Jackery Portable Power Station Explorer Solar Generator

F

Fgard

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Mar 18, 2018
8
Hunter 420 Passage Gulfport
I've been researching this for several days and not finding anything that confirms or rejects what I'd like to do:

I have 400 watts of solar charging my house batteries during the day. I'm on the hook (and will be on a mooring ball in Marathon FL) and currently having to start my generator at 2 or 3 each morning to charge the house batteries because my flooded lead acid house batteries get below 11.5 volts.

Rather than just use my noisy generator, I'd like to have a Jackery 1000 watt being charged during the day by my solar (I only draw an amp or 2 of dc during the day) and turn it on to power my 350 watt (AC) battery charger for a couple of hours (instead of the generator).

Does this seem feasible?
 
S

sesmith

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Jul 1, 2010
990
Catalina 350 Port Huron
If you are letting your batteries drop to 11.5, they are probably no good. I would get them checked out and replace them with enough of a bank to get you through the night at least. Having enough storage to get you through a cloudy day or 2 would be more ideal. They shouldn't be allowed to drop to less than 50%. Converting DC to run an AC charger really doesn't make a lot of sense.
 
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heritage

heritage

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Apr 22, 2011
922
Hunter 27 Pecan Grove, Oriental, NC
With 400 watts of solar and very little draw during the day, your batteries should be 100% by the evening. Your problem is not enough battery capacity probably caused by old depleted batteries or too small a pack. Take that Jackery money and invest in a new battery bank with adequate capacity.
 
Davidasailor26

Davidasailor26

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May 17, 2004
5,542
Beneteau Oceanis 37 Havre de Grace
The Jackery should work for that, with a 15A-30A converter to plug your shore power into it. But as others have suggested it sounds like your batteries could use help and your money will probably go further fixing that than the Jackery. If your loads are only a couple amps during the day are they really so much more overnight? If they’re anywhere near a couple amps you should be able to last a night pretty easily. Even a single (healthy) group 27 battery could run a 2 amp load for over a day without approaching 50% discharged.
 
Tally Ho

Tally Ho

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Jan 7, 2011
5,446
Oday 322 East Chicago, IN
Seems like a portable battery (Jackery) powering your charge to charge your batts is a lesson in diminishing returns.

How big is your battery bank, what is it made up of, and how old are they? As others have said, it sounds like those batteries are toast. My 215 AH bank of 2 6-volt GC batteries will power my systems (including reefer) for a few days ( without any solar charging during the day).

Greg
 
F

Fgard

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Mar 18, 2018
8
Hunter 420 Passage Gulfport
dlochner said:
Time for new batteries. How old are the ones you currently have?
Click to expand
Thanks for all the replies...I have 2 brand new duracell group 4D batteries. Just checked my dc amp Guage it had a loose connection and wasn't measuring. It's now showing 5 amps. I may have something sucking all the juice from the fully charged batteries (per my victron) after the sun goes down? I'll monitor it and get back. Thanks again
 
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