Written by Nick @ Technuovo.com – 6th March 2023
Something a little different today, something I’m quite excited about and kinda fits in with my day job as an electrical engineer. This is the new Jackery Explorer 1500 Pro portable power station, it’s quite large and very heavy!
Don’t want to read the review? Watch it instead:
Let’s start with the spec and features.
Battery capacity is 1512 watts per hour or 1.5kWh, it’s a lithium-ion battery with a lifecycle of 1000 cycles to 80%+ capacity. Various options for charging the unit via your 230v wall socket at home, which will take 2 hours to charge to 100%. You could charge it via your car, or a similar 12volt system, OR, charge it via the sun. I got this unit with 2x 200-watt SolarSaga solar panels from Jackery, and they’re saying it will take 9 hours in perfect conditions to fully charge the power station with 1 panel, 5 hours with 2 panels, or 2 hours with 6 panels. Safety-wise, there is an onboard BMS, plus over-voltage and short-circuit protection, which is effectively protecting you the same way your circuit breaker in your consumer unit at home would.
Moving onto the physical unit, it’s big and it’s heavy and it’s something you need to consider before purchasing. It weighs 35 pounds or 17 kilos and it’s roughly 380 by 270 by 300mm in size. It’s got a carry handle and it’s a sturdy, robust piece of kit that will likely be ok with the odd knock or being stored in a garage. This does have an operating usage temperature of between -10 to 40C and I’d usually say that doesn’t really matter but I think it does here and you need to consider how hot or cold your environment is before taking away with you and using it. The ambient temperature surrounding the battery will affect performance, for example when it’s cold here, my EV’s range is reduced due to the low temperature.
The unit is constructed from metal and plastic, it’s got grilles with fans on either side to dissipate any heat generated and it’s got large rubber feet to help keep it secure. On the front of the unit, you’ve got a colour display, showing input, output, battery percentage and charging. There is also a handy little light with two brightness settings plus a flashing mode, which I think is morse code. As for outputs, there are two USB A ports that offer 18 watts max output, plus two USB C ports that offer 100 watts max output. There are also two 230v AC 3-pin sockets, as I’ve got the UK version here, with a max output of 1800 watts each, plus a 12volt 10amp car. Each outlet has a push button switch to turn it on and off. To the rear of the unit are the inputs, so a 230v kettle lead input for mains charging and 2 DC inputs to connect your solar panels up.
Where and when could you use this? So if you head over to the Jackery website, their portable power stations are for going out and about, camping and travelling, or maybe at home. They offer varying sizes and obviously the bigger, the more powerful but also less portable. Smaller ones are ideal for a day out with family, easy enough to carry but may only charge phones, laptops etc. As you go up, more options for outlets and what they will power become available. With this, the 1500 Pro, it will power phones, laptops but also appliances and if you are out camping, it will power a heater, a form of electric cooking perhaps. However, it’s heavy and if you use it with the associated solar panels, it will take up a fair amount of space in the boot of your car.
Set up is quite simple, there isn’t much to it at all if you’re charging via the mains, just plug it straight into your socket and wait for it to charge to 100%. If you’re charging via solar panels, then you need to connect these to the back of the unit and then set the panels up outside directing the sun. If it’s cloudy or overcast, charge performance will be reduced and obviously, you can’t use solar panels during the night. I’ve got two panels here to charge so I can plug both directly into the unit but if you have more than 2, you need to combine them and then plug them in. There are various dos and donts in terms of linking solar panels, so it’s worth referring to the user manual.
After using and charging the power station several times, I got somewhat consistent charge times via the mains, and less consistent via the solar panels. As I’ve got two panels here, 200 watts each, the absolute maximum input charge I could hope for was 400watts, in perfect conditions. It’s February, it’s cold, and it’s sometimes sunny but we’ve not had many clear blue skies where I am for the last few weeks. I managed to get an input of 290watts, which noted a charge time of around 5 hours, but only if that was consistent, which it wasn’t as the sun moved, or lowered as the day went on and there were some clouds at times. However, it was very easy to plug in the panels, it starts charging immediately and the display notes the battery percentage and how long it will take to charge to 100%. The panels are foldable and come in a carry case which is handy but they do have a fair size footprint to them, especially if you had 6 of them, that’s quite an area you’ll need.
Charging via the mains was a lot quicker, more efficient but there is obviously a cost associated with that and I checked on the charge several times and the input reading did vary between 250 and 750watts. Right now, I’m paying 34p per kWh for electricity, excluding the standing charge, and if we assume an average draw of 500watts per hour, that’s a 3-hour charge to 100%, and costing about 50p. If you had the solar panels, it would be free to charge but that initial capital cost of circa £600 for one panel, double, triple for more, that’s quite an outlay and long return on investment.
So what can this power and for how long?
My kettle, which says it requires between 1800 and 2200watts. It shows up on the display, drawing 2000watts output and at 98% battery, it’s saying I could run that kettle for 0.7 of an hour or 35/40 minutes.
I borrowed my wife’s hairdryer and thought I’d plug that in at the same time to see what happens. They both run with just the cooling of the drier on and it adds about 150watts but if I turn the first stage of heating on, it adds 700 odd watts, still both running but if I then turn the drier onto full heat, both items stop running and power is automatically turned off to them. An error message ‘F6’ shows up on the screen and we have therefore met our maximum simultaneous allowance at around 3400 watts. Turn the plugs off and back on, the error message is removed and you can power up again.
A hair drier at 1350 watts would last around 1 hour total running. I tried various devices, my TV games console, PC, and various lights but none of them were really pushing the limits. I could power my TV for days off this thing.
So you can run two plugs together, as long as it doesn’t demand too much juice. You can also use the USB ports at the same time too, so I have both USB C ports charging my phone and laptop while writing this review.
You can power while you’re also charging. This would be a bit backwards if you had the unit plugged in at the wall and then plugged something in BUT if you had solar panels out, charging the unit, you can also power something at the same time. So for example, if your solar panel has an input of 150watts and you plug your phone in which say will draw 10 watts, your phone will charge, as will the power stations battery, just a little bit slower as 10watts of input is being used by your phone. Plug something meatier in with a greater output than input, the battery won’t charge and the panels will only slow the depletion of the battery.
As I’ve seen, the built-in protection works well and cuts off power to your devices when it needs, to stay within the power station’s safe limits. Remember earlier I mentioned fans to dissipate the heat. They do kick in when more demanding items are plugged in and you will hear them, it’s a consistent humm.
That was the new Jackery 1500 Pro portable power station and I love it, I think it’s a fantastic piece of kit IF you will get alot of use out of it. As it is quite an expense, it’s not something I’d consider buying to use once or twice a year, and then leave in the garage for the rest of the time. If you’re in a situation where you could use this weekly, daily maybe, it could be a sound investment for you. I’m going to keep using this around the house, take it out where I can and see how it works in some different scenarios. Keep an eye out on the channel for more content on this and if you have any questions, drop them below.
The price for just the power station is currently £1499, increasing to just over £2000 for the station and 1 SolarSaga panel, more if you add more panels.
For more info and to purchase, head over to the official Jackery Website.