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I need the portability. I gave away 1 of the units to friends who are always doing things for others, so they could at least make coffee or oatmeal, etc., when the power goes out. It's even on a rolling cart. Doesn't take up a lot of space in the garage when stored, but you'll want to keep it charged.3. I hope this was helpful for someone. Extremely useful for recharging your LAPTOP (or keeping your computer router running) during power outages or possibly even on camping trips.6.
Here's what I learned. Useful for lights during a power outage. You need one of the systems installed by an electrician/plumber that cost several thousand dollars for a workable heating and air conditioning system for power outages. Think of it as a giant battery. He keeps his computer router hooked up to one in the cable room and he can recharge his laptop with it. Runs a big 3-way floor lamp, for instance.5. I'm not an expert, but was looking for a practical solution to power outages.1. Not practical if you are buying it to stay warm in power outages.2.
A larger unit might be a little more useful, but I don't think they are on carts, and those carts are a necessity for me. I now have the whole-house generator I mentioned above, and even that is limited. That's not what this is for.However, I bought 2 more and I'm so glad I did. You keep it plugged in and charged during the year and use it in bad weather for lights or making coffee, heating water, running tiny appliances, OR for projects in the yard that require electricity. Small appliances like a battery-operated radio or TV could run a long time on this unit after you have exhausted your batteries, probably would run them for a LONG time, maybe for days.I originally bought 1 of these because I thought they would come in handy in power outages, to stay warm.
This would come in handy if, for instance, your house was out of power for several days but you could go to a friend's house that has power and charge it. Others will prefer the technical information in some of the other reviews. The painters used one of them when they worked on my house earlier this year. Extremely practical to run electrical items in the yard where no power is available. My son uses the 1500 units I bought.
That's not practical. Somewhat helpful to make some coffee or run tiny appliances when the power is out.4. Somewhat useful for running a radio/moderate-sized TV for a few hours.7.
So far it is doing what we expected.A generator was out of the question therefore, the Xantrex was the answer for our needs. We purchased this back up system to power minor medical equipment in case of power failure.
These batteries are HEAVY (100+ pounds total), so forget about a "portable backup pack" that lives up to the hype at AMAZON etc.btw, the "karaoake" guy review is total nonsense--his karaoake must be something he uses in a small bathroom where he only entertains himself while he's in the shower. Most units have 3x17Ah=51Ah, not 3x21Ah=63Ah capacity. Loads approaching the rating will deplete the batteries in a matter of minutes, not hours--better read up on this one at Xantrex's website before getting soaked for $400 thinking you can, e.g., run a normal fridge for hours during a blackout--you can't, and you'll need a "noisy generator" anyway to recharge this unit and run other loads.UPDATE: I have added an extra 53Ah+78Ah SLA (SealedLeadAcid) battery so I can run real-world devices for "many" hours. ***** Listen Up All You Amateurs *****What you REALLY need, for hours of service on real-world "appliances" is a "bucket of high-Ah SLA's" (i.e. Try and locate him and get the details and you'll not find him.buyer beware of paid-off testimonials.***** Bottom line *****You'll be out about $3/Ah (you need at least 200Ah = $600) for the external batteries, plus $SeveralHundred for a 2000W inverter, plus a trip to an auto-parts store for the custom-made cables to attach the batteries in parallel to the inverter. This will wind up weighing 200+ pounds, and it is NOT "portable".I repeat it is NOT portable unless you have a pet pack mule.this Xantrex-on-wheels is for brewing coffee in the morning, not powering useful devices for hours during a blackout.***** Did You Get That. high AmpHour SealedLeadAcid batteries) and a separate power inverter (DC to AC power inverter). *****The original review follows---Continuous power rating is 1350W, not 1500W.
We recharge them in the woods with an 80 watt PV solar panel, which can't keep up with our use while camping, but it does slow their discharge rate down a bit.This year I had to replace the batteries because they weren't holding much of a charge. (cue Tim Allen)The reason why I gave it 4 stars vs. We've been using a couple of these units for the past 5 years. They're also versatile. This will give us 3024 watt-hours of portable power. During the outage we used our battery boxes to power two christmas tree light-sets and a couple of lamps.Each unit includes a 12V 63AH battery-set consisting of three 12V 21AH SLA AGM batteries. The inverter is capable of providing 1500 watts for no more than 10 minutes, and 3000 watts for a short period (start-up current).
Powersonic PSH-12180FR - 12 Volt/21 Amp Hour Sealed Lead Acid Battery with Nut-Bolt Connector and Flame retardent case.Next year I'm going to add 63AH battery-boxes to each of them to boost their capacity. Here's a link to a Powersonic 12V 21AH SLA battey.
Last winter during a snow storm we lost power for several hours. Replacement 12V 17-21AH batteries cost from $40.00 to $50.00 each.
They work perfectly for camping because of their portability. The capacity of SLA batteries is a function of time and after 5 years have roughly 40% of their original capacity.
5 is because the handle and wheels are a bit winkey. When they're not being used for camping, I store them in the garage with their 5-amp float chargers attached so that we have a source of power in an emergency.
Each unit can be augmented with an additional 63AH battery-set for a toal of 126AH or 1512 watt-hour available as 120VAC via a 1350 watt continuous-use inverter.
I paired this with an 80 watt solar panel and I can charge it from dead to full within 2 sunny days here in Ohio. Higher amp items don't work as I found with an electric chipper I have. All in all I'm happy with the product. I've had this for a month now and am basically happy with it. In an electric emergency I feel I could rotate the solar panel and charge it in one day.Nice for portable power, hope I never find out how well it works as emergency backup but I think it will be fine for keeping food from spoiling. Expecting to run a fridge for hours is just not going to happen. I think my expectations were unreal when purchasing it. However, I am able to run the fridge steady for an hour (opening the door to keep it going) as well as run my lawn edger, trimmer and blower.
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