Charging a power station such as a Jackery in a vehicle.

[iveofione]

Most of these units can be charged by the 12v cigarette lighter type of outlet in a vehicle. Of the 3 ways to charge these things, the other 2 being solar and a 110v outlet, charging in the car is by far the slowest. But Professor Hobo on YouTube showed me how to essentially double the rate of charge on my Jackery 1000. It was a fun project.

I bought a 300w Bestek pure sine wave inverter on Amazon for about $60 and a small electrical panel that had a voltmeter, USB outlet and a 12v outlet for another few bucks and 20' of #10 wire. I built a wood panel that nestles in the left rear corner of the Casa to house everything and ran the wire directly from the battery through a fused link to a battery shut off switch and mounted the new inverter right on top where it is easy to reach.

Here is what happens. The vehicle 12v will easily power up the 300w inverter, it is made for that. Then by plugging in the 110 AC power brick that comes with the Jackery I can charge the Jackery with household current rather than the pitifully slow 12v in the vehicle. The numbers were impressive, with the truck at idle and charging the Jackery by itself the charge rate showed a steady 82w being transmitted to the power unit. Next I plugged the inverter into the 12v and the power brick into the inverter and the wattage increased to a steady state 145w! Almost a 2x improvement in charge rate.

This should work for any of the new solar generators including the ones that no longer offer in-car charging. Fast charging is the Holy Grail of the power bank world and the price seems to increase with the speed. My 3 year old Jackery was out of date the year after I bought it but being able to double it's charge rate for around $80 instead of spending $1,600 on a new one is significant. I am an electrical noob and it probably took me 4x as long to do this as a real electrician but I am pleased with a clean installation and good results. I may yet buy a bigger power station as I am converting over to induction cooking in the Casa rather than butane but I want to see what the induction impact is on the power supply before I jump in. I also bought an electric sauce pan that works quite well with the Jackery and heats very fast with both a high and a low setting.

While I'm on the subject, other Casa improvements are a remodel of the kitchen unit with new matching containers for both fresh and gray water, much better plumbing and new silicone water line, improved storage under the sink and a dedicated battery box for the little batteries that power the water pump and interior fairy lights. A more powerful solar panel has been added which is more advanced and has a smaller footprint than the old one and some improvement made to the bed frame as well. And I have added a slick new step stool that should make ingress/egress easier, it makes my final step onto the tailgate for entry about 7'' now instead of the 17'' it was before. It folds flat quickly and is very sturdy but I still want to buy a van...

 

[Smokey Bear]

Thanks for sharing this. I just got a great deal on the explorer 1000 with panels and some extras. And looking for all the recommendations I can get.

By doing what you added would this void any warranty or cause any hazard to the unit?

 

[iveofione]

Since the Explorer is designed to charge with either a 12v source or a 110v source I don't see how it could possibly be damaged. But bear in mind that I am an old man living in wilderness in a remote part of the state and make no claim to be an authority on anything. That being said I get my information from a reputable source and double check it through 2 retired Hewlett Packard senior engineers.

The new power stations are pretty damned bulletproof. I have watched many videos of electronic gurus putting these things through their paces making every attempt to find their weaknesses. The net result seems to be that they are basically idiot proof with the fail safe circuitry able to defend against even the most egregious attempts to sabotage it.

The key seems to be the pure sine wave inverter which delivers household quality electricity instead of the lower quality stuff provided by the cheaper PWM inverters. PWM inverters might work well for power tools and the like but do not play nice with modern electronics like cell phones, computers, etc. And be aware that some new vehicles that advertise 110 power outlets are not PSW either.

 

[Chadk]

I just got a pure sign wave inverter. I have a few smaller batteries (fish finder, phone, ebike, etc) that need charging when camping and on the road. I can plug it into the car cig lighter which works OK for me. Then I have 2 3-prong outlets and a few USB ports for charging more than one item at a time. But I can also connect the inverter to my 50AH LiFePO04 battery instead of the car and use that battery to charge my other smaller batteries and not have to have the car running (like if I'm fishing, at camp, etc). A 100AH battery would be better, but I had this extra battery that I didn't have a for anymore. Now I don't have to sell it.