Watch the Jackery 1000 Pro Solar Generator Charge Fast From a Massive Array of Panels
Tech
Speaker 1: A generator used to be this. Now it means this generating power from the sun, instead of from a can of gas. Let's take a look at one of the latest of these setups from a company that totally focuses on them. This is the new Jack solar generator, 1000 pro. [00:00:30] Now the 1000 in the name of this thing means two things. One, 1000 Watts is the maximum power level of a device that you can run from this. That's pretty St. It also refers to 1000 wat hours of duration or of capacity. So for example, you could run a one wat device for a [00:01:00] thousand hours, not likely, or a thousand wat device for one hour. Also not too likely. A more reasonable scenario would be running 200 Watts of total devices for five hours. That's how that map works.
Speaker 1: Now, aside from the household AC outlets, by the way, they are three pronged grounded outlets. You've got some other more modern ways to get power out of this thing. Four USB ports over here, two us BS that are rated for the quick charge. 3.0 standard, [00:01:30] basically 18 Watts, good for fast charging phones that can take that much power, but if they can't, you still plug 'em in there and they'll charge it, whatever they can do below that USBC ports, two of them that are rated for the PD or power delivery standard that can deliver an astounding 100 Watts. These are the kind of ports you might use to charge even a laptop or a big tablet. It's a new innovation in power delivery that not everyone's tried yet. And they are potent little ports. For example, a Dell XPS [00:02:00] 13, one of our favorite thin and light laptops. It only draws 45 Watts when it's charging well below what you need from these BCS down here.
Speaker 1: Now, of course, there's a traditional 12 volt automotive style outlet here, and it's more like 13 something volts as is the case. Uh, 10 amps maximum current draw that gives you about 120, 130 Watts of total power output here. I'd like that to be higher current, but that's kind of where these things typically are [00:02:30] for most consumer expectations. What's missing here and it's not of interest to everybody is some way to get even higher current DC out of here without fussing with USB, for example, Anderson power poles. Most of you don't even know what that is, but if you're a prepper or a ham, you do, and you'd love to see those Zachery, doesn't go that direction. Some other portable power companies do, but Jack keeps it a little more consumer centric. [00:03:00] And of course like everything made today. This unit's got an L E D light, which can be bright, incredibly bright, or can flash to drive you absolutely nuts, uh, that can probably run for, uh, the rest of your lifetime on a full charge inside the battery. Technology is lithium I on nothing too radical, but what they've done with the electronics around it is pretty interesting. You can get a thousand full charges or charges to 80%. That's twice as many of those charge cycles. [00:03:30] As the bigger 1500 unit is rated for the one I tried a few months ago. So this one is happy to be charged a lot.
Speaker 1: Now a reality check about charging batteries. You want to get full life out of em. You've gotta do your part. The general rule of thumb is don't let a lithium I on battery get below 10%. Don't typically charge it above 80%, which of course has some interesting ramifications on its total capacity, right? Don't run it outside of temperatures. It's rated for this. Guy's [00:04:00] supposed to run between 14 and 1 0 4 Fahrenheit. We're gonna pass 1 0 4 Fahrenheit today here in California.
Speaker 2: However
Speaker 1: You charge this thing. Jack says it will hold an 80% charge for a year sitting on a shelf. That's great for those of you who think I wanna get this thing, but I'm not sure when I'll use it, as opposed to the hiker camper, prepper or ham who would have a regular duty cycle.
Speaker 1: [00:04:30] Now getting power into this thing. The main way most of you're gonna do it is with a standard, you know, computer PC cord. That's gonna plug into the wall, plug into the back of this and fully charge it in 1.8 hours. When the grid power's on, that's your easiest go to, or you can charge it as you're driving with it, to the location where you're gonna need it, plugging it into your cars, 12 volt outlet. And that'll take about four and a half hours for a full charge, but neither of these as good as they are, are as interesting [00:05:00] as what's happening outside right now, it is hot out here, but you know what loves it? These four solar panel arrays that are available to go with the 1000 pro each one of these when they unfold and they're aimed right, are picking up and generating 200 Watts [00:05:30] of power, 800 total heading into a pair of combiner connectors. And that's how this charges out in the sun, as fast as on a wall outlet. Now, yes, a wall outlet can provide more power, but it doesn't matter because 800 Watts is all this thing wants. So these panels can do it. Instead.
Speaker 1: Now know that these panels are not those little shabby ones. You picked up an Amazon to charge your phone or to keep your car battery trickle charged. These are pretty serious. They're [00:06:00] pretty heavy, and they're not cheap. This array of four that I have is far more expensive than the battery that they're charging. But if you're serious about having true resilience on battery and how you keep it going, these are a compelling option. And as you can see, these are portable panels. There is no provision whatsoever for permanently mounting. These that's a different kind of panel. Maybe that's what you want. That's a different approach entirely, but for portability liability, cuz they are heavy. This is [00:06:30] a nice overall kit. Let's talk about the pricing.
Speaker 1: Okay. $4,000, 39 99 for this whole system you see here that is equivalent to charging off the grid. That's pretty impressive, but that price is pretty impressive too. If you just want the 1000 probe, that's 10 99, again, not a cheap portable power device, but it's in the premium range. You can mix and match these panels. You could have two of them. You could have four of them. Jack also has [00:07:00] lower output panels. So you do have some flexibility to rework the cost, bring it down, but you're going to get proportionally slower charge times. If you had half of these, your charge time is gonna be double. If you're interested in getting a portable power system that lets you go just about anywhere and have serious power and serious recharge. This is definitely one to look at.
