Anybody have one? What do you think of it?

My wife joined the Cpap club this year so that has me tho king about our camping trips. Our trailer has one (1) 12v outlet and I use it for my cpap when we are camping. So, I need to come up with a plan so we can both use our cpaps when camping.

The Jackery solar generator keeps popping up on my social media page and I keep looking at them, but wow, they are not cheap.

I like the idea of the solar generator and maybe getting a couple solar panels as a ‘Justin’.

We only go camping a handful of time a year so the rest would be more for a prepper condition.

We’ve had pretty good luck in Colorado regarding power outages. The power is pretty reliable to date. But with the asshats in .gov, my trust of reliable power is waining. So, maybe having a little extra backup power would be good to keep just in case….

Think we could get by with the 500WH for the cpap while camping but I keep looking back at the 1500WH device…..

What say you. Is this like a gun safe where it’s better to buy more than you need? Are there better units out there than the Jackery?

Thanks.

Jackery Solar Generator

I do not know how expensive, but guessing chicom.
Get a Honda 2000 watt and then add and extended tank. Will run quietly for days on little fuel.

What is the difference between solar panels and a battery, and a “solar generator”?

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
What is the difference between solar panels and a battery, and a “solar generator”?

Marketing.

^^^^^ Agree.

It’s a lithium ion battery. Can be purchased with or without solar panels.

As far as my opinion goes, I ran the numbers once on a Bluetti vs a small Honda generator and gasoline. The $1,200 Honda and $1,800 of gas won hands down over the $3,000 Bluetti.

Price solar panels that can produce 4,000 watts and batteries capable of storing 20kWH plus an inverter because that’s what the little Honda can do day and night as long as you put gas in it. The price differential pays for a whole lot of gas.

My opinion of “solar generators” is the juice is not worth the squeeze.

I’d just use the small Honda an hour or two a day to charge the house batteries for the RV to run the CPAP at night.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
As far as my opinion goes, I ran the numbers once on a Bluetti vs a small Honda generator and gasoline. The $1,200 Honda and $1,800 of gas won hands down over the $3,000 Bluetti.

Price solar panels that can produce 4,000 watts and batteries capable of storing 20kWH plus an inverter because that’s what the little Honda can do day and night as long as you put gas in it. The price differential pays for a whole lot of gas.

My opinion of “solar generators” is the juice is not worth the squeeze.

Except no one else wants to hear your generator at night while trying to sleep…

Does your trailer not have an onboard inverter already? If it does, can you add more batteries increase overnight usage time of the inverter.

Picked up an Ecoflow River Pro and extra battery a couple years ago. More recently a Bluetti EB3A, a couple Twelseavan 120 watt panels and PAXCESS 120 watt folding panels. I'm sure there are good deals on Amazon.

LiFePO4 Bluetti
BLUETTI Portable Power Station EB3A, 268Wh LiFePO4 Battery Backup w/ 2 600W (1200W Surge) AC Outlets, Recharge from 0-80% in 30 Min, Solar Generator for Outdoor Camping (Solar Panel Optional) https://a.co/d/b4hBqDS

And that is close to 500 gallons of gas
You would have to be out of elect. a lot to burn 500 gallons of gas through a honda 2000w gen.

quote:

Originally posted by F12517:
Except no one else wants to hear your generator at night while trying to sleep…

Sorry, I realized I wasn’t clear on that and was adding that to my post. I’d use the generator for an hour or two during the day to charge the house batteries. I’d use the house batteries to run the CPAP at night.

A small honda generator is easy to not be heard in the house, by anyone. That is my experience.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

quote:

Originally posted by F12517:
Except no one else wants to hear your generator at night while trying to sleep…

Sorry, I realized I wasn’t clear on that and was adding that to my post. I’d use the generator for an hour or two during the day to charge the house batteries. I’d use the house batteries to run the CPAP at night.

Agree but as noted in the OP, we will have 2 cpaps and only 1 12v connection. If we are hooked up to shore power, it’s no big deal but we dry camp more.

Not interested in hooking a second 12v to the house batteries as we still run the trailer heater at night. 2 cpaps will kill the batteries that much faster.

I have four Jackery's, two 1000's, one 1500 and one 2000. They are invaluable for keeping important devices going when the power goes out at night or during rain/storms when a generator might be a pain to connect. They're not a substitute for a generator, but an important complement to one.

My wife is an LVAD patient, so electricity is not an option.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
What is the difference between solar panels and a battery, and a “solar generator”?

Marketing.

Exactly. Keep in mind that a “solar” generator will NOT charge your depleted battery in a couple of hours.

You did not mention what kind of rv or trailer you camp in so that may make a difference or wether you boondock or stay at established campgrounds. In my case with a pop up truck camper or my RTT on my Gladiator the lithium batteries are charged not only by solar panel(s) but it is connected to the vehicle’s charging system. Works like a charm.

quote:

Originally posted by ugeesta:
Not interested in hooking a second 12v to the house batteries as we still run the trailer heater at night. 2 cpaps will kill the batteries that much faster.

The solution you asked about in the OP is really just adding an expensive extra battery and some solar panels to your existing system.

For much less money, you can upgrade your existing system, have more flexibility, and more power. Get bigger house batteries or LiFePO4 if you don't have enough power to run the heater and two CPAPs at night.

Out of curiosity, how do you charge your existing house batteries when you are dry camping?

^^^^^. I have a 5500 watt o am generator on the trailer. Don’t run it at night.

I have 2 deep cell batteries which should be plenty of juice, but it’s been challenging in cold nights.

I get it about the expense. Again, the other consideration is emergency home power just in case. I do have a 2800 gas generator as well. That one is a bit loud though.

quote:

A small honda generator is easy to not be heard in the house, by anyone. That is my experience.

^^^^^^^^^^
I beg to differ. If you have neighbors close by and your windows are open they are very annoying. Perhaps if there is some distance it would be different.

quote:

Originally posted by SigSentry:
Picked up an Ecoflow River Pro and extra battery a couple years ago. More recently a Bluetti EB3A, a couple Twelseavan 120 watt panels and PAXCESS 120 watt folding panels. I'm sure there are good deals on Amazon.

LiFePO4 Bluetti
BLUETTI Portable Power Station EB3A, 268Wh LiFePO4 Battery Backup w/ 2 600W (1200W Surge) AC Outlets, Recharge from 0-80% in 30 Min, Solar Generator for Outdoor Camping (Solar Panel Optional) https://a.co/d/b4hBqDS

I’m in the same boat with the cpap. We have a small camper and started with a harbor freight predator generator which served our needs fine until we camped at a certain campground that provides no electricity, water, sewage, anything but does have decent bath houses. They say generator use sparingly during the day occasionally for a little while is ok but there is always a Karen or 5 Karen’s. I bought an Ecoflow river pro max and we also have a Jackery 600. Overtime I’ve bought two rigid 100 watt panels, one folding goal zero 100 watt panel, two folding 50 watt panels, and we have smaller panels for other electronics. One 100 watt panel goes to our camper 12v while the others go to the electric generators. I have them run through prospective charge controllers and we are set pretty good. Our AC will run on our generator but not the solar generators so we plan out campsites and seasons accordingly. I also ham radio so I also use these for ham radio while camping. Bluetti has some interesting generators and Jackery is fine. Just get the biggest bang for the Buck you can afford because you’ll always find a use for them. Then figure out panels. Renogy makes some cool, flexible, lightweight 100 watt panels and for the rigid ones you can sometimes get those for $89 plus free shipping during sales. I have ones of those Renogy rigid panels and the two folding 50 watts are Renogy as well.

Here are my suggestions:

1. Instead of Jackery, I got this power station and it has worked well during a couple power outages lasting a few days. I use it to power the furnace in winter during the night and use it to power a small room air conditioner in the summer.

2. I suggest Harbor Freight Inverter Generators. I have the 3500 one and it works great while running it during the day. I use it to charge up the power station for night time duty. Also get the Harbor Freight extended warranty so at any time in a 3 year period, you can bring it back and exchange it for a brand new one or upgrade to a more powerful generator. The 3500 one runs my refrigerator, my freezer, charges up the power station, and runs my furnace or the small AC with power left over. You can add some inexpensive solar panels to help charge the power station if you want.

Bluetti 2000 WH LiFePo4 storage.

If the power goes out during a storm and/or at night, I don't have to immediately mess with the generator. The Bluetti will run the fridge, freezer, furnace, and cpap overnight, without my having to go outside. If it's still out the next day, the generator will take over running things and also charge the Bluetti back up. I can repeat this for a long time on 20 gallons of gasoline. (I will never be able to store 500 or 1000 gallons of gas.)

I have 600 watts of solar panels that I plan to mount in the backyard to experiment with moving some circuits in the house off grid.

The older I get, the less I want my life to look like an adventure movie.