Anyone up on portable power stations/solar generators?

I live in an area/city prone to power outages (especially in the winter) and have been looking into 1000w portable solar generators/power stations.

As it stand I'm leaning towards the Jackery Explorer 1000 model with 2 of their solar panels to keep it charged. I've ahd and no longer want to deal with fossil fuel generators, so that's a nonstarter for me.

Anyone have advice or maybe another equally good or better product they've used or researched?

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CopperCicada · M

I used to have a gasoline generator-- but I got rid of it.

My needs were a response to power outages due to hurricanes. In this area even a moderate storm can take the power out for a week or two. It's the live oaks coming down. My specific needs were to keep my late wife's medicine cold.

We realized that the Publix stores are all on emergency backup which seems to be able to last for days, and that the pharmacy there is glad to hold refridgerated medicines for people. So we did that. No stress.

Then we were down to basic needs.

After my wife passed, I got rid of the generator because I realized I really didn't need to keep the AC on, and I really didn't need the range or the refridgerator in the event of an extended outage.

It was a pain in the ass to store the gasoline to keep it going. Nothing like having dozens of gallons of gasoline to have the storm wobble, spare you, and then I am sitting on gasoline that will take some time to use...

So I have a propane camping stove and a Jackery. A small one at that, as all I really need to do is charge my phone. I have the modem on the UPS from when I had a desk top computer. I generally have WiFi for outages as long as several hours.

Takes the stress off.

Ontheroad · M

@CopperCicada Yeah, your needs and mine are similar.

CopperCicada · M

@Ontheroad I’d be curious about the solar cells.

Ontheroad · M

@CopperCicada They say on a sunny day their 100w panels (2 of them) will charge the power station in about 6 hours. Seems to be born out by independent reviews. Most of our outages are from ice storms which bring down trees on power lines. The storms are short lived - a few hours and then it's just cold, clear and sunny, so I'm thinking the solar recharging is doable. I'm also looking at their 2000w model (2169wh) which is on sale now with a 200w panel for $2098.00. Quite the investment, but at double the capacity, it's quite tempting.