New and Interesting Gadget--Jackery 240 Battery

[Principal Skinr]

This arrived yesterday. I bought it for powering my 35 quart SnoMaster fridge. In the summer, I keep that fridge in my Jeep so I have ice cold drinks at hand at all times. It beats the heck out of a cooler, too, because you don't have to buy or deal with ice and melt water. Anyway, I went to Oshkosh last year and I ran it off the Jeep battery for 2 days. It protects the Jeep's battery, but when it gets into that mode, it doesn't keep things as cold, so I bought this to bridge the gap. It should run the fridge for about 18 hours or so, which will easily keep it out of protection mode.

So, here's the nice feature. It has pass-through charging. So when I'm driving, I've got the fridge plugged into the 12v on the Jackery, and then the Jackery will be plugged into the Jeep. When the compressor is running, the Jackery won't charge, but when the compressor is not running, which is most of the time, the Jackery charges. So when I arrive at whatever destination, It should be fully charged and the fridge ice cold. I also have a smaller 20 quart fridge that should run even longer on it.

Anyway, it also can run a 32" TV for a few hours, charge laptops, etc. It also can be charged with solar power, so I'll be looking for a deal on a 50 or 60w portable solar panel.

I'm wondering if anyone else has something like this and what uses you've found for it? I was pretty single minded about its purpose, but I'd imagine there are some other creative uses out there. Of course, charging phones in a power outage is one big one!

I'm going to run it today on my 20qt fridge with some drinks in it and with it set at 33 degrees to see how it does. It will start off already chilled to temp, as that would be the way I'd use it in the wild.

 

[avboiler11]

Jackery SolarSaga panels are priced very high ($3/watt)...but I guess they are travel-optimized (folding and light) so that's something.

Very interested to know your thoughts after a few uses.

 

[Principal Skinr]

I've got about 48 to 54w draw on it now charging 3 drone batteries at the same time. So there is another use....drone power in the field!

 

[Principal Skinr]

So I ran my larger fridge, a 35 liter Snomaster, off the Jackery, starting last night at about 10:20pm, with a 94% charge. It had a bunch of drinks in it and was at 34 degrees. I plugged it into the 12v socket. i checked back throughout the day and at about 20 hours, it had about 11% of its capacity remaining, so I'd say 24 hours is in reach if I started at 100% and if I set it at 35 or 36 degrees. I saw one review where a guy ran a 35 quart Dometic for 17 hours. The Snomaster I think has a more efficient compressor that is their proprietary design, plus I've got an insulated cover on mine, so I think those two things are the difference. I think I had mine set a little colder, too. IIRC, the reviewer had his set at 40 degrees. So I'm pretty happy with this. I then plugged the Jackery's 12v into my Jeep's socket, for pass-through charging. After about 3 hours, the fridge was still 34 degrees and the Jackery had recovered to 51%. So I think this is a great setup!

 

[Principal Skinr]

Next, I'll test it on my little 20 quart Alpicool. It is a cheapo, so I'm betting the compressor is less efficient. It wasn't well insulated, either, so I got 1/8" thick stick-on foam and put it around the cooler. Without it, you could feel the cold on the outside, but with it, you don't feel any of that. It also runs quite a bit less with the added insulation. I'm just waiting on a 12v automotive plug to arrive for it. I could run it through the AC plug, but the Jackery will have power loss from working as an inverter, so I won't run it that way unless I am forced. The first shot is with the insulation. The second is a before shot without it.

I bought this one because I like my Jeep constantly stocked with ice cold drinks all summer long, but without the weight or size of the larger fridge back there. The Alpicool can be had for under 200 bucks on Amazon. It works great. I keep my stash of drinks in it all winter in the house, so it runs all the time. No issues after about 6 months of ownership. I can't wait to see how long the little Jackery can run it.

I'll have a load something like this in it when I test it with the Jackery. You can stack 12oz cans two high, so it has decent drink capacity. I usually keep more in the Jeep and just replace whatever I take out with a warm one. Yes, I like my Peanut M&M's chilled, too! Lol!

 

[Cameramonkey]

Take a look at the Anker folding solar panels. Anker is the gold standard for USB charging and power banks.

 

[Principal Skinr]

Take a look at the Anker folding solar panels. Anker is the gold standard for USB charging and power banks.

Who sells them for the best pricing?

 

[Cameramonkey]

Who sells them for the best pricing?

Ive only looked at Amazon.