GRECELL T200 240 Watt Portable Power Station Review

GRECELL T200 240 Watt Portable Power Station

Every home should have a portable power station for emergencies or for just the convenience of keeping small electronic devices charged.  Phones, tablets, laptops, radios are among the many things that can be charged.  I was recently contacted by GRECELL and asked to review their GRECELL T200 240 Watt Portable Power Station.  Current pricing is $129 on Amazon with a $40 off coupon.  Unsure how long the coupon will be available. That means that now is the time to get one.

As luck would have it we experienced a winter storm a day or two after I received the T200. I had begun some endurance testing and then decided to top off the device for the storm.

I put it in our bedroom and sure enough the power went out.  As much as anything the light came in super handy.  It provided great light sufficient to find my phone.  From there I was able to check on loved ones.  Also I was able to walk around the home and inspect items outside such as fallen tree limbs.

The light was a great tool for inspecting around our property.
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Aaoyun 300 Watt Portable Power Station Review

Aaoyun 300 Watt Portable Power Station

I’m a big proponent of portable power stations.  I own several and they are scattered about the house performing various missions.   One problem with these power stations is that they are generally pretty expensive.  Imagine my surprise when Aaoyun provided me their Aaoyun 300 Watt Portable Power Station to review.

At the current Amazon price of $155.99 it is a bargain compared to many other of its competitors.   I’ve been using and abusing this for a couple of weeks now and it has passed through my gauntlet with stellar results. Continue reading →

Jackery 300

Just got the latest in the Jackery product line, the Jackery 300. I have SEVERAL other Jackery devices and you may wonder why in the world I would buy a Jackery 300 watt power station when I already owned the 1000 watt, the 500 watt, and a Honda by Jackery 290 watt.  Oh yeah I have the 160 watt too.

To answer…….I’ve not a clue.  It would seem that I have enough……..but I ACTUALLY USE THESE THINGS.

I wouldn’t say I’m a prepper or trying to go off grid but I do find that if I have these things positioned around the house I will use them.  Case in point:  Just the other day I was trying to plug something in near my entertainment center to test it.  but there was a problem.  No outlets left.  Enter the Jackery.

I also make every attempt to charge all my USB type devices (phones, tablets, transistor radios, bluetooth speakers, etc.) with Jackery power stations.  I also make every attempt to charge them up only with Solar power.  I recognize that charging things off power stations doesn’t really affect the electric bill much but hey, a couple of bucks is a couple of bucks.  You’ll never recoup your investment though.

Every review you will read about a Jackery will tell you how many times you can charge something.  And in reviews people will ask all manner of questions about how many times you can charge things or how long it will run a CPAP or something.   Then there will be the “It’s Never Enough” crowd.   I cannot believe nobody ever says “GET TWO OF THEM”.   Yeah, they’re expensive but hey, if that’s your problem, that’s your solution.  I use a 500 by my bed.  When the charge starts getting low, I replace it with the 1000 while I set the 500 in the sun.  End result: There is always a charged Jackery by the bed.

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How To Install A Back Up Generator at Home

I recently moved to Eastern North Carolina right in Hurricane Alley and felt the need to have a secondary electrical generator at home. I managed to find a really inexpensive 3200 watt generator from Harbor Freight

and when the power went out I ran multiple extension cords into the house, through a doggy door and one cord through the door which enters the garage to power the deep freezer. This got me to thinking how unacceptable this would be during the dead of winter during a power outage. Not only that I felt I was kind of limited in power and couldn’t power enough items. Although the basic needs were met I didn’t think I could provide heat and definitely not air conditioning. Lights, and refrigerators and TV’s and radios.

Hey, that ain’t bad when you have nothing but it can always be much, much better. The first issue at hand was to power the generator up outside, with no extension cords running through the home and no open doors. Closed doors mean a reduction in sound as well from gas powered generators which are, well, noisy.

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Jackery Explorer 500 Portable Power Station

Although this is the largest Jackery Portable Power Station at the moment darned if Jackery didn’t just debut a 1000 watt power station. I haven’t even pulled the screen protector off this one yet.

This is the Explorer 500 watt power station and it sure is nice.  I’ve been putting it through its paces the last few days and it is REALLY impressive and powerful.

Combined with a Jackery SolarSaga 100 solar panel makes it a self sustaining power station perfect for camping, tent camping, or getting you through a power outage at home. How many times have you needed to stretch a long power cord out around the house to do one simple task?

It really shines in an outdoor situation such as camping.  It’s a bit big and heavy to pack out and hike with unless you are some kind of beast or unless you are camping with others and the load is spread out among the team enough for someone to carry it exclusively in a huge backpack.
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Jackery SolarSaga 100

I am a big fan of Jackery Products. And it is with great pleasure that I give my two cents regarding the Jackery SolarSaga 100 solar panel .

It’s an interesting solar panel with some very pronounced pros and cons which I’ll delve into here in a bit.

First and foremost lets describe what it is.  It is a 100 watt solar panel that has an 18 volt output at 5.5 amps. Its principle purpose in life is to recharge Jackery Portable Power Stations, specifically the Jackery 160, 240, 500 and the Honda by Jackery 290.  I’m pretty sure it can be used to directly charge other items and we’ll investigate that at a later date.

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How To Hook Any Solar Panel To Jackery Portable Power Station

Jackery Solar Panels are expensive and not waterproof.  Let’s hook a regular solar panel to our portable power station.

This is another one of those instances where I didn’t discover it, didn’t design it, didn’t find the solution but am simply providing simple, easy to follow directions so that anyone can EASILY figure out how to do this.  For some reason there is a bit of discussion on how to do this with almost no documentation or photographs on how to do it.

I’ve seen lots of videos, read lots of reviews and basically they say “make sure the polarity is correct”.  On cables and adapters on Amazon if you read the reviews FOR THE SAME PRODUCT some reviews will say “Works Great, 5 Stars” and the next review will say “The polarity is reversed, they never fixed the polarity wiring”.  But nobody has ever shown simple directions that show what to order, and how to hook it up with crystal clear instructions and pictures.

So as Popeye always says “I’ve had all I can take, I can’t takes no more”.

Jackery sells their own line of solar panel chargers for their power stations but I don’t believe any of them can be exposed to water or rain and they are fairly expensive.   A decent 100 watt solar panel will set you back less than $100 and can be exposed to the pouring rain so I can totally understand why people would want to go that route.  But you should watch some of the videos where people buy panels and then splice wires together to make it work.  Some of those people are DANGEROUS.

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In a world of convenience and with an aging body why in the world do I posses a desire to go live off grid for short stints and how am I going to pull it off?  Or what if the SHTF?  Already liberals are worried Iran is going to kill us.  Silly liberals.

First of all the beauty of God’s earth is out THERE, not in my den.  I feel like I’ve missed out on so much but while this body is still capable of independent movement it is time to shake it up a bit.

It helps to write out your plan sometimes and that is what I’m doing here.  Mental dry run.

I already have the most important piece of the off grid puzzle and this will be the foundation for everything else I plan to do.  I own a small Rockwood A122 pop up A frame camper.

This is a great little rig and I’ve already had some great adventures with it. I take excellent care of it and it has everything a fella needs to sustain life in the great outdoors.

In fact it almost has too much.  Air Conditioning, Heat Pump, Furnace, hot water heater, microwave, 3 burner stove, gas BBQ grill, electric mattress, sink, refrigerator, bluetooth stereo, cable TV connections, 26 gallon water tank, etc.

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