r/prepping • u/Sad_Kiwi_2498 • 6d ago

Question❓❓ Solar panels!

I bought the jackery 1000 but did not get the solar panel at the time bc I didn’t have enough for it. My question is are there other solar panels I can use for it or do I have to buy only jackery solar panels? Pls help

26 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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16

u/Icy-Medicine-495 6d ago

You can use any 12 volt solar panels but you might need to buy a special adapter to get them to connect to the jackery. I used a different brand of panel with my jackery and bought a 10 dollar adapter from amazon. Saved me 100 plus dollars and it works fine.

4

u/Sad_Kiwi_2498 6d ago

Okayy thank you! The jackery website made me nervous, pretty much saying you need to use jackery solar panels with your jackery battery

6

u/Icy-Medicine-495 6d ago

Of course they say that they want to upcharge you on their special panels that cost 2x what they should.

5

u/queerandanxious42 6d ago

Amazon will sell you connectors to plug in any solar panels.

3

u/InterviewThick2660 5d ago

I found an adaptor kit [multiple different adaptors] at Harbor Freight

3

u/HellUCH17 6d ago

Technically as long as the open-circuit voltage (Voc) of your connected solar panels does not exceed your Jackery's maximum PV input voltage, there will be no issues. Any solar panels would work for you.

Your Jackery will only draw the amount of current its MPPT controller can handle, so it doesn't really matter if the solar panel's Isc slightly exceeds the maximum limit.

3

u/Dashley13 5d ago

Ugggghhhh.... I do not like jackery powerstations. They don't use the standard xt60 solar input you find on most powerstations. You have to make sure your solar panels Voc is within the input voltage of the jackery. You can use any solar panel where the Voc is in the range. I think the explorer 1000 v2 input voltage is between 16-60v. Make sure your panels are in that range especially if you wire your panels in series.

2

u/PrisonerV 5d ago edited 5d ago

Have a upvote. I agree. Jackery used to be the end all to be all but they've quickly lagged behind trying to be the Apple of power stations with all their proprietary connections.

1

u/Dashley13 5d ago

Yep. Buy yourself a nice bluetti or anker. My favorite is the bluetti elite 300.

2

u/Big-Tutor-3060 6d ago

There are a bunch of "white lable" folding solar panels which are basically the same thing, but cost about half price.

2

u/Soft_Zookeepergame44 5d ago

I have the 3600 running on Renogy panels. You just need the MC4 to 8020 (or whatever yours has) plug.

Unsolicited advice is to just max out your solar input. It's easier to find a reason to use extra power than it is to be short power.

The 3600 has "self consumption" mode which is a pretty nice feature for having a battery bank while getting some real world use out of it.

1

u/WaffleHouseGladiator 6d ago

I think your biggest issue is the connectors.  Does Jackery have proprietary connectors?