[mk_stjames]

Post wants to talk about money spent and smart ways to prepare... and then goes and links the portable battery system used and it is a 4kwh battery+inverter+solar charger combo with a few 200W solar panels that costs... get this..

$4399.

These stupid 'home battery' units are just stupidly, stupidly marked up for what they do.

You can buy a ~5.2 kwh 48v battery for <$1000 these days, a hybrid solar charger inverter capable of a 6kw AC single phase output (same as the linked battery system) for ~$500, and a a load of used solar panels off any number of sites for next to nothing.

People are getting fleeced by these cutely packaged battery inverter charger boxes with fancy displays and USB-C chargers, all being pushed by youtubers. If you are even mildly technically minded, you can build a more capable system for 30% the cost of these things. They are relying on people just not knowing how much LiFePO4 storage batteries and hybrid solar inverters have come down in price and how easy they are to setup.

[AStonesThrow]

A few years ago, I purchased a "solar backpack" because I thought the idea was really rad, and I live in Phoenix, so the thought of trekking through the urban jungle with a solar panel on my back and perpetual, unlimited sun power to my laptop and two phones, that was irresistible!

So the reality was like this: really awesome power bank included with decent backpack. The power bank has plenty of connectors and adapters to plug into virtually anything. Power bank is juicy enough to power a laptop for a couple of hours, or a smartphone for all day long. Rugged construction there.

The backpack is kind of unwieldy but has some nice pockets and it's totally electronics-aware. You don't want to stash a drink or food anywhere in this thing. There are plenty of grommets for threading the cables you'll need.

The solar panel is like the worst feature of this "solar backpack". Of course, imagine the low surface area you'll get on a backpack. Now imagine how long it takes to charge a quite beefy power bank with that. It took me 3 weeks of all day long, in the clear winter sunlight, with a zero load, to go from zero to about 90%! Three weeks!

So clearly this solar power source is inadequate to keep a device going without discharging completely by dawn. But I certainly do appreciate the power bank, and I do keep this around for emergencies, and I basically just plug it into the wall until it's full, then I stash it away and I don't worry about it for several months.

The cost was also not terrible. I think the entire backpack set cost $300 or less. Not bad for a good durable backpack plus power bank, really; nevermind the solar component.

[drekipus]

I've seen backpacks with a fold out panel. You could probably imagine 3 panels = 90% charge in 1 week with no load.

But that pales in comparison to a phone getting depleted every second day

[BobaFloutist]

But it's not bad for a phone with WIFI, data, and Bluetooth turned off used for GPS navigation while backpacking pretty indefinitely, which used to not really be an option. So that's pretty cool.

[franga2000]

They definitely don't make any sense for home battery storage, but the vast majority of even electrical engineers couldn't build something as reliably portable as these things. We used one of the bigger ones on a film shoot to power pretty much everything but the camera out in the field (literally in a field) and I wouldn't have even considered a DIY option. Even something as simple as weathersealing is surprisingly hard to get right and I doubt most even experienced electrical engineers could achieve these absurdly fast charging rates safely.

[alnwlsn]

I hadn't looked into those battery pack things before, but that price is ridiculous. Around here, you can get a generator which will power everything you need in an emergency for about 1/10th the price.

[mindslight]

For outages like this, you can't really beat the effectiveness of a gas generator.

Just beware of the "dual fuel" lure of thinking you only need propane. In the winter, the self-evaporation rate of a 20lb propane tank isn't nearly enough to even power my little 2500 watt inverter generator.

Solar panels and batteries are for if you're preparing for a really long outage when gasoline might not be available.