Portable power stations

[Tortuga]

Has anyone used a portable power station like a Jackery or Bluetti?

Edited 14 hours ago by Tortuga

[Qapla]

I do not have one, yet. My nephew has quite an extensive solar system. When it comes to portable power station, it does seem that Pecron and Jackery have more bang-for-the-buck than some of the other brand names.

 

Most of the brand names work well.

 

After doing some research, when I get more funds, I plan on getting a Pecron unit to back up my TV and computer system

[Tortuga]

Because of the fires in California, we have had power outages in the past. I anticipate we may have weather related outages this year too. I do not have solar or a home battery system so I use a generator if there is an outage. Actually I have two generators so I can loan one out.

 

However, portable power stations look like a better option for temporary power outages and can be loaned to someone that has a localized outage.

 

I just ordered a Jackery HomePower Plus 1000 v2 and hope it does what I want.

Edited 4 hours ago by Tortuga

[Korotkiy]

There is a 2-3 times cheaper variant with a separate LiFePo battery (e.g. 100Ah) and invertor 12/24 to true sinus 220V.

You cannot take all the device by the handle, but this is my power backup for all the flat.

 

  

Edited 4 hours ago by Korotkiy

[Qapla]

One of the nice features about these power stations it that they can be fully charged back to 100% in a relatively short time considerably lowering the amount of time needed for a generator to run in an extended power outage - even if you don't have solar

[Tortuga]

Just now, Qapla said:

One of the nice features about these power stations it that they can be fully charged back to 100% in a relatively short time considerably lowering the amount of time needed for a generator to run in an extended power outage - even if you don't have solar

Agreed. If the power goes out in the middle of the night I can easily plug the refrigerator into the power station without going outside, then I can set up the generator the next day if needed. 

[Tortuga]

We were recently notified there is a scheduled power outage for my MIL apartment complex from 9pm to 2am. The Jackery can be used as a UPS so I plan to set it up that afternoon to power her refrigerator and lights when the power goes out.

[jdcarlson]

Living on the north edge of the Gulf of Mexico, we face storn induced power outages about once every couple of years.

 

When a major Hurricane gets in the Gulf, there is no way for it to go without someone "taking it on the chin."

 

The power outages from a Hurricane can last up to two weeks. The hurricane will blow trees down. That will, in turn, bring down power lines. Many years ago I bought a 4000 va ("no name") gas powered generator. I had it at the office. As a CPA firm, doing payroll for clients, we could not allow the "mere inconvenience of a litle windstorn" keep us from getting paychecks for our client's employees. Even after a hurricane, employees are particularly upset if their employer misses a payday! I kept it in a back room, also used as a coffee/break room. When a storm would cut off power, it would be moved outside, hooked up to the incoming power to the office, and started to provide A/C power to run the computers, printers, etc., in the office.

 

I had investigated getting photovoltaic panels put on the office roof to provide back-up power, with backup batteries under cover for when the sun went down, but the tree cover in the area did not allow sufficient sunlight time on the office roof for that to work. So, the gas powered generator was the only practical choice. 

 

If the hurricane is bad enough, the challenge becomes finding a gas station that still has (1) fuel left in their tanks to sell, and (2) electric power to run the pumps to get the fuel out of their undrground tanks.  Also you need several five gallon gas tanks, so when you find a gas station that can run their pumps, you need to get as much backup fuel as you can.

 

The last really destructive Hurricane for our area was Ivan that struck in the middle of September, 2004. The U.S. Branch had all elders in the area (extensive damage over two counties) take a survey checking on each publisher in thier Congregation.

 

There were 800 houses of publishers in the two county area that were damaged. A few were competely gone, some by "storm surge water coming in from the Gulf," some by toronados spinning out of the Hurricane. Thee were 300 houses of publishers that needed to be completely re-roofed.

 

My son had a six weeks old baby. He and his wife had evacuated to her parents' home in South Florida. Knowing from the level of destruction, I realized one 4000 va generator would not be sufficient. I called him to get two of the largest Honda generators he could find. I wanted the Honda generator because they use the vacuum level in the intake manifold to regulate the fuel flow, so that the gas engine was not running "full speed" when there was less power demand on the generator part of the machine. My son could not find a Honda generator with sufficient output at the time. He came back with two 7,500va generators (big, ugly, orange monsters).  Between my office, my house, his house, and my mother's house, we really needed another generator. But by then there were none to be found for sale anywhere close.

 

The Society very quickly appointed a Disaster Relief Committee and sent several hundred thousand dollars to buy supplies.

 

Out of seven Kingdom Halls in the two counties, our Kingdom Hall was the only one not severely damaged by rainwater. We had just completed an extensive "renovation" doubling the size of the Kingdom Hall, along with a completely new roof.  Other Kingdom hall roofs were older and the shingles could not resist blowing off.  Our Kingdom Hall was used as the Relief Committee Headquarters.

 

The first problem was clearing felled trees off of the streets so damaged power lines could be accessed. That took the local governmental people 10 days just to get all of the roads passable.  Oak trees are particularly problematic. Eslecially those of the "live oak" family. The live oak has an extensive root system, but it DOES NOT go deep in the ground. Many of the roots are in the top 12 inches of soil. A older oak may send roots down 18 inches. But, with the extensive foliage of a live oak, the wind pressure on the leaf system is so great that, since oak is a very strong wood the tree will typiclly not bread off, rather the tree will pull its roots out of the ground as the top falls from the wind. It is common to see a six foot tall "root ball" pulled up out of the ground with the oak tree. the six foot "tall" root ball is really less than 12 inches thick and is standing on its edge.

 

Palm trees and pine trees are different. They hav a root stem than goes much farther down, so the tree above gound might bend, or even break, but the root will still be in te ground.

 

Once local governmental crews had cleared enough streets, then, the relief committee could get access to the homes damaged. Every Saturday morning, and Every Sunday morning, the Regional Building Committee (RBC) kitchen staff would serve breasfast at 7:00 A.M. By 8:00 everyone was assigned to groups of eight to twelve (depending on how many showed up) and given an assignment for their task for the day. The RBC would also prepare a lunch meal for those whose work assignment was close enough to the Kingdom Hall. Those who were too far to go the KH for lunch would sometimes send someone for hamburgers, or sometimes the person whose house was being repaird would prepare a lunch.

 

The houses with the worst damaged were attacked first. The first house on which I worked took two days to get the roof back. Later, as less damaged houses were done, we sometimes would work or two or three in a day.

 

Within three months all damaged houses had been repaired. Several residents near the Kingdom Hall commented on how impressed they were to see what we were doing to help people.

 

I was expecially grateful for the way Jehovah's people came to our aid. People from all over came to help. There was a large oak tree that fell on my mother's house. One branch of the tree had pierced the roof. The group who came to get the tree out of her roof and off of her house included Brothers and Sisters from Wisconsin, Alabama, Mississippi, and even a foreign missionary couple who happened to be in the U.S. for some update training.