Why You Shouldn’t Use Jackery, Bluetti, Anker, Ecoflow, etc. for Prolonged Power Backup
Hot summer months also mean fire season and outages here in Caliente.
Recently, we talked with quite a few people fed up with these outages and bought a portable power station (e.g., Jackery, Bluetti, Anker, Ecoflow, etc.) to use as a backup solution only to be very, very disappointed by their $2,000+ investment.
Unfortunately, most of these portable power stations (we call them glamping boxes) are designed for powering campsites, not household needs — unless you live in a yurt with few modern amenities or appliances.
10 reasons Jackery, Bluetti, Anker, Ecoflow, etc. aren’t ideal for power backup
The proprietary connectors mean you must buy the manufacturer’s panels for 4x the price of regular new ones (or 10x per watt compared with the utility-grade refurbished ones we use). You may use unsanctioned adaptors, but that will likely void the warranty.
The closed-source technology often translates into planned obsolescence — these boxes could become useless if the manufacturer stops supporting them. They’re sold as trendy gadgets (e.g., an iPhone) instead of durable appliances.
Most of these boxes aren’t expandable in capacity. If you want to power more appliances, you need to drop another few grand for a new box. Also, they aren’t repairable — you throw them away and buy a new one when something breaks.
They don’t have enough output capacity for most household appliances, and the cost per watt is very high (e.g., costing 5 to 10x more per watt compared with our solution.)
The ads depict happy people juicing up their boxes with a few dingy fold-up solar panels next to their picnic tables. However, the charging capacity is limited in reality. You’ll be waiting forever to get a full charge.
Solar panels that come with these boxes aren’t rated for continuous use. Plus, you can’t anchor them securely, nor can they withstand the Caliente heat and UV.
The cabling connecting the solar panels and the box is unsuitable for ducting. Moreover, they aren’t resistant to gnawing by rabbits, squirrels, and other local inhabitants.
Most boxes have low surge ratings and can’t start appliances like an A/C or power tool.
Very few support bi-phase 220V (the ones that do are expensive), so most water pumps people use here in Caliente are out of the question.
Their battery chemistries vary, and often, you don’t know what you get. Some chemistries aren’t intrinsically safe — bad news for fire country.
Why are these portable power stations so popular?
They’re for glamping. Most people charge them at home and use them to juice up their phones and run a tiny fan at a campsite, and they do a good job meeting those needs.
First and foremost, these boxes are oversized power banks, and they work fine for small loads. However, their solar panel features are an add-on/afterthought, so they fall short during prolonged outages.
What about those big, $8,000, 12 kWh ones?
They have big ass batteries, hence the sky-high price tag. However, they can’t support enough solar panels to charge the battery within a reasonable timeframe. You’re out of luck if you set up the solar panels when SCE turns off the power, hoping to get enough juice to run your appliances pronto.
In reality, you have to plug these boxes into the wall if you want full charge within a reasonable amount of time — so you’re out of luck during a multi-day outage. The numbers don’t add up.
So, what do you have for us?
We design our backup solutions for maximum practicality and resiliency and customize the capacity based on your requirements. Our box may not be pretty, but it can power what you actually need to run when a prolonged outage strikes.
We design the solution for household use and customize the capacity to power the must-have appliances you want to run during an outage. Yes, we can make it work for monster 220V/4HP pumps.
We design our solutions for tens of thousands of hours of use. Most glamping boxes have lifecycles of a few hundred hours. (The aggressive charging and discharging cycles make the cells deteriorate quickly. But the typical user won’t notice because they don’t go glamping 30 times a year!)
We select battery chemistries based on your requirements. We know what goes into our batteries, and all our chemistries are intrinsically safe.
Our design can accommodate a broader input voltage range, so you can use multiple types and any number of solar panels wired in various configurations to meet different requirements.
Get in touch to discuss how we can help you build a backup solution that works for prolonged outages.
