From seasonal storms and natural disasters to large-scale disasters like attacks on our power grid and infrastructure, our power grid has become extremely vulnerable to disruption. Because of how dependent our lives have become on the grid, it’s never been more important to safeguard yourself, your family, and your home from power grid failures.
Fortunately, over the last couple of years solar generator technology has really taken off. Whether you’re looking for a way to power your home during a long-term power grid disaster or just provide some extra juice during a short-term power outage, these solar powered generators and backup battery packs are some of the best options on the market.
The Top Solar Power Backup Generators
In the past, if you wanted a source of backup power you had to opt for expensive and dangerous gas generators; luckily that is all starting to change.
Solar power battery generators allow you to ditch those loud and dangerous gas powered generators, giving you the peace of mind and security you need during a crisis. Combined one of these battery banks with some solar panels, and they can provide you with unlimited backup power.
These are not long-term solutions, so if you’re looking to power an entire home or offgrid shelter they’re obviously not the right choice; but if you’re looking for something to keep you going during a short-term disaster then these units are a great backup plan. That being said, depending on your needs they can keep you going for quite some time and the more you add, the more you can obviously power.
Jackery Portable Power Station Explorer 500
The Jackery Portable Power Station Explorer 500 is a great little battery bank that gives you a PURE SINE WAVE 500-Watt invertor that can run small appliances, laptops, and charge your phones and devices. Combined with a solar panel like the Jackery SolarSaga 100W Portable Solar Panel, this setup can provide you with the power you need to keep things going when the grid goes down.
The Jackery Portable Power Station is designed as a lightweight, portable unit for camping, emergency situations, and times when you need portable backup power. It’s small enough to fit in the trunk of a vehicle and has enough power to keep your phones, tablets, laptops, and even smaller chest freezers and small energy efficient refrigerators powered up for days.
We know a number of people who travel the country in a van who use this setup as their primary source of power for their laptops, cellphones, lighting and ham radios. Personally, we use it in the field to run our ham radio and emergency radio rigs.
Goal Zero Yeti 3000 Portable Power Station
Goal Zero is one of the top portable solar power companies in the world. I’ve been carrying a number of their smaller portable units in my bug out bags for years, because I know they are going to work when I need them.
Their Yeti 3000 is designed to keep everything from phones and laptops to appliances like small refrigerators and chest freezers up and running during an emergency. It can be charged from the sun, your wall, or even your vehicle and it stores 3000 watts of power.
This thing stores a lot of power, so you are going to need a couple of solar panels to keep it fully charged. Goal Zero suggests using their Boulder 200 Watt Briefcase Monocrystalline Solar Panels.
Units Made for Every Day Carry and Bugging Out
If you’re looking for something that you can quickly throw in your bugout bags or keep stashed under the seat of your vehicle, these small portable units are the perfect option.
Goal Zero Switch 10 USB Multi-Tool Kit
The Goal Zero Switch 10 Multi-tool kit is the perfect grab and go power pack. The kit comes with a Replaceable (3,000mAh/11Wh) Lithium Ion Battery, a 7-watt Nomad 7 Solar Panel, and accessories that plug directly into the battery pack like an 110 Lumens flashlight and a lightweight fan. The battery has enough power to fully charge an iPhone, and the panel can recharge the battery pack in about 3.5 hours of sunlight.
Goal Zero Guide 10 Plus Solar Recharging Kit with Nomad 7 Solar Panel
Goal Zero Guide 10 Kit comes with Guide 10 Plus Recharger and Nomad 7 Solar Panel that charges 4 AA batteries, powers phones, tablets and small portable ham radios. With the included Nomad 7 Panels, the pack can be fully charged in 3 hours of full sun.
SunJack 25W Solar Charger
SunJack’s 25W Panel gives you the juice you need to keep all of your emergency communication gear, phones, tablets and GPS equipment up and running during a grid down situation. The kit comes with 2x10000mAh Power Delivery Power Banks that have enough portable power to charge about eight smartphones with every battery pack.
The panels will fully charge these batteries in about five hours of direct sun.
I bought Goal Zero’s Yeti 150 which had a special offer of also receiving two 15 watt Boulder Solar Panels free. Lucky me. Overall,I do feel Goal Zero’s products are overcharged in price for what you get. If you shop around you can get other solar panels and power packs much cheaper. Supposedly the prices are dropping on Solar Panels. Wonder when that will actually happen?
How can i get one in New Zealand. There was a solar company advertising these since bought out bt an electricity compant now not available. I wanted a yeti 500 i think it was
Been dealing with Goal Zero for years and have many of their smaller devices. All still function like the day I bought them. I have tried others but find myself constantly shopping with them. Their customer service is above and beyond. Their foldable panels are virtually indestructible. They might be a little more expensive than others but when you think of what the company has done for communities ravaged by Mother Nature, I’d gladly pay a few extra dollars to a company that puts back into the community, not asking for anything in return, than into some corporate faceless company who lines their pockets. Goal Zero cares about their customers and the community. International shipping is a pain to Canada, but still worth it.