Bob142
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I've noticed a few quirks related to solar charging my Jackery Explorer 500. Wondering if others have experienced these. Everything I've observed is while using an HQST 100W mono panel with Vmp = 18V and Imp = 5.58A*.
The Quirks:
1) If full-sun, max input power (see below) is interrupted by cloud cover then full sun returns the unit only ever gets back up to 2/3rds max input power.
The workaround: If I unplug the panel and plug it back in, the unit returns to charging at max power. This behavior is consistent over the course of many different days and tests.
Let me define max input power in my case: For my panel, the max watts I ever see on input is 63W. This makes sense to me given that the 500's input specs are 12-30V, 3.5A. 18V x 3.5A = 63W. What I observe is if the unit is charging at 63W, then gets shaded for any reason and drops to low wattage, it only ever recovers in full sun to about 42W.
My observations also suggest that the unit is current limiting to the listed 3.5A, so the only way to increase the solar charging power is to increase the voltage. I'm too chicken to throw my 200W Vmp = 21.05V Isc = 9.5A panel at it for fear of the Jackery not dealing with 2.7x the input amperage spec. I'm not sure how, in practice, you could achieve 100W of solar charging.
2) If I start charging early in the morning, even on a cloudless day, without intervention the unit only gets up to 2/3rds max input power. This seems related to quirk #1 in that the weaker morning sun doesn't get me to the 63W max. When it gets later in the day the unit is stuck charging at about 42W.
The workaround: If I unplug the panel and plug it back in, the unit immediately starts charging at 63W. This behavior is consistent over the course of many different days and tests.
3) If left unattended, the unit charges to 96 or 97% then stops.
The workaround: The only way to get it to charge to 100% via solar is to unplug the panel and plug it back in after it stops at the 96-97% mark. This behavior is also consistent over the course of many different days and tests.
Anyone else seeing this behavior with their Explorer 500s? I can't figure out why the charging circuit would act the way I'm observing.
* For reference, the Jackery Solar Saga 100W briefcase has Vmp = 18V and Imp = 5.5A according to the website. So there's nothing appreciably different about my panel capabilities than the one Jackery sells for use with the Explorer 500.
The Quirks:
1) If full-sun, max input power (see below) is interrupted by cloud cover then full sun returns the unit only ever gets back up to 2/3rds max input power.
The workaround: If I unplug the panel and plug it back in, the unit returns to charging at max power. This behavior is consistent over the course of many different days and tests.
Let me define max input power in my case: For my panel, the max watts I ever see on input is 63W. This makes sense to me given that the 500's input specs are 12-30V, 3.5A. 18V x 3.5A = 63W. What I observe is if the unit is charging at 63W, then gets shaded for any reason and drops to low wattage, it only ever recovers in full sun to about 42W.
My observations also suggest that the unit is current limiting to the listed 3.5A, so the only way to increase the solar charging power is to increase the voltage. I'm too chicken to throw my 200W Vmp = 21.05V Isc = 9.5A panel at it for fear of the Jackery not dealing with 2.7x the input amperage spec. I'm not sure how, in practice, you could achieve 100W of solar charging.
2) If I start charging early in the morning, even on a cloudless day, without intervention the unit only gets up to 2/3rds max input power. This seems related to quirk #1 in that the weaker morning sun doesn't get me to the 63W max. When it gets later in the day the unit is stuck charging at about 42W.
The workaround: If I unplug the panel and plug it back in, the unit immediately starts charging at 63W. This behavior is consistent over the course of many different days and tests.
3) If left unattended, the unit charges to 96 or 97% then stops.
The workaround: The only way to get it to charge to 100% via solar is to unplug the panel and plug it back in after it stops at the 96-97% mark. This behavior is also consistent over the course of many different days and tests.
Anyone else seeing this behavior with their Explorer 500s? I can't figure out why the charging circuit would act the way I'm observing.
* For reference, the Jackery Solar Saga 100W briefcase has Vmp = 18V and Imp = 5.5A according to the website. So there's nothing appreciably different about my panel capabilities than the one Jackery sells for use with the Explorer 500.
