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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

Full Review of the Pecron Q3000S Solar Generator Power Station

There are many different companies and brands that have started to push out different solar generators and power stations. Solar generators are simply becoming more popular and as well more powerful. Pecron has been around for many years and has had many different products that they’ve launched over that time.

The Pecron Q3000S solar generator power station is their biggest unit they’ve released so far and has quite an impressive battery capacity. In fact, it has one of the largest battery capacities of any solar generator in terms of base-sized batteries, or in other words, the standard battery size that comes in the unit.

In this full review of the Pecron Q3000S we will go through all the specs and find out if this is a unit worth looking into.

Battery

Featuring a 3,024wh Lithium NMC (lithium-ion) battery the Pecron Q3000S can run quite a bit of equipment for a long time. For example, a typical home fridge will use about 80-100wh per hour of normal use. That means the Pecron Q3000S can run a standard home fridge for approximately 30 to 40 hours without stop and not needing any solar power. That’s incredible.

And because it is a 24v system, not a typical 12v system it will be a bit more efficient than normal solar generators that use 12v battery configurations. This is one of the big features that everyone has loved in their Titan solar generator since the Titan was the first unit to use 24v instead of 12v in the market.

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For some reason though, the battery inside the Pecron Q3000s is truly only capable of pushing out about 1,700w off of it continuously before it begins to have issues. That’s not very good since the inverter is rated to 2,000w continuous output. Although many people have not had any issues with it only being able to push out 1,700w continuously because most people aren’t using 1,700w continuously.

The Pecron Q3000S battery will last longer than most solar generator batteries since it’s rated to last up to 1,000 lifecycles before it reaches 80% efficiency. That just means that after it’s been fully drained and recharged 1,000 times the battery will have about 80% capacity left in it. At that point, it will no longer be a 3,024wh battery but basically a 2,420wh battery. Either way, most people don’t use these to live off of full time and so it will take years if not decades to reach that point.

The battery will stay charged for up to 6 months but after that, it needs to be plugged in and recharged. There is no way to add more batteries to the Pecron Q3000S.

Inverter

As mentioned before the Pecron Q3000S has a 2,000w inverter that is rated to surge up to 4,000w if necessary. It is a pure sine wave which means it is capable of running any type of electronic or device just like you can at home off of the power grid.

Even though it has a 2,000w pure sine wave inverter, the battery doesn’t seem to be strong enough to keep up with the 2,000w demand as previously mentioned. It should be considered a 1,700w output unit since that’s all the battery can muster up when needed.

It’s not as bad as the Inergy Apex which has a 1,500w inverter but can only push out 800w non-stop until the battery is depleted. That’s basically a 50% reduction in power usage from what is advertised. But Inergy is releasing their new solar generator called the “Flex” and they now say that the 1,500w inverter will push out 1,500w continuously until the battery reaches 20%. Needless to say, Pecron has done a better job than Inergy in that regard of matching the right battery to the inverter.

Still, nothing beats the long-proven Titan with its 3,000w inverter that can truly push out 3,000 until the batteries are empty. Not to mention that the Titan has 2,000 cycles per battery which are twice as many as the Pecron Q3000S.

Charging

One of the most important features of a solar generator is the ability to recharge quickly. Most often, solar generators are compared to gas generators. During an emergency, a gas generator uses a lot of fuel and there are often fuel shortages during emergencies. But if you have fuel on hand then refueling the gas generator only takes a minute or two to fill up the gas tank. This is why a solar generator needs to be able to recharge quickly since people are depending on it every day that the power is out during an emergency. That or they’re using it for power while camping, RVing, or doing some large activity.

The Pecron Q3000S sadly does not have a fast solar rechargeability. It doesn’t even have an MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) charge controller which is pretty basic these days. It has a PWM (older tech) charge controller and has a charge parameter of 30-40v & 10a. The voltage rating is quite slim which makes it really hard to find solar panels that fit within that charge parameter.

Either way, once you find a solar panel configuration that will fit that charge parameter you will still be maxed out to 300w of solar input. Sadly, since PWM charge controllers are not very efficient it’s next to impossible to get the full 300w of solar power to go in. Either way, it’s rated to 300w solar input.

Since the battery is just over 3,000wh and the solar input is 300w, the best charge time possible is 10 hours. That is a minimum of two days to recharge by solar panels while not running anything off of the Pecron Q3000S. It’ll take two days because there are 5 solar peak hours per day on average in the USA. That means the Pecron Q3000S is capable of making up to 1,500wh of battery capacity per day.

This is the biggest shortcoming of the Pecron Q3000S since it cannot recharge quickly. That means that because it has a large battery it is a good option to have a battery pack that can run essentials for a day or more, but beyond that, it’ll be hard.

If the power is out for 3 days, the Pecron Q3000S will have run out of power long before then. The only saving grace is that most people won’t drain a 3,024wh battery down every single day if they’re just running a fridge at home. This means if they can get 300w of solar input then they can stretch the battery to last a few days which may be enough to get them through the blackout.

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This is why so many people prefer the Titan solar generator because it has 2,000w of solar input. It can be fully recharged within a few hours tops while still running lots of equipment. Meaning that it can last for months on end if necessary which is great for people preparing for long-term camping, RV life, or long-term power outage like an EMP.

Since the Pecron Q3000S uses a not-so-common aviation connector, it’ll be a little trick to replace the solar charging adapter if it’s ever lost.

Outlets

The Pecron Q3000S is a simple system in terms of outlets in that it has three 110v AC outlets like what people use at home. You can run a fridge, freezer, microwave, toaster, coffee machine, CPAP machine, small A/C unit, hairdryer, or whatever you want on those plugs since they can push out 1,700w nonstop. Of course, you can only do that as long as the battery lasts.

With one cigarette lighter, 12v DC plug and two USB A plugs it’s easy to run basic electronics as well and recharge tablets, phones, and small electronics. There are no fast charging USB C plugs for newer electronics that have the extra fast charging capability.

No 30a RV plug is included either since this system is not designed for RVs nor would I recommend it be used for RVs since it can’t recharge quickly from solar panels. Weighing in at 62lbs it’ll be quite the beast to take inside the RV and put somewhere easily too.

Pricing

To compare all solar generators to each other fairly I came up with a special way to break down the total watts, watt-hours, and cost of the three most important parts of a solar generator. The three parts are battery capacity, inverter output, and solar input. All three of those specs divided by the total cost of the unit gives us a “unit wattage” price.

The Pecron Q3000S costs about $2,199 typically but sometimes there are coupons but not too often. When we take the $2,199 price tag and divide that into those important specs we get a total price of $3.05/unit wattage. That may not sound like a lot at first but when you compare it to the #1 rated the best price per unit wattage solar generator, it sounds bad.

The Titan is the #1 unit for its capability as well as its price. The Titan breaks down to be only $1.33/unit wattage. That’s 57% cheaper for what you get than the Pecron Q3000S! Needless to say, I don’t think the Pecron Q3000S is truly a highly recommended unit because you’ll end up paying A LOT more than you would for something like a Titan which is far stronger.

At minimum that second-best solar generator currently is the Bluetti AC200P and that breaks down to $1.58/unit wattage and is very comparable to the Pecron Q3000S. The AC200P has a 2,000wh battery, 2,000w inverter, and 700w solar input. It has a smaller battery, to begin with, but works much better than the Pecron Q3000S.

Conclusion

There are definitely better options than the Pecron Q3000S. Just by this review and looking at many other reviews, it’s easy to see that it is a decent unit, but nothing amazing. The only great thing about the Pecron Q3000S is that is has a very large battery, to begin with so it will last quite sometime before needing a charge, depending on what is being run off of it.

I would definitely spend just a little bit more and have far more options and capabilities with the Titan solar generator over the Pecron Q3000S.

Since Pecron has been around for such a long time I am sure they will release new units over the years and maybe they will eventually catch on to what people really want and need. But for now, they’re still a bit behind.

Continue ReadingFull Review of the Pecron Q3000S Solar Generator Power Station

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.

Continue ReadingGoal Zero Yeti 3000X Portable Power Station/Solar Generator Review

Elechive 2200 by Zero Breeze Solar Generator Review

The ElecHive 2200 by Zero Breeze is supposed to be the absolute newest and best system to launch in the solar generator/power station world. But does it really do what they say it can do? So far it seems like it looks great on paper, but not so great in real-world testing. Read on to find out.

Keep in mind that the ElecHive 2200 has not officially shipped out and so the testing is based on prototype units. But that being said, the prototypes are having some big concerns. Hopefully, those issues will be resolved by the time they are shipping out to everyone who has ordered one on IndieGoGo.

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Battery

The Zero Breeze ElecHive 2200 has an impressive 2,400wh battery. That is 200wh more than what is in the MAXOAK Bluetti AC200P. That is large enough to run essential items during an emergency or blackout. That will run a fridge and freezer for a night.

It is a 24v battery which is great to see they have moved on from 12v batteries. 12v batteries are not as efficient as 24v batteries. The Titan solar generator was the first to begin using 24v batteries and it has taken the solar generator world by storm. 24v is not as good as 48v but it’s still considered very good.ElecHive 2200 Exploded View

What is most unique about the ElecHive 2200 solar generator is the style of battery they use. The ElecHive 2200 uses a LiNiMnCoO2 (Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide) battery which is essentially the same as the 18650 Lithium cells but built differently to save more space. Because of that, it reduces weight and space taken up.  Just to be clear, it’s still a Lithium NMC like most solar generators, just built differently.

What is special about the ElecHive 2200 LiNiMnCoO2 battery is that it is safe to use down to -4 degrees Fahrenheit. Normal Lithium-Ion and LiFePo4 batteries are not safe to charge below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. This makes it much more practical to use in cold conditions often found in the northern USA or Canada. It is also 32% lighter than typical lithium-ion 18650 battery cells. That is why the ElecHive 2200 is so much smaller than other solar generators of comparable capacity.

It’s incredible that it’s capable of running down to -4 degrees Fahrenheit and it’s much lighter but it does come at a limit of 1,000 cycles. The lifecycle rating on the ElecHive is estimated to be 1,000 cycles which is half as much as other solar generators like the Titan. 1,000 cycles is still much better than 500 cycles that most units have like the Goal Zero Yetis. It’d still be preferable to have more.

A cycle is when the battery goes from 100% down to 0% then charged back up to 100%. That means it can be done 1,000 times or once per day for 2.75 years before the battery reaches 80% efficiency. That means after almost 3 years the battery will be more like a 1,920wh battery, not a 2,400wh battery. It will still be good at that point but just not as good as it was when brand new.

Inverter

The “2200” part of the ElecHive 2200 name refers to the inverter capacity. It has a pure sine wave 2200 continuous output pure sine wave inverter. With a peak of 4,000w, it’ll pretty much run any tool that is around the shop. The peak should be closer to 4,400w to be on par with the standard of the peak output being twice as much as the continuous output, but it is close.

There have been some major concerns with the inverter during the prototype phase though. As found on the HoboTech YouTube channel, he was able to get a prototype version and ran into many issues.

Some of the big issues were things like the voltage from the AC plugs was not stable. It fluctuated from 112v to 105v depending on how much power was being used from the inverter. That is concerning because devices that use 120v power are designed to work from 110v to 120v. So if it’s less than 110v then it can cause the item being used to not work properly. Or if it goes over 125v it can start to cause concern for a fire.

Also, the display was not working properly at all. Not only was it dim and hard to read, but it wouldn’t read out the correct power usage. This obviously has to be fixed by the time the production version comes out.

One thing I experienced with the Bluetti AC200 is that I purchased it on IndieGoGo but they too were having issues with that unit and then they made the AC200P which is the upgraded version. It’s been months since I paid for the AC200 on IndieGoGo and I still don’t have it. I ended up purchasing the AC200P on Amazon because I could get it sooner. I am hoping that the ElecHive 2200 doesn’t suffer a similar fate where they get way behind from their IndieGoGo campaign and have to slap together a new unit just to get something to customers.

Either way, the shunt and display they are using do not work properly at all during the prototype phase.

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Charging

The Zero Breeze ElecHive 2200 does have a very nice solar input parameter of 35v-150v at 12a. With the MPPT charge controller being limited to 800w input it can charge pretty quickly. 800w is the second-best solar input capacity for any solar generator except the Titan which is 2,000w solar input.

With a 2,400wh battery and 800w solar input, the ElecHive 2200 can be charged in about 3 hours. The best part of the charge parameter is it allows for “over-paneling.” That means I can realistically install 1,600w of solar panels on the ElecHive and it will still charge. The advantage of over-paneling is it allows me to charge for more hours during the day at the max 800w solar input. This allows me to make more power during the day even though the max input is 800w.

The wall charger is not super-fast as it only allows about 240 watts in which means it will take about 10 hours to charge it up from a house outlet. But it does have multi charge capability, which means I can charge the ElecHive 2200 with solar panels and the wall charger at the same time. This is good when you’re using a gas generator to recharge the ElecHive and you can use your solar panels at the same time to get it charged up very quickly.

The ElecHive includes a car charger as well but it will take about 20hrs to charge it up. That’s not a fault with the system, car chargers just can’t charge solar generators up very quickly at all. That’s just how it is.

Weight

On the IndieGoGo Campaign and the Zero Breeze website, it states that the ElecHive 2200 only weighs about 34lbs but real testing of the prototype unit showed it was actually 42lbs. That’s a big difference. If they were off by a few ounces that would make sense but to be 8lbs off means there is a big difference between what they have right now, and what they may be shipping out.

It does have nice carry handles built into the top of the unit so it makes it easier to move around.

Outlets

There are four 120v AC outlets. Those were having issues when the prototype was tested but they should be working fine once they begin shipping new units.

It has 1 DC cigar port for normal 12v items to plug into. It also includes 2 USB-C and 2 USB-A plugs.

There is no RV outlet which is always a bummer because it’s much easier to get the RV plugs rated to more than 18 amps and run a camper or van much easier. You can still use the RV adapter that’s affordable and works but it ends up taking space on the front of the unit and is still rated to the same output as a normal outlet.

Longevity

As previously mentioned, it is only rated to 1,000 cycles which is nothing to write home about. It’s not amazing, and it’s not poor but it’s right in the middle at “okay.”

Because of the success, the ElecHive has had on IndieGoGo, Zero Breeze has stated they will be upgrading their 1-year warranty to a 2-year warranty. But it is unclear if that only pertains to people who purchased the unit on IndieGoGo or if it will apply to anyone who purchases the unit at a later date as well.

The first time I asked them what the ElecHives shelf life was they didn’t know. I had to ask multiple times for them to tell me it will last for almost a year before needing a charge. It’s not a direct answer to the battery shelf life but at least it’s an answer. Maybe they are not sure how long it will actually last because it hasn’t been around long enough to truly know. It’s probably safe to say 6 to 9 months shelf life before needing to be charged.

X-Factors

ElecHive 2200 At a GlanceThe Zero Breeze ElecHive is definitely a very unique system due to its size and weight. They compare it to the size of a basketball. It’s obviously bigger than a basketball but not too much bigger. That is quite amazing.

For the size, it has an amazing capacity and output capability. It’s absolutely the biggest thing that sets them apart from everyone else.

It is said that they will have a special EC8 charging port that will allow up to 1,250w of charge to go into it. But other than that, there is really no info on it.

Click Here for the Best Price on the ElecHive 2200

Concerns

The ElecHive 2200 is untested, besides the one prototype test unit, which ended up frying. The prototype did not have any output protection, charge protection, heat protection, and is really a potential fire hazard. We can only hope that those protections will be installed before production units come out. But it wouldn’t be the first time that an IndieGoGo solar generator did far less than what it was advertised to do.

There are a lot of promises with this unit that so far have not been kept. The shunt doesn’t work, the screen doesn’t work, the USB outlets don’t work, there’s no protection from fire, and on and on.

As of right now, I am very hopeful for this unit to be as good as they say, but I don’t see how they can make it be 34lbs with the specs they are claiming. The math just doesn’t add up. That’s why I think the prototype is already 42lbs, and the production unit may be more.

As of right now it’s available on IndieGoGo for $1,099 which is about the same cost as of Jackery 1000. The Jackery 1000 is about one of what the ElecHive 2200 is in capability, but we know that the Jackery 1000 works and is available.

It is said that the ElecHive will be about $2,500 at normal price after the production model is out, which makes much more sense. As of right now, it’s quite the gamble if the IndieGoGo units will be any good.

I have yet to have any issues with my Titan solar generator. It has worked through and through for me. It has been running non-stop for almost a year at my off-grid cabin and has been amazing.

The Bluetti AC200P has had a few little issues but has otherwise worked pretty well.

I feel the ElecHive is in third place for the best solar generator. BUT, that is only based on the specs they have listed, not actual testing. Until I get my hands on my ElecHive that I have ordered on IndieGoGo, we won’t know if it’s as good as they claim it to be.

Continue ReadingElechive 2200 by Zero Breeze Solar Generator Review

Sungzu 500-Watt Portable Solar Generator SKA500 Review

Sungzu 500 Solar GeneratorIf you just started looking at solar generators, you may have noticed the Sungzu 500, and its bigger brothers the 1000 and 1500. These solar generators are tempting for a lot of people because they draw you in with their affordable prices. In comparison with some other well known solar generators out there such as the Patriot 1800, they are a steal of a deal. But you don’t have to be a genius to know that you get what you pay for. 

The Sungzu 500 really is an okay unit for the price, but I do make sure to clarify it with “for the price” because there are some improvements that Sungzu could definitely make. These improvements are both in appearance and functionality. This unit is more focused on portable power for camping, at the beach, or traveling. Not for emergency backup power, long-term power outages, natural disasters, or anything like that. It’s great for charging phones, drones, laptops, and lights.

Here is a detailed list of all my favorite features in the Sungzu 500 and all the improvements that it could make. 

Click Here to Buy the Sungzu 500

*You can also check out my video I just made about the affordable Sungzu 500 here! 

Good Features

12 V plug

One thing that Sungzu updated on the Sungzu 500 model is they put a 12v plug onto the actual generator. Before they had an adapter that you could connect to make a 12v outlet. This is much more convenient if you are planning on using your generator on the go. It makes the Sungzu 500 much more valuable as a portable generator. It is worth noting that the 12v plug is not regulated which for some people will be an issue. All that means is that as the battery in the Sungzu 500 gets lower, the voltage in the 12v DC plug also gets lower.

It’s still possible to run 12v equipment off of it, but it may run slower like on an air pump, or the lights may be dimmer because it’s not getting the same amount of voltage as when the Sungzu 500 battery is Sung500 with Solar Panelfull.

Portable Panel

I was pretty impressed with the Sungzu portable solar panel that works with the Sungzu 500. It folds up really nice and small so it’s easy to take on the go. There is quite a bit of padding on the back of each panel section, so I know that it isn’t getting damaged in transport and it makes it a bit more sturdy when setting it up in each new location. There is a hard enough back on each of the cells that it doesn’t crack the cells if you grasp it firmly, which can be a problem for other flexible panels. 

There is also another cable so you can connect another solar panel to the Sungzu 500 if you want to that comes with the system. 

Extra Fuses

Sungzu seems to like to have accessible extra fuses on the back of their generators and it is a feature that I actually like. Many solar generator or power station manufacturers put the fuses inside the unit which makes them near impossible to swap out if they blow. If you blow a fuse on the Sungzu 500 power station you can pop open the back fuse box, grab an extra fuse and install it right away. There are two working fuses and two extra fuses available for you. 

The Titan solar generator is another generator that has this feature, as well as the Inergy Apex, but most other solar generators do not have their fuses easily accessible. 

Weight

When people want a portable generator, one feature that is important is the weight and how easily portable it is. The Sungzu 500 solar generator is only 17 pounds, most of that being battery weight. This is a very low weight compared to many of the other generators on the market. It also has a heavy-duty handle on the top and it’s easily portable for anyone at any strength level. 

The Jackery 500 weighs in at 13lbs which is a bit lighter than the Sungzu 500, but that’s because it is encased in plastic. The Sungzu has a very strong metal case instead of plastic.

The other close competitor is the EcoFlow River 600 Max (extra battery) which is also 17lbs. The River 600, also has a plastic exterior.

Simultaneous Charging

Many people wonder if the Sungzu 500 can charge while it is also being used and the answer is “yes!” This generator can handle input and output at the same time. It may need to use the fan feature on it if you are running it at its peak and also charging it, but it seems to regulate temperature very well. I have not had any overheating issues of any kind unlike the EcoFlow series of units.

If you want to charge it from the wall, it takes about 4 hours to get a full charge. From a 100w solar panel, it will charge in about 5 to 8 hours depending on sun conditions.  

Sungzu 500 What can it runRun Time 

For a smaller portable generator, this runs very well. At a full 500w discharge, the Sungzu 500 will run for just under 50 minutes.  

Best Price

For what you get in the Sungzu 500 it is definitely the best price, hands down. This is not the prettiest unit out there but it works pretty well. It competes primarily with the Jackery 500 portable unit and the Ecoflow River 600. It has comparable watt-hours and it is by far the most affordable. The other two models have other features that I like, the design being a big one, but if you’re looking for a portable unit, the Sungzu is a good option.  

Click Here to Buy the Sungzu 500

Areas For Improvement

Flaw With Inverter

One of the most inconvenient things about the Sungzu 500 is that it has some kind of flaw in the generator. The inverter runs well when I have my devices plugged in, but for some reason, the whole generator will shut off when I plug my laptop directly into the generator. This only happens every now and then, not every time. I find it hard to believe that my laptop would create a big enough surge to overload it. 

I have found a way to get around it by plugging in the charger first but disconnected to my laptop and then connecting the laptop to the charger. This doesn’t seem to cause a problem with the generator, but it’s something that I don’t think about often and can be annoying if I forget to do. 

Screen Needs Updating

Another thing that the Sungzu 500 needs is a better screen. The resolution is low, though that is not a huge deal. But it is very small and only includes battery life percentages in 20% increments and if I have the output for the 12v and USB outlets turned on. It also has the internal temperature noted. This is something that is interesting to know, but the screen is so small, it seems odd to use the limited space on the temperature that you don’t necessarily need to know. 

The screen is by far the worst part about the Sungzu 500. There is very little beneficial information on it. They need to install a screen that shows the actual battery percentage, solar power wattage coming in, estimated charge/discharge time, and have the screen stay on, not time out.

Silicone Flaps

This may be a little ticky tacky, but I find the silicone flaps for the outlet covers to be very annoying and I wish they had updated them in the Sungzu 500 model. There are two silicone flaps on the generator and the one that covers the 120v outlets has a flap that goes up instead of comes down. I find it to get in the way and it honestly doesn’t need to be there. If I have the generator out in the rain, then I am likely not using the plugs anyway. I would never have it in the rain.

Sungzu 500 CapabilitiesBattery Calibration 

The battery calibration shown on the screen seems to be off in the Sungzu 500. You can see in my video at about 9 minutes that the battery life has gone down considerably after little to no use. This is just another reason that I distrust the screen and wish that it had accurate readings rather than the 20% increments that it shows. 

What To Use It For

The Sungzu 500 is meant to be a portable generator for small gadgets. That means that it isn’t ideal for running big equipment on or using in an emergency necessarily. This is more ideal for camping, using drones, and small appliances while away from the main power source. 

I personally use it for a portable DC refrigerator that I can take with me camping or while traveling. It works great and it can run something small like that for up to 20-30 hours depending on size and weather. Some people also prefer to use it for a CPAP machine and it has no problem handling a device like that throughout the night. 

Click Here to Buy the Sungzu 500

Conclusion

Overall the Sungzu 500 is a good basic solar generator for small portable electronics. It is lightweight and portable and has all the functions that you would want in a smaller solar generator. It is great for “on the go” as it is small and takes up very little room. It can easily run small appliances for several hours at a time and is great for trips and such. For emergency power use, I would probably go with something like the Titan because it has more power and is more convenient for regular use. 

Continue ReadingSungzu 500-Watt Portable Solar Generator SKA500 Review

Maxoak Bluetti AC200P 2000w/2000wh Solar Generator Power Station

Maxoak Bluetti AC200PThe Bluetti AC200P has made quite the splash in the solar generator/power station world. With it being one of the top-rated solar generators, on paper, people have been wondering what the differences are between the AC200 and the AC200P are.

The Bluetti AC200P sits very comfortably at the #2 position for one of the best solar generators available. It has one very distinct advantage over the #3 solar generator, the ElecHive by Zero Breeze. The Bluetti AC200P has 3,500 cycles which is very impressive since it has a Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePo4) battery.

Click Here for the Best Price on the AC200P

It is #2 only to the Titan solar generator. But we’ll get more into how it differs from both the Titan and the ElecHive later.

The basic difference between the Bluetti AC200 and the Bluetti AC200P is that the AC200 has a slightly smaller battery. The AC200 has a 1,700wh battery. The AC200 was available on pre-order on the IndieGoGo and the AC200P is available much faster on Amazon.

The Bluetti AC200 was also about 57lbs and the AC200P is 61lbs. The AC200 used Lithium NMC (Lithium Ion) batteries and the AC200P uses Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePo4) batteries.

Battery

The Maxoak Bluetti AC200P has one of the largest battery capacities of all solar generators at 2,000wh. It is a 50v and 40ah battery (50v x 40ah = 2,000wh | volts x amps = watts). 2,000wh has been shown to be a pretty good size battery for emergencies, RVs, camping, and blackouts.

LiFePo4 Battery in Bluetti AC200PFor emergencies, natural disasters, and blackouts the most common things that people run are a fridge, a freezer, a couple of LED lights, and possibly a fan. At least those are the constantly running items.

It’s very common to run other items such as toasters, microwaves, coffee machines, blenders, TVs, CPAP machines, radios, water pumps, etc…

In RVs and Vans it’s common to run the fridge, possibly a DC fridge/freezer, A/C, LED TV, DC fans, DC lights, and small kitchen appliances.

This is why it’s important for a solar generator to be able to have a large enough battery to run the essentials during the night when there is no sun. As well as have a large enough inverter to run those items when needed. And then of course the system must be able to be fully recharged during the day while running equipment, so the solar input has to be large enough to handle that.

The Maxoak Bluetti AC200P is one of those units! For basic emergency power, it has all the right specs. The battery is large enough to get through a night while running a fridge (80wh), or freezer (80wh) and a fan (70wh) or heated blanket (120w).

The math is quite simple. You start with 2,000wh and you have to last about 12 hours without using more than 2,000wh. A fridge, freezer, and fan will use a combined value of 230wh/hr. That means we take 12hrs of darkness x 230wh = 2,730wh. So that may not work.


The easiest way to figure this out is to take 2,000wh ÷ 12hrs = 167wh/hr on average. We can run up to 160wh per hour and get through the night without draining the battery to 0%. That means a fridge and freezer. Or a fridge and a fan. Or whatever combination of equipment to run all night.

This is where I find having the outlet timers is very useful. The outlet timers allow me to use my fridge and freezer, or whatever device is plugged into it, whenever I decide. I can have them run for 15 minutes of every hour or 30 minutes of every hour or whatever I want. This reduces power usage and keeps the fridge and freezer cold without having to worry about using up more of my battery.

For the Bluetti AC200P, I would definitely keep a couple of those outlet timers around for the purpose of getting through the night easier and not draining the battery as far during emergencies. Especially if it’s not perfectly clear skies every day.

As previously mentioned, the AC200P’s battery is rated to 3,500 lifecycles which is an exceptionally long time. That means if I did one cycle, going from 100% down to 0% and back to 100%, per day it would last 3,500 days. That is until the battery became 80% efficient. That’s nearly 10 years of daily use before the battery reaches 80% efficiency. At that point, I can still use the battery, but it would be equal to a 1,600wh battery, not a 2,000wh battery.

Click Here for the Best Price on the AC200P

Inverter

The Maxoak Bluetti AC200P has one of the highest outputting inverters on the market. It has a pure sine wave inverter that can push out 2,000 watts continuously and up to 2,500w for 2 mins. The standard used to be 1,500w out of an inverter but the AC200P beats that.

Bluetti AC200P charging equipmentIt makes a big difference when you are running lots of equipment to have the extra-sized inverter. Or even if I’m just running a toaster oven for a few minutes while running the fridge. I don’t have to unplug the fridge just to run the toaster.

Since it’s a pure sine wave it will easily run anything safely. Modified sine wave inverters are truly a thing of the past just like lead-acid batteries.

The Bluetti AC200P’s inverter can peak up to 4,800w. That is almost 2.5x the continuous output rating. The norm is to have the peak output be twice as much as the continuous output, and the AC200P beats that again.

But there is some conflicting information about the true peak capability of the AC200P because in the user manual it clearly says “Overload Capacity = 2,000w <load<2,500w 2 min. & 2,500w<load immediately.

From my understanding, that means it can run 2,000w nonstop until there’s no more power. Or it can run about 2,500w for up to two minutes. But anything over 2,500w it will shut off immediately.

When testing this I didn’t have anything that could go up to 4,800 peak but I did go over 3,000w and it shut down immediately.

I feel like the peak is truly 2,500w not 4,800w as advertised since that is what my testing has roughly shown.

Solar, Car, and Wall Charging

In any solar generator, there are three important factors. Large battery, powerful inverter, and high solar input. Most systems out on the market can allow up to 400w of solar input, some others are starting to get higher up to 600 watts of solar input like the Goal Zero systems.

1400w Solar on Bluetti AC200PThe Bluetti AC200P has all of those beat with a 700w solar input. But what’s even better about the 700w input is that it can be “over-paneled.” Since the solar input charge parameter is 35-150v and 12a I can very easily install 1,400w of solar panels on the system and safely charge it.

That being said, even if I’m making 1,400w of power, only 700w of it will be allowed to go into the MPPT charge controller. But the advantage of doing that is I can greatly increase my “peak solar hours” per day from 5 hours to much more.

For example, if I have 700w of solar panels installed on the Bluetti AC200P, I will not be making 700w of power until the brightest part of the day, which is usually about 5 hours. So, at 8 am, I could be making roughly 350w instead of 700w. Then by 10 am I could be making 700w. Then by 4 pm making 500w, and at sundown be down to 0w solar input.

If I have double the amount of solar panels then I can make 700w sooner and later in the day. So rather than only making 350w at 8 am, I would actually be making 700w and not have to wait until 10 am to start making 700w. The same would go for later in the evening. Since I have more panels making more power, I will be able to get a full 700w charge later in the evening.

Bluetti AC200P Charging PortsThis means I can realistically increase my daily peak solar hours from 5 hours to 7 or 8 hours. This means instead of only being able to make 3,500wh (700w x 5 peak hours = 3,500wh) per day, I can make much more like 5,600wh (700w 8hrs = 5,600wh).

Being able to make that much power in a day makes it a lot easier to keep running equipment like my fridge, freezer, fans, and so on all day long. Then at night, I can go into “eco mode” and only run the bare essentials.

The solar panels go through the AC200P’s SA20 Aviation plug which has an adapter that converts it from SA20 to XT90. And then from there it also includes an XT90 to PV Connector adapter. I’m not huge on the SA20 plug, but it gets the job done. I feel that Maxoak was just trying to be different and should’ve used more common connectors.

My biggest issue with proprietary or uncommon connectors is if I lose my adapter, I have to wait on them to get a new one after buying it from them. I would much rather have the option to go to a local store and make them or order one quickly on Amazon. Even better would be to have extras, because I have lost my adapters before and that means I can’t recharge at all from solar.

With the battery being 2,000wh and the solar input is 700w, I can recharge my Maxoak Bluetti AC200P in just under three hours (2,000wh ÷ 700w = 2.85hrs). That’s great news because that would mean that even on semi-cloudy days, with 1,400w of panels connected, I should still be able to get a full charge each day.

Maxoak Bluetti AC200P Car ChargingOne feature some people care about is being able to charge from the wall charger and solar at the same time. The AC200P can do that. For me, the only time I see that as being relevant is when it’s cloudy, and I’m unable to make 700w of power from solar, but at least a little bit of power is being made from the solar panels. I can use my gas generator to help recharge the Bluetti AC200P faster along with the solar panels.

The reason that is a good backup plan is if the Bluetti AC200P allows me to have at least 12 hours of running my appliances, and it only takes me 3 hours to charge it up, then it saves me a lot of gas. Essentially, instead of running my appliances off of my gas generator for 12 hours and using up all the gas, I can recharge the AC200P in 3 hours and save 9 hours’ worth of gas while running the appliances off the AC200P.

It does have a car charger as well, but it takes about 20 hours to charge it up from 0%. It is not surprising it takes that long because a car battery is 12v and the Bluetti AC200P is 50v. That means when I plug in the car charger on it that it’s converting the energy from 12v to 50v. The average car cigarette lighter plug is rated to about 10amps. 12v x 10a = 120watts. After the voltage gets converted from 12v to 50v there’s likely a power efficiency loss there which means it is probably charging at about 100w therefore 100w into 2,000wh equals 20hrs charge time.

Click Here for the Best Price on the AC200P

Outlets

I like how many outlets are on the Maxoak Bluetti AC200P. It has six 120v AC plugs (wall outlet plugs). It’s capable of running about 16amps through those plugs. Not out of each plug, but total.

Maxoak Bluetti AC200P Front and Side PlugsFor DC ports it has 4 USB-A ports and 1 USB-C fast-charging port. Along with a standard 12v/10a DC cigarette lighter port and two 5521 barrel ports rated to 3a. Then it has one huge SA20 12v/25a port that is awesome for high amperage 12v devices. The only issue is it doesn’t come with an SA20 adapter plug to use with that 25a port. They should have included that. The only other unit out there to include a 25a DC port is the Lion Energy Safari ME. The Titan solar generator has 20a output out of the 12v DC plugs.

One cool feature is that it does have two 15w wireless phone charger pads on top of the unit. If I were using this in my RV and had the unit next to the bed, I could easily use it to charge my phone at night just by placing my phone on top of it. Of course that only works with phones that have wireless charging though.

Sadly, I think Maxoak dropped the ball on not including an RV plug on it. I really love being able to grab a solar generator, grab my RV, and head out to go boondocking and enjoy nature. But because it doesn’t have a dedicated 30amp RV plug I just use this simple RV adapter. It takes up a lot of real estate on the AC plugs, but it allows me to run my RV much easier.

Shelf Life & Warranty

One thing that struck me as odd was that the system has a 3,500-lifecycle rating but can only sit for 6 months before it needs to be recharged. According to the user manual and their website, it says that the Bluetti AC200P should be recharged every 6 months to ensure the battery remains healthy.

I understand that the battery needs to remain healthy, but it seems like every 6 months is a bit of a hassle.

So, if I don’t use it all during the spring and summer, after 6 to 12 months what can I expect? Supposedly the battery will be run down. Would the screen even read out properly? If you watch my video on my Bluetti AC200P review you’ll see that I had issues with my screen reading the battery percentage properly. How will I know if it’s actually at 100% if the screen doesn’t even tell me properly after sitting for a long time?

AC200P Bluetti Maxoak Size

I assume that the unit I purchased was sitting in a warehouse in China, and then in a shipping container en-route to the USA, and then in a warehouse again for many months before it got delivered to me. So, is it safe to assume that it did not get charged up soon enough and the screen got uncalibrated? Who knows?

The Titan is able to hold a charge on their batteries for up to 5 years. It is recommended that the Titan batteries be slightly used and recharged once per year to keep them healthy. It would be nice for the Bluetti AC200P to have at least a 12-month shelf life since it is a LiFePo4 battery.

They include a two-year warranty which is longer than what most manufacturers have. Maxoak has grown a lot with the launch of their EB150 and EB240 solar generators which were much smaller in output capacity and solar input. They seem to be on the rise so they should be around for quite some time. They’ve been around for about 10 years now.

Click Here for the Best Price on the AC200P

Expandability

It would’ve been nice for Maxoak to include an optional battery expansion port for the Bluetti AC200P. I think that would’ve been a great up-sell product that allows users to double their battery capacity.

Review of the Bluetti AC200PI know in my off-grid cabin we like to keep at least 6,000wh of battery capacity on our Titan that runs the cabin 100% of the year. The Bluetti AC200P works for small trips to the cabin, but for long-term stays it’s much harder to make it work especially when weather systems come in.

Because the battery is not expandable on the AC200P I don’t think it needs expandable solar. The 700w solar input is plenty for it since the battery size is 2,000wh. But it is safe to over-panel the system and get up to 1,400w of solar connected. That’s a huge bonus.

If the Bluetti AC200P had the option to expand its battery capacity, I would think it would also need the ability to expand its solar input. Very similar to the Titan, since the Titan can have as many batteries as I want, I am able to expand my solar up to 2,000w of solar input on it.

Either way, the Bluetti AC200P still has decent capacity and great solar input for its size.

X-Factors

The one big thing that makes the Maxoak Bluetti AC200P special is its intelligent screen. It’s very user friendly and I love being able to see how much power is coming in from the solar panels.

Bluetti AC200P DC25aI would’ve thought that having such a smart screen would’ve also included some type of Bluetooth of WiFi option to connect my phone to the system wirelessly to monitor it. But that’s not a deal-breaker in any way, it just would’ve made a lot of sense to include that. The screen on the Bluetti AC200P is one of the nicest ones out there in my opinion when it reads out properly.

The other x-factor it has is the 12v/25a DC output. Again, they should include some sort of adapter with it but it’s incredible that they have added a 25a output DC plug. People with lots of DC equipment will love that.

It’s also very nice that it has LiFePo4 batteries which gives it an incredible lifespan of 3,500 cycles.

Weaknesses

It’s heavy. It’s very heavy. Right at 61lbs, it’s a lot to move around. I highly recommend that people get something like a furniture dolly to rest the AC200P on and make it easier to move around. That’s of course if it is staying on the same level/floor and not going up or downstairs. Otherwise, you’ll just have to carry it.

As much as the screen is its x-factor it’s also one of its weaknesses. When I first opened up my Bluetti AC200P I immediately started charging it from the wall so I could start testing and playing with it. The wall charger would not charge the system at all!

Furniture Dolly for Bluetti AC200PI turned it off and on again multiple times. I eventually changed the charge mode from car to solar and for some reason that allowed the wall charger to work. It’s a completely different plug being used to charge from so I don’t know how that affected it at all, but for some reason, it started working after that.

But what I found while turning the system off and on again was that the screen was changing what it said the battery percentage was at. When I first turned it on it was around 30% full. Then every time I turned it off and back on again, it would increase the percentage by 5%. I did that enough times that it said it was 100% full when the charger still wasn’t even working on it.

Either there is an issue with the shunt in the system or the screen got uncalibrated or something along those lines.

Pros

Good-sized battery.

Good-sized inverter continuous output.

A good amount of solar input.

Affordable.

A high number of lifecycles.

Cons

Very heavy.

Semi-proprietary adapters/plugs.

No expandability.

No RV plug.

Click Here for the Best Price on the AC200P

Conclusion

I like it. It’s definitely a solid #2 for the best solar generator available. It beats the ElecHive in lifecycles, the number of outlets, warranty protection, inverter peak, and DC output capability.

It loses to the Titan, which is in the first place position, because the Bluetti AC200P has a smaller inverter, no battery expandability, lower solar input, uses uncommon adapters, slower car charging, shorter shelf life, and no RV outlet.

I feel like it is a great system for people who need basic emergency power such as running a fridge, freezer, CPAP machine, light, and fan.

Is it something that can be used for off-grid locations? Perhaps, all depending on the power needs of the off-grid location. It is definitely well-sized for basic boondocking in an RV or Van.

Continue ReadingMaxoak Bluetti AC200P 2000w/2000wh Solar Generator Power Station

What is the Best Price and Honest Review of the Bluetti AC200 – Is It Up there with the Titan?

MAXOAK Bluetti AC200 Review

MAXOAK has truly started making a name for themselves in the power station/solar generator world. They now have amazing reviews on their products and good customer service. With the releases of their other units like the AC50, EB150 and EB240 they have started capturing the attention of everyone out there looking for dependable backup power.

The Bluetti AC200 has surely caught the eye of every prepper out there, or at least everyone who wants a reliable backup power option. The big question everyone is asking is how well it stacks up against the Titan? What kind of power usage can be expected from it? And how well does it work in real-world usage?

The AC200 is definitely one of the top solar generators out there according to many reviews. They have taken a careful look at what people really want. People do not want to charge their cell phone, camera or drone at the beach while partying with friends as so many of the other solar generator companies like to advertise. People want a serious power backup option for when the lights go out. People want to run their fridges, freezers, CPAP machines, TVs, ice makers, power tools and so on.

People want to be able to run their RVs, campsites, emergency locations and run their essentials without worries. Solar generators are not cheap, so people want to know that it is going to work for them when they need it the most.

Rechargeable Power Station
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Battery

Finally, companies like MAXOAK are starting to put real batteries into their units like the AC200. The AC200 has a Lithium Ion (Lithium NMC) battery that is rated to 1,700wh. One of the best features about the battery is that is rated to 51.8v which makes it much more efficient because of the higher voltage. Systems that use 12v are not nearly as efficient as the AC200.

MAXOAK Bluetti AC200 Stock Image

Having a battery with a higher voltage means that there is less efficiency loss between the inverter and battery converting the 51.8v charge into 120v charge. Going from 12v to 120v is much harder and requires more inefficiencies.

The full draw capacity of the battery is 2,000w. This means that even though it has a 1,700wh battery it can pull at a higher rate than what its own capacity is which is incredible. Older systems like the Inergy Apex and Kodiak suffered from not being able to run its full capacity and you were limited to a small system. Even the new Inergy Flex says that it can only run 1,500w continuously for up to 80% of the battery capacity. This was a big problem when people showed their reviews of those systems. The AC200 does not fall subject to that issue.

No one really knows how but MAXOAK has somehow figured out how to get the Lithium Ion battery up to a rating of 2,500 lifecycles which is an industry record for lithium-NMC batteries. Since this exceeds all other units out there this may be something to look into further because no one really knows how that would be possible unless that rating is based only draining to system down to 80% or 90% and then back up to 100%. Either way, it is a powerful factor when it comes to how long the battery will last in this unit.

Inverter

The Bluetti AC200 boasts a 2,000w Pure Sine Wave inverter which makes it quite easy to run heavy duty equipment off of it. More common things such as hot plates, coffee makers, personal heaters and so on will be amazingly easy to run off it because of its 2,000w inverter capacity. If you go look at many reviews online it is obvious that 2,000w of inverter capacity is generally enough power for basic things.

Keeping in mind that the battery is limited to 1,700wh but most items such as hot plates, toasters, microwaves, coffee makers and so on generally only use power for short amounts of time. This means that if you run a microwave that is rated to 1,800w for 3 mins you will only use up 90wh of total capacity which is barely anything off of the 700w of solar on Bluetti AC2001,700wh battery. (1,800w ÷ 60min = 30wh/minute of use).

One of the more interesting points about the AC200 is that is has a huge peak potential for large surges. It is normal and expected that the surge value of any good solar generator is at least two times the continuous running limit. That would mean that the AC200 should have a surge value of 4,000w since it has a continuous rate of 2,000w.

But the AC200 has a surge value of 4,800w! That is 2.4x the continuous running capacity which breaks the mold on having twice as much power for surging. This makes it easier to run heavier items such as chop saws in the shop, small A/C units and other items that surge really high.

One of the major flaws with their other units like the EB150 and EB240 was that the inverters were rated to 1,000w of continuous draw and only 1,200w of peak capacity which is nothing! Many times, while testing those units I would have my fridge and freezer surge at the same time which would cause the system to overload and stop working. The worst part is it does not really tell you that it is overloaded, and it just stops working and later you find that your fridge is warm. That is a big problem.

The AC200 does not have that problem because it has such a high peak rating. They finally got that one right. Being able to run something like a 5,000BTU window A/C unit can be extremely helpful during blackouts and emergencies, especially during hurricane season when it is very warm outside.

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Solar Charging

The MAXOAK Bluetti AC200 comes with an MPPT charge controller which is to be expected in today’s solar generators. No longer can companies come out with a “great system” that has a PWM charge controller such as the Goal Zero Yeti 1400. MPPT charge controllers get much more power from solar panels on sunny days and especially cloudy days.

Charging Cord DiagramThe AC200 MPPT charge controller has a solar input rating of 35-150v and 12a. It is rated to let up to 700w of solar go through it. The beauty of having such a large charge parameter is that it is capable of “over-paneling.” That means that I can install more than 700w of solar panels on the system to ensure I am getting the full 700w charge and that I can lengthen how many peak solar hours I get each day.

The AC200 solar charge input is nothing to what the Titan can do but it’s still pretty good. The Titan’s solar input rating is 35-145v and 30amps. So, it is a little more than twice as powerful. But then on top of that, the Titan has two MPPT charge controllers and can input up to 2,000w of solar which is unmatched by anyone out there.

That being said, the AC200 still has the second-best solar input of any other solar generator out there. Unless you consider the Inergy Flex system which has an expandable solar input capability. The downside to the Inergy Flex’s solar input expandability is the cost. It is cost-prohibitive, meaning it costs so much to get more solar power going into the Flex that it is not worth the investment to do that.

With the AC200 I can easily take seven 100w solar panels which on average will make about 21v and 6a. When I string seven of them together in series, I will make 147v and 6a. That allows me to easily be within the charge parameter.

But wait there’s more! Since the charge controller on the AC200 can go up to 150v and 12a I can easily add a second string of seven panels and have a total of 14 panels. This makes a series/parallel combo connection and would put my solar charge rate at 147v and 12a which is right at the limit of the charge parameter.

1400w Solar on Bluetti AC200

The beauty of doing that is that I will be able to make 700w of power very easily and I can do earlier in the day and later into the evening when compared to just having 700w of solar panels connected. Having the two strings of 700w in panels allows me to ensure I am making 700w of power for up to 8 hours a day during the summer months. That is quite impressive.

That means it has the ability to charge and run up to 5,600wh per day, during the summer. That is enough to charge the battery over three times. This means it is quite easy to be running my fridge, fans, chargers, and devices all day long while still getting a full charge on the battery. Normal power production of 5 peak solar hours a day is about 3,500wh which is still plenty to run devices all day long and having a full battery at the end of the day.

It can charge from 0% to 100% in as little a 2.4hrs if nothing is being run on it while charging. It can charge the battery while running other devices.

 

Connections & Outlets

One of the things I do not like about the system is the solar panel connection type. I really prefer companies to use non-proprietary or rare connections. Companies should use standard connections in my opinion in order to make life easier for users. The AC200 Connector CablesAC200 uses an Aviation SA201 connector and XT60 connectors.

Those connectors can be found online fairly easily, but, most solar panels use PV Connector connectors which is very standard, and it is harder to find SA201 to XT60 and or XT60 to PV Connector connectors. And by “harder” I mean that they do not exist. You must get extras from MAXOAK. Which means if I ever lose the adapter then up the creek without a paddle. I would have to contact MAXOAK and order a new cable directly from them which means I am 100% dependent on their response speed, shipping, and fulfillment.

MAXOAK does a fair job of responding to people quickly, according to reviews, but if you go to their website, you will see that there is no option to buy that connector/adapter easily.

As far as outlets go, the Bluetti AC200 pretty much has it covered. With six 120v house styled outlets it is easy to plug and play with anything you need to plug in. It can run up Bluetti AC200 Outlets and Frontto 2,000w continuously from the 120v outlets.

It has multiple DC outlets such as a 12v/10a DC cigarette lighter-styled port for running things like tire pumps, DC fridges, and more. It includes two 5.5×2.1mm 12v ports that can run up to 3 amps for running things like a CPAP machine or two.

It has five USB outlets. There are four USB-A styled outlets rated to 5v and 3a and then a single USB-C 60w high-speed port which allows charging on items such as Apple laptops and other lightning charging devices.

It also has two wireless charging pads on the top of the unit which allow phone to be placed on top of it and be charged up quickly and easily. Of course, your phone has to have that capability but most modern phones now have that option.

One new plug that is unique is the 12v/25a high output DC plug which uses a special plug which means you’ll need adapters in order to be able to use it.

30a to 15a AdapterIt does not have an RV plug though. I really wish it did. This is a perfect size unit for small RVs and for people who are not using A/C very often at all and just need to run the basics. You could get a simple adapter plug as I’ve used in the past, but those plugs are not designed to run up to 2,000w which means power will still be limited if using that plug.

Wall and Car Charging

It has a car charger! Not that it will charge quickly but it’s always nice to have a backup source if push comes to shove. It will charge in 17 hours from a car charger. That means it is charging at about a rate of 100w per hour.

The wall charger is quite fast and will charge the unit up in about 4 hours from any wall outlet or even off of a gas or diesel generator. Having a fuel generator is a great backup for a solar generator like the Bluetti AC200.

Weight and Dimensions

AC200 on Furniture Dolly

The AC200 is not a skinny little unit. It boasts fairly big power and for that reason, it is a bit heavy. Weighing in at 57lbs this unit is not for the faint of heart, literally. It’s heavy. The handles on the unit are very ergonomic which makes it easy to grip and move around but that is only if you can handle the weight.

That is why I love the Titan systems so much is that the battery disconnects from the main unit and the weight can be easily cut in half, so it is easy to move. The AC200 is still absolutely worth it and is a great unit but you may want to consider a furniture dolly to move it around easier.

The dimensions are 16.5in x 11in. x 15.2in. This image shows how it fits in the front seat of a car to give an idea of how large it is. It’s not small, and that’s a good thing. It is capable of powering so much which requires weight and size.

AC200 in Car

Warranty

MAXOAK gives the AC200 a full 2-year manufacturer warranty. That means if there is anything that goes wrong, breaks, or doesn’t work properly on the system they will replace or repair it for free for up to two years. That doesn’t include dropping it and breaking it, spilling liquid on it or anything like that. If it has a defect that pertains to the manufacturing process, then that is covered but not accidents.

MAXOAK states that it should be charged every 3 months to keep the batteries healthy and charged up. This was a bit surprising, seeing that it has a 2,500-lifecycle rating. Generally speaking, if a battery has that many cycles it shouldn’t have to be topped off on the battery multiple times a year.

Either way, MAXOAK is generally pretty good about handling cases for people and getting people squared away with their orders and products.

It is not protected against events such as an EMP Attack or Solar Flare. If that is something you’re concerned about you should consider purchasing at least one if not two XXL EMP Faraday bags to store the AC200 in to protect it from EMPs.

medium tech protect faraday emp bag

Expandability

The Bluetti AC200 has no expandability. What you see is what you get. It cannot accept external batteries being added onto it. It cannot expand its solar input capability. It cannot double together with other AC200’s and make a 4,000w inverter or 220/240v power. All of those items would’ve been nice to see but the system as it sits is quite good and is better than the vast majority of other units out there.

X-Factors

Bluetti AC200 Wireless Phone ChargingWhat is it that makes the Bluetti AC200 stand out above the crowd? Besides it’s good battery size, strong inverter, and fairly good solar input capability, it stands out for a few reasons.

It is the only unit to have two wireless fast charging phone pads on the top of it. This allows two people’s phones to be charged very quickly at the same time which is always a nice bonus.

It has an extremely intelligent screen onboard. There are so many features and specs that can be changed, tracked, and verified that no other system on the market has. The screen allows people to fine tune their system if they really want to. Or they can just leave it alone and know exactly how much power they’re making, using and how long they have left on their battery very easily.

It is the only unit currently that has a 25amp 12volt plug which many people who use items such as HAM radios can find quite helpful.

Bluetti Smart Screen

Pricing

This really is one of the absolute best features of the Bluetti AC200, it is in a very affordable price range for solar generators. Retailing at $1,799 it costs about the same as a Goal Zero Yeti 1400 unit, but you get nearly twice the unit as you would with a GZ Yeti 1400.

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best portable solar generators

See full comparison chart here

Overview

The AC200 can truly stand on its own. There are three main factors to consider when looking into a solar generator. 1. Battery Capacity. 2. Inverter Size. 3. Solar Charge Rate.

The Bluetti AC200 has a good battery capacity of 1,700wh which is comparable to other units on the market such as the Titan which has a 2,000wh battery. The Titan can expand its battery capacity but for most people a single 1,700wh is plenty big for running simple things like a fridge, freezer, lights and fans during an emergency.

The Bluetti AC200 has a great inverter size. Some people don’t need more than 1,500w but since this unit has a 2,000w draw capacity it ensures that you can run your fridge while running the toaster and you don’t have to unplug everything else just to run one big device.

And lastly, the AC200 has one of the largest solar charge rates of all the solar generators out there. The EcoFlow Delta, Bluetti EB240 and Inergy Apex were all limited to about 400 or 500w of solar input. The AC200 can be over-paneled and put in a true 700w of solar capacity which is great! The only unit currently that beats that charge rate is the Titan with a total of 2,000w solar input capability. But for a system of this size of the AC200, 700w of solar input is extremely good.

It truly stands out as one of the absolute best solar generators currently available.

Continue ReadingWhat is the Best Price and Honest Review of the Bluetti AC200 – Is It Up there with the Titan?

MAXOAK Bluetti AC50 Portable Power Station Review

MAXOAK Bluetti AC50 Power StationTypically, it is preferred to have a larger solar generator or power station as an emergency backup power source. Or it can be used for camping, RVing, off-grid locations and so on. But especially for camping and traveling the larger solar generators can be too big. That is why it is also nice to keep on hand a very small and simple solar generator or power station. It should still be able to be charged by solar in at least one day.

The MAXOAK Bluetti AC50 is a very good option and generally my #1 choice for a very lightweight option. It weighs in exactly at 13lbs 7oz. It is a very affordable, lightweight and easy to use system that is very handy when doing some light camping. It’s definitely not big enough to run a fridge, freezer, or TV for very long. But it does work well for CPAP machines, inflatable beds/air pumps, laptops, and other smaller items.

Inverter

The Bluetti AC50 has a pure sine wave inverter that allows up to a 300-watt continuous draw. The peak draw on it is 450 watts. On most solar generators the peak draw can be run for a couple of seconds. On the AC50 though it can run 450 watts for up to 2.5 minutes! If a little extra power is needed for a short burst, it will be able to handle it no problem.

Click Here to Buy the Bluetti AC50

 

Battery

It has a 500wh Lithium NMC (Lithium-Ion) battery that is capable of a 90% capacity draw. What that means is that 90% of the battery is usable. 500wh x 90% = 450wh usable capacity. I find that I can get more than that depending on what I am using. If I am using a small draw like a phone, camera or laptop I can get a bit more draw out of the battery. But, 450wh is what should be considered the usable amount of battery.

It does allow for the full 300 watts from the inverter to be used until that 450wh is used up which is nice.

Bluetti AC50 Turned On

 

Lifecycles

It is very normal for a Lithium-Ion battery to have about 500 cycles on it. That is how many times it can be drained and recharged fully. After 500 cycles the battery efficiency is about 80%. The best way of extending the lifecycles is to not use the 300-watt draw every single time it’s used and to charge it slower.

The AC50 actually has 1,000 cycles. So it’s twice the standard. The best way to reach that 1,000 cycles is to charge it slowly and discharge it slowly.

Charging

The easiest way to charge the Bluetti AC50 is by using the wall AC adapter but it charges pretty slow. That may be good for the battery to charge slow but it can be a bit of an annoyance to have to wait hours for it to charge all the way up.

It also can be charged by solar. The solar input rating is 14v-40v and 10 amps. It says it’s capable of using one 120w panel to charge. I almost always use 100w solar panels because they are lighter, easier to move and are affordable.Stringing two 100w solar panels together in series will make about 38v and 6 amps of power which is within the safe limit of the Bluetti AC50. I find this is the fastest way of charging it on bright sunny days because it creates much more power than the wall charger.

MAXOAK AC50 Accessories Included

Charging it from a car really isn’t possible since it uses a 24v battery internally and cars use 12v batteries. You can technically get it to work but it won’t charge the battery fully which makes it pointless in my mind. The best thing to do if it needs to be charged on the go is to have a small 300-watt 12v car inverter and use that with the DC cigarette lighter port in the car.

It can be charged and used at the same time. It does have an MPPT charge controller in it though which is great. An MPPT charge controller makes it charge much more efficiently than a PWM. I am glad MAXOAK is putting quality parts into their units.

Outlets

One neat feature is that it does have a wireless charging pad on the top of the AC50 which is nice to use when outdoors. It makes it easy not to worry about forgetting a charging cord for a phone or tablet and it can be placed right on top for charging.

It also includes two 120v AC outlets which can be used up to 300w continuous draw. The 4 USB A ports are rated to 3 amps which means they will do “fast charging.” The single USB C port is rated to 45 watts and will charge much faster for anything that has a USB C charging port such as a laptop.

Inergy Basecamp Lights on AC50One of my favorite features of the Bluetti AC50 is that it has two 5.5×2.1mm barrel ports. To most people, these ports rarely ever get used. But when camping I love to bring the MAXOAK AC50 and a few Inergy Basecamp lights. The lights are extremely bright, lightweight and string together to easily light up the entire campsite. Since the AC50 has two of these ports I can easily string up to 6 or even 12 lights around my campsite and make it extremely bright.

The MAXOAK Bluetti AC50 also has a standard DC cigarette lighter port that is rated to 10 amps. Which means it will pull a maximum of 120 watts from it. The downside of the AC50 is that the DC ports are not regulated. Meaning that as the battery gets drawn lower the output voltage of the DC ports goes down. At 100% the voltage is at 12.4v but as the battery gets drained that voltage will drop. This means at 100% it can make 12.4v x 10a = 124 watts. But at 50% when the voltage is at 10.8v it can only make 10.8v x 10a = 108 watts. This is why it’s nice to have a regulated DC port like the MAXOAK Bluetti EB150 which is the big brother to the AC50.

Click Here to Buy the Bluetti AC50

 

Unique Features

As mentioned above it does have a wireless charger which is really nice for phones. But it also has another unique feature in that it has a nice light built into the back of it. This is helpful when at a cabin, in a tent, in the back of the truck or wherever. It has a high, low and SOS setting. It can be a little bright in the eyes when pointing outwards but I typically point it at a wall, tent wall or away from me and lights things up very well.

Bluetti AC50 Back Light

 

Conclusion

All-in-all I like the Bluetti AC50. I don’t know why MAXOAK decided to name all of their solar generators or power stations “Bluetti” and then change the letters that come after that. It makes it a little confusing. But I do like taking the AC50 with me on camping trips with my family to power the small things in the tent. I typically use it for the air pump for the air mattresses, phones, laptop, speaker, tablets, lights, cameras and so on. If I am going camping for a few days I will bring my two solar panels with me and keep it charged up all day long so it’s ready by the evening.

It comes with everything in the box to connect to wall outlets, solar panels and so on. It also comes with a small bright colored carry case which I find a bit cheesy but is quite helpful. The colors are straight from the ’80s but makes it nice to keep everything together in a nice tight bag.

Continue ReadingMAXOAK Bluetti AC50 Portable Power Station Review

Top 5 Solar Generators for the PG&E California Blackouts

Top 5 Solar Generators for PG&E Blackouts

The PG&E blackouts are severely disrupting the entire state of California. The power outages are typically lasting anywhere from a few days up to a couple of weeks. This is a harsh reality for Californians as PG&E tries to combat potential deadly forest fires.

Getting a gas generator is not a real solution since many people have reported that they wait for hours to fill up gas cans at the gas station and sometimes do not get any gas at all. It has been said by the CEO of PG&E that the power outages will likely be going on over the next 10 years! A long term, easy to use solution is needed for this.

There are multiple easy solutions with solar generators that will give plenty of power to run essentials such as fridge, freezer, lights, computers, phones, medical devices and so on for extended periods of time. Since California gets a lot of high-quality sunshine a portable solar generator is a perfect match for the multi-day to weeklong recurring blackouts.

#1 Solar Generator Option

The #1 solution is the Titan. The Titan is unrivaled by any other portable solar generator when it comes to power output, battery capacity, solar input, expandability and ease of use. There’s simply nothing like it at all. The power module is the top section of the Titan which houses the inverter, plugs, fuses and everything besides the battery. It only weighs 31lbs which is easy to move around and is separates from the battery for easy portability.

The battery weighs 35lbs and is a 2,000wh lithium-ion battery. It has a much higher capacity than the vast majority of portable solar generators on the market. With the ability to expand to an infinite amount of batteries by simply stacking together the Titan can become a huge powerhouse that holds multiple days’ worth of power inside without needing to charge.

The only other portable solar generator that has a larger battery is the Goal Zero Yeti 3000 Lithium. The main issue with the Yeti 3000 is that its battery is very large, and its solar charge input is too low. It can charge up to 720 watts per hour but that is split between two charge controllers, a PWM, and an MPPT. It is unlikely to ever be able to produce a full 720 watts of power so, in essence, it’s impossible to charge the Yeti 3000 in less than 5 hours. A solar generator needs to charge in 5 or less because there are only 5 hours a day that the max solar charge rate can be achieved. And if it can’t charge in less than 5 hours, and items such as fridges and freezers need to be run during the day, it will lead to a never full battery. It also costs more than a Titan.

Charging the Titan is extremely easy since it uses a very common Anderson Powerpole connector and comes with an adapter to connect to PV Connector solar panel connectors. The Titan has not one, but two built-in MPPT charge controllers. With one 2,000wh battery attached to the Titan, it will easily handle up to 1,000 watts of power from the solar panels. The panels cannot exceed 145v and 30amps which is more than any other portable solar generator. Not only that but once there is a total of two or more batteries on the Titan it will handle up to 2,000 watts of solar panels. This means it can quite easily run heavy-duty equipment all day long since it creates so much power from the panels and the battery capacity is so large.

Not only that but the way the Titan MPPT charge controllers are set up it is safe to exceed 1,000 watts in panels into each solar charge port. Why would anyone do that?As long as the panels do not exceed 145v and 30a going into each port I can add as many panels as I want. This means I could have 1,500 watts of panels plugged into one of the two solar input ports, with one battery on the Titan, and it will only let 1,000 watts in. Since it’s rare to have perfect days where the panels make their full power potential, I can overbuild my panel array to more than 1,000 watts and guarantee that a full 1,000 watts is going in.

The #1 selling and used Titan solar generator kit is the Titan 1000 Flexx Kit.

titan portable solar kit 1000W

Kit Includes:

1 Titan Solar Generator
10 Flexx 100-Watt Solar Panels
1 Set of 75ft Panel Extension Cables
2 Sets of 15ft Panel Extension Cables
1 2-Way PV Connector Connector
1 Panel Adapter Plug
1 PV Connector Panel Connector Tool Set
2 EMP Proof Faraday Bags
4 USB Chainable Lights
1 Titan Reset Cable
1 Car Charger
1 Wall Charger
2 Solar Panel Carry Cases
1 Cable and Accessories Carry Case

It has 1,000 watts of solar panels which means in ideal conditions it will recharge the 2,000wh Titan battery in 2 hours. Since there are 5 hours in a day where maximum solar power can be achieved the Titan 1000 Flexx kit will make up to 10,000wh of battery capacity in ideal conditions. This means the Titan could be at 0% when the sun comes up, get fully charged, drained completely again, then recharged all before the sun ever goes down. Because the 1,000 watts in panels can make so much power it is easily possible to add a second battery to the Titan to increase the amount of stored power.

#2 Solar Generator Option

The second-best solution for the PG&E blackouts is the Goal Zero Yeti 1400 Lithium. The reason the Goal Zero 1400 gets second place is that when compared to all the other solar generators it has the second-highest solar input charge rate. It can input a max of 720 watts from solar panels. The 720 watts are split between two charge controllers.

Lifecycles of Goal Zero 1400 Lithium

The Yeti 1400 Lithium comes with a built-in PWM charge controller. A PWM charge controller is not as good as an MPPT charge controller. The PWM charge controller will make less power from the solar panels on both sunny and cloudy days. It is said that the MPPT charge controller can be up to 40% more efficient than a PWM charge controller. Or in other words, it can make up to 40% more power when compared to the PWM charge controller that’s built into the Goal Zero 1400 Lithium.

The MPPT charge controller is an upgrade to the Yeti 1400 and is absolutely worth it. Basically, the only reason the Yeti 1400 makes it into second place is because of the MPPT charge controller. It is not common for the upgraded MPPT charge controller to make 40% more power than the PWM charge controller. It is most commonly found that the MPPT charge controller increases solar input by 10% to 20% over the PWM. Truly, the goal behind adding the MPPT charge controller is to get a second array of solar panels connected so it can charge faster.

With a 1,500w inverter and a 1,425wh battery, the Yeti 1400 is plenty large enough to handle running common essentials. Running items like the refrigerator, freezer, lights, computer, TV, medical devices and so on are not difficult. Weighing about 44lbs it’s not too bad to move around as long as both hands are used.

The biggest limit that the Goal Zero 1400 Lithium generator has is that it only has 2 wall outlet plugs which make it hard to connect multiple devices to it. For this reason, it is important to get a couple of high amp outlet splitters so more than two items can be run off the Yeti 1400.

The max solar input of the Yeti 1400 Lithium is 720 watts. The 720 watts of solar input is split between the two charge controllers. The PWM charge controller allows for a maximum input of 360 watts and the MPPT charge controller allows the same amount. The issue that I have found is that making 360 watts is not easy. The easiest thing I have found to do is put only 600 watts of solar panels on the Goal Zero Yeti 1400. The PWM gets 300 watts and the MPPT gets 300 watts.

Goal Zero Yeti 1400 Wiring DiagramIt’s much easier to use six 100-watt solar panels with the Yeti and it also makes sure that the maximum solar input isn’t reached. But why wouldn’t it be good to put the maximum solar input on the Yeti? The faster the battery is charged the shorter the life of the battery will be. So, by only inputting 600 watts which is still a really good amount of power it will charge quickly each day and extend the life of the battery. Since the PG&E power outages are expected to happen over the next 10 years it’s important to make the equipment last as long as possible.

With 600 watts coming in, it will charge the 1,425wh battery from 0% to 100% in 2.4hrs in ideal conditions. That means it can be at 0% in the morning, get fully charged in a couple of hours, be drained again during the day, and still get fully charged back up to 100% before the sun goes down all in one day.

The panels have to be connected in parallel which increases the amps coming in but allows the voltage to stay below 22v which is the max voltage limit of the Yeti 1400.

Goal Zero 1400 Max KitThe Max Yeti 1400 Lithium Kit:

1 Goal Zero Yeti 1400 Lithium Solar Generator
1 MPPT Charge Controller
6 100-Watt Solar Panels (option 1)
6 100-Watt Solar Panels (option 2)
2 Panel Adapters (Type 1)
2 Sets 70ft. 10 AWG Solar Panel Extension Cable (4 cables total)
2 Sets 3-Way PV Connector Branch Connector
2 Outlet Timers
2 1ft High Amp Outlet Splitter

Having this complete kit will allow for up to 600 watts of solar to go into the Yeti 1400 daily. This gives the best chance of extending the life of the battery so it will last for years on end, as well as makes sure it charges fast enough to have a full battery before the end of each day.

Having 70ft of panel cable makes it easy to reach anywhere in the yard or wherever the panels need to go to get full sunlight. Using the outlet timers on a fridge and freezer will make sure that those units don’t drain the battery more than it needs to be. A normal fridge and freezer will still be the same temperature if run for only 15 minutes of every hour. Especially at night the fridge and freezer can be run even more sporadically to save battery power and keep all the food cold.

Using the high amp outlet splitters will make it easier to run more than two things at the same time off the Yeti 1400. The majority of splitters out there are not rated to 15 amps like they should be. Don’t be fooled thinking any splitter will do because some will simply not handle the power needs of the equipment in the house.

The Goal Zero Yeti 1000 Lithium is identical to the Yeti 1400 Lithium besides the battery size. The battery capacity on the Yeti 1000 is 1,045wh. It will still run 1,500w off the inverter and can upgrade to have the second MPPT charge controller. If this is more in the budget, then it can be as good as the Yeti 1400. The smaller battery will make for shorter charge times. Try not to charge it faster than 2 hours to keep the battery healthy.

#3 Solar Generator Option

Third place is taken up by the ECOFLOW Delta 1300. This almost made second place but for one big reason, it did not make it there. The solar input charge rate is too low to make second place as I’ll explain.

Ecoflow Delta 1300

The Delta appears to be an extremely good system. It has a 1,800-watt inverter which is the second largest in the list. It has a 1,295wh battery which a decent size and is large enough for long term power outages for running essentials and it is lithium-ion. Weighing in at only 31lbs it’s one of the lighter units out there especially for the size of its inverter and battery. It has six AC wall outlet plugs which is phenomenal. It can even chain up to six Delta generators together to expand battery capacity.

Delta Connection DiagramThe one major drawback is that its maximum solar input is only 400 watts. With a 1,295wh battery, it would charge that battery in 3.25hrs which normally is perfectly fine. The only issue is it’s uncommon to have ideal weather conditions. This means that there is a chance that it will not be fully charged by the end of the day. This is especially true if the equipment is being run during the day such as a fridge, freezer, chargers, fans and so on. If only it had a larger solar input rate, then this would for sure be second place.

The solar panel charge port is truly limited to 10-65v and 10a. Very similar to the Bluetti and Alpha as seen in fourth place.

This large limitation is sad but in every other way, the Delta is a very good unit. But if I was in a blackout like the ones in California with PG&E I would rather go with the Titan or Yeti 1400 for sure.

I love that it has a 1,800-watt inverter because that means it can truly run anything that would run off a normal house outlet. By adding more Delta generators, it increases the battery capacity with each one by 1,295wh. That means it has a max battery storage capacity of 1,295wh x 6 Deltas = 7,770wh. The major problem with adding more Deltas to increase the battery capacity is that they chain together using the solar input port. This means that no matter how many are chained together, the max solar input is 400 watts. By adding a second Delta the total battery capacity would be 2,590wh but would take 6.5hrs to charge in perfect conditions. Essentially, it cannot be recharged in a day.ECOFLOW Delta Max Kit

The Max Delta Kit:

1 Delta
4 100-Watt Solar Panels (option 1)
4 100-Watt Solar Panels (option 2)
1 Set of 100ft 12 AWG Panel Extension Cable (2 total)
1 Set of 2-Way PV Connector Branch Connector

One of the major differences between the Bluetti/Alpha and Delta is that the Bluetti/Alpha both are rated to 1,000 cycles on the battery. The Delta is rated to 500 cycles on the battery. This means that according to those reported numbers the Bluetti and Alpha will both last twice as long as the Delta. But on the flip side the Delta has a larger inverter, weighs less and has more outlets. The Delta, Bluetti and Alpha are almost tied for third place.

The Delta has to use its panels connected in a series/parallel connection just like the Bluetti and Alpha which is explained below.

#4 Solar Generator Option

In Fourth place for prolonged power outages are the MAXOAK Bluetti or the ExpertPower Alpha. They are 100% identical units in every way except the branding on the side of the unit. They both weigh 38lbs.

Bluetti and Alpha Generators

There are two reasons why it gets fourth place, the inverter and charge rate. The Bluetti and Alpha both have great sized lithium-ion batteries at 1,500wh each but the inverters are limited to 1,000 watts. Initially, my reaction was “why would anyone put in a 1,500wh battery and then put in an inverter that doesn’t match the battery wattage?” The reason is something most people NEVER consider when looking at solar generators.

An inverter draws its power from the battery. But not all batteries can drain as fast as the inverter can run. With the Bluetti and Alpha, a 1,000w inverter was installed because that’s how fast the battery can drain and still give out full power. Whereas I wish the inverter was bigger I am very glad that I don’t have to pay an additional $100 for the unit just to find out that the battery can’t drain as fast as the inverter can run. They matched the inverter size to the drain capacity of the battery.

Bluetti Alpha Connection DiagramThere are other units that have larger inverters than the battery can drain and that’ll be shown in the fifth-place unit.

The second reason why the Bluetti and Alpha are in fourth place is the solar charge rate. It says in the user manual that they can input up to 500 watts of solar power to recharge the battery. This is great because that means it will recharge in 3 hours which leaves plenty of time during the day to run equipment while recharging. The problem is that I have not been able to successfully charge more than 400 watts into the Bluetti and Alpha.

The user manual says 500 watts of solar input, but the true limit is 16-60 volts and 10 amps. When solar panels are connected in series (positive connector on panel 1 to negative connector on panel 2 etc.…) the voltage increases and the amps stay the same. The average 100-watt solar panel will make about 18 to 21 volts and 5 to 6 amps. When two 100-watt panels are connected to each other in series, their average combined power is 20v x 2 = 40v and 5 amps.

If three panels are connected in series the average voltage will be 60 volts and 5 amps. Since the true solar input limit is 60v and 10a at a max that would mean adding more than 300 watts in panels is impossible.

What needs to be done is the panels need to be configured into a Series/Parallel connection. This means there are two sets of solar panels and each set has two panels. The first set of two panels will be connected in series as well as the second set. Then the two sets will be paralleled together. This means there will be two sets that are each making about 40v and 5a. When the two sets combine it will be 40v and 10a.

Having tested this many times this seems to be the max input achievable without adding two 50-watt panels to the array. Typically, I find that adding a 50-watt solar panel to each set puts the voltage higher than what the Bluetti and Alpha can handle. Luckily if the volts or amps go higher than they can handle they will simply have an error code come up on the screen. It will not burn out the system because it will simply turn off the charge port, so no power goes in.MAXOAK Bluetti Max Kit

The Max Bluetti/Alpha Kit:

1 MAXOAK Bluetti
4 100-Watt Solar Panels (option 1)
4 100-Watt Solar Panels (option 2)
1 Set of 100ft 12 AWG Panel Extension Cable (2 total)
1 Set of 2-Way PV Connector Branch Connector

I personally do not recommend getting the 50-watt panels to add because they may work when it’s a bit cloudy but if the clouds go away and the sun comes out then it will exceed the input limit and cause an error. This would stop it from charging at all.

With 400 watts in solar panels and a 1,500wh capacity, the Bluetti and Alpha can be charged in 3.75hrs in ideal conditions. This is a fair amount of power to come in during the day which means running essentials during the day is still possible while charging. There is however a slightly higher chance, depending on what is being run, that by the end of the day the battery will not be 100% topped off. Most of the time the battery is topped off because the panels will make power outside of the 5-hour max solar panel production window.

#5 Solar Generator Option

Fifth place is the Inergy Apex solar generator. When the Apex was announced it was supposed to be better than any other solar generator on the market. Certain limitations of the Apex though made it so that it is not even in the top 3 for solar generators that can be depended on for long term power outages. It is a good system except for the battery discharge rate as mentioned earlier.

Inergy Apex Solar Generator

The Apex has a 1,500w inverter and a 1,100wh battery with a built-in MPPT charge controller. Weighing in at only 25lbs it is very lightweight and easy to use. With the ability to charge up to 500 watts from solar panels it will charge in just over two hours quite easily.

Up until recently though, it was required to use Inergy branded panels. Finally, the company changed its mind and now has an EC8 to PV Connector adapter available for purchase. Using the Linx Flexible panels from Inergy works fine but it is important to note that the EC8 connector is not UV proof. This means after a long time exposed to the sun it will crumble to pieces and break. It is also not waterproof so additional items will need to be purchased in order to keep the panels in good working condition.

Apex Connection DiagramBesides the limitations of the panels, the biggest concern of the Apex is that it cannot run more than 550 watts continuously for more than 2.5mins. After two and a half minutes the inverter will turn off power to the AC plugs. It is said that this is done to protect the battery from having a short life. This does mean though that if more than 550 watts need to be run continuously for more than 2.5mins that the Apex will not stand up to the task.

Even though it has a 1,500-watt inverter it will not run more than 550 watts nonstop. The biggest concern would be an example like running a refrigerator, freezer, and TV at the same time. If the condensers on the fridge and freezer happen to be running at the same time as the TV it will very likely be more than 550 watts continuously for more than 2.5 minutes.

If the power was out and you were enjoying a movie after a long day of work and having to come home to the power being out, the move may be interrupted. You could run into issues with having other things running at the same time as well. This includes many other items that use more than 550 watts continuously or having multiple items running at the same time that their combined power draw exceeds 550 watts.

The only reason it would be recommended to use the Apex is if you know that you will rarely need to run more than 550 watts continuously. Also, if you will rarely need to do that you will want to make sure that when it does happen that it doesn’t last longer than 2.5 minutes.

There is a way to pull more than 550 watts for longer than 2.5 minutes. The only way I have found I can do that is when the solar panels are charging the Apex. The battery can only drain at 550 watts continuously. But if I have 400 watts of power coming in from the panels then I can draw 950 watts (550w from battery + 400 watts from panels) off the Apex for as long as I have 400 watts coming from the panels. The other option is to have another external battery attached to the Apex because then the draw is being shared between the Apex battery and the external battery.

 

The other thing to be aware of is that the 110/120v household plugs on the Apex are only rated to 10 amps. The way watts are calculated is you take Volts x Amps = Watts. This means that each AC plug is rated to: 120v x 10a = 1,200 watts. Running things like microwaves, toasters, electric cooktops and so on will likely not work or will only barely work depending on the actual device.

30a to 15a Adapter

 

The best thing to do in order to pull a full 1,500 watts is to use the 30amp RV plug with a 30a to 15a plug adapter. The RV plug is capable of putting out the full 1,500 watts that the inverter can do.

 

Inergy Apex Max Kit

The Max Apex Kit:

1 Apex
5 100-Watt Solar Panels (option 1)
5 100-Watt Solar Panels (option 2)
1 Set of 70ft 8AWG Panel Extension Cable (2 total)
2 Sets of 5ft 8AWG Panel Extension Cables (4 total, panels 1 and 5 need extensions to reach connector)
1 EC8 to PV Connector Adapter
1 5 to 1 PV Connector Branch Connector
1 30amp to 15amp Plug Adapter
1/Linx Panel Cord Cover (Only if using Inergy Linx Panels)

EC8 6ft and 30ft CablesAnother thing to be aware of with the Inergy Linx solar panels is that each panel will not directly connect to each other. The cables that come off of the Linx panels are both male EC8 connectors. Each panel has a 6ft adapter cable that goes between the panels. This means it is absolutely crucial that those 6ft connector cables are not misplaced and are always with the 30ft EC8 cable to connect to the Apex. Of course, that only matters if you are using the Linx panels. I do not use the Linx panels because I have found others that I prefer and put out a lot of power.

Conclusion

There truly is nothing better than the Titan as seen in this comparison. With how large the inverter, battery and solar panel input capacities are of the Titan it truly will run for weeks, months and years on end without any problems. The only thing left to figure out is what size kit is needed in order to run everything for however long it is required.

The Goal Zero Yeti 1400 Lithium is definitely a great second choice as long as the MPPT charge controller is added to it. Without that then there’s hardly anything different between it and the Delta, Bluetti, Alpha or Apex.

There are varying sizes of kits of the Titan to fit everyone’s needs and is easily expandable down the road too if you find you need more panels or batteries. Hopefully, the PG&E power outages will get worked out sooner rather than later. This simply goes to show that we can’t take electricity for granted. We need to be prepared with long term power options like solar generators. There’s nothing else that will provide long term power without any issues since gas generators require so much maintenance. Now is definitely the time to get a solar generator.

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