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What you really need is a solar generator with battery and inverter. This is the minimum you need to run a hot plate:


For a no limits system look at


This is my "I only need to run my CPAP at night and recharge phones" camping setup

I could go into the long boring details, but I would simply recommend, very stongly, to avoid those. The term "solar generator" is just a gimick phrase. They are simply a low amp hour lithium battery with a built in AC charger and inverter.. at excessively high price tag to boot. ;)

They are playing with the math to the extreme in their solar recharging times and would require additional panels (in the first kit.. 2 additional for 3 total) to even "theoretically" produce what they are claiming. Even then, the "math" might say it's possible in 10-21hrs, however, solar panels don't typically produce at the max rated level and there are not that many hours of the day suitable for solar production. So... what they really mean is, 2-4days if not in use. For one example....
 
I could go into the long boring details, but I would simply recommend, very stongly, to avoid those. The term "solar generator" is just a gimick phrase. They are simply a low amp hour lithium battery with a built in AC charger and inverter.. at excessively high price tag to boot. ;)

They are playing with the math to the extreme in their solar recharging times and would require additional panels (in the first kit.. 2 additional for 3 total) to even "theoretically" produce what they are claiming. Even then, the "math" might say it's possible in 10-21hrs, however, solar panels don't typically produce at the max rated level and there are not that many hours of the day suitable for solar production. So... what they really mean is, 2-4days if not in use. For one example....
Not to be argumentative or disregard your knowledge in this matter, but I disagree.

Recently purchased a Jackery solar generator kit that included 2 "battery packs" and 2 100 watt panels. One battery is 290ah and the other is 1200ah. I plugged one panel into each generator and they fully charged in about 8 hours. The display on the 1200ah generator read about 90-96 watts throughout the charging cycle, while the 290ah read about 65 watts. Both were side by side and swapping the panels didn't affect the charging rate. Must be something to do with the internal regulator for the smaller unit. After I drain the 1200ah unit, I will charge it with both panels to see what the charge time is with both panels in parallel.
 
Someone suggested the Harbor Freight one, I would not recommend this at all. I bought this kit and wasn't satisfied, so I bought another kit and doubled the capacity. Extremely dismal results to say the least. I ended up giving it all to a fellow member here as I would feel guilty accepting any money for that crap. I considered it an expensive lesson in quality tools, stay away from that sh!tty arse place and buy quality.
 
Are you talking about the Jackery kit at Harbor Freight? I happened to be there after i bought my setup and saw the 290ah generator there, minus the panel. Way more than I have seen it listed elsewhere. They also had a generic no name system for sale if that's what you're referring to.

The no-name unit had modified sine wave output compared to Jackery pure sine wave ac output.
 
Not that kit, this was a couple years back and the system was highly recommended but failed to even keep batteries charged while not in use. I'd disconnect the batteries every Sunday from the trailer and tried to use the solar to charge during the entire week while at work. They'd be completely discharged when we'd get back to camp the following Saturday and I'd need to run my generator to charge them. The Harbor Freight junk successfully discharged my batteries every time.
 
Recently purchased a Jackery solar generator kit that included 2 "battery packs" and 2 100 watt panels. One battery is 290ah and the other is 1200ah.
You are confusing "Ah" with "Wh", which is how Jackery (and most "solar generators") rate their capacity. A 1200Wh capacity translates into about 80Ah's and a 290Wh about 20Ah. Completely different animals and amps are the "go juice" for electronics. Watts and volts simply "push" the amps to where you want them.

That's part of the 'gimmick' though. Putting ratings into Watts increases the rating numbers, so it seems like you're getting a lot of capacity for your money, but in actuality, that's not entirely true. It does make it easier for end users though who want to know if they can plug their 'X" watt rated device into the "X" watt rated battery pack or not.

Obviously, recharging a portion of a 20Ah battery can be done much quicker on solar than a 100Ah or larger capacity battery. Example: Solar panel/s generating 8amps will replace 8Ah's of power per hour. That's a gross oversimplification since the example doesn't account for resistance or overhead, but you get the idea. Obviously, nothing attached to it sucking juice at the time either. :D

It's easy to see though that pushing 10Ah into a 20Ah battery really won't take multiple days of peak daylight as I mentioned earlier. Apples and oranges. ;)

Packages like that are convenient and require very little learning curve. That's not a bad thing. My point simply being that expectations of what they are actually capable of needs to be managed and realizing that the electronic packages are of very low quality. That can traslate not only into reliability issues, but also excessive wear and tear on your electronics. To consider.... you're also paying out the nose at a painful rate for that convenience.

The nutshell: You can spend $2k on a package like that with an 80 or 90ah capacity... that is likely not very reliable and comes with some potential risks to your electronics... OR... $1k for a "top of the line" portable inverter generator with higher capability, extremely reliable, "clean" electricity, on demand power and unlimited "capacity"... OR... $500 for the same thing that will probably get the job done just as well, and maybe more bang for the buck if you only use it very occassionally, anyway.

Personally, I'm a solar nut and pretty much live off of solar production, however, the financials still have to make sense and I do own and use a set of portable gensets.
 
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You are confusing "Ah" with "Wh", which is how Jackery (and most "solar generators") rate their capacity. A 1200Wh capacity translates into about 80Ah's and a 290Wh about 20Ah. Completely different animals and amps are the "go juice" for electronics. Watts and volts simply "push" the amps to where you want them.
Thanks for the correction. I was imbibing by the grill last night and misspoke. 😁

My intention for these is to recharge electronic devices with the smaller unit and run some lights and maintain the camper battery with the larger one. No need for larger capacity for my intended use.
 
RE : Solar for the home.

Now a days......I have been seeing a lot of ads (on YouTube) for FREE solar panels. The ads mention that the Govt has passed a law, blah, blah, blah......

Anyway, I responded. Set up an appointment and the guy was suppose to call me. Yeah.....I even stayed home (didn't go to the range that day) to receive the call. Hours late. I finally got the call.

Me : "Sorry it appears that.......YOU forgot about ME and so at this point I'll forget about YOU and your company. Bye, bye."

The company Involved : Energy Transition Co.

I leave it to YOU.
YOU can choose to play or not.

Aloha, Mark
 
RE : Solar for the home.

Now a days......I have been seeing a lot of ads (on YouTube) for FREE solar panels. The ads mention that the Govt has passed a law, blah, blah, blah......

Anyway, I responded. Set up an appointment and the guy was suppose to call me. Yeah.....I even stayed home (didn't go to the range that day) to receive the call. Hours late. I finally got the call.

Me : "Sorry it appears that.......YOU forgot about ME and so at this point I'll forget about YOU and your company. Bye, bye."

The company Involved : Energy Transition Co.

I leave it to YOU.
YOU can choose to play or not.

Aloha, Mark


I detect…. anger.
 
RE : Solar for the home.

Now a days......I have been seeing a lot of ads (on YouTube) for FREE solar panels. The ads mention that the Govt has passed a law, blah, blah, blah......

Anyway, I responded. Set up an appointment and the guy was suppose to call me. Yeah.....I even stayed home (didn't go to the range that day) to receive the call. Hours late. I finally got the call.

Me : "Sorry it appears that.......YOU forgot about ME and so at this point I'll forget about YOU and your company. Bye, bye."

The company Involved : Energy Transition Co.

I leave it to YOU.
YOU can choose to play or not.

Aloha, Mark
Free panels probably means the install is $100,000 and then when you go to sell your house there's a lein on it because they're not your panels.
 
The more I think about it.......

Perhaps.....it's a backdoor way......to promote Brandon's agenda. Even without giving away ANY free panels.

Rrrrrright......because I heard NOTHING (in the news) about the "program".


Aloha, Mark
 
Recently purchased one for my travel trailer, will top off the batteries each day. Four days last time and didn't even bring a generator with me. Has its limitations for sure and I was parked in full sun but it was charging while under my rv carport in the shade too.

Was $186 with tax, extension cord and controller. Harbor Freight.
 
Recently purchased one for my travel trailer, will top off the batteries each day. Four days last time and didn't even bring a generator with me. Has its limitations for sure and I was parked in full sun but it was charging while under my re carport in the shade too.

Was $186 with tax, extension cord and controller. Harbor Freight.
These things are certainly coming along. The way all tech advances suspect it will not be long before some will really be good and cheap. When this thread started and I was looking at some of the take with you battery packs it was impressive how far this stuff has gotten. The UPS I use for the main PC and camera system here is many years old. Not sure how much "life" it still has. Been tempted to buy one of the smaller portable units and just plug it in for that use with winter coming. Figure sooner or later we will have a power outage here. Be nice to have the camera's keep working while I get the genset set up now since I want to see if anyone starts climbing the fences while I am out there running cords.
 
What you really need is a solar generator with battery and inverter. This is the minimum you need to run a hot plate:


For a no limits system look at


This is my "I only need to run my CPAP at night and recharge phones" camping setup


[h3][/h3][h3][/h3]
For a different take on a solar generator, check out post #1088 in the thread below.

 

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