Camping power Generators

I purchased this unit from Amazon with a 100w portable solar panel . I felt I could use it regularly to power my electronics and laptop as I work from home.
In order to make my energy consumption less reliant upon the grid. Environmentally friendly and saving money on my energy bills.

The item arrived at the worse time when we had so many cloudy days and unexpected rainfall. Yet in the sun the solar panel was all to product some energy, all was not lost.

On a regular basis I use it and it light enough to take into the car for any external uses. I am assured in my own way that I have available energy and can charge it whenever I reach a place. Thus I keep all my use topped up, often have found that I come home with a higher batter charge than when I left.

It has all the ports I need and from the portable solar panel it has the adapter to charge the generator, It is missing the APP Anderson power port from fixed solar battery systems. However for the portable use and the fact it comes with the required connections for charging from the solar panel, it is proved to be working well and perfectly adequate.

I don’t wish to add technical calculations to any review as we aim to make this site a place to understand the practical applications of renewable energy products.

In my office the printer is permanently connected to the mains outlet, as I use this infrequently I know whenever I need to print anything it is using solar energy to power it.
My MacBook Pro is also powered daily from the Big Blue 600 as I charge it once a day to ensure the internal battery is kept and used according to the manufacturer’s guidelines. I plug in 2 phones 2 tablets every-night and find that I have enough energy for the daily powered devices to last me 3 consecutive days from this small generator. Each device is virtually consumed at the end of each day and is charging from 10-15% battery life for the phones and 20-30% for the tablets, with the MacBook being down to 15% each day and sometimes needs a top up if I have long days, which are 2-3 times per week.

Hopefully this gives you realistic understanding of the capacity and usage. I feel I will end up buying another unit maybe slightly larger power capacity for the office and use the smaller one to be used elsewhere and to top up this unit. As I can take the CP600 with me in the car and other places with ease, it is not uncomfortably heavy or awkward to move with.

In summary this was a good purchase and I found the item on a promotion which made the deal even better at the time. I will review the prices when I look to add the larger unit as I want to consider which other items in the house I can power with the generator.

My objective is to become minimum 50% self sufficient in energy production and will add more details of my plan and journey as I progress.