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.

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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

Jackery Explorer 2000 Review

The Jackery Explorer 2000 launched and was sold out within hours of the launch beginning. Many people have been anticipating their new solar generator launch because every year on March 18th they launch their new products. They launched a Jackery Explorer 2000 and a Jackery Explorer 1500. The Jackery Explorer 2000 has some incredible specs and features that will make many people want to take a look at this unit.

The Jackery Explorer 2000 is their largest unit that they’ve released so far. The largest before was the popular Jackery Explorer 1000. There were a few things that didn’t go so well with the Jackery 1000 but it was lightweight and easy to use.

The Jackery 2000 has many new features such as an upgraded display screen, an upgraded fast wall charger, and is extremely compact for its capabilities. With a max solar input of 800w, this unit should charge up extremely fast. But the solar charge rate may actually be the #1 reason you don’t want to buy this unit. We’ll address that shortly.

The Jackery 2000 is very similar to the Bluetti AC200 and the Elechive 2200 solar generators. The Jackery Explorer 2000 will be slightly more in price than the Bluetti AC200 and a little less in price than the Elechive 2200.

Battery

Jackery has proven itself to be a major company in the power station and solar generator world. They are tried and true and have become a very reliable company for customers to work with.

The Jackery Explorer 2000 has a 2,060wh lithium nmc (lithium-ion) battery that helps keep it lighter for its size. This is what gives most of the weight to the unit at a total weight of 43lbs. That’s definitely on the heavier side but not totally unmanageable. By comparison, the Bluetti EB240 weighs 48lbs, has a 2,400wh battery, but only a 1,000w inverter, and only 400w of solar input.

The Jackery 2000 has a similar-sized battery to the EB240 but has twice the inverter size and twice the solar input and it weighs less than the EB240.

What’s new with the Jackery 2000 is that it uses a 36v battery instead of the traditional 12v battery. Having a higher voltage battery makes it more efficient so you get more power out of the battery through the inverter.

Sadly, the Jackery E2000 is only rated to 500 cycles of battery life. Many different companies rate their batteries in different ways, but it would be nice to see more than 500 cycles out of this unit since it is a powerful unit. It is rated to last 500 cycles or 8 years before the battery is at 80% efficiency.

Inverter

One confusing feature of the Jackery 2000 is that the name doesn’t exactly refer to the size of the battery or the inverter. Since the inverter has a 2,200w continuous output capacity and the battery is 2,060wh, it can get confusing why they put “2000” in the name.

But this unit uses a pure sine wave 2,200w inverter that is very powerful for its size. What’s nice about having a 2,200w pure sine wave inverter is that the Jackery Explorer 2000 is capable of powering anything that you’d plug into a normal wall outlet at home. Whether it’s a microwave, toaster, coffee maker, fridge, tv, chop saw, room-sized/window a/c unit, e-bike, you name it and it can run it.

Now it will only run as long as it has enough battery power or solar power but still, the inverter is very strong. It can be running a fridge and a microwave at the same time which is a nice feature since we don’t want to unplug the fridge just to heat up a burrito.

One neat feature or what some may consider an annoying feature is the auto-off setting in the Jackery Explorer 2000. If there is less than a 25w draw for more than 12 hours, it will automatically shut off. This could be problematic for some if they are just charging a phone since a phone won’t draw more than 25w. But they are also unlikely to be charging for more than 12 hours. This will most likely be appreciated by most people in case they forget to turn it off it won’t drain itself to empty.

Another nice feature is if you overload the unit and it’s not working properly you can reset the battery and the whole system completely. Normally if you use too much power, the Jackery 2000 will simply cut power to all outlets. Then you can turn it off, turn it back on and it will work again. But if for some reason it doesn’t do that, you can hold the USB and Display button for 13 seconds and it will completely reset the system. This is the same idea as other solar generators but other solar generators usually have a breaker button that can be used.

The inverter is actually capable of running 20amp equipment if needed as well.

Charging

This may be the one reason you may want to reconsider getting a Jackery Explorer 2000 or any Jackery solar generator. The Jackery 2000 says it can handle up to 800w of solar input which is incredible for a unit of this size. With a battery size of 2,060wh and a solar charge rate of 800w this system can be recharged in as little as 2.6 hours.

That’s a very fast charge rate which means it’s easy to use the Jackery 2000 all day long to run something like a fridge and then still be able to recharge it fully by the end of the day while still running equipment all day long.

With those kinds of charge speeds, this would be the first Jackery solar generator that could be recommended to have for emergency preparedness and longer blackouts. But, can it really input the full 800w it’s rated to?

With every Jackery Explorer solar generator that has ever been released, none of them have had the ability to reach their full solar input rating. For example, on the Jackery Explorer 1000 video, the maximum solar input we could get was 130w even though it has a 200w MPPT charge controller. That’s only 65% of what the rated amount is. That’s not very good at all.

The Jackery Explorer 2000 is rated to 800w solar input between two MPPT charge controllers (400w each) but Jackery specifically explains that the fastest time that the E2000 can be charged in is 3.9 hours. If we take 2,060wh and divide it by 3.9 hours that tells us the max solar input of (2,060wh ÷ 3.9hrs) 528 watts. Then if we take the actual solar input of 528w and divide that by the rated input wattage of 800w we get (528w ÷ 800w) 66%. That means that Jackery has stayed on par with their previous units of only being able to input about 66% of the total rated solar input. That’s not great.

Losing the ability to charge nearly 300w more per hour is huge! An 800w solar charge rate is extremely fast for a unit of this size. Really they need to advertise to people that it has a 500w solar charge rate and then when people get above 500w they are happy. Rather than saying it’s an 800w solar charge rate and people can’t get above 528w and be upset. This is something that everyone needs to know about this unit.

Everyone who’s interested in this unit needs to be aware that they are looking at around 4 hours to charge it up instead of about 2.5hrs. This is really unfair to do to customers. It’s all about letting people know upfront what they’re actually getting.

Does that make the Jackery Explorer 2000 a bad unit to buy? No, not necessarily. There are 5 solar peak hours every day. Meaning for 5 hours every day, on average, you can make the maximum wattage your solar panels are rated to. If you’re using the Jackery SolarSaga 200 solar panel it is capable of making 200w for up to 5 hours each day. It will still make power when the sun is out outside of that 5-hour window but you can count on the 5 solar peak hours to be the average solar production each day.

With a 4 hour charge time, it’s still potentially possible to get a fully charged unit while still running vital equipment such as a fridge and freezer all day long. Especially if you use an outlet timer to control when the fridge and freezers are running during the day and night. This is best used when there is a power outage to help conserve energy off of the unit.

It may not charge in 2.6 hours, but it still may be a good unit for you if you don’t need it to charge in less than 4 hours. At a minimum, because it still can be fully charged in a day in under 5 hours, it’s still a solar generator that can be recommended for small power outages.

On a happier note, it does use a very fast and simple wall charger that will charge the entire system from 0% to 100% in 2.6 hours from a wall outlet. And it does include a car charger that will recharge the whole system in 18 hours which is a typical charge rate for any solar generator.

Outlets

It has four AC 110v outlets which are the most Jackery has ever put on any of their units. Four outlets are usually enough to run all the essentials during a blackout or while traveling. Running a fridge, freezer, laundry machine, and microwave is all possible on the Jackery 2000. Of course, it’s easy to grab a power strip and add more outlets too but you just can’t exceed the 2,200w output of the solar generator.

There is one USB-C 60w port, one USB-A 12w port, and one USB-A QUAL COMM 3.0 multi-voltage port that can go up to about 18w output.

There is the standard regulated 12v and 10a DC cigarette lighter port that is typical with all Jackery solar generators.

For having an inverter and battery this large in the Explorer 2000 it would have been nice for them to include an RV plug since it is capable of running small RVs. It is also possible to simply purchase a 15a to 30a dog bone adapter as well and run an RV that way. Keep in mind, it is not going to run the A/C very long at all but will run pretty much everything else quite well.

Pricing

For everything that is included in the Jackery Explorer 2000, it is a very fair price. I have developed a way of comparing all solar generators’ prices based on their battery size, inverter size, and solar charge controller size. Those are the three most important features in reviewing any solar generator.

I take the total price of the unit and divide that into the rated limits of those three items in the solar generator. The Jackery Explorer 2000 costs right about $2,099. With a 2,060wh battery, 2,200w inverter, and 800w solar charge controller, the “Unit Wattage”, as I call it encompassing the biggest features, comes out to be only $1.53/unit wattage. That is considered to be a very good price for all the features you get.

However, after reviewing the Jackery 2000 and knowing that we can only get 528w of solar input, if we substitute that true number for the rated number for solar input and redo the math it comes out to be $1.98/unit wattage which is only okay.

The best solar generator that has the lowest “unit wattage” is the Titan solar generator. The Titan has a 3,000w inverter, 2,000wh batteries that are expandable, and has 2,000w of solar input. The Titan’s unit wattage price comes out to be only $1.33/unit wattage which means it is a better “bang for the buck.” For everything included in the Titan, it is the absolute most affordable system to go with when factoring in all its features.

There are other features to the Titan such as its ability to split into multiple pieces so it never weighs more than 35lbs which makes it lighter/easier to move than the Jackery 2000. It is also rated to 2,000 cycles per battery and includes a 30amp RV plug on it. The Titan is considered the #1 best solar generator currently. But maybe you don’t need the strongest solar generator available.

Conclusion

After investigating different reviews of the Jackery Explorer 2000 and comparing it to other solar generators, it is safe to say that the Explorer 2000 is truly the best solar generator that Jackery has made so far.

It is fully capable of running bare essentials for long-term power outages or running a small RV. For outdoor activities and camping, it is a great resource and will help many people in times of need.

It may not be the #1 solar generator of all the different solar generators currently available, but it is definitely within the top 5. A unit that anyone would be proud to own.

Continue ReadingJackery Explorer 2000 Review

Why the Jackery Explorer 1000 May Not be Able to Compete with the Competition

Jackery Explorer 1000 Power Station Solar Generator

Jackery Power Outdoors, who makes the Jackery Explorer 1000, was founded in 2012 in Silicon Valley. The founder was a previous Apple battery engineer. They claim to be the first company to create a portable power station with a lithium battery in 2015. Whether they were the first or not, lithium batteries are the only way to go.

Jackery has made a name for themselves in the solar generator market, especially on Amazon. Go check out the reviews on their portable power stations and you’ll see thousands of satisfied customers. The Jackery Explorer 1000 is their newest and biggest model to date. Their previous models came in at 500, 240, and 160. The model number of course corresponds to the strength and size of the system in terms of battery capacity.

While the previous models were great for cell phones, laptops, Bluetooth speakers, etc, the 1000 opens the potential for more powerful electrical appliances. Let’s break it down and go over its features point by point.

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Battery Capacity

The Jackery Explorer 1000 comes in fairly strong with a 1002Wh (21.6V, 46.4Ah Lithium Ion NMC battery. Having a 21.6V battery vs 12V comes with many advantages.

  • It keeps costs down. With a 1000W inverter and a 12V battery, you would have 83 amps running through the copper wiring inside of the unit. With a 1000W inverter and a 21.6V battery, you would only have 46 amps. That means the copper wire for a 12V would have to be almost twice as thick or doubled up. Copper wire is expensive so being able to use a smaller size saves money in production and saves money for the consumer.
  • Higher voltage runs more efficiently than a 12V. Why? A 21.6V battery is running 46 amps. A 12V battery is running 83 amps. Electrical current (amp) causes heat. The more current, the more heat. The more heat in the wiring wastes power, making your system run less efficiently. In this case, the 21.6V battery would be almost twice as efficient as a 12V battery. What this means is that whether you are charging your battery or using it to power your equipment, you will get a minimal waste of power so that your battery charges faster or has a higher output.Explorer 1000 Outputs

It’s good to see all these companies using high-quality lithium-ion batteries. One of the great things about Lithium-Ion batteries is the weight. They are so much lighter than the older lead-based batteries. 1002Wh is probably the bare minimum that you want for your basic generator tasks. Most people will buy small and quickly realize that they need more juice. Unlike the Titan, there is no battery expansion option for the Jackery. What you get is what you get.

The battery is good for 500 life cycles to 80%. A single cycle of the battery means when it goes from 100% down to 0% and then charged back to 100%. If you are running your battery down to 50% and back to 100%, then that 500 life cycles is actually 1000 half-cycles. And even after that, the battery still functions at 80% efficiency meaning you still have an effective unit. Don’t get hung up on the lifecycles. It’d be nice if it had 2,000 lifecycles like the Titan but 500 is pretty standard even though it’s lower.

Obviously, if you use it occasionally, 500 charges are going to last awhile. If you were using it daily, say to power your DC fridge in your RV, and only run it down to 50% before charging it, then it would be good for close to 3 years. It would still be useful after that, just running at 80% efficiency. 

Inverter

What will the Jackery1000 Run

The inverter for this model is a 1000W Pure Sine Wave with 2000W surge power. The benefit of having a 1000W inverter is that it pairs well with the 1002Wh battery. For some reason, certain companies don’t match the inverter size to the battery size.

For example, the Inergy Apex has a 1100Wh battery and a 1500w inverter. During my testing of it, I discovered that the battery was only capable of pulling 850 watts continuously. It doesn’t make sense to have such a large inverter if it can’t get a full draw on the battery. You are just paying for more expensive equipment that you can’t even use. The Jackery 1000 doesn’t have this problem, and the 1000w inverter can pull the full 1000Wh of the battery.

Weight/Portability

Jackery 1000 vs Bluetti EB150

One of the great features of the Explorer 1000 is the weight. It comes in at 22 pounds. Let’s compare that to similar generators. The Goal Zero Yeti 1000 comes in at 40 pounds. The MAXOAK Bluetti EB150 comes in at 38 pounds. It is definitely one of the lightest 1000W generators on the market.

The Inergy Apex comes in at 25 pounds with a 1100Wh battery, but as I said above, it’s limited in its output. It can only pull 850 watts whereas the Jackery 1000 can do the full 1000 watts.

It also incorporates an easy carry handle. If you are going for a lightweight 1000w generator, this is a good option for the weight. It is very portable for its output. Similar to the Bluetti EB150 as far as inverter capability but a smaller battery and less solar input.

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Charge Speed

A big hang-up with this model is the charging speed. It is not very impressive. Plugged into an AC outlet, you’re looking at around 7 hours from 0 to 100%.

Using two of the Jackery SolarSaga 100w solar panels, you’ll be around 8 hours for a full recharge.

(2) 100w panels x 8 hours = 1600Wh. Seems like it should only take 5 hours right? Well, the Jackery SolarSaga 100w solar panels actually only charge at about 67w. Our formula would look like this:

(2) 67w panels x 8 hours = 1072Wh. Much closer to the 1002Wh battery.

The 67w seems a bit low especially since the Explorer 1000 has an MPPT charge controller. Typically, an MPPT charge controller will allow the panel to make much better power even in poorer conditions.

While I like the foldup design of the SolarSaga panels, their input is very lacking and really dampens the effectiveness of the unit.

One of my favorite features of the Jackery 1000 is that they put in an Anderson Powerpole input plug! Finally, they have started turning away from their proprietary 8mm plug that made it hard to get regular panels connected to their Jackery units. Now I can use a simple PV Connector to Anderson Powerpole adapter and get power into my Jackery Explorer 1000. That was not something I could do with my other Jackery units.

The average sunlight you can expect on a good day is about 5 hours. If it takes 8 hours of sunlight for a full recharge, you are looking at two days to charge it, and that is without using it at night also. If you could use traditional solar panels that pulled in a full 200w, then in a single day you could charge to full capacity. While they stepped up the performance of the Jackery Explorer 1000, their solar panels could use an upgrade to match the bigger battery.

Explorer running DC Fridge

It does have a car charging option. It takes about 14 hours to charge from your vehicle. That would mean the car charger is putting out about 70W of energy.

1000W/14Hrs = 71W. If you were driving across the country with a DC fridge that consumed 30W, then you could be slowly charging your Jackery 1000 at 41Wh/hr while still keeping your fridge running.

If you are using the Jackery Explorer 1000 on a daily basis for your electric needs, you might not be able to charge it to full capacity at the same time. That would be very frustrating while RVing or in an emergency situation.

Compared to similar models, like the Bluetti EB150 that can have a 400w input, it really underperforms in this area. Because of that, it might not be the best option if you plan on using it daily. If you needed something that you could use daily while charging to full capacity at the same time, you might want to look at the Titan.

Plugin Ports

Jackery 1000 Outlets

The amount of ports on your generator makes a big difference. The Jackery 1000 has a useful (3) 110v AC ports (big improvement over the Jackery 500 with only 2 ports), (2) USB-A ports, (2) USB-C ports, and (1) DC 12V car port. If you have read any of my other reviews, you know that one of my pet peeves is how close the outlets are to each other on many systems. Some companies like to cram the outlets too close to each other. If you have a power cord with a box on it the other outlets might get covered.

Thankfully, the Explorer 1000 doesn’t do this. There is a good amount of space between the outlets. And the USB ports and car port give you plenty of options for charging the smaller items, like phones, tablets, etc.  For the size and portability of the generator, it has a good amount of ports which means you can keep all the essentials up and running when needed.

 Price

I have looked everywhere to find the absolute best price for this unit. The best price I have been able to find for the Jackery Explorer 1000 comes in right at $999.99 on Amazon. It comes with 1 AC Adapter, 1 car charger cable, 1 SolarSaga Parallel adapter cable, and the user guide.

At one point Jackery was offering an option to get a free SolarSaga solar panel with the order of the Jackery 1000 unit but they have since done away with that and there are no coupon codes currently available.

Customer Service and Warranty

Some companies don’t make it easy to contact them. Jackery provided both a phone number and an email on their website if you have sales questions or issues. I gave them a call to see if I could talk to a representative and ask them a few questions.

Their opening message asks you to email them if you are calling about your order. Press 1 if you have any other questions. Press 2 for service. I pressed 1 and immediately went to an answering machine. I left my name, number, and email. It sounds like they prefer to do email, so I won’t be surprised if they email me back.

Their generators come with a 2-year warranty, which is plenty long for a solar generator. If it has been working fine in that time frame, it is unlikely for something to go wrong after that. It is non-transferable, so if you buy used, make sure you are aware of that.

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Conclusion

The 3 cornerstones of solar generators are:

  1. Inverter Capacity
  2. Batter Capacity
  3. Solar Input Capacity

The Jackery Explorer 1000 has a good inverter and a good battery capacity for very basic power needs. They are equally matched with each other and use the latest technology for increased performance. But it does come short in the solar input category. Definitely something Jackery should consider upgrading in their next model. If they upgraded the input and had bigger solar panels, they could have a really effective lightweight unit. Beyond that, if they could make it to where you could add more batteries then it would be even better.

For the weight and the price, I think the Jackery 1000 will fit certain people’s needs. There might be better options out there, but everything is a compromise and while other ones might outperform in one area, they might underperform in another area.

It does not have enough juice to keep your house running on a daily basis so if you’re looking for something like that, check out my review on the Titan. It’s probably best suited for a weekend camping trip, a day at the beach, Vanlife, or as an emergency backup power supply for a fridge if there is a power outage.

Continue ReadingWhy the Jackery Explorer 1000 May Not be Able to Compete with the Competition