BikeNFish
Super Active Member
On Sunday night, the DW and I made a spur of the moment decision and headed to our local State Park to give the Jackery 1000 Solar Generator a two-day workout. We reserved a campsite without Shore Power. This test was to make sure the Jackery would be everything we needed it to be in order to allow us both to boondock camp with our CPAPs and also help out with any unexpected electrical needs.
In short, the Jackery was a massive success.
We used it to charge the expected cell phones, GoPro batteries and Anker battery pack. Charging these devices used the least number of watts. Each of these items only used 2-6 watts (per hour) and charged quickly.
The next biggest power draw were the CPAPs. We ran them two nights with no humidifier nor heated hoses. We used the 12volt DC carport (cigarette lighter port for us old fogies). I used a splitter that allowed us to plug both CPAPs into the single Jackery carport. Combined, the two CPAP’s power draw was 11-12 watts per hour.
We started the trip with the battery at 100%. After the first night of charging electronics and using the CPAPs, the Jackery was at 84%. Not bad!
I brought my two Rockpals 100watt solar panels along figuring I should not need them for this short trip, but since they were there, I decided to use them to top off the Jackery. Because our campsite was mostly shaded, I found the unoccupied campsite next to us had much more sun, so I set up the solar panels in less than five minutes and plugged them into the Jackery. It took about an hour and a half of me relaxing next to the campfire for the solar panels to do their thing to bring the Jackery back up to 100%. Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy!
A couple of minutes before the Jackery reached 100%, I was checking the camper’s newly upgraded group 27 battery and I was shocked to find that it was depleted (50% charge). Why? I still am not 100 percent sure. It may have been the combination of the “new” battery being five years old, the use of the electric winch to raise the pup roof and the DW leaving the camper’s fan and all of the lights (LED) on for a couple of hours. But in all reality, that should not have depleted the battery to 50%.
Anticipating that an unreliable camper battery could be a weak link if we boondocked for any extended period, a few months ago I purchased the Jackery jumper cables that you can plug into the Jackery carport and charge any 12volt battery (car, camper, boat, RV, etc.). So, I brought the 100% charged Jackery and solar panels over to the camper, plugged the jumper cables into the Jackery and connected the clamps to the camper battery. The solar panels were mostly shaded, but were in as sunny of an area as I had in my campsite.
Checking with the multimeter, the Jackery kicked out about 13.3volts into the camper battery. Not great, but not bad! I let the Jackery charge the camper battery for three hours. When the Jackery would drop below 100%, the Jackery would kick on the solar panels and charge the Jackery, while at the same time, the Jackery charged the camper battery. I was surprised that the mostly shaded solar panel brought in up to 35 watts at times while the Jackery was only using 20 watts to charge the camper battery. Nice net gain for the Jackery! Win-win!
After the three hours charging, I packed away the solar panels and placed the Jackery inside the pup. Then the DW and I went for a couple hour walk along the St. Croix River. When we got back, I checked the camper battery with the multimeter and it was holding steady at 100%. Win-win!
That night when we retired for the evening, the Jackery was still at 100%. So, we plugged in the phones for a charge and the two CPAPs to sleep. That’s when I got the idea to use the Jackery for the heated mattress. The outside temp that night was going to drop into the low 50’s, so I plugged the mattress into one of the Jackery’s AC outlets.
The next morning the Jackery was still at 82%! The heated mattress kept us toasty warm at half power and it used only about as much wattage as the two CPAPs did! Win-win again!
I thought to myself, “What is left to try out?” Answer: Nothin’. I’ve already tried everything.
I rechecked the camper battery and saw it was at 80% charge. Since our pup has an electric winch and I wanted (but not needed) a fully charged battery to lower the roof, I thought I may as well put the Jackery jumper cables back on and charge it while we packed up for the trip home. I did not set up the solar panels this time and in the couple hours the Jackery was charging the camper battery, it brought the Jackery down from 82% to 75%.
In summary, the first night we used 16% (160 total watts) of the Jackery wattage and 25% (250 total watts) on the second. If I hadn’t used the solar panels the first time that I charge the camper battery, it would have used an additional estimated 9%. That mean that the Jackery got us through the two days of camping using only 50% of the Jackery’s watts. I’ll count that as a win any time!
Best of all, we got our first pup trip of the season under our belts without any major issues! Win-win!!
In short, the Jackery was a massive success.
We used it to charge the expected cell phones, GoPro batteries and Anker battery pack. Charging these devices used the least number of watts. Each of these items only used 2-6 watts (per hour) and charged quickly.
The next biggest power draw were the CPAPs. We ran them two nights with no humidifier nor heated hoses. We used the 12volt DC carport (cigarette lighter port for us old fogies). I used a splitter that allowed us to plug both CPAPs into the single Jackery carport. Combined, the two CPAP’s power draw was 11-12 watts per hour.
We started the trip with the battery at 100%. After the first night of charging electronics and using the CPAPs, the Jackery was at 84%. Not bad!
I brought my two Rockpals 100watt solar panels along figuring I should not need them for this short trip, but since they were there, I decided to use them to top off the Jackery. Because our campsite was mostly shaded, I found the unoccupied campsite next to us had much more sun, so I set up the solar panels in less than five minutes and plugged them into the Jackery. It took about an hour and a half of me relaxing next to the campfire for the solar panels to do their thing to bring the Jackery back up to 100%. Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy!
A couple of minutes before the Jackery reached 100%, I was checking the camper’s newly upgraded group 27 battery and I was shocked to find that it was depleted (50% charge). Why? I still am not 100 percent sure. It may have been the combination of the “new” battery being five years old, the use of the electric winch to raise the pup roof and the DW leaving the camper’s fan and all of the lights (LED) on for a couple of hours. But in all reality, that should not have depleted the battery to 50%.
Anticipating that an unreliable camper battery could be a weak link if we boondocked for any extended period, a few months ago I purchased the Jackery jumper cables that you can plug into the Jackery carport and charge any 12volt battery (car, camper, boat, RV, etc.). So, I brought the 100% charged Jackery and solar panels over to the camper, plugged the jumper cables into the Jackery and connected the clamps to the camper battery. The solar panels were mostly shaded, but were in as sunny of an area as I had in my campsite.
Checking with the multimeter, the Jackery kicked out about 13.3volts into the camper battery. Not great, but not bad! I let the Jackery charge the camper battery for three hours. When the Jackery would drop below 100%, the Jackery would kick on the solar panels and charge the Jackery, while at the same time, the Jackery charged the camper battery. I was surprised that the mostly shaded solar panel brought in up to 35 watts at times while the Jackery was only using 20 watts to charge the camper battery. Nice net gain for the Jackery! Win-win!
After the three hours charging, I packed away the solar panels and placed the Jackery inside the pup. Then the DW and I went for a couple hour walk along the St. Croix River. When we got back, I checked the camper battery with the multimeter and it was holding steady at 100%. Win-win!
That night when we retired for the evening, the Jackery was still at 100%. So, we plugged in the phones for a charge and the two CPAPs to sleep. That’s when I got the idea to use the Jackery for the heated mattress. The outside temp that night was going to drop into the low 50’s, so I plugged the mattress into one of the Jackery’s AC outlets.
The next morning the Jackery was still at 82%! The heated mattress kept us toasty warm at half power and it used only about as much wattage as the two CPAPs did! Win-win again!
I thought to myself, “What is left to try out?” Answer: Nothin’. I’ve already tried everything.
I rechecked the camper battery and saw it was at 80% charge. Since our pup has an electric winch and I wanted (but not needed) a fully charged battery to lower the roof, I thought I may as well put the Jackery jumper cables back on and charge it while we packed up for the trip home. I did not set up the solar panels this time and in the couple hours the Jackery was charging the camper battery, it brought the Jackery down from 82% to 75%.
In summary, the first night we used 16% (160 total watts) of the Jackery wattage and 25% (250 total watts) on the second. If I hadn’t used the solar panels the first time that I charge the camper battery, it would have used an additional estimated 9%. That mean that the Jackery got us through the two days of camping using only 50% of the Jackery’s watts. I’ll count that as a win any time!
Best of all, we got our first pup trip of the season under our belts without any major issues! Win-win!!
