Jackery question

[RickR]

When I get my teardrop I plan on putting several lights in the interior (all LED) and 2 small 12v fans as well at the overhead fan and possibly install small TV for those nights when I am bored and even charge USB phones if needed. Well the fans and or ceiling fan may run all night. The TV may run most of the night if needed.

That shouldn't be to big of a draw, but I am looking at a Jackery and would like to get an idea as to what size to get for this and what size solar panels would be needed to charge it effectively during sunlight.
I like the though of a Jackery or similar as I don't know much about the proper stuff to get and I just want to hook up and go. I also want to easily hook up solar panels to it for charging.
I am wondering if the Jackery 500 with
518Wh
enough for the night, is it overkill or not enough?

Or should I just go battery route. and if so what size will last me all night for the fans?

 

[Sparksalot]

Are you a member over at www.tnttt.com ? There was a very similar discussion about a week ago.

 

[RickR]

No but let me go look.

 

[RoarinRow]

I’ve watched several YouTube videos of people using their Jackery 500’s all night with lights, fridges, and still had plenty of juice the next morning. Don’t know about the solar question. I’m sure there is a math wizz who knows way better than me.

I have a 100w panel that is topped off everyday with light usage.

 

[LumixLab]

When I get my teardrop I plan on putting several lights in the interior (all LED) and 2 small 12v fans as well at the overhead fan and possibly install small TV for those nights when I am bored and even charge USB phones if needed. Well the fans and or ceiling fan may run all night. The TV may run most of the night if needed.

That shouldn't be to big of a draw, but I am looking at a Jackery and would like to get an idea as to what size to get for this and what size solar panels would be needed to charge it effectively during sunlight.
I like the though of a Jackery or similar as I don't know much about the proper stuff to get and I just want to hook up and go. I also want to easily hook up solar panels to it for charging.
I am wondering if the Jackery 500 with
518Wh
enough for the night, is it overkill or not enough?

Or should I just go battery route. and if so what size will last me all night for the fans?

I have a Jackery 240 with solar panels. I recently got my new Dometic CFX3-35 and cooled it to 41° then unplugged it from the landline and into the Jackery. 36 hrs later the Jackery 240 showed 30% remaining. For such a small unit I thought this was very impressive. I am actually considering runinng two of the 240 units instead of purchasing a 500 or larger. During the day/night one unit would be powering the Dometic and other devices while the other is recharging either by solar or my vehicle. I think I'll feel safer following the "2 is 1 and 1 is none philosophy". Just an idea. Good luck!

 

[RickR]

I have a Jackery 240 with solar panels. I recently got my new Dometic CFX3-35 and cooled it to 41° then unplugged it from the landline and into the Jackery. 36 hrs later the Jackery 240 showed 30% remaining. For such a small unit I thought this was very impressive. I am actually considering runinng two of the 240 units instead of purchasing a 500 or larger. During the day/night one unit would be powering the Dometic and other devices while the other is recharging either by solar or my vehicle. I think I'll feel safer following the "2 is 1 and 1 is none philosophy". Just an idea. Good luck!

Good to know.

 

[OutdoorsBen]

Jackery’s are great however only the 1000 has the MPPT charge controller. IMO don’t get any solar generator that doesn’t have an mppt controller. It takes forever to charge. I personally have a Flexopower (which is junk don’t buy and they pulled out of the US market because of the junk they sold) and I can get about 2 days running only my fridge. It charges within about 6hrs with my 100w panel in sun.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

Cool, I was just looking at these "generators" for our sylvansport. We need to keep our devices charged, and our new fridge running. The 1000 and a 100w solar array sounds like the ticket.

 

[Lee Mims]

A few things to note regarding battery usage @RickR, as a fellow teardrop / Jackery owner (E1000).

RVs have a lot of parasitic draw. Find them. Usual suspects are Radio standby and propane gas shutoff solenoid (it will be connected in line with your gas lines to the stove).

Add a manual battery disconnect switch if you don't have one, else you'll pull down the battery when in storage and the deep discharge will permanently damage the battery.

Skip the TV, too much draw, even the 12V ones. I took the TV off the wall, build an iPad mount that fits there, and we use our iPad, which connects to the bluetooth on the stereo to use the RVs speakers, and it saves a TON of battery.

Invest in a decent shunt or meter of some sort to determine usable WH. LED lights in the cabin are around 10watt if your'e easy on them, Fantastic fans are like 25w on low, which is mild, but a 75AH AGM battery can only go down to 50% of capacity, so therefore 37.5AH (so 37.5 * 12 = 450 | and then 450 / 35watts = ~12 hours of runtime). That means you'll make it through the night but need a plan to recharge the next day.

However, with the Propane solenoid it was pulling 16watt before i put a kill switch in, and that was 100% of the time, so without finding your parasitic losses, the 12hours became 8 hours, and also....it would drain the battery completely within 24 hours with nothing else on but the solenoid, which is hard wired to battery and can't be turned off normally.

Sorry for the ramble, happy to go into greater detail, but the short version is, get a clamp meter, a shunt, or some type of meter, and track down those ghost draws. They will wreck your offgrid experience super fast.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

So, the 500 model is slow charging on the solar system hey? The go has no electrical system we will only be charging our laptops, I devices and running our 12v fridge. I'm guessing the 500 won't do the job.

 

[Billiebob]

These power things always inspire me, my needs are minimal and I want a simple solution. I've only been looking for 3 years but on a budget I want to get it right.

I do like the buy a box philosophy but honestly the power station eliminates flexibility. After researching Jackery, On Amazon a lot of alternatives come up. Checking out those options I like the choice of components, Buy the solar panel, the controller, the inverter and buy batteries separately. Lithium, GEL, whatever, the power source needs to be independent of the management, distribution and generation systems. There needs to be the option of growth when one component comes up short.

EDIT........ and that was mostly from the wisdom of Amazon lol.

 

[Lee Mims]

So, the 500 model is slow charging on the solar system hey? The go has no electrical system we will only be charging our laptops, I devices and running our 12v fridge. I'm guessing the 500 won't do the job.

If you can be patient cause it's not quite out, another good option could be the Bluetti AC50S (note the S), because it's got a regulated 12V which you do want for a fridge.

Personally I think you could likely make a 500Wh unit work, and temper expectations around it.

Also, For the price you can buy 1 1000wh or 2 500wh and with the 2, you'd have the ability to have different ones doing different stuff at different times. Might play out better in the end...just random thoughts.

The reason I say that is I had my heart set on the Bluetti AC200 and then realized a 67 lb, 1700wh battery that cost $1200 - $1700 wasn't that practical in terms of price or portability. So i settled with the Jackery E1000 on a father's day special at $900, and I could still buy a $350 500wh unit (probably the Bluetti AC50S when it comes out), and be able to power the fridge on the big guy and move the smaller to a camp table or in the trailer...

 

[Autism Family Travels]

I had another idea after if I use my Jeep battery to run the fridge, and the 500 to power the rest, I think solar will charge enough to keep our electronics and lighting going each day.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

I ordered a jackery 240 just then. See how it works. I will be running my fridge off my Jeep battery so, the smaller battery will be fine for our needs.

 

[trail_runn4r]

I'm also looking to buy a Jackery to power a Dometic fridge, I don't know much about it but why having the regulated 12v is important?

Thanks!

 

[Lee Mims]

I'm also looking to buy a Jackery to power a Dometic fridge, I don't know much about it but why having the regulated 12v is important?

Excellent question, very important answer :)

The LG Lithium cells in most battery packs like Jackery, Goal Zero, etc, operate in a range of voltage, so fully charged might be something like 14.1 volts. However, as the SOC (State of Charge) diminishes, the voltage drops. This is also true for Lead batteries, which start at like 13V and are toast around 11.7V.

The problem is, most 12V fridges have a low voltage cut off, and Li-Ion packs run lower voltages than lead acid.

So what happens is you have a fully charged battery, the fridge runs great (the voltage is at 13v ish). But when you put a load on it, such as when the compressor in the fridge turns on, the volts drop to lets say 12.2v, and will return to high 12 or low 13's when the load is gone. As the SOC diminishes to around 50%, the resting voltage might be 12.2v and the load voltage might be 11.5v, triggering the low voltage cut off in the fridge, turning it off....spoiling your food.

A regulated power supply will maintain a voltage no matter the SOC of the battery. It will maintain a certain "regulated" voltage from 100% SOC to 1% SOC.

Specifically in the Jackery, it's 12.3v. So even if the battery is at 5%, it will supply 12.3V to the fridge, keeping it on to the last minute. An unregulated might either not work at all, or stop working sometimes as annoying as 80% SOC of the battery pack.

Goal Zero released a regulated charger to combat these issues, as many complained. It's not an issue as much in LiFePo4 because those lithiums run a higher voltage, but they aren't a common Solar Generator setup.

If I did not do a good job of explaining this, ask me for more detail, as this was a confusing subject until I understood it. There are no dumb questions here.

 

[trail_runn4r]

Excellent question, very important answer :)

The LG Lithium cells in most battery packs like Jackery, Goal Zero, etc, operate in a range of voltage, so fully charged might be something like 14.1 volts. However, as the SOC (State of Charge) diminishes, the voltage drops. This is also true for Lead batteries, which start at like 13V and are toast around 11.7V.

The problem is, most 12V fridges have a low voltage cut off, and Li-Ion packs run lower voltages than lead acid.

So what happens is you have a fully charged battery, the fridge runs great (the voltage is at 13v ish). But when you put a load on it, such as when the compressor in the fridge turns on, the volts drop to lets say 12.2v, and will return to high 12 or low 13's when the load is gone. As the SOC diminishes to around 50%, the resting voltage might be 12.2v and the load voltage might be 11.5v, triggering the low voltage cut off in the fridge, turning it off....spoiling your food.

A regulated power supply will maintain a voltage no matter the SOC of the battery. It will maintain a certain "regulated" voltage from 100% SOC to 1% SOC.

Specifically in the Jackery, it's 12.3v. So even if the battery is at 5%, it will supply 12.3V to the fridge, keeping it on to the last minute. An unregulated might either not work at all, or stop working sometimes as annoying as 80% SOC of the battery pack.

Goal Zero released a regulated charger to combat these issues, as many complained. It's not an issue as much in LiFePo4 because those lithiums run a higher voltage, but they aren't a common Solar Generator setup.

If I did not do a good job of explaining this, ask me for more detail, as this was a confusing subject until I understood it. There are no dumb questions here.

Man, this is great! I almost got everything.

So basically something like the Jackery with an unregulated port will probably fail to keep the fride running more and more you get close to a 0% SOC.

Do you know any alternative brand with a regulated port other than GoalZero?

 

[Chadwick]

I recently bought a Jackery 1000 and SolarSaga 100 watt panel and so far have no regrets. Although I've used the combo only a couple of times on a 2-3 night trips, they power the fridge (uses 5 watts per hour) and Keurig (uses 3% of power per cup) with ease. Depending on ambient temperature, how often the fridge door gets opened and cups of coffee brewed I think the J1000 could last me 4-6 days. The SS100w panel seems to do a good job charging as long as you have direct sunlight. Moving the panel around is no big deal but keep in mind when the sun moves so do the shadows, so be aware of the sun's location when charging becomes necessary. I never thought about direct sunlight before I bought it and glad I didn't go with a fixed panel option for this reason. Also, I learned solar panels lose efficiency if they get too hot. Go figure.

 

[Lee Mims]

Man, this is great! I almost got everything.

So basically something like the Jackery with an unregulated port will probably fail to keep the fride running more and more you get close to a 0% SOC.

Do you know any alternative brand with a regulated port other than GoalZero?

Oh for clarity the Jackery DOES have a regulated port, which is why I own one. (Jackery 240, 500 and 1000 have regulated).

Also the Goal Zero X series does too (400x, 500x, etc)

And just to give you some alternative brands to research for fun, I'm also a fan of the Bluetti EB140 and 240, also with a regulated DC output, but are a bit heavier. Upside, more juice.

Make sure a 1000W pure sine inverter is enough, if not, consider the 1800W inverter on the EcoFlow Delta, but i'm not a fan of their customer support.

One last thing, I'm NOT a fan of Goal Zero because they are overpriced, but they do have excellent inverters, so if you need 2000W inverters, they are a good choice.

 

[Lee Mims]

I recently bought a Jackery 1000 and SolarSaga 100 watt panel and so far have no regrets. Although I've used the combo only a couple of times on a 2-3 night trips, they power the fridge (uses 5 watts per hour) and Keurig (uses 3% of power per cup) with ease. Depending on ambient temperature, how often the fridge door gets opened and cups of coffee brewed I think the J1000 could last me 4-6 days. The SS100w panel seems to do a good job charging as long as you have direct sunlight. Moving the panel around is no big deal but keep in mind when the sun moves so do the shadows, so be aware of the sun's location when charging becomes necessary. I never thought about direct sunlight before I bought it and glad I didn't go with a fixed panel option for this reason. Also, I learned solar panels lose efficiency if they get too hot. Go figure.

Good point on the solar saga panel. It's a quality panel, just a bit pricey. I went with a Dokio 200W folding panel on Amazon for $219, and it has maxxed out on my Jackery E1000 around 120Watts in direct sunlight, that's pretty good IMO. The solar saga panels I feel are a little easier to live with, considering they have a kickstand, and I agree completely, portable panels allow you to go to the sun. Mounted on your vehicle doesn't work if you want to park in shade....