"Solar Generator"

[OllieChristopher]

I meant it's a curse carried by us (some anyway) as a desire for correct terminology.

That's fair enough. In my former world of work and travel I had to work with engineers who used a lot of different words and sentences to describe the same thing. It truly never bothered me as long as the end result functioned properly.

I actually believe in some ways it's also dishonest on the part of marketing and sales departments who should know better but follow the "anything for a buck" philisophy.

This has been going on since before we were born. In my country is is called "capitalism".

 

[DaveInDenver]

This has been going on since before we were born. In my country is is called "capitalism".

It works both ways. In competitive markets if the consumer demands honesty they get it. You and I live in a place where price mainly drives the bus so we get a race to the bottom for the most part. But there still exists a small market segment for things described accurately and completely, if you're willing to pay the asking price.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Since I was the OP for this topic I'll explain a little more about why the "solar generator" term irks me.

Wife and I run a camping group in Colorado. Most of the people in the group have small trailer campers (we started in a home-built teardrop, then moved up to a T@B and finally we ended up in an R-Pod 179.)

We've been camping like this since 2012.

Honestly, it's not the way I'd prefer to camp, but the wife likes her comforts and it's a compromise I made so we could go camping together. (And I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy some of the comforts of a nice bed, air conditioning and heat as well.) We camp anywhere from 12 - 15 times a year, starting typically in April and often times our last trip is Thanksgiving week.

As most of you probably know, campers and RVs are hot sellers right now due to COVID. And I'm fine with that.

However, the marketing of campers and RVs to people who have very little fundamental knowledge of "how things work" has caused a lot of confusion and disappointment among some of the buyers.

I'm on several Facebook groups for people with campers and RVs. Most of the people have very limited knowledge of power systems and electricity. To them, "electricity" is just something that comes out of a plug in the wall or a battery - the subtleties of AC/DC, 12v, 120V, 240V, battery types, amp hours, etc - that all eludes them.

I've actually lost track of the number of times I've seen variations of this question posted: "If I get a solar panel, can I run my air conditioner and microwave in my camper?" or
"I'm camping at a primitive campsite and I can't figure out why my Keurig won't turn on. I've reset the breakers but I'm still not getting power to the outlets."

Another one that comes up is "how many solar panels do I need to run my air conditioner/electric skillet/Keurig" etc.

It's easy to blame the "dumb customer" for not understanding that RVs have two electrical systems, 12VDC and 120VAC but IMO the RV industry and RV dealers do a terrible job of explaining how campers work to their customers.

So, when an RV newbie is trying to figure out how to get power to his or her camper and comes across both a gasoline powered generator (a true generator like a Honda 2000) AND a Goal Zero (or similar) "Solar Generator", it's common for them to ask "which one of these should I get?" and to not understand the difference between the Honda (which is, in fact, a generator) and the Goal Zero (which is a battery pack.)

From the (admittedly ignorant) consumers viewpoint, both are "generators", right? After all, it says right there on the box: "SOLAR GENERATOR."

Under Common Law, "Fraud" is usually defined as "making a material misrepresentation of fact in order to induce someone to give up something of value."

So in a nutshell, that's why I started this thread, to vent my annoyance at a marketing term that, IMO, borders of fraudulent.

 

[DaveInDenver]

@Martinjmpr, you could substitute that story for just about anything. Just this week I helped my neighbor turn on her swamp cooler and deal with her overheated car. She's probably no different than most people who have no idea how things work and rely so very heavily on specialists.

Designing and building an off-grid power system isn't simple but I think within the capacity for most people of normal intelligence. But there's just so much to know, so much half told and honestly many years of telling people they're incapable morons and throwing so much information at them that it's impossible to focus long enough to work through the details. And it's everyone. How many engineers with masters degrees are unable (not unwilling, but actually unable) to maintain on their own cars? They could figure it out if they put down the phone and took the time to learn it, really.

 

[OllieChristopher]

Adding to your comment Dave is the fact that I see no deception on the part of these solar generator manufacturers. In the case of Bluetti and Jackery they are very upfront as to the power output of their generators and also line out what they can run and for how long. These solar generators are no different than a gas generator when it comes to sizing for your needs.

The only sad part is the customers who are deceived by not doing their research and math when sizing these units. The math is very simple and even a beginner who has no clue about power solutions can figure it out by adding the amp hours needed and sizing accordingly.

 

[67cj5]

Since I was the OP for this topic I'll explain a little more about why the "solar generator" term irks me.

Wife and I run a camping group in Colorado. Most of the people in the group have small trailer campers (we started in a home-built teardrop, then moved up to a T@B and finally we ended up in an R-Pod 179.)

We've been camping like this since 2012.

Honestly, it's not the way I'd prefer to camp, but the wife likes her comforts and it's a compromise I made so we could go camping together. (And I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy some of the comforts of a nice bed, air conditioning and heat as well.) We camp anywhere from 12 - 15 times a year, starting typically in April and often times our last trip is Thanksgiving week.

As most of you probably know, campers and RVs are hot sellers right now due to COVID. And I'm fine with that.

However, the marketing of campers and RVs to people who have very little fundamental knowledge of "how things work" has caused a lot of confusion and disappointment among some of the buyers.

I'm on several Facebook groups for people with campers and RVs. Most of the people have very limited knowledge of power systems and electricity. To them, "electricity" is just something that comes out of a plug in the wall or a battery - the subtleties of AC/DC, 12v, 120V, 240V, battery types, amp hours, etc - that all eludes them.

I've actually lost track of the number of times I've seen variations of this question posted: "If I get a solar panel, can I run my air conditioner and microwave in my camper?" or
"I'm camping at a primitive campsite and I can't figure out why my Keurig won't turn on. I've reset the breakers but I'm still not getting power to the outlets."

Another one that comes up is "how many solar panels do I need to run my air conditioner/electric skillet/Keurig" etc.

It's easy to blame the "dumb customer" for not understanding that RVs have two electrical systems, 12VDC and 120VAC but IMO the RV industry and RV dealers do a terrible job of explaining how campers work to their customers.

So, when an RV newbie is trying to figure out how to get power to his or her camper and comes across both a gasoline powered generator (a true generator like a Honda 2000) AND a Goal Zero (or similar) "Solar Generator", it's common for them to ask "which one of these should I get?" and to not understand the difference between the Honda (which is, in fact, a generator) and the Goal Zero (which is a battery pack.)

From the (admittedly ignorant) consumers viewpoint, both are "generators", right? After all, it says right there on the box: "SOLAR GENERATOR."

Under Common Law, "Fraud" is usually defined as "making a material misrepresentation of fact in order to induce someone to give up something of value."

So in a nutshell, that's why I started this thread, to vent my annoyance at a marketing term that, IMO, borders of fraudulent.

It don't matter what they call it I still call em Powerpacks,

According to the Dictionary the word "Solar" it says " relating to or denoting energy derived from the sun's rays. " These powerpack can only store the power collected from the sun via a Solar Panel. Or a 12v outlet or and AC outlet, So they have no ability to generate anything related to solar what so ever.

 

[dunhammrocco]

I have a Jackery 1000 and a Dometic CFX3 35. Jackery is superb (the model reviewed by https://generatorpick.com/best-solar-generators/). I’m very pleased with it. I run it in pass-through mode; it powers my 12V fridge while driving and the Jackery is being charged from a 12V port (cigarette lighter port) during the drive. In this mode it supplies about 65W to the fridge when it cycles on to cool, 2W when idle. During this time the Jackery draws about 38W to charge itself. This way you can keep the Jackery topped off while driving.