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.

Continue ReadingFull Review of the Generark HomePower 2 Plus

Patriot Power Solar Generator the Best Option?

What happens when the power grid goes down? It could just be a few days like many power outages are in natural disasters. But really I’m talking about the whole power grid going down for a few weeks, months, and in some possible cases years. If you were left with absolutely no power, do you think you would survive? Unfortunately, not many of us would.

Look at the aftermath in Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria. After seven months they still had severe power outages blacking out the entire territory. Their hospitals were not capable of caring for their patients because of the power grid failure. Some places still didn’t have power after a whole year! The question really is “Will the Patriot Power generator truly last me for a few days, weeks, months or years?”

The short answer: Sadly, no.

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The explained answer: When most people think about no power they think “no lights, no smartphones, no television, no tablets, or no computers.” What they should really think is “no heat, no air conditioning, no lights, no gas, no police, no protection.” The world would look much more different than it probably does today. We have become accustomed to the comforts of life and electronics. In case you are not aware, the nation’s power grid is under serious threat.

Besides the threat to the power grid, every year parts of the country are victims of power outages due to flooding, hurricanes, winter storms, tornadoes, wind storms and much more. These bring power outages for days or weeks every year.

It doesn’t matter if you live on an island, along the coast, in the mountains or in a cave; when the power goes out, there are problems. Those problems turn into really big problems if the power doesn’t get restored.

What is the Titan Solar Generator?

It is these events that necessitated the creation of solar generators such as the Patriot 1500 power generator, and Titan solar generator among others. The makers of different solar generators are aware that power grid failure scenarios can be some of the worst kinds of disasters. In such cases, it’s not uncommon for people to act like animals and for chaos to ensue, resulting in instances of looting, assault, and many other horrible crimes.

When we are engulfed in darkness, none of us will be safe. You might not even be able to get in touch with your family and colleagues to ensure that they are alright. There is a wide array of solar generators available you can choose from. In fact, in the years of research I have done I have found these top solar generators. The lithium battery systems have proven time and time again that they are the best way to go. The Patriot, Titan and many other units use lithium type batteries.

Renowned for their high quality as well as convenience, this lithium, or Li-on, generators are designed to last for quite some time and offer a sustainable power supply in the event of a blackout.

They are also designed to ensure easy portability, so they can be carried along with you whenever and wherever you want regardless of the location either for regular home use or going to another location. They can be used for bug-in locations, bug-out locations, RVs, tiny homes, normal homes, camp trailers, campsites and so on.

Which of these two solar generators is the most ideal?

To identify the perfect option, it is essential to understand each of these solar generators, their distinct features, as well as what sets them apart from each other. It is also important to take into account each person’s situation and what will suit their needs. To me, it seems that one stands out far above the other.

The Patriot Power 1500


Undoubtedly, anyone looking for a solar generator is serious about spending a lot ofmoney to have one of the most important emergency preparedness items. Everyone will want to ensure they have the absolute best option to make sure their investment is worthwhile. The Patriot Power Generator 1500 is one of the most well-known ones on the market.

 

The Patriot comes in a general kit with solar panels, some bags of food storage, some books and other accessories.

Features of the Patriot Solar Generator:

Pros:

  • Strong Lithium Iron (not Ion) battery
  • The Pure Sine Wave inverter is 1,500-watts continuous and 3,000-watts peak
  • Uses a very common Anderson Powerpole charging port
  • Charges in 3.5hrs, due to its small 500watt battery.
  • Holds a charge for 6 months

Cons:

  • Only 500watt battery
  • Only inputs 150 watts of solar panels
  • Heavy 38lbs for what power is given
  • Does not use an MPPT controller to increase efficiency
  • No RV connection
  • Not expandable with other batteries
  • Does not have car charger capability
  • Costs $4.00 per watt in battery capacity ($2,000 cost for 500-watt battery)
  • Does not have many plugs

It all depends on what needs you must meet, so this may be a good fit for you. It has:

  • 2 AC/Wall outlets (120v)
  • 4 USB 2.0 Ports
  • 1 12v DC Port (cigarette lighter)
  • 1 12v DC Anderson Powerpole plug
  • 1 Wall charger plug

If this fits your needs then you can find it online from a few different dealers and get all squared away. I have been studying solar generators for multiple years now and have learned A LOT.

The Titan

Since most people are looking for the best bang for their buck when purchasing a fuelless generator, it is important to understand how far that “buck” will go. The Titan is the newest and most innovative solar generator on the market since its launch in 2019.

Unlike the Patriot, the Titan is still one of the most unknown solar generators on the market. That does not make it the weakest by any means. This is by far the best investment in a solar generator, period.

Pros:

  • Strong 2,00- watt-hour battery
  • Long-lasting Lithium-Ion battery
  • Pure Sine Wave 3,000-watt continuous and 6,000-watt peak inverter
  • Battery draw capacity is 1,500w (3,000w with two or more batteries)
  • 1,000 watts solar panel input, expands up to 2,000 watts when another battery is added
  • Uses common Anderson Powerpole connector
  • Easily charges in 2 hours
  • Can charge from multiple energy sources at once, such as wind and solar
  • Uses two highly efficient MPPT controller
  • Splits into two pieces, each weighing about 33lbs. allowing it to be easily portable
  • Has many plugs for powering lots of equipment
  • 5-year battery shelf life (will store for 5 years without needing a charge)
  • 2-year warranty on Power Module (top half)
  • 1-year warranty on battery (bottom half)
  • Stackable/expandable lithium-ion battery packs (can expand up to unlimited amount of batteries).
  • Can charge up to 10,000wh of battery capacity per day.

Cons:

  • 11hr car charge (takes a very long time to charge, however that is due to its safety measure to not overdraw from a car plug)

It has:

  • 6 AC/Wall outlets (120v)
  • 4 DC cigarette lighter plugs
  • 6 USB 2.0 plugs
  • 2 USB C plugs
  • 1 30amp RV plug
  • 2 Anderson Powerpole solar panel ports
  • 1 Car charging port
  • 1 Anderson external battery plug
  • 2 Wall charger plug
  • External fuses and Breakers as necessary

As most people will see, there is a reason why the Titan is liked so much more than the Patriot. The Titan brings so many benefits to the table that it makes every other generator, even gas and diesel, look second class.

Charge Time:

On average, there are about 5 hours per day where the maximum amount of solar power can be made. This means that a good generator must be able to charge from 0% back to 100% within that 5-hour period. Ideally, it should be able to charge in 5 hours while still running necessary equipment such as fans, fridge, freezer and so on.

The Patriot Power 1500 only takes 3.5 hours to charge but it is only charging 500 watts. So technically it is charging quickly but that’s only due to the small battery size. Sadly 500 watts is not a lot to run much equipment. An average fridge uses about 80 watts per hour, that means the Patriot will run a fridge for only 6 hours or so. The real concern is during the day the fridge needs to be run which means 80 watts is being used. If the Patriot is taking in 150 watts from solar panels that only leave 70 watts to go to the battery. 500 watts charged at 70 watts per hour takes 7+ hours to charge. This means the Patriot cannot run vital equipment and charge in a day.

On the contrary, the Titan’s input power from solar is 1,000 watts per hour. This means it could easily run an 80-watt fridge, a 50-watt freezer, two 50 watt fans, and many other items. If it was running all those items plus more which equaled 500 watts per hour there would still be another 500 watts going to the battery. At 500 watts per hour to the battery means it will charge from 0% to 100% in just about 4 hours. That’s while plenty of vital pieces of equipment are running! That’s true power.

Inverter Capacity

Looking at other solar generators, it is common to have an inverter size of 1500 watts. The Patriot, Kodiak, Goal Zero Lithium 1400 & 3000, Humless 1500 and other generators use 1500-watt continuous pure sine wave inverters. Most of those units have a 3,000-watt peak/surge as well. This is to say that they can run 1500 watts worth of energy continually without any issue.

They will run 1500 watts of energy for as long as the battery will last. That means on a 1,000-watt battery it will run 1500 watts non-stop for about 40 minutes, or 100 watts non-stop for 10 hours. This size inverter is great for most items such as fridges, fans, freezers, lights, chargers and so on. However, it is not strong enough to run heavier items such as chop/miter saws, power tools, heavy duty water pumps and so on. A larger inverter is necessary.

The Titan doesn’t have this restriction. The Titan is actually capable of running heavy duty items including those just mentioned, even welders. Not everyone will need to run such heavy equipment, but the point is to have options since we never know exactly what things we will need to run.

Weight

This is one of the most important parts of a portable solar generator. Portable is very different for each person. Some people can carry 50lbs in each hand, others can only carry 20lbs. I have found that no more than 35lbs seems to be the average for what most people can handle.

The Patriot weighs in right at 38lbs so it’s just barely above the comfort level of most people but is still manageable. The Titan is technically right over 60lbs which is too much for most people is way too to carry easily. Point Zero saw this flaw and decided to do something about it. This is where they put in the unique design to make the top and bottom separate from each other. This keeps each piece right around 30lbs so that it’s still easily moved around. There’s no way to reconnect it incorrectly.

The Patriot uses a Lithium Iron battery which works just as well as Lithium Ion but is considered more stable. The Titan uses Lithium Ion which has more power per pound and is still very safe. This is why the Titan has  4x the power capacity but the batteries weigh about the same.

For some people, “portable” means being able to carry it, for others it means it has wheels and can be carted around. For me, I find I need to be able to carry it one handed and lift it into a vehicle, place it on a shelf or whatever easily. For me, the Titan is easier than the Patriot because it’s lighter per piece.

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Final Thoughts

For many people, the Patriot will suit there needs and that is great since the whole point of getting prepared is to get prepared for your own needs. For thousands of people I’ve worked with in the last few years, the Titan is what they’ve been asking for. They want more power when they need it, but portable enough when they need to move it.

The Patriot costs about $2,000 and the Titan is not much more than that. In my opinion, the extra money far outweighs the Patriot since the Titan provides so much more capability, power, charge speed and all that I’ve previously mentioned.

“If you fail to prepare, you prepare for failure.” ~Benjamin Franklin

Continue ReadingPatriot Power Solar Generator the Best Option?