Power on the road makes life so much easier. We have a leisure battery in Sheddy, but we have always been very aware of making sure we don’t use too much electricity, or have the fridge turned on for too long in case we manage to drain it.
We were recently sent a portable solar bundle from Jackery which included a Jackery Portable Power Station Explorer 500 and a Jackery SolarSaga 100W Portable Solar Panel and it has been a game changer.
We first tested the panel in the garden to give it some charge, unfortunately the sun doesn’t like to show it’s face too much in England, but we were able to fully charge the power station from the mains before taking it on the road. We used the power station to charge our phones, camera, go pro, ipad and any other electrical devices we had with us and after four days on the road, we hadn’t even used 25% of the charge.
Being able to charge all our devices from the Jackery meant that we could just use the leisure battery for the fridge, so we no longer had to worry about running out of juice!
The power station is really compact and we had absolutely no trouble fitting it in the van (even with all our overpacking) and moving it around as and when needed. The solar panel is great to have on hand for those moments where the sun does come out, meaning you can recharge on the go.
The power station has an AC outlet (230V 500W, 1000W ), a12V/10A carport and three 5V/2.4A USB ports, making it possible to charge/use multiple devices at once. It also has a lighting function, which when pressed for 2 seconds can be converted to SOS.
It really is a great bit of kit, especially if you can’t justify adding full solar panels to your van. I’ve also been taking the power station in the back of my car when I’ve been on long hikes, as it means I will be able to charge my phone on the way home (my car is old and doesn’t have a charging port haha)
Jackery currently have an end of summer sale on and you can save 25% on the Explorer 240 Portable Power Station and 15% on the Explorer 500/1000 Portable Power Station (sales ends 3rd September)
Lisa Outdoors 
Leave a comment