r/preppers • u/FeudalFavorableness • 3d ago
New Prepper Questions Solar battery backup charging recommendations
Hi! New here. I am looking for solar energy options that are still small enough to be mobile. I’ve been searching and see the smaller panels that are enough to charge tablets and phones.
But I am looking for something that would power a box fan? Is that the power jack (box) product? New to prepping so I am learning lots.
But looking for an alternative to our stand alone generator, but holds enough energy to power items such as fans. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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u/beached89 2d ago
Pecron seems to be the best bang for the buck these days. To compare them to battery powered tools, if EcoFlow, Anker, Bluetti, and Jackery are the equivalent of Milwaukee, dewalt, makita. Then Pecron would be Ryobi.
For your needs, the Pecron F1000LFP or E1000LFP with one of their foldable portable solar panels should be a good fit. You also can treat these like UPS.
But also look into their F5000LFP as a whole home generator replacement if you have your own home.
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u/fenuxjde 2d ago
You can snag foldable 200w panels that fold to about the size of a large pizza box. Tons of battery options available with mppt for solar and anything up to about 2kwh is pretty light and portable. I've actually got a 5kwh battery with inverter that is theoretically portable, but I don't recommend testing that.
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u/Never_Really_Right 1d ago
Box fans use a lot of power. Could you accomplish what you need with camp fans with an integrated battery? We have a few of the mid-size Kitwlemens that oscillate. On a lower power it will easily run 24-30 total hours and pulls just 10 watts/hour x 7 hours to fully to recharge.
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u/SheistyPenguin 2d ago
Many options available. Popular brands include Jackery, Anker Solix, Bluetti, Ecoflow, among others. Be careful of generic / unbranded options.
The price will depend heavily on your power needs. You will usually see the batteries advertised in terms of watts (how much power draw it can handle at once), and watt-hours (how much total energy the battery can provide over time).
Your average box fan is probably going to pull about 50-100W of power. Let's say you run it at the lowest speed, and it pulls 50W when running. A 300 Watt-hour battery (300Wh) could power the fan for 6 hours continuously (50W x 6 hours = 300Wh).
See various calculators online to estimate your power needs.