Weigh in on Portable Power Supply **Purchase Update**

[tlarson58]

**Update**

After deciding that we would use it almost exclusively for car camping we ordered the Jackery 1000. The 1000 can power just about anything that we would need it to.

There were some pretty deep YouTube dives with quite a few "Is a Jackery Worth it?" or "Consider this before buying a Jackery" and many iffy battery conversion workarounds. The Jackery seemed to be the industry standard and I liked it's simplicity (I'm a card-carrying member of k.i.s.s. society).

Thank you all for your input and suggestions.

- Tommy

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I've ruled out anything under 500w because 250s seems to come up short on everything, power spikes being the most common. The Jackery 500 seems to be the industry standard.

Probable uses (besides charging devises)
- Car camping: general use (a myriad of tasks when the wife accompanies me).
- A once-every-two-years 2 hr power outage for a fridge.
- Maybe to power a small PA.

Your two cents are appreciated.

[mozz]

I guess that's a rechargeable battery that puts out 120v? I'm using 2 generators, a small one and a larger 5000w. I doubt the small one would run a fridge, i don't care what they say. Blender for 50 minutes? Besides that, over $500? Yeah i know a generator makes noise but mine are used in emergency situations where noise is the last thing i worry about.

[mickey]

Mine is a Kubota diesel and puts out 12.5kw.

[glasshand]

The first thing I have to say is: you want a backup power unit for your fridge for a two hour outage? If your fridge is halfway decent, it will be absolutely fine for two hours without electricity. Just keep the fridge door closed. There, I just saved you $500.

More generally, I'm not an expert on these things, but I think what you need to look at is watt-hours, not just watts. For example, how many watts does your fridge consume? According to https://www.energybot.com/blog/how-many ... r-use.html,

The average home refrigerator uses 350-780 watts.

Let's assume yours is at the bottom of that range. The Jackery website says

The Jackery Explorer 500 has a 518 watt-hour (24Ah, 21.6V) lithium-ion battery pack

518 watt-hour / 350 W = 1.48 hours.

[Floridian FX]

I haven't see one in person, or know anybody that has used one in person, so I can't say much about the one you posted, but......

I just bought one of these a little over a month ago for my sons races(a lot of the tracks don't have power), I have used it 3 times with no complaints. It has a little more horsepower than the one you posted, but being in South Florida, my power goes out frequently and I have to power as much as I can. As a bonus, it is much easier for my wife to start with the push button than our old traditional generator, in case I am out of town and she needs it. Its super quiet and super fuel efficient. Downside is that it is heavy at 100lbs. Easy enough to get out of the bed of a pickup, but getting it out of the trunk might be tough.

https://www.harborfreight.com/generator ... 59137.html

[mozz]

The one he is looking at isn't a generator, it's a power pack. I'd buy a marine battery and a inverter.

[Partscaster]

I just got a Generac GP3500 to run my fridge and 2 freezers should power go out. I have lots of frozen food I have grown and bought.
The new inverter generators can be very quiet. I would think fine for car camping. Fire it up for an hour and charge everything. Or be able to rely on it for multi-day outages.

[dabbler]

I bought a pair of Jackerys (290 & 900) from COSTCO in a package with 2 solar panels. I haven't even used them yet. I didn't have an immediate need, but it was a good deal and I figure it would allow me to run my sump pump in an emergency. I had thought about a fueled generator, but honestly I don't want to have to keep fuel around.

From my (limited) research Jackery is a good brand.

[Raindog]

With just a tiny bit of work you can save a bit of money on a much better and versatile unit. I built my first rig watching this video. If you are interested in solar power, this guy has a rabbit hole for you to fall down.



After watching the first video, if it peaks your interest, for just a few dollars more, his upgrade makes a ton of sense. This is the one that I built.

[Raindog]

Just as a follow-up to my last post, I use my rig in my Honda Fit that I am slowly making into a mini-camper. I have 200w of solar panel on a roof rack to help recharge the battery. However, the battery is easily recharged by using the power supply that is added. My unit's main duty is to power my car's compressor fridge/freezer, fan and other ignition-off equipment. I like the way that it is built because I can just grab the milk crates out of the car and use for my home refrigerator and freezer (alternating between the two, not at the same time) to save food during a brief (<24 hour) power outage. If you have a larger fridge then it's possible that the inverter would not be strong enough to power the initial compressor start-up.

If you are looking for something to have at home for emergencies, I love this rig:



Since I mentioned the fridge/freezer combo above, I have to shout praise for the unit that I have. Best $400 that I ever spent. Eat ice cream on the road!

[tlarson58]

Just as a follow-up to my last post, I use my rig in my Honda Fit that I am slowly making into a mini-camper. I have 200w of solar panel on a roof rack to help recharge the battery. However, the battery is easily recharged by using the power supply that is added. My unit's main duty is to power my car's compressor fridge/freezer, fan and other ignition-off equipment. I like the way that it is built because I can just grab the milk crates out of the car and use for my home refrigerator and freezer (alternating between the two, not at the same time) to save food during a brief (<24 hour) power outage. If you have a larger fridge then it's possible that the inverter would not be strong enough to power the initial compressor start-up.

If you are looking for something to have at home for emergencies, I love this rig:



Since I mentioned the fridge/freezer combo above, I have to shout praise for the unit that I have. Best $400 that I ever spent. Eat ice cream on the road!

Lost me at 1:43 on the video. This from the BougeRV description. Sometimes I wish that I still could enjoy a beerski (or two).

[tlarson58]

The first thing I have to say is: you want a backup power unit for your fridge for a two hour outage? If your fridge is halfway decent, it will be absolutely fine for two hours without electricity. Just keep the fridge door closed. There, I just saved you $500.

More generally, I'm not an expert on these things, but I think what you need to look at is watt-hours, not just watts. For example, how many watts does your fridge consume? According to https://www.energybot.com/blog/how-many ... r-use.html,

The average home refrigerator uses 350-780 watts.

Let's assume yours is at the bottom of that range. The Jackery website says

The Jackery Explorer 500 has a 518 watt-hour (24Ah, 21.6V) lithium-ion battery pack

518 watt-hour / 350 W = 1.48 hours.

Thanks for this. I picked up the conversion mathy-thing while watching the vids. What was gibberish before now made sense.

[tlarson58]

I haven't see one in person, or know anybody that has used one in person, so I can't say much about the one you posted, but......

I just bought one of these a little over a month ago for my sons races(a lot of the tracks don't have power), I have used it 3 times with no complaints. It has a little more horsepower than the one you posted, but being in South Florida, my power goes out frequently and I have to power as much as I can. As a bonus, it is much easier for my wife to start with the push button than our old traditional generator, in case I am out of town and she needs it. Its super quiet and super fuel efficient. Downside is that it is heavy at 100lbs. Easy enough to get out of the bed of a pickup, but getting it out of the trunk might be tough.

https://www.harborfreight.com/generator ... 59137.html

59137_W3.jpg

I like this. The Jackery is for car camping. This will be on the short list for something for the home.

[Raindog]

Screenshot 2022-05-21 212305.jpg

It may not really make cold beer but it really does makes beer cold. You can input temps down to -4 degree and it holds that temp too! Works for me. I have an ice cream addiction like most men are addicted to beer.

[Rollin Hand]

This comes at a good time for us -- thanks to a wild and weird storm we had Saturday, we were without power for over 24 hours. I have two battery packs but one does not drive a CPAP machine, which we both use, so we need to get something better.

So, yeah, in the market. We may not need it often, but when we do, we do.

As it stands, we'll be throwing a fair amount of food out. Possibly a large amount. Just did the shopping on Saturday too. Gah.

This was across the street from us Saturday.

[Floridian FX]

I haven't see one in person, or know anybody that has used one in person, so I can't say much about the one you posted, but......

I just bought one of these a little over a month ago for my sons races(a lot of the tracks don't have power), I have used it 3 times with no complaints. It has a little more horsepower than the one you posted, but being in South Florida, my power goes out frequently and I have to power as much as I can. As a bonus, it is much easier for my wife to start with the push button than our old traditional generator, in case I am out of town and she needs it. Its super quiet and super fuel efficient. Downside is that it is heavy at 100lbs. Easy enough to get out of the bed of a pickup, but getting it out of the trunk might be tough.

https://www.harborfreight.com/generator ... 59137.html

59137_W3.jpg

I like this. The Jackery is for car camping. This will be on the short list for something for the home.

I was just helping someone move this weekend(for God sakes people, if you are over 25 hire someone!) and he had a Jackery sitting in his garage. It may have been the smaller one as he said he only paid $300 for it. He said he loves it. Has a converted van that him and his wife travel/camp with. He said it works when he needs it to work, which is what he needs it for.

Also, if you are looking at the generator, keep an eye on the harbor freight ads, they knock $100 off occasionally.

[PoodlesAgain]

What Tommy needed was quite a bit. What is there, the next two sizes down?

Side subject for CPAP users: I can camp for three days with CPAP (without humidifier), off an old motorcycle battery, and/or old car battery. Sits in a corner of the tent. in a milk crate. The connecting thingie is the expense.

[Rollin Hand]

What Tommy needed was quite a bit. What is there, the next two sizes down?

Side subject for CPAP users: I can camp for three days with CPAP (without humidifier), off an old motorcycle battery, and/or old car battery. Sits in a corner of the tent. in a milk crate. The connecting thingie is the expense.

Thanks for the info.

Our battery pack (really a jump starter with plugs) did quite well, but if we could get something more manageable that does more, so much the better.

There was some idle chatter this weekend about a generator as well.

[tlarson58]

What Tommy needed was quite a bit. What is there, the next two sizes down?

Side subject for CPAP users: I can camp for three days with CPAP (without humidifier), off an old motorcycle battery, and/or old car battery. Sits in a corner of the tent. in a milk crate. The connecting thingie is the expense.

Thanks for the info.

Our battery pack (really a jump starter with plugs) did quite well, but if we could get something more manageable that does more, so much the better.

There was some idle chatter this weekend about a generator as well.

I was doing the battery pack + power inverter thing but was always wary of surges. I probably should have done this (use jumper kit to power digital recorder) but I knew that it was the recorder's last hurrah.