at $1.42!

What’s It Good For?

The Jackery 1500 I think will work well for car camping and VanLife. It’s not ideal to use Jackery solar panels but for what most power needs are for car camping and VanLife, it should get the job done.

I do not recommend it at all for emergency backup power or for RVing. It simply does not have enough battery capacity or solar recharge capability to run a fridge nonstop for days or run real RV power needs.

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The Bottom Line

In conclusion, I do not recommend the Jackery 1500. If I had to go with something of a similar size, keeping in mind that it would still be very limited, I would go with the EcoFlow Delta. But truly, I would rather save my pennies and get the Titan solar generator because it will allow me to run my house, power my RV, or run a full VanLife setup. Car camping will work too but is probably overkill for car camping unless you have lots of e-bikes that need to be charged up or something.

Jackery needs to step up their game and their honesty. Don’t tell people it can charge 500w but can only realistically do 306w, that’s just not right to do to people. Honestly, if Jackery had an MPPT charge controller that would do 500w of real-world input and could use any solar panel, this would be a pretty decent unit even with a $1,599 price tag. But it doesn’t, so I’ll pass on recommending this unit.

Continue ReadingUnbiased Review – Jackery Explorer 1500 Portable Solar Generator Power Station

Duracell PowerSource 660 Gasless Portable Power Station Review

The Duracell PowerSource 660 gasless portable power station has many people looking at it to see if it is something they should buy. There are some reviews out there that say it is the best power station/solar generator to have come out in a long time. Many say in their reviews that “it’s great for the price.” But what do you get for the price? Will it work long-term in a blackout that lasts a few days to a few weeks?

We will find the answers to all of these questions and more in this review but first, we need to understand what’s inside the Duracell PowerSource 660. Since Duracell is one of the world’s largest battery companies, you’d think they would make a gasless portable power station that is top-notch.

I’ll tell you upfront, it’s not what you think. But there is a solution that is amazing!

Battery

The battery inside the Duracell PowerSource 660 is 660 watt-hours which is why it’s called the Duracell PowerSource 660. That’s not a very large battery, to begin with. If you take the average refrigerator, it will use about 80 watt-hours per hour that it’s turned on. So we can take 660 ÷ 80 = 8.25 hours of run time.

For the average power outage, you can get about 6 to 8 hours of run time before it turns off and the battery is dead. That’s not a very long time.

This review online from Charlie said “Purchased like 2 months before the Texas freeze. Following warnings of blackouts, I set the generator as a backup to the refrigerator. I did lose power one day for 14 hours, the battery lasted for 6.”

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During the Texas winter blackout, many people didn’t have power for days. The six hours isn’t enough then. But it has the ability to charge off of solar so wouldn’t that fix that? I’ll address that shortly.

The battery is a Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) battery which for decades has been the common type of battery used for solar setups. However, in today’s day and age, SLA batteries are not considered any good. SLA batteries can only use 50% of their total battery capacity and are very heavy for how much power you get out of them. The Duracell PowerSource 660 weighs 56lbs for just 660wh of battery capacity.

Then the last part about the battery is how many cycles it has. Or in other words, how long will it last until it’s only 80% efficient. The Duracell PowerSource 660 has only 250 cycles. And it will only hold a charge for up to three months.

To put that into perspective, the average smaller solar generator that uses Lithium-Ion can 500 cycles and can hold a charge for up to a year. That is why the number 1 recommended power station is the Titan solar generator. It has 2,000 cycles on its lithium batteries, is 2,000wh of capacity, and can hold a charge for up to five years.

In terms of the Duracell PowerSource 660 battery, there are a number of issues. The capacity is small, the lifecycles are short, it’s heavy, and is old technology.

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Inverter

The inverter is actually great on the Duracell PowerSource 660 power station, well mostly. It is a 1,440-watt continuous output inverter that is capable of running most electronics due to its larger capacity. Many other solar generators or power stations have smaller inverters at 1,000w such as the Bluetti EB240, Suaoki G1000, and the Jackery 1000. But all of those units, even though they have smaller inverters, have pure sine wave inverters.

A pure sine wave inverter means that the inverter is capable of running any electronic efficiently and safely. The Duracell PowerSource 660 portable power station uses a modified sine wave inverter.

The differences between a pure sine wave and a modified sine wave inverter are pretty simple. Basically, there are only certain things that should be run on modified sine wave inverters. And pure sine wave can run anything. That doesn’t mean that you can’t run certain things on a modified sine wave inverter, it just means it won’t run them efficiently.

Going back to the fridge example where the fridge will use about 80wh per hour it’s running. That’s off of a pure sine wave inverter. Running the same fridge off of a modified sine wave inverter could decrease its efficiency and use something like 100wh or 120wh per hour instead of 80wh.

The size or capacity of the inverter is great, 1,440 is generally enough to run any essential piece of equipment. But the sine wave is considered “dirty” and you need to be careful what you run off of it.

Luckily, the Titan uses a pure sine wave inverter and since it’s a 3,000w continuous output inverter it’s capable of running multiple heavy loads from multiple pieces of equipment at the same time without any issues. It’s even capable of running up to a 1.5hp well pump with the right equipment.

Charging

The third most important feature of any power station or solar generator is how fast it can charge and from what sources it can charge. It has a wall charger of course and the wall charger is very nice in that it is a simple power cable, with no power adapter. There’s no black box in the middle of the cable, it’s just a straight power cable.

But most importantly is the solar charge capability. First things first, we know that there is an average of five solar peak hours each day around the USA. That means for up to about five hours a day your solar panels can make up to their maximum rated output. A 100w solar panel can make 100w per hour for up to five hours which equates to 500 watt-hours of battery capacity created.

Since the Duracell PowerSource 660 has a total battery capacity of 660wh we know that we need to make at least 132w off of the solar input to charge in a single day (660wh ÷ 5hrs = 132w). Sadly, the Duracell PowerSource 660 can only input a max of 100w.

It uses a PWM charge controller, which again is older technology. That means it’s incapable of truly letting in 100w from the solar panels. In my video where I tested the PowerSource 660, I attached two 100w solar panels and still was not able to input more than 89w at a time.

Not only does the PowerSource 660 have older technology using a PWM charge controller, but it can only let in 89w at a time which means it cannot be charged in a single day.

Not to mention, that in a true blackout scenario, we need to be running a fridge while charging. Since a fridge will use at least 80wh/hr and the solar panels can only make 89w, the maximum amount of power we can make during the day while running a fridge is 9w, which is nothing.

That is why I love my Titan solar generators so much. Not only do they have incredible battery capacity and a large pure sine wave inverter, but it has 2,000w of solar charge capacity. That is 3x more solar input than any other solar generator on the market and 22x more (2,000w ÷ 89w = 22.47x) than the PowerSource 660.

It’s unfortunate that Duracell, being a huge worldwide company, decided to use the cheaper PWM charge controller.

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Pricing

But remember, the reviews said that “for the price, it’s good.” The Duracell PowerSource 660 gasless portable power station typically sells for about $699 as seen here and has loads of great reviews. It is definitely working for people, but we have to know what their needs are to qualify those reviews. Because we know firsthand now that if you only need to run a fridge for six hours that it’s a great unit. But if you need to run a fridge for 4 days, it’s not a great unit.

Let’s break down the price. There are three main important features of any solar generator or power station. 1. Battery capacity, 2. Inverter capacity, and 3. Solar charge capacity. We take the specs from all three of those features and then divide each spec by the total price.

$699 ÷ 660wh (battery capacity) = $1.06/wh

$699 ÷ 1440w (inverter capacity) = $0.49/w

$699 ÷ 100w (solar capacity) = $6.99/w

Combine that all together and we create what we call the “Unit Wattage.” The total unit wattage for the Duracell PowerSource 660 is $2.84/UW. That’s pretty high. Truly then, when people say “it’s great for the price,” is it really? Because for the price you’re paying $2.84 per unit wattage. By comparison, the Titan breaks down to less than half of that at $1.33/unit wattage.

To be 100% fair, the PowerSource 660 is only $699 which means regardless of what you get for that price, it’s a cheap price in the world of solar generators and power stations.

The Titan is $2,995 which is much higher than the PowerSource 660. But, you’d have to buy over dozens PowerSource 660’s just to equate to one Titan. The Titan is literally 4x the battery, 2x the inverter, 22x the solar charging, and 8x the lifecycles of the PowerSource 660. Not to mention that the Titan holds its charge for 20x longer than the PowerSource 660.

According to all the reviews saying “it’s good for the price” I beg to differ. The numbers don’t lie. The real-world experience I had while testing the Duracell PowerSource 660 doesn’t lie. In no way can I recommend to anyone that they get the PowerSource 660. The only way I could recommend it is if you absolutely have to get something right now, it’s the only unit available, and you don’ have more than $700.

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Conclusion

But truly, you’d be better served to get an inverter gas generator with a propane fuel conversion on it and storing multiple bottles of propane and gasoline. The propane won’t go bad and you’ll spend less than buying the PowerSource 660.

Really you should just save up to get a Titan. Because the Titan has been out on the market for quite some time now and the biggest companies who make solar generators still haven’t beaten it. Goal Zero, Duracell, Inergy, MAXOAK, LION, Jackery, and so on, have all released new units since the Titan was released back in August of 2019, and still, the Titan is the #1 best unit out there bar none.

If you’re truly preparing for a long-term blackout, the Duracell PowerSource 660 gasless portable power station isn’t going to cut it. But the Titan will.

Continue ReadingDuracell PowerSource 660 Gasless Portable Power Station Review

Titan Solar Generator 1 Year Review

It’s no secret that I helped design the Titan solar generator. I worked with the owners of Point Zero Energy to bring to market the absolute best solar generator that has ever been made.

You may say that I have a biased opinion. But truly I don’t. If something else comes out that’s better, then that is what I will recommend to people. The fact is, the Titan has been out for well over a year, and even the largest solar generator companies such as Goal Zero, MAXOAK, Ecoflow, Inergy, Renogy, and so on have not produced anything better.

In fact, most of those companies have all come out with new solar generator models in the last 6 to 12 months, well after the Titan had been released, and still, they haven’t beaten the Titan.

Take a look at this video and article that shows an apples-to-apples comparison between the Top 8 Solar Generators:

Keep in mind, that even though I helped design the Titan with the owners of Point Zero and have known them for many years, I own 0% of the company, am not on the payroll in any way, shape, or form, and even had to purchase my two Titan solar generators for myself. I have received ZERO compensation from Point Zero for my consultation, designs, or input. And I am perfectly okay with that.

To be clear, I am not complaining. I wanted to help bring to market the best system ever, and I am proud that I was able to be a part of that. What I am saying is that I do not have a biased opinion since I have had to pay thousands upon thousands of dollars for my own Titan equipment.

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Off-Grid Cabin

How has the Titan solar generator been over a full year? I literally had the first unit and have been using it for well over a year. Shortly after receiving my first Titan, I bought our off-grid family cabin that needed a little bit of work in regard to electricity.

When I bought the cabin it actually had an old Inergy Kodiak as the “off-grid” setup. It came with solar panels to charge the Kodiak and the extra batteries but to no surprise, the Kodiak and extra batteries were long dead. I like the Kodiak, but the batteries actually impede the capability of the Kodiak. Not to mention that the cables from the solar panels had fried because Inergy was a little misleading in how to set up solar panels on the Kodiak and other systems they have made. That’s one reason I don’t recommend or use their equipment anymore.

I needed a serious power solution that could replace the existing solar equipment. Obviously, the Titan was my choice because it has a 3,000w inverter which is powerful enough to run everything in that cabin all at the same time. Also, since the Titan has very easy-to-use expandable batteries I knew I wouldn’t have any complicated wiring setups with external batteries.

I was able to take the existing solar panels that were up at the off-grid cabin and connect them with some other salvaged solar panels to make more power for the Titan and the cabin. It worked very well for our basic needs. Running lights, fan, full-sized fridge, TV, electronics, chargers, and so on.

The thing that surprised me the most was how much electricity our propane gas oven used. What never occurred to me is that the oven didn’t have a pilot light as a gas stove would. It uses an electric igniter that gets glowing red hot in order to ignite the propane to heat the oven. The igniter is not always on when the oven is baking/heating but it turns on and off periodically. The igniter alone uses about 700 or more watts to run. That’s quite a high amount of power to run a little igniter.

I wanted the off-grid cabin to not only be a fun and enjoyable place for my family but also a potential bugout location in case of a severe emergency. That means it needed to be ready for long-term living.

That is why I upgraded the solar panel array and added more batteries to my Titan solar generator. I had a total of 3 Titan batteries and 4,000w of solar panels.

We have let many people stay at the cabin in an effort to figure out all the different issues that we didn’t know about so we could work on them and get them fixed for long-term living.

We found we had septic issues, water line issues, propane issues (nothing dangerous), and other small quirks. But one issue that never came up, was the Titan. With 6,000wh of battery, it is equivalent to 2-4 days of stored power depending on what is being used and how the power is rationed. Essentially, if the sun didn’t shine for 3 days and we rationed the power, we could last all the 3 days running the bare essentials.

But, because I installed 4,000w of solar panels I increased our solar peak hours from about 5 hours a day to about 8 to 10 hours a day depending on the time of year. That means, rather than being able to only make up to 10,000wh of power per day, I can make upwards of 16,000 – 20,000wh of power by having the Titan “over-paneled.”

Over-paneling just means having more panel wattage connected to a system than what that system can let it. The Titan can only let in 2,000w of power, but because I have 4,000w connected it is over-paneled.

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If I had 2,000w of panels connected, at 9 am I could be making about 1,000w since the sun isn’t very high up in the sky yet. But with 4,000w of panels connected, at 9 am I’m making twice as much power as I would with only 2,000w in panels connected. That means by 9 am, I’m making 2,000w and don’t have to wait until 11 am to make 2,000w like I would if I only had 2,000w in panels.

This is why I have the Titan++ 4,000 Rigid Kit available for people to get because I have run this setup for a very long time. I know firsthand that this is truly an extremely powerful kit for long-term power outages.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a blackout in California from high winds, a hurricane in Florida, a winter storm in Texas, a blizzard in Idaho, a tornado in Missouri, flooding in Louisiana, or any other natural disaster or emergency. The Titan is truly the absolute best solar generator option. These disasters are not going away. Every year these disasters repeat themselves in different ways in different locations. If anything, they are getting more common and worse.

Since installing the Titan++ 4000 kit at my off-grid cabin, I have never lost power. The Titan has been running my family off-grid cabin without stopping. That is an amazing track record.

Our First Power Outage

I did mention I have two Titan solar generators. One is permanently installed at my family’s off-grid cabin. The second, which I also paid for, I keep at my house in case of a power outage.

You may be asking why I don’t have solar on my house if I am so into solar generators and solar panels. To be blunt, my electric bill is an average of $50 per month. Going off-grid at my house costs tens of thousands of dollars and so my cost savings would take decades to recuperate.

The last solar big I got was about $32,000 and that did not include a ton of extra batteries to account for multiple days of bad weather. $32,000 ÷ $50 = 640 months before I break even. That’s 53 years! I’ll be 84 by then!

If my electricity bill were $400 a month then it would make a lot of sense to go off-grid or supplement my bill because that would be made back in 6 or 7 years.

I don’t have to worry about going off-grid though because I have my Titan at home. I have over 3,000w of panels at home as well as 2 batteries on my Titan. I have found that for my at-home power needs that’s enough to run my essentials for a couple of days even if there is bad weather. Typically, because I have so many solar panels, even on semi-cloudy days I can make a little bit of power and help keep my batteries at the same percentage all day or even get a small charge.

If it’s a clear sunny day after a power outage then the entire system is recharged within a few hours tops.

The first power outage we had after getting the Titan was very interesting. When the power went out we had no idea how long it was going to last, as with most blackouts. I waited about 1 hour before getting my Titan out because I didn’t want to set it up and run extension cords everywhere if I didn’t have to.

After 1 hour of no power, I set up the Titan. I ran the extension cords. I connected the fridge, freezer, multiple lights, TV, chargers, and so on. It was spring so it wasn’t hot or cold out so we didn’t have to worry about A/C or heat.

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It also happened after the sun had gone down, which meant I couldn’t set up my solar panels to help supplement my power needs. This is why I stress getting a second battery or more for people. Having more batteries makes it much easier to get through the night without running out of power.

My family and I went to bed comfortably knowing that we had plenty of power to run our essentials for however long we needed during the blackout. Luckily, the next morning the power came back on. But we ran all that we needed, plus watched a movie that night as a family, and didn’t drain the battery.

It was comforting knowing that if the power wasn’t back on in the morning I could simply set up the solar panels and we’d be fully charged within a few hours while still running the fridge, freezer, and other essentials.

Since then, I have had a transfer switch installed so that I can simply plug my Titan into the transfer switch and run certain parts of my house without needing extension cords. This must be done by a licensed electrician and you need a 30amp 3 prong plug installed that you connect to from the Titan to power a sub-panel that runs certain circuits in the house.

1 Year Review

Since getting my Titans, I have gone through multiple power outages. I have run my off-grid cabin non-stop. I have been able to help others run essential equipment as well including CPAPs, oxygenators, and other medical equipment that helped people during blackouts. That would not have been possible without the power, expandability, and portability of the Titan.

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Not only that, but I also enjoy being able to grab my Titan, take it out to my RV, plug the shoreline power cord into the Titan and run my entire RV as if I was at a campsite. I have 2,100w of solar panels installed on the roof of my RV. It is very easy to boondock with my Titan and RV because the Titan is strong enough to run everything, has enough panels to recharge quickly, and a large enough battery to run all of my evening and nighttime equipment without any issues. We can stay in locations for as long as we want and have the power we need.

The Titan is truly the most powerful solar generator that has ever come out so far. It is incredible to be a part of a legacy of redefining the solar generator world.

If you want to have the same protection as I do when it comes to preparing for emergencies, disasters, and long-term power outages then I highly recommend you take a look at the Titan solar generator. It truly is unmatched and has been unmatched for quite some time. My yearlong testing and reviewing have come to prove that it can do whatever I need during those hard times.

Continue ReadingTitan Solar Generator 1 Year Review

Goal Zero Yeti 3000X Portable Power Station/Solar Generator Review

The Goal Zero Yeti 3000X solar generator has been available for quite some time and many people are wondering if it’s worth getting. They’re generally readily available and have an incredible marketing crew behind it at Goal Zero.

The Goal Zero Yeti 3000X has been compared to other solar generators such as the Titan and Bluetti AC200P and we wanted to know which one is actually the best option.

First, we need to know what the Goal Zero Yeti 3000X has to offer.

Battery

The Goal Zero 3000X has a very large base battery capacity within the unit. It boasts a large 3,032wh capacity from the Lithium-Ion battery pack. The 3000X has a larger base battery than both the Bluetti AC200P and the Titan solar generators. But, there is a big drawback that will make you think twice about the Goal Zero Yet 3000X that we’ll get to shortly in this review.

The battery is a 12v battery pack which many companies are still going with but there’s no doubt that a 24v or even 48v configuration in batteries has many benefits and increased efficiency. I am simply surprised that this far into the game Goal Zero, the biggest solar generator company, has not adopted a higher voltage battery to be more efficient like the Titan solar generator which uses 24v batteries.

To convert power from 12v to usable 120v power, the voltage has to increase 10x. That is one of the reasons there are efficiency losses. However, to converter a 24v battery to useable 120v power it only has to increase the voltage 5x which is much easier.

Having a higher battery voltage allows the battery to last longer, stay cooler, and have less stress on it. A 12v battery isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s just surprising that they haven’t upgraded it to a better battery voltage.

The biggest drawback about the Goal Zero Yeti 3000X battery is that it is only rated to 500 cycles. That means, if you drained the battery from 100% down to 0% and recharged it back up to 100%, you would’ve just used 1 cycle. If you do 1 cycle per day, that gives you 500 days before the battery has reached its full lifecycle.

After 500 cycles, the battery will be 80% efficient of what it was when it was brand new. On units such as the Titan, it has 2,000 cycles which means it will literally last four times as long as the Goal Zero Yeti 3000X.

The entire system weighs 70lbs which is mostly the battery.

Inverter

The Goal Zero 3000X has one of the larger inverters on the market at 2,000w pure sine wave AC output. That is definitely strong enough to run basic needs such as fridges, fans, lights, food dehydrators, hair blow dryers, washing machines, TV, and so on. It should be enough to run heavy-duty equipment such as power tools as well.

The biggest limitation that comes into play with the 2,000w inverter is when using it on an RV while boondocking or even in some vans while van-living.

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A typical A/C unit on an RV uses about 13,500 BTUs to cool the RV down. The rule of thumb is that you take 10% of the BTUs and that will give you your average running wattage on an A/C unit. That means a typical RV A/C unit will use about 1,350 watts while running to cool the RV down.

The Goal Zero Yeti 3000X has a 2,000w inverter and so that’s not a problem to run a 1,350w A/C unit, once it’s running. The problem some people have experienced is not being able to get the A/C unit running at the very beginning. The problem usually comes in because the A/C isn’t the only device that is being run in an RV.

Most people don’t realize that RVs are terribly efficient which sounds crazy because they should be extremely efficient. A typical RV fridge will use as much power as a household fridge even though it is about ¼ of the size. This is why many people switch to a DC fridge (Code: NC6USLB for a 5% discount) in their RV and save tons of power.

Running the A/C, while running the fridge, while also running chargers, lights, fans, TV, microwaves, toasters, coffee makers, etc. is what the real issue is.

Because the 2,000w inverter cannot handle running the A/C, fridge, coffee machine, and so on at the same time, it’s common for people to overload their Yeti 3000X and have to reset it.

It becomes quite a nuisance having the power get shut off sporadically. Even worse is if you’re out boondocking and you leave the RV for a bit to go do some hiking or adventuring and come back and everything is shut off because the Yeti 3000X overloaded.

Generally speaking, a 2,000w inverter is great, but it can be limited depending on what you need to use it for. RVing with A/C, may not be the best choice.

The same applies to the Bluetti AC200P. Although a good unit, it suffers from the same issue of a 2,000w inverter which isn’t enough for long term power needs for some people. Even running a fridge and a few freezers, if they surge power at the same time, can shut down a 2,000w inverter. I know from firsthand experience. It’s generally not a problem but has happened, more than once.

This is an issue I have not run into while using the Titan. The Titan has a 3,000w inverter which means it’s fully capable of running an RV A/C unit, fridge, hairdryer, and so on at the same time. Or even at home during a power outage, running a 5,000 BTU window A/C unit is quite easy off of something like the Titan.

Charging

Now you’d think that since Goal Zero is the largest solar generator power station company in the world, they would know that since they have such a large battery in the 3000X that they can put a lot of solar charge on it. You’d think.

This is the second biggest let down of the Goal Zero Yeti 3000X. They have a 600 solar input in the 3000X through the onboard MPPT charge controller. That sounds like a lot of power until you break down the math.

Generating 600w of power from solar panels for an hour will charge the battery up by 600 watt-hours. Since it has a 3,032wh battery it will take about 5 hours to get fully charged from a dead battery. 5 hours seems pretty quick but the reality is that it’s not fast enough.

There is an average of 5 solar peak hours per day in the USA depending on the time of year and location. What that means is that solar panels are capable of making their full power potential during those peak hours. A 100w solar panel can make 100w for 5hrs making a total of 500wh in that time frame.

But, accounting for panels getting hot, inefficiencies in the charge controller, and the skies clarity, generally panels will not make their full potential for those 5 hours. But there’s obviously sunlight for more than 5 hours a day. Outside of the 5-hour peak the panels will still make power and charge the system.

As a rule of thumb, you take the max solar input, multiply by 5, and that gives you the average power production on a full sunny day which accounts for the extra hours of sunlight each day outside of the 5-hour peak as well as the lack of full power creation during the 5 peak hours.

That all being said, that means the 3000X can make about 3,000wh a day. It can charge itself up then! But only if it’s not running anything during the day.

Just running a fridge all day long will typically use about 80wh per hour. With the 5 hour standard unit of measurement, that means the solar panels will make a total of 3,000wh but will have spent 400wh running the fridge during that time. Which leaves 2,600wh to go to the battery. That means the battery would be at 87% not 100% by the end of the day. Not a big deal, unless you’re running anything else too.

Running a small A/C unit would effectively keep the 3000X from charging while using the solar panels because the A/C units use so much power.

This is why large solar input is so vital in a solar generator power station. Sadly most reviews do not include this bit of info for people. This causes people to purchase a power station thinking that all is well but then when they need it most after a hurricane, flood, or while RVing or during a blackout, they find out the hard way it’s not enough.

This is one of the top reasons I recommend the Titan overall solar generators. The Titan has a max solar input of 2,000w. That’s 333% more power production! But that’s not even the biggest piece of news when comparing the Goal Zero Yeti 3000X to the Titan. I’ll get to that shortly.

Not only does the Titan have 333% more solar input, but it can be “over-paneled.” That means more than 2,000w of panels can be put on the Titan and that will increase the total solar peak hours per day allowing even more power to be made for longer each day.

Goal Zero claims that the max solar input on the 3000X is actually 660w, but you can only get that if you get specific solar panels that make 110w each which are not common at all. In all our testing, we were never able to get more than 600w of solar input into the 3000X.

To get the full 660w input, it appears the solar panels have to charge along with a car charger or wall charger at the same time. Not a fair statement in my mind to claim 660w input in that way.

The Bluetti AC200P is not far off from the Goal Zero Yeti 3000X in solar input. The AC200P has a solar input of 700w.

Outlets

The Yeti 3000X surprisingly only has two 120v AC outlets on the front. This doesn’t allow for many things to be plugged in at once which means using extra power strips will be helpful.

One thing that does set the Yeti 3000X apart from most solar generators and power stations is that it has a true 60w USB-C output port which is nice for people using it for fast charging of drone batteries or laptop batteries.

Other than that, it has 2 USB-A plugs, another 18w USB-C plug, 1 12v DC cigarette lighter port, 1 Anderson Powerpole 12v port, and two 8mm 12 ports.

The screen is simple and handy. It shows the battery percentage as well as the general battery capacity in bars. It also shows the total input charge and output draw which is all vital information.

I simply wish it had more AC outlets on it. The Titan has 6 and so does the Bluetti AC200P.

Expandability

The Yeti 3000X does have the ability to attach to the Goal Zero Tank battery system. Sadly though, the Tank system is made with lead-acid type batteries which means it can only use 50% of the total battery capacity. And when connected to the Yeti 3000X, cuts the total battery capacity of the onboard lithium battery to half the capacity as well.

This means if you add the massive 4.8kwh (4,800wh) Goal Zero Tank system to the 3000X, you’ll have a max battery capacity of 3,900wh. That means you’ll spend $2,000 extra, to add about 900wh of battery capacity. Not worth it at all.

This is what kills me with Goal Zero, they are the largest solar generator company in the world, but they are making equipment like this.

This is the #1 I started this website was to help people understand the true capability of solar generators.

I’m sure someday they will release a lithium-based Tank system and that will be great. But until then, it’s not worth a penny.

The Bluetti AC200P is not expandable at all so at least the 3000X has that edge over the AC200P.

But once again, the Titan takes the cake on this. The Titan can add as many batteries that are desired. It can have the Titan Expansion Battery added to it or other external batteries such as the Lion Energy UT 1300 LiFePo4 batteries.

The Titan can technically add up to 135 Titan Expansion Batteries on it. Of course, that’s not practical, but it technically can. I personally use three batteries on my Titan for a total battery capacity of 6,000wh. With that, I have run my off-grid cabin for well over a year with no power outages.

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Extras

The Goal Zero Yeti 3000X has a 3-month shelf life. Meaning it needs to be charged every 3 months or the battery will drain itself down to zero. I tested this with my Goal Zero Yeti 1400 and let it sit without charging. After 11 months it was completely dead. The Titan will hold a charge for up to 5 years.

The Yeti 3000X has a 2-year warranty which is wonderful and the customer service at Goal Zero has been extremely good in my experience. They are very responsive by phone and are always ready to help.

The biggest cool factor that the Goal Zero Yeti 3000X has is that it’s capable of connecting to your phone via the Goal Zero App. This allows you to monitor, change and manage the system.

Comparison

In this picture, you can see clearly why I prefer the Titan over the AC200P and the Yeti 3000X. The AC200P is definitely better in many ways over the 3000X but the Titan beats both by a long shot.

In the end, the Goal Zero Yeti 3000X costs $3,200 and the Titan is only $2,995. Getting a Titan will save you $200 and give you tons of more options. The only thing the Yeti 3000X beats the Titan is the base battery size.

Conclusion

As much as I want Goal Zero to put out good products since they are so big, they don’t put out good products. For someone in a Van or small RV, it may work. For someone just running a fridge, fan, and light during a power outage it may work. But for less cost, why not go with the best unit ever created and get a Titan?

I know I really beat up the Goal Zero Yeti 3000X portable power station in this review. But I feel that most reviews out there are not letting people know enough about this unit and are just trying to earn a quick buck. That’s not what my reviews are about. This review was brutal on the Yeti 3000X but it’s honest.

After reading other reviews and knowing all the specs, I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t go with the Titan and have the best for an even better price.

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