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Can you give advice about Jackery portable power stations?

grommet

Well-Known Member
I am looking at the Jackery 500 Portable Power Station and the Jackery Solar Generator 500 (Explorer 500 + 100 watt Solar panel). I made some of those words an internet link if you want to see them.

I do not know about these kinds of things but can you tell me if I should trust Jackery and buy what they have or is another brand better? I have a small portable freezer I need to keep working even if there is a power outage. I talked to Jackery and they said this is the right number (the freezer runs at about 50 watts and 4+ amps when the compressor starts but then it goes right down).

I am thinking to save money I should buy just the power station.

Do you know about these kinds of things and can you advise me?

Thank you.

 
I have been interested to in those. I know Patriot is another name that makes power stations. Best idea l usually do is Google what is the 10 best power stations to buy. Then l research their price and capabilities and figure out more what l need. Do l need a price break or do l need more bells and whistles. Good luck with this.
 
I am interested in one of those, too, grommet. Mine would mostly be for camping and traveling, so if I was to get it, I would go for the solar panels. I could definitely be wrong here, but my understanding was that you could buy the solar panel kits separately, and I think most people end up using more than one if they are really charging it with solar power.

The Jackery looks really good and seems like the best, but I mistrust it because it is so popular and I also wonder if there are better alternative brands that are less flashy but equally practical.

Thanks for posting this thread.
 
I'll buy 4 amps as a startup current, but if it only needs 50 watts I'll eat my hat.

What freezer brand and model?
 
The Pariot comes with solar panels on some of their models. These are portable. They introduced these about a year or more back. Their price seems about market price.
 
I have a small portable freezer I need to keep working even if there is a power outage.
Fridges and freezers take a fair kick to get them started. Once they're running they don't use a lot of power but to kick the compressor over and make it start you do.

A general rule of thumb is that they require 7X the amount of power as they are rated at. So if the sticker on the back of your freezer says it uses 100 watts then it will take a bare minimum of 700 watts available to make it start.
 
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I looked up a few portable freezers at my local big box store, and most of them pull about 1 amp of continuous power from a wall plug, which in my region is 120 volts. So that's 120 watts. If it uses 120 watts for an entire hour, that's 120 Watt-hours. That Jackery power station says it has a 518 Watt-hour capacity at full charge, so if we assume a 15% loss converting from DC battery voltage to AC wall voltage, we have an available capacity of 440 Watt-hours. Divide 440 by 120 and you have a freezer run time of about 3.5 hours. If the freezer were powered by 12 volts (like a car power port) you could expect slightly longer run time because there's no conversion loss in the AC inverter.

Now, a freezer will not run all the time. They cycle depending upon heat loss from insulation, environmental temps, and opening the door. If the freezer only runs half the time, we can double the time to 7 hours of expected use from a full charge of the Jackery thing. I think this is reasonable considering these units aren't insulated very well.

It says the solar panel will charge the power station in 9.5 hours so, used in tandem, we could only expect a few extra hours out of the setup before battery voltage falls enough to shut everything down.

So, those are my estimates for wall voltage. 7 hours of usable time on just the power station, and 10 hours with both the power station and the solar panel. These calculations assume the power station was fully charged, the sun is shining, and the freezer was fully frozen before losing power. On 12 volts DC you could up those estimated times to 9 and 12 hours respectively.
 
I have a Jackery 500 that I bought on Amazon after my brand new Goal Zero from REI failed when I tried to charge it for the first time. The woman who took back the Goal Zero at REI told me under her breath that virtually all of those come back and told me that because of the Goal Zero returns, she had researched and gotten a Jackery and told me I could get one on Amazon. She said that she loved hers and mine has been perfect. I did not need the solar panel so I didn't get that. Amazon puts them on good sales, so wait for a sale (I've seen them on their Wednesday sales). I got mine on sale with a free storage bag which for me works as a great, high-quality carrying case.
 
I have been interested to in those. I know Patriot is another name that makes power stations. Best idea l usually do is Google what is the 10 best power stations to buy. Then l research their price and capabilities and figure out more what l need. Do l need a price break or do l need more bells and whistles. Good luck with this.

Thank you. I asked Google and every place said Jackery was the best choice but I think internet searches can be made to prioritize a brand so I thought hearing what people who knew said would be better. I wish the money did not matter, I could just get one but it is a lot for me so I do not want to make a mistake.
 
I am interested in one of those, too, grommet. Mine would mostly be for camping and traveling, so if I was to get it, I would go for the solar panels. I could definitely be wrong here, but my understanding was that you could buy the solar panel kits separately, and I think most people end up using more than one if they are really charging it with solar power.

The Jackery looks really good and seems like the best, but I mistrust it because it is so popular and I also wonder if there are better alternative brands that are less flashy but equally practical.

Thanks for posting this thread.

Yes. You are like me, worrying that it is popular and so people may be choosing it for that. I have not heard any bad things about Jackery, they look really good. When I was buying my portable freezer a few years ago I spent months researching, watching videos and talking to people. I also read a lot of reviews. Maybe I was lucky to choose the one I did, it has run perfectly every day since I got it.

I hope I can do well finding some power to run it on back up. Sorry, that is a confusing sentence. I mean I hope I can do just as well finding the right back up power supply for it.

Oh, on the solar panel, I live in a building. I thought I could put the panel out of the window if I needed to. But it weighs 10lbs. I think financially the best plan would be to buy only the power back up and the solar panel another time if I had to.
 
I'll buy 4 amps as a startup current, but if it only needs 50 watts I'll eat my hat.

What freezer brand and model?

Eat your hat, that is funny :laughing:

The brand is Linson, I made the name a link. It really does run at just about 50 watts. It is small though it works very very well. It can be a refrigerator or freezer and it gets extremely cold. Very quiet.

 
Fridges and freezers take a fair kick to get them started. Once they're running they don't use a lot of power but to kick the compressor over and make it start you do.

A general rule of thumb is that they require 7X the amount of power as they are rated at. So if the sticker on the back of your freezer says it uses 100 watts then it will take a bare minimum of 700 watts available to make it start.

I learned the hard way that they need a lot of power to start their compressors. Years ago I did not know about that and bought a 1,500 watt inverter. The inverter was not honestly described because it was two 750 watt inverters in one housing. It would not run the refrigerator at all, it would never get the compressor to start. I was so disappointed and I lost all that money.

My small portable freezer runs at around 50 watts and the Jackery is 500 watts with what they say a 1,000 watt peak. By math, that should be enough. I will try to remember your formula, thank you very much for telling it to me.

I will try to see if I can find out that information on my full size refrigerator too. I cannot move it to see a sticker or plate on the back but it may be inside on the door.

I found it, how many watts is this?

IMG_1306.jpg
 















I also remember reading about these types refrigerators

Thank you for the link. I do already have a portable freezer. I bought it a few years ago. What I need now is a back up power supply that will keep it running if the power goes out.
 
My small portable freezer runs at around 50 watts and the Jackery is 500 watts with what they say a 1,000 watt peak.
In that case it sounds ideal for what you want. I learned the hard way to ignore what they say is peak power because that also isn't enough to make your fridge start.

When I was living in the bush I scrounged old panels from the dump and bought a 1500 watt inverter on line so that I could have a little bar fridge, 120 watts. The inverter I had at the time was 800 watts but couldn't run the fridge.
 
I looked up a few portable freezers at my local big box store, and most of them pull about 1 amp of continuous power from a wall plug, which in my region is 120 volts. So that's 120 watts. If it uses 120 watts for an entire hour, that's 120 Watt-hours. That Jackery power station says it has a 518 Watt-hour capacity at full charge, so if we assume a 15% loss converting from DC battery voltage to AC wall voltage, we have an available capacity of 440 Watt-hours. Divide 440 by 120 and you have a freezer run time of about 3.5 hours. If the freezer were powered by 12 volts (like a car power port) you could expect slightly longer run time because there's no conversion loss in the AC inverter.

Now, a freezer will not run all the time. They cycle depending upon heat loss from insulation, environmental temps, and opening the door. If the freezer only runs half the time, we can double the time to 7 hours of expected use from a full charge of the Jackery thing. I think this is reasonable considering these units aren't insulated very well.

It says the solar panel will charge the power station in 9.5 hours so, used in tandem, we could only expect a few extra hours out of the setup before battery voltage falls enough to shut everything down.

So, those are my estimates for wall voltage. 7 hours of usable time on just the power station, and 10 hours with both the power station and the solar panel. These calculations assume the power station was fully charged, the sun is shining, and the freezer was fully frozen before losing power. On 12 volts DC you could up those estimated times to 9 and 12 hours respectively.

Thank you for your excellent reply. I agree with those numbers. My portable freezer will run directly off of DC current, either 12 or 24 volt. I figured that was the best way because it would be mostly lossless. I checked to see that the Jackery has a direct 12 volt outlet, it does. I am having some doubts about the solar panel because of the extra cost, I do not have much money. But also because of its size and weight. I am not sure how well I could put it outside the window.
 
I have a Jackery 500 that I bought on Amazon after my brand new Goal Zero from REI failed when I tried to charge it for the first time. The woman who took back the Goal Zero at REI told me under her breath that virtually all of those come back and told me that because of the Goal Zero returns, she had researched and gotten a Jackery and told me I could get one on Amazon. She said that she loved hers and mine has been perfect. I did not need the solar panel so I didn't get that. Amazon puts them on good sales, so wait for a sale (I've seen them on their Wednesday sales). I got mine on sale with a free storage bag which for me works as a great, high-quality carrying case.

Oh this is wonderful information to have. Just what I needed. Thank you :)
 
In that case it sounds ideal for what you want. I learned the hard way to ignore what they say is peak power because that also isn't enough to make your fridge start.

When I was living in the bush I scrounged old panels from the dump and bought a 1500 watt inverter on line so that I could have a little bar fridge, 120 watts. The inverter I had at the time was 800 watts but couldn't run the fridge.

I agree about the peak power claim. The inverter I bought years ago claimed a very high peak, I cannot remember it now but it still wasn't enough to run the full sized home refrigerator. I am glad I have this smaller one. The photo I sent is of the information sticker on the inside of the full sized one.
 
The brand is Linson, I made the name a link. It really does run at just about 50 watts.
I couldn't find any official amp rating on the listing, but I did see a convincing review citing 3.7 amps normal mode and 1.85 amps economy mode. On 12 volt power these are 48 watts and 24 watts, respectively.

*grabs hat, chomp chomp*

Electric motors are not my strong suit, so don't quote me on anything I'm about to say. The listing notes specifically a 12 volt DC compressor motor, which makes sense. Essentially, the 12 volt DC plug goes directly to the motor and the 110 volt AC is routed through a transformer (to step down the voltage) and then rectifier (to change AC to DC) before it goes to the motor. Ergo, running this unit from a 110 AC power inverter is a total waste of energy because the freezer wastes more energy converting it right back to 12 volts DC.

DC motors are easier to start than AC motors. DC motors can produce torque when stationary, so they only need a small power boost upon startup. This is why small DC motors (think RC cars) can use tiny PCB capacitors whereas AC motors are necessarily larger and need capacitors similar in size to a can of soda.

The thing I'm stumped on is how this freezer is doing it. Compressing any gas requires a ton of power, and IDK what workaround they are using to get good results with such low power use. My only guess is a high volume low pressure refrigerant cycle, wherein each cycle cools less but there are many more cycles to compensate. However, this doesn't hold to scrutiny because it takes a certain amount of energy to remove heat, full stop. Shrug. I'm already beyond my expertise and, lacking legit knowledge, from this point onward I'm taking the stance that your freezer was made by aliens and there's a conspiracy theory somewhere to explain it.
 

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