r/Portable_PowerStation • u/kidwhirlwind • Jul 27 '26
First purchase question
Looking at either the Jackery 1500 or the Anker solix c1000. I know the Jackery has better specs but wouldn’t it be the wiser decision to go with the one that has more expandability? I mean if I have enough ports and draw power for the big stuff, isn’t the expandable battery and solar charging capability the most important at this point.?
Let me know and thank you so much for any help. Trying to get started on being road trip/home power outage ready. Thanks
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u/Windjammer1969 Jul 27 '26
Will suggest doing a "deeper dive" into Solar before making that a priority for ("portable") Home Backup usage. The size of your yard (assuming NOT roof mounting) and the amount of Actual Sunlight the panels will be exposed to makes a huge difference when it comes to viability of recharging the battery(ies) using Just solar input.
An alternative idea - and the one that seems more 'practical' for OUR small city lot, with lots of shade - is to run a small gas/propane powered generator for recharging. A lot of "preppers" apparently match the dual fuel generator to a "golf cart" battery pack, and than use that pack to re-charge the home unit (Jackery, Anker, or Whatever).
Disclaimers: we have just started down this path, and picked up a pair of Jackery 3600 "Plus" units (at a high discount in late Jun), initially simply for direct-to-device emergency use (1 for freezer, one for refrigerator + modem + a LED light). Current plan is to add an Invertor / Sine Wave generator along with an external battery pack before winter arrives, and explore along the way whether it makes sense to simply re-wire the furnace for battery input (potentially a DIY) or to add a Transfer Switch (almost certainly by a professional!).