Product: Kennwood LiFePO4 Portable Power Stations
Model:
Condition: New
Kenwood Portable Power Station
Low maintenance with Automatic Power Supply System keeps the battery near full charge without constant plugging and unplugging, ensuring it’s always ready for use
Battery Management System provides first-class safety with advanced protection, enhancing battery efficiency and lifespan
Simple and fast charging allows hassle-free and efficient power replenishment for uninterrupted use
Convenient 4 types of outputs offer versatile compatibility for various devices and appliances
Foldable handle creates a small footprint for compact storage and easy portability, perfect for travel
High-contrast bright LCD ensures clear and easy-to-read display for real-time power monitoring
Toggleable LED light provides built-in illumination for added convenience in low-light situations
Instant power backup during blackouts automatically switches power supply to connected essential appliances for seamless operation
Compact and travel-friendly design with an AC adapter-less charging cable enhances portability for easy use on the go
@phendrick I know. And what’s with calling gas “generators”, generators? They don’t break the laws of physics and generate power from nothing! I expect anything with the word generator in it to require no stored energy of the chemical, electro-chemical, or mechanical varieties. Otherwise, what do words even mean?
@crazycarl864 I know what @phendrick is saying but it looks like these are marketed as just Power Station, which makes more sense. Not “generator”
You put power in (from some wires) and at that time or later withdraw that power (with a variety of wire options). So as a “Station” it seems correct. I got one set a few months ago and seems good. The solar panel is quite solid and heavy, which makes sense for the power output.
But 80s musical interlude, what are words for?
/youtube what are words for Missing Persons
They’re not in the slightest sense a generator, but rather an energy storage device.
@phendrick, I don’t get the “self-charging” bit. The power stations need some form of energy input: 120VAC or solar panels.
@crazycarl864, isn’t one of the definitions of “generate” to produce something from a chemical process? A gas generator does that by the chemical process of burning gas, so wouldn’t that count?
I asked Thumperchick if we could still contribute to the thread just for fun and she enthusiastically said yes. I’m working on a script, not on this topic. You should work on one too, @mossygreen!
@crazycarl864@ItalianScallion@phendrick By the “chemical process” definition a battery is also a generator, since batteries don’t store electricity, they convert energy from chemicals (and the other way if they’re rechargeable). Lithium is one of the chemicals, for example. I think using that definition the only similar thing that isn’t a generator is ultracapacitors.
@crazycarl864@ItalianScallion@Kidsandliz@phendrick That’s when the hand cranked flashlight comes into the picture! Crank and shine it at the solar panels all night and by morning you might have recharged this one enough to run the single brew coffee maker.
Right, @Kidsandliz! The usefulness of the solar panels would be if there still wasn’t power in the day(s) after the storm when there might be sun.
@kuoh Being a radio geek, I’ve had a Grundig AM/FM/shortwave radio with a hand crank for years and several of my ham radios can tune to the National Weather Service frequencies. (I’m probably going to buy an NWS receiver with the alert feature since nothing I have has that.) With all the flashlights and electric lanterns I’ve bought from Meh, I hopefully wouldn’t have to resort to the Grundig for lighting. I’ve also got plenty of camping gear powered by isobutane cylinders, including a stove, a tiny lantern, and a gas “candle” for mood lighting. I also have many espresso and drip coffee makers that have internal batteries or are for stovetop use, and a hand grinder, so no problem for coffee! I’d likely prioritize my CPAP machine for use with the Kenwood power station.
I think calling them “self-charging power banks” would be more appropriate.
Significant quibble: They don’t self-charge, they require an electrical input from somewhere, which can be from solar panels if those are connected and there’s light available to absorb and convert.
But as the term had been used worldwide since the days of Watt himself, a “generator” is a device for converting kinetic energy to electrical current via the use of magnetic fields interacting with electrical windings in relative motion. No battery pack does that.
@werehatrack i figured the solar panel as part of that particular system for the “self” part. (Ignoring the sun as also an essential part since usually it’s just There. )
@ShotgunX There’s lots of discussion on the internet about whether or not a power station like these are or can be used as a UPS. If I remember what I read correctly, the most common thought is that they could work kinda sorta as a UPS, but they don’t always do a great job of switching over.
@ShotgunX good point. I think the ability to “switch-over” is useful (some units are either/or) but for some critical need there will be some glitch or disconnect time; unspecified.
For critical applications professional UPSs can run in continuous-on mode, meaning it’s always “generating” (Ahem…) but this is less efficient and wouldn’t expect this to have that, More for very expensive server rooms.
@pmarin@ShotgunX I thought that the whole idea of a UPS vs. a backup power supply, like some type of generator or power station, is that switch-over is so fast that a computer can ride through it without going down, i.e., there are no glitches or disconnect time. I suppose if I wanted to get that with my power station, I’d have to plug my computer (or whatever) into it then plug the power station into AC power, meaning that the power station would be continuously charging and actively supplying power at the same time. I suspect that wouldn’t be good for long-term battery health, though.
@ShotgunX I’ve been running it as a pass-thru ups for a while now. It’s too slow. When I unplug the UPS the power goes down long enough to reboot my PC and router. I had it succeed once or twice, so it’s close. Maybe if I was drawing less current it would work better?
Leaving it run as a pass-thru also confused the battery maintenance software, after running for a couple months that way I unplugged it and it dropped rapidly to 50% after which it still gave me a few hours charge, after fully cycling the battery it re-calibrated and behaved better.
It is kind of neat that it tells you how many watts it’s drawing at any given time. I learned my entire work setup, 3 monitors, computer, router, etc… takes as much as one of the old incandescent light bulbs (100w).
At that rate, by the way, it lasts around 5 hours and recharges in under 2.
It seems to be designed to handle the pass-thru AC though, It doesn’t involve the battery as far as I can tell. I assume it tops it off occasionally, but doesn’t do a continual charge/discharge as long as you are only using AC.
If you pull from DC however that pulls from the battery which drops a few % then recharges continuously (Can’t be good for the battery).
@ItalianScallion@pmarin The new elite tiers of the top power station brands have pass-through capabilities and (advertised) switchover times of 10ms. I believe that the standard lead-acid UPS units need a switchover time of 17ms by regulation, and that computers generally require something within that number to not shut off during switchover. Most of the older/cheaper power stations have switchovers of 20-30ms. You can usually spot these figures in the product writeup images on Amazon.
LOL-- $100 markup for a 100W solar panel they’re claiming is worth over $300. Meanwhile, uncle Bezos has the two 100W eco-worthy panels for $99; traditional or bifacial!
@caffeineguy I would expect that inflated price-vs-output specs like those are more of a warning label than a statement of actual capacity. You gets what you pays for. Right now, that’s over a buck per watt. The lower the price, the more headaches get bundled with the product.
@phr Eco-worthy are currently only $50 on prime. The portable panels are often a bit more fragile than desired, and often lose a large chunk with the wrong flex, cold solder joint, etc.
The $50 one is rigid and intended for roof mounting. You can carry it around if you have to but it’s much less convenient than the folding one. 100W rigid panels for $50 are easy to find.
I got the smaller (512Wh) of these two power stations the when it was on Meh in April. I think it’s very well built. As an amateur radio operator who has owned Kenwood gear, I’m not surprised, since they have a good reputation in that area.
The 512Wh power station outputs 120VAC@5A=600W and 12VDC@10A=120W. The 806Wh one outputs 120VAC@5.8A=700W and 12VDC@10A=120W. (You’ll find detailed info on the power stations here.)
For my use in low-power (10 watts RF output) amateur radio, this is a great power station. For more general ham radio use, 12VDC@20A would be much better in order to power the typical 100W transceiver. I do have a 120VAC power supply that draws 4.5A to deliver 12VDC at 20A, so that would work, but that’s a terribly inefficient way to go.
At the same time I ordered the Kenwood power station, I bought the Duracell 200W solar panels. With a $15 adapter cable the panels connect to the power station and everything works well together. The panels fold together like a portable table and apparently the hinges can’t take much of a beating. Mine broke either in shipping or when I unboxed the 36-pound panels and set them on the bottom (hinged) edge a little too hard. I got some steel hinges to replace the cast aluminum ones, put them in (required some drilling), and all is well now.
@ItalianScallion Glad to read you were able to find an adapter. Can I ask what standard the solar charging port on the power station is? I looked on the site, including magnifying the pictures, and couldn’t tell. I was mildly worried about getting locked into a proprietary panel or having to find an unobtainable adapter.
Also, per your experience, is 200 watts the charging ceiling? That info might be on the site, I was focused on trying to find the connector details.
@ItalianScallion I too am an amateur radio operator with 9 Kenwood radios. If it wasn’t for being a Kenwood I would have passed. I already have a 2000W/1000Wh solar generator. This one seems to be a little more portable. I have 4-25W panels presently. I just ordered a 200W panel arriving next week.
@sfwineguy The solar input is a barrel jack, the cord that is permanently attached to the panel (if I remember right) has the barrel plug on the other end. I’m not sure what exact size it is.
@Bloodshedder@sfwineguy The Kenwood power stations use an 8mm jack for solar panel input which isn’t anything weird. The adapter cable I used for the Duracell panels is here–it includes a bunch of different plugs for the thing being charged and 8mm is one of them. The Duracell panels and many others use the standard MC-4 connector pair. After buying this cable I realized it’s rated for only 100W. Since my panels are 200W, I’m going to order this adapter cable.
The specs for both Kenwood power stations say that the DC input can be from 12V to 28V at 240W.
@eq52515 It’s important to pay attention to the maximum input voltage, if @ItalianScallion says its 12-28V and 240W, then you could theoretically connect three or four 100W panels in parallel, but it would only charge at 240W. Any series combinations would likely bring the maximum open circuit voltage over the maximum (28V) and likely damage the front-end.
6 items sold as of 7 AM EST… NOT a popular item and too expensive for us "Meh"ers! You think they will put one of these into the IRK “kits” … my votes says NAH for MEH
@caffeineguy@windraver I was curious about this since I seriously looked at Jackery, Bluetti, and Ecoflow ones about a year ago. What you get for $200 at Home Depot (just one site selling them that I picked at random) isn’t as much in terms of capacity or output as you get with the 512Wh Kenwood one here. That’s why I jumped on it in April! Of course there are several (many?) other vendors to get them from, so others may be a better deal that the Kenwood one here.
TL;DR - Picked up 512wh version the last time they were on sale to use for my astrophotography setup and it has been hit or miss for me (mostly miss), but oddly because it seems low power draw will cause ports to turn off.
I’ve run this thing down from full charge to empty a few times for testing with high power-draw items such as fans, small heaters, and computers and it handled these like a champ. I’ve used it for astrophotography now a few times and each time it failed. The power zones with the higher power-draw items such as the lens heater and guide mount keep going, but the power zones for lower power draw items such as the power adapter for my DSLR (which plugs into the USB power zone) has consistently powered off during the shoot, causing the overnight shoot to be a waste. I’ve tried switching things up by plugging the usb-powered lens heater into the USB power zone directly and the camera power adapter into the a USB charger pluged into the AC power zone, but wherever port the camera was plugged into always died after an hour or two of use if nothing else was running off that
At the same time, I’ve used the various power zones (AC, DC, USB) for long periods of time to power higher power-draw items and it’s worked great. The problem actually seems to be that these ports get turned off as they are not drawing enough power to be deemed “in use”. This has never happened with my smaller Jackery with the exact same cables and items being plugged in, so I can only conclude it is an issue with this unit, or with the design of the device.
Unfortunately, the issue is further exacerbated by not being able to find any useful information about these power stations other than random store fronts with no reviews. I’ve not yet looked to warranty repair but that will likely be the next step for me.
@benborgs
Yes. That is frustrating. I’ve had the same kind of issues with my rechargeable hearing aids. They draw so little power that once they are charged the wall plug thinks nothing’s connected to it and turns them off… at which point they start to discharge overnight. It’s produces a high pitched whine that annoys the crap out of my wife. I, of course, can’t hear it. I resolved my issue by using an old .8 amp wall charger rather than something with a higher output like a two amp fast charger or a multiple outlet charger hi-output GaN charger like my travel adapter.
Just a thought but have you tried using a power strip into one outlet and distributing it that way. That could potentially fool it into thinking there was a strong enough power draw to keep everything running.
@benborgs Did you turn off eco mode on the power bank? If you turn that off, it’s not supposed to turn off the power ports, though that might only apply to the AC ports.
@benborgs@minuette Just in case you didn’t know, there is some info on the Kenwood power stations here. It’s not great, but it’s something. It’s the best I could find. There may be discussion of these on ham radio forums. I haven’t investigated that yet.
I’m curious where you would go for warranty repairs. Mercatalyst (Meh, Sidedeal, MorningSave) bought all of Kenwood’s remaining stock of the power stations and Kenwood has discontinued these products. I don’t know if the responsibility for warranty service comes with the Mercatalyst buyout or if Kenwood would do warranty service or if Mercatalyst or Kenwood are having a third party take care of warranty service. Maybe @troy knows.
Speaking of random storefronts selling these, I saw them for sale on Walmart’s website with the small print saying “sold and shipped by Mercatalyst.”
@benborgs I can confirm turning off eco mode will stop it from turning off, you are correct that it will automatically go to sleep if there is too little draw, however if you hold the display button for several seconds, you will see the eco indicator on the screen go away, also the screen will no longer turn itself off after a few seconds. Tap the display button a few more times to turn the display off, and your ports will remain hot until either it goes dead or you go and turn eco mode back on.
I have a Jackery 200, and it’s very handy for camping. I also use it sometimes at work for powering a soldering iron if I need to fix something on a remote radio site. (I’m a comm tech) Also handy for running a laptop. The thing is about the size of a toaster, so easy to pack along.
I got a no-name power station from Amazon Vine and loved it, except the stupid @$$ed thing would time itself off after an hour. That does NOT work when powering a CPAP machine on a camp trip. (Yes, I’m old and fat) The Jackery doesn’t do that crap, and in the morning, it will be around 77% battery. Maybe down to 70% while also recharging my phone overnight as well. The Kenwood on sale here seems to come up a lot about powering itself down, so I’d guess it’s a timer like what I had rather than amount of power draw.
As for the solar panel? I have a 60W GreenMagic folding panel, and LOVE IT. $75/shipped/tax from eBay. The last time out at a lake, it RAINED and it was still putting 15 watts into the Jackery. When the sun pops out, it’ll cram 50 to 55 watts into it, and that 77% will be 100% within maybe 90 minutes. I keep the little Jackery in a small tool bag from Harbor Freight Tools, along with cords etc. I have a USB cord with triple ends for USB C, Lightning, and USB Micro, so I can plug anything in to recharge it. I can either plug that into the Jackery while it’s being solar charged, or right into the solar panel.
@user06258054 I’ve had the smaller of the two Kenwood power stations for about three months. I used it two consecutive nights with my CPAP machine (which includes a heated humidifer and uses a heated hose) to try it out. It has never done any kind of automatic powerdown for me.
The “generator” stupidity came in with whatever human or bot writes the bullet points, not from the product. Also apparently obsessed with Georgia Red and margaritas.
@chienfou@ItalianScallion@Mrmindless@pmarin The “generator” misnomer may also derive from mistranslation issues from languages where there are multiple English words which might be used depending on the context of the source. I know that the people who were peddling the multiply-branded Energizer and Duracell (etc) power stations consistently mislabeled them as “generators”, and caught flak from all over about it. It seemed obvious that their marketing people were working from translated docs in a complete absence of actual technical knowledge.
@chienfou@Mrmindless@pmarin@werehatrack I think that somtimes the person that writes the manufacturer’s ad copy will try to push power stations as “whisper quiet generators” or some such nonsense, presumably to contrast it to a gasoline/propane real generator, knowing full well that a power station is not a generator. I gotta go make banana bread with butterscotch chips and orange zest now. I can’t remember who it was here that said they make it that way, but it sure sounded yummy!
@chienfou@ItalianScallion@Mrmindless@phendrick@phr@pmarin Portable generators are presumed to require fuel. Fuel in a device in the hold or cabin of an aircraft is prohibited, full stop, period. As a result, the foolish designation of battery packs as “generators” would automatically give TSA fits regardless of the capacity of the pack. And IIANM, none of these are low enough in capacity to be permitted aboard a commercial flight in any event. I am surprised that they aren’t requiring a flameproof container for power banks yet; I expect that to happen just about any time now.
@chienfou@ItalianScallion@Mrmindless@phr@pmarin The shippers might be treating these as “generators” for freight rate determination purposes. I will note that back when I did a fair amount of truck shipping, we had to be very explicit about shipping traded-in part cores as “auto parts, scrap, for salvage or rebuilding only” to avoid getting hit for a higher freight rate. (That was in the '70s.) Also, (mis)classifying them as “generators” instead of “batteries” might get a cheaper rate because shipments of lithium batteries have special restrictions imposed. Gaming this system is not recommended, but I’m sure it happens.
I’m kind of tempted by the power stations but meh. Obvious competitors are Bluetti AC50B (448WH, $227.05) and AC70 (768WH. $312.55) with free shipping and 5 year warranty from a company that is still making the stuff. Those prices reflect 5% off coupon of which there are a lot around (AFF5OFF from tomshardware works and gives a referral payment to some veteran group). Next higher Bluetti is Elite 100v2 (1024WH, $379 preorder) but shipments are delayed til late August supposedly. The Bluettis generally have more flexible solar inputs and stuff like that. See; bluettipower.com .
Specs
Product: Kennwood LiFePO4 Portable Power Stations
Model:
Condition: New
Kenwood Portable Power Station
Kenwood 100W Portable Solar Panel
Kenwood 700 Watt Portable Power Station
Kenwood 600 Watt Portable Power Station
Kenwood 100 Watt Portable Solar Panel
What’s Included?
OR
OR
OR
Price Comparison
$329.95 (for Solar Panel) at Amazon
Warranty
3-Year Kenwood
Estimated Delivery
Thursday, Jul 17 - Monday, Jul 21
More non-generating “generators”.
But, what’s in a name?
@phendrick I think calling them “self-charging power banks” would be more appropriate.
@phendrick I know. And what’s with calling gas “generators”, generators? They don’t break the laws of physics and generate power from nothing! I expect anything with the word generator in it to require no stored energy of the chemical, electro-chemical, or mechanical varieties. Otherwise, what do words even mean?
@crazycarl864 @phendrick Too bad it’s too late for a MIBMMTIS game entry!
@crazycarl864 @phendrick So by that definition, only ZPMs would qualify as generators.
KuoH
@crazycarl864 I know what @phendrick is saying but it looks like these are marketed as just Power Station, which makes more sense. Not “generator”
You put power in (from some wires) and at that time or later withdraw that power (with a variety of wire options). So as a “Station” it seems correct. I got one set a few months ago and seems good. The solar panel is quite solid and heavy, which makes sense for the power output.
But 80s musical interlude, what are words for?
/youtube what are words for Missing Persons
They’re not in the slightest sense a generator, but rather an energy storage device.
@phendrick, I don’t get the “self-charging” bit. The power stations need some form of energy input: 120VAC or solar panels.
@crazycarl864, isn’t one of the definitions of “generate” to produce something from a chemical process? A gas generator does that by the chemical process of burning gas, so wouldn’t that count?
@crazycarl864 @kuoh @phendrick
But ZedPMs run out of energy over time. Again, they are only energy storage devices.
@crazycarl864 @ItalianScallion I meant that the system with the solar panel can renew its charge (with the help of the sun, of course).
@crazycarl864 @kuoh @Perfect_Timing @phendrick
While I agree that this is a storage device that can be charged…
A ZPM is a generator. They just happen to be worn out from age or overstressed when SG1 finds one. As any generator can be. For plot reasons
https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Zero_Point_Module
@crazycarl864 @phendrick
I asked Thumperchick if we could still contribute to the thread just for fun and she enthusiastically said yes. I’m working on a script, not on this topic. You should work on one too, @mossygreen!
@crazycarl864 @ItalianScallion @phendrick By the “chemical process” definition a battery is also a generator, since batteries don’t store electricity, they convert energy from chemicals (and the other way if they’re rechargeable). Lithium is one of the chemicals, for example. I think using that definition the only similar thing that isn’t a generator is ultracapacitors.
@crazycarl864 @phendrick @ravenblack I hadn’t thought of it that way… and the water muddies…
@ItalianScallion @phendrick @ravenblack thank you everyone for explaining my pedantic joke back to me. I’m just so proud.
@phendrick @ravenblack
@crazycarl864, I see a script here for a “Maybe it bothers me more than it should.” The thread is here: Game Time: Make Your Own “Maybe It Bothers Me More Than It Should” and you can contribute even though game entries are closed.
@crazycarl864 @ItalianScallion @phendrick Which you are not going to get (sun) when you need this thing in a power outage in the middle of a storm.
@crazycarl864 @ItalianScallion @Kidsandliz @phendrick That’s when the hand cranked flashlight comes into the picture! Crank and shine it at the solar panels all night and by morning you might have recharged this one enough to run the single brew coffee maker.
KuoH
@crazycarl864 @phendrick
Right, @Kidsandliz! The usefulness of the solar panels would be if there still wasn’t power in the day(s) after the storm when there might be sun.
@kuoh Being a radio geek, I’ve had a Grundig AM/FM/shortwave radio with a hand crank for years and several of my ham radios can tune to the National Weather Service frequencies. (I’m probably going to buy an NWS receiver with the alert feature since nothing I have has that.) With all the flashlights and electric lanterns I’ve bought from Meh, I hopefully wouldn’t have to resort to the Grundig for lighting.
I’ve also got plenty of camping gear powered by isobutane cylinders, including a stove, a tiny lantern, and a gas “candle” for mood lighting. 
I also have many espresso and drip coffee makers that have internal batteries or are for stovetop use, and a hand grinder, so no problem for coffee! I’d likely prioritize my CPAP machine for use with the Kenwood power station.
@phendrick
Significant quibble: They don’t self-charge, they require an electrical input from somewhere, which can be from solar panels if those are connected and there’s light available to absorb and convert.
But as the term had been used worldwide since the days of Watt himself, a “generator” is a device for converting kinetic energy to electrical current via the use of magnetic fields interacting with electrical windings in relative motion. No battery pack does that.
@werehatrack i figured the solar panel as part of that particular system for the “self” part. (Ignoring the sun as also an essential part since usually it’s just There. )
They like talking about its “instant” UPS functionality, but they don’t mention the switchover time anywhere.
@ShotgunX There’s lots of discussion on the internet about whether or not a power station like these are or can be used as a UPS. If I remember what I read correctly, the most common thought is that they could work kinda sorta as a UPS, but they don’t always do a great job of switching over.
@ShotgunX good point. I think the ability to “switch-over” is useful (some units are either/or) but for some critical need there will be some glitch or disconnect time; unspecified.
For critical applications professional UPSs can run in continuous-on mode, meaning it’s always “generating” (Ahem…) but this is less efficient and wouldn’t expect this to have that, More for very expensive server rooms.
@pmarin @ShotgunX I thought that the whole idea of a UPS vs. a backup power supply, like some type of generator or power station, is that switch-over is so fast that a computer can ride through it without going down, i.e., there are no glitches or disconnect time. I suppose if I wanted to get that with my power station, I’d have to plug my computer (or whatever) into it then plug the power station into AC power, meaning that the power station would be continuously charging and actively supplying power at the same time. I suspect that wouldn’t be good for long-term battery health, though.
@ShotgunX I’ve been running it as a pass-thru ups for a while now. It’s too slow. When I unplug the UPS the power goes down long enough to reboot my PC and router. I had it succeed once or twice, so it’s close. Maybe if I was drawing less current it would work better?
Leaving it run as a pass-thru also confused the battery maintenance software, after running for a couple months that way I unplugged it and it dropped rapidly to 50% after which it still gave me a few hours charge, after fully cycling the battery it re-calibrated and behaved better.
It is kind of neat that it tells you how many watts it’s drawing at any given time. I learned my entire work setup, 3 monitors, computer, router, etc… takes as much as one of the old incandescent light bulbs (100w).
At that rate, by the way, it lasts around 5 hours and recharges in under 2.
It seems to be designed to handle the pass-thru AC though, It doesn’t involve the battery as far as I can tell. I assume it tops it off occasionally, but doesn’t do a continual charge/discharge as long as you are only using AC.
If you pull from DC however that pulls from the battery which drops a few % then recharges continuously (Can’t be good for the battery).
@ItalianScallion @pmarin The new elite tiers of the top power station brands have pass-through capabilities and (advertised) switchover times of 10ms. I believe that the standard lead-acid UPS units need a switchover time of 17ms by regulation, and that computers generally require something within that number to not shut off during switchover. Most of the older/cheaper power stations have switchovers of 20-30ms. You can usually spot these figures in the product writeup images on Amazon.
Do these have stereo capability?
@yakkoTDI Only if you buy 2 and wire them in parallel.
KuoH
@yakkoTDI
Well played, TDI, well played.
/showme You read my mind and stole my thunder
LOL-- $100 markup for a 100W solar panel they’re claiming is worth over $300. Meanwhile, uncle Bezos has the two 100W eco-worthy panels for $99; traditional or bifacial!
@caffeineguy Who you callin’ bifacial?
@caffeineguy “two 100W eco-worthy panels for $99”
where?
@caffeineguy I would expect that inflated price-vs-output specs like those are more of a warning label than a statement of actual capacity. You gets what you pays for. Right now, that’s over a buck per watt. The lower the price, the more headaches get bundled with the product.
These are portable folding panels that always cost a lot more. Though $300 is still silly. The 100 watt Eco-worthy portable panel is $109:
https://www.eco-worthy.com/collections/portable-solar-panels
The Kenwood 100W panel weighs 8.8 lb which is decent for this type of product. Lighter ones do exist. Eco-worthy’s portable one is heavier at 11 lb.
@phr yes, the portable panel is among the most solid ones I have. Folds up into its own protective. “luggage” with carry handle.
Also pretty sure the panels on the Bezos yacht aren’t the 2/$99 specials.
@phr Eco-worthy are currently only $50 on prime. The portable panels are often a bit more fragile than desired, and often lose a large chunk with the wrong flex, cold solder joint, etc.
@caffeineguy Again the $50 eco-worthy on prime is not the portable model. The portable model is $110 after coupon:
https://www.amazon.com/ECO-WORTHY-Portable-Adjustable-Kickstand-Efficiency/dp/B0F4WDHJLP
The $50 one is rigid and intended for roof mounting. You can carry it around if you have to but it’s much less convenient than the folding one. 100W rigid panels for $50 are easy to find.
@caffeineguy @phr For reference, the Duracell 200W folding panel on Side Deal for $150 weighs 36 pounds. It doesn’t have a charge controller.
I got the smaller (512Wh) of these two power stations the when it was on Meh in April. I think it’s very well built. As an amateur radio operator who has owned Kenwood gear, I’m not surprised, since they have a good reputation in that area.
The 512Wh power station outputs 120VAC@5A=600W and 12VDC@10A=120W. The 806Wh one outputs 120VAC@5.8A=700W and 12VDC@10A=120W. (You’ll find detailed info on the power stations here.)
For my use in low-power (10 watts RF output) amateur radio, this is a great power station. For more general ham radio use, 12VDC@20A would be much better in order to power the typical 100W transceiver. I do have a 120VAC power supply that draws 4.5A to deliver 12VDC at 20A, so that would work, but that’s a terribly inefficient way to go.
At the same time I ordered the Kenwood power station, I bought the Duracell 200W solar panels. With a $15 adapter cable the panels connect to the power station and everything works well together. The panels fold together like a portable table and apparently the hinges can’t take much of a beating. Mine broke either in shipping or when I unboxed the 36-pound panels and set them on the bottom (hinged) edge a little too hard. I got some steel hinges to replace the cast aluminum ones, put them in (required some drilling), and all is well now.
@ItalianScallion Glad to read you were able to find an adapter. Can I ask what standard the solar charging port on the power station is? I looked on the site, including magnifying the pictures, and couldn’t tell. I was mildly worried about getting locked into a proprietary panel or having to find an unobtainable adapter.
Also, per your experience, is 200 watts the charging ceiling? That info might be on the site, I was focused on trying to find the connector details.
Thanks.
@ItalianScallion I too am an amateur radio operator with 9 Kenwood radios. If it wasn’t for being a Kenwood I would have passed. I already have a 2000W/1000Wh solar generator. This one seems to be a little more portable. I have 4-25W panels presently. I just ordered a 200W panel arriving next week.
@sfwineguy The solar input is a barrel jack, the cord that is permanently attached to the panel (if I remember right) has the barrel plug on the other end. I’m not sure what exact size it is.
@Bloodshedder @sfwineguy The Kenwood power stations use an 8mm jack for solar panel input which isn’t anything weird. The adapter cable I used for the Duracell panels is here–it includes a bunch of different plugs for the thing being charged and 8mm is one of them. The Duracell panels and many others use the standard MC-4 connector pair. After buying this cable I realized it’s rated for only 100W. Since my panels are 200W, I’m going to order this adapter cable.
The specs for both Kenwood power stations say that the DC input can be from 12V to 28V at 240W.
@Bloodshedder @ItalianScallion Thank you, that’s really helpful and useful info.
Just wondering, would it be possible to connect multiple solar panels together for more energy generation?
@eq52515 it’s possible but the charge controller can only take so much. If you’re looking to do a big build this isn’t it.
@eq52515 It’s important to pay attention to the maximum input voltage, if @ItalianScallion says its 12-28V and 240W, then you could theoretically connect three or four 100W panels in parallel, but it would only charge at 240W. Any series combinations would likely bring the maximum open circuit voltage over the maximum (28V) and likely damage the front-end.
6 items sold as of 7 AM EST… NOT a popular item and too expensive for us "Meh"ers! You think they will put one of these into the IRK “kits” … my votes says NAH for MEH
@mcemanuel @windraver Is it just me, or did they drop the price since this morning??
@caffeineguy The range hasn’t shifted from what I recalled earlier.
@caffeineguy @mcemanuel @windraver It’s still $200 for the 512Wh one which is what is was at midnight and what it was in April when I bought one.
Isn’t this too expensive? A full kWh was only 499 recent. Possibly even cheaper. Ecoflow has had some wild sales.
@windraver yeah, $1/KWhr and $1/watt for solar is such 2020 pricing. A 1KW jackery was only like $399 the other day
@caffeineguy @windraver I was curious about this since I seriously looked at Jackery, Bluetti, and Ecoflow ones about a year ago. What you get for $200 at Home Depot (just one site selling them that I picked at random) isn’t as much in terms of capacity or output as you get with the 512Wh Kenwood one here. That’s why I jumped on it in April! Of course there are several (many?) other vendors to get them from, so others may be a better deal that the Kenwood one here.
TL;DR - Picked up 512wh version the last time they were on sale to use for my astrophotography setup and it has been hit or miss for me (mostly miss), but oddly because it seems low power draw will cause ports to turn off.
I’ve run this thing down from full charge to empty a few times for testing with high power-draw items such as fans, small heaters, and computers and it handled these like a champ. I’ve used it for astrophotography now a few times and each time it failed. The power zones with the higher power-draw items such as the lens heater and guide mount keep going, but the power zones for lower power draw items such as the power adapter for my DSLR (which plugs into the USB power zone) has consistently powered off during the shoot, causing the overnight shoot to be a waste. I’ve tried switching things up by plugging the usb-powered lens heater into the USB power zone directly and the camera power adapter into the a USB charger pluged into the AC power zone, but wherever port the camera was plugged into always died after an hour or two of use if nothing else was running off that
At the same time, I’ve used the various power zones (AC, DC, USB) for long periods of time to power higher power-draw items and it’s worked great. The problem actually seems to be that these ports get turned off as they are not drawing enough power to be deemed “in use”. This has never happened with my smaller Jackery with the exact same cables and items being plugged in, so I can only conclude it is an issue with this unit, or with the design of the device.
Unfortunately, the issue is further exacerbated by not being able to find any useful information about these power stations other than random store fronts with no reviews. I’ve not yet looked to warranty repair but that will likely be the next step for me.
@benborgs
Yes. That is frustrating. I’ve had the same kind of issues with my rechargeable hearing aids. They draw so little power that once they are charged the wall plug thinks nothing’s connected to it and turns them off… at which point they start to discharge overnight. It’s produces a high pitched whine that annoys the crap out of my wife. I, of course, can’t hear it. I resolved my issue by using an old .8 amp wall charger rather than something with a higher output like a two amp fast charger or a multiple outlet charger hi-output GaN charger like my travel adapter.
Just a thought but have you tried using a power strip into one outlet and distributing it that way. That could potentially fool it into thinking there was a strong enough power draw to keep everything running.
@benborgs Did you turn off eco mode on the power bank? If you turn that off, it’s not supposed to turn off the power ports, though that might only apply to the AC ports.
@benborgs @minuette Just in case you didn’t know, there is some info on the Kenwood power stations here. It’s not great, but it’s something. It’s the best I could find. There may be discussion of these on ham radio forums. I haven’t investigated that yet.
I’m curious where you would go for warranty repairs. Mercatalyst (Meh, Sidedeal, MorningSave) bought all of Kenwood’s remaining stock of the power stations and Kenwood has discontinued these products. I don’t know if the responsibility for warranty service comes with the Mercatalyst buyout or if Kenwood would do warranty service or if Mercatalyst or Kenwood are having a third party take care of warranty service. Maybe @troy knows.
Speaking of random storefronts selling these, I saw them for sale on Walmart’s website with the small print saying “sold and shipped by Mercatalyst.”
@minuette Thank you for commenting, I wasn’t even aware this was a thing! It may very well be the reason so I will be sure to give it a try next time.
@benborgs I can confirm turning off eco mode will stop it from turning off, you are correct that it will automatically go to sleep if there is too little draw, however if you hold the display button for several seconds, you will see the eco indicator on the screen go away, also the screen will no longer turn itself off after a few seconds. Tap the display button a few more times to turn the display off, and your ports will remain hot until either it goes dead or you go and turn eco mode back on.
I have a Jackery 200, and it’s very handy for camping. I also use it sometimes at work for powering a soldering iron if I need to fix something on a remote radio site. (I’m a comm tech) Also handy for running a laptop. The thing is about the size of a toaster, so easy to pack along.
I got a no-name power station from Amazon Vine and loved it, except the stupid @$$ed thing would time itself off after an hour. That does NOT work when powering a CPAP machine on a camp trip. (Yes, I’m old and fat) The Jackery doesn’t do that crap, and in the morning, it will be around 77% battery. Maybe down to 70% while also recharging my phone overnight as well. The Kenwood on sale here seems to come up a lot about powering itself down, so I’d guess it’s a timer like what I had rather than amount of power draw.
As for the solar panel? I have a 60W GreenMagic folding panel, and LOVE IT. $75/shipped/tax from eBay. The last time out at a lake, it RAINED and it was still putting 15 watts into the Jackery. When the sun pops out, it’ll cram 50 to 55 watts into it, and that 77% will be 100% within maybe 90 minutes. I keep the little Jackery in a small tool bag from Harbor Freight Tools, along with cords etc. I have a USB cord with triple ends for USB C, Lightning, and USB Micro, so I can plug anything in to recharge it. I can either plug that into the Jackery while it’s being solar charged, or right into the solar panel.
@user06258054 I’ve had the smaller of the two Kenwood power stations for about three months. I used it two consecutive nights with my CPAP machine (which includes a heated humidifer and uses a heated hose) to try it out. It has never done any kind of automatic powerdown for me.
Batteries are still not generators. Never will be. I HATE that branding of these.
@Mrmindless yeah, I call them portable power stations or battery banks
@Mrmindless
Totally agree. The best they could do would be to call it an inverter.
@chienfou @Mrmindless Kenwood refers to theirs as portable power stations. I’m good with that.
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @Mrmindless Yeah I noticed earlier that the most “official” term for the product only used “station”
The “generator” stupidity came in with whatever human or bot writes the bullet points, not from the product. Also apparently obsessed with Georgia Red and margaritas.
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @Mrmindless @pmarin The “generator” misnomer may also derive from mistranslation issues from languages where there are multiple English words which might be used depending on the context of the source. I know that the people who were peddling the multiply-branded Energizer and Duracell (etc) power stations consistently mislabeled them as “generators”, and caught flak from all over about it. It seemed obvious that their marketing people were working from translated docs in a complete absence of actual technical knowledge.
@chienfou @Mrmindless @pmarin @werehatrack I think that somtimes the person that writes the manufacturer’s ad copy will try to push power stations as “whisper quiet generators” or some such nonsense, presumably to contrast it to a gasoline/propane real generator, knowing full well that a power station is not a generator. I gotta go make banana bread with butterscotch chips and orange zest now. I can’t remember who it was here that said they make it that way, but it sure sounded yummy!
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @Mrmindless @pmarin @werehatrack They are apparently treated as portable generators under some US transport regulations, so that might have something to do with it.
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @Mrmindless @phr @pmarin @werehatrack I might be misremembering but serms someone on here once said it was the other way around-- TSA gave them the side-eye bc the product itself identified as a “generator”.
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @Mrmindless @phendrick @phr @pmarin Portable generators are presumed to require fuel. Fuel in a device in the hold or cabin of an aircraft is prohibited, full stop, period. As a result, the foolish designation of battery packs as “generators” would automatically give TSA fits regardless of the capacity of the pack. And IIANM, none of these are low enough in capacity to be permitted aboard a commercial flight in any event. I am surprised that they aren’t requiring a flameproof container for power banks yet; I expect that to happen just about any time now.
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @Mrmindless @phr @pmarin The shippers might be treating these as “generators” for freight rate determination purposes. I will note that back when I did a fair amount of truck shipping, we had to be very explicit about shipping traded-in part cores as “auto parts, scrap, for salvage or rebuilding only” to avoid getting hit for a higher freight rate. (That was in the '70s.) Also, (mis)classifying them as “generators” instead of “batteries” might get a cheaper rate because shipments of lithium batteries have special restrictions imposed. Gaming this system is not recommended, but I’m sure it happens.
Ordered! Thanks to everyone for their comments here, convinced us to pull the trigger.
I’m kind of tempted by the power stations but meh. Obvious competitors are Bluetti AC50B (448WH, $227.05) and AC70 (768WH. $312.55) with free shipping and 5 year warranty from a company that is still making the stuff. Those prices reflect 5% off coupon of which there are a lot around (AFF5OFF from tomshardware works and gives a referral payment to some veteran group). Next higher Bluetti is Elite 100v2 (1024WH, $379 preorder) but shipments are delayed til late August supposedly. The Bluettis generally have more flexible solar inputs and stuff like that. See; bluettipower.com .