4patriot solar 'generator'

[rvgrandma]

All post in this forum seems to be old. Any new opinions on the Patriot Power Sidekick? Their adds pop up continually in youtube videos. I can't find where they have asked Bob to review it - maybe they need to if it is that good. I would want to hook a bigger solar panel than 40 watts though.


The food one drives me crazy because it is 34 minutes long.

 

[highdesertranger]

Everything of theirs I have looked at is overpriced and cheap. This appears the same. 500 bucks and 300 watts that's would be laughable if it wasn't so sad. Highdesertranger

 

[jimindenver]

I have to agree. I was asked to look at one of their solar generators in the past and found it to be over hyped, over priced and playing off of peoples fears. Some of their other products are even worse and do not do what is advertised at all.

There are other units like it that are better built and more reasonably priced for what you get. The first thing is to decide what you need it to do for you and find the one that can do it or build something like it that will meet your needs.

 

[izifaddag]

I have to agree. I was asked to look at one of their solar generators in the past and found it to be over hyped, over priced and playing off of peoples fears. Some of their other products are even worse and do not do what is advertised at all.

There are other units like it that are better built and more reasonably priced for what you get. The first thing is to decide what you need it to do for you and find the one that can do it or build something like it that will meet your needs.

I know it is off topic but could you tell me what your battery bank consists of? 
I have 1000w of solar (half of which is not connected right now - I am working on it). I have 200ah of lithium. Unfortunately mixed brands. Probably going to expand my bank to double that size but again I will go with what is cheap not paying too much attention to brand. I thought 200ah would solve all my problems but it hasn't. 
I fried an MC4 on the positive lead to one of my 100w panels. I did a work around saving the panel and am in the process of splitting the array in 2. I got a second charge controller and am putting 500w per controller only in series this time to keep the current down. 
One Renogy and the new one is Epever. Must say I like the Epever from what I have seen so far. Not looking forward to trying to learn how to program it for LiFePo though, no shortcuts but I'll figure it out. Constantly learning about this solar stuff. Can't believe you have managed to figure yours to run an AC from solar. Amazing. Hope I can get to that point.

 

[jimindenver]

Currently I have a single 200 amp hour LifeBlue lithium battery. One of the 3 LifeLine 8-Ds listed below failed this last winter at 11 years of age and I decided it was time to make the move to lithium since just getting to the bank was a major pain in the butt. I considered replacing the bank with a new set of LifeLines because who am I to argue with 11 years of service. However they weigh nearly a quarter of a ton and cost as much as lithium anymore.

 

[izifaddag]

Currently I have a single 200 amp hour LifeBlue lithium battery. One of the 3 LifeLine 8-Ds listed below failed this last winter at 11 years of age and I decided it was time to make the move to lithium since just getting to the bank was a major pain in the butt. I considered replacing the bank with a new set of LifeLines because who am I to argue with 11 years of service. However they weigh nearly a quarter of a ton and cost as much as lithium anymore.

Thank you for the reply Jim. 
Gosh that was a weighty battery solution!! 
I opted for the Lithium path right from the beginning. I had enough of AGMs when I was a trucker. Lithium is just a better mousetrap. 
I am going to add another 200ah, Bob has 400ah only using lead/acid chemistry. I am thinking of going with a 200ah Ampere Time battery. Just worried about long DC cables, but it can't be avoided due my layout. 
11 years is a good long life though, my 4 x AGM Energizers did not last half that time. I will research Lifeline. Will Prowse did a tear down on both Ampere Time and Chins. They are the same battery. The only negative is no low temp cut off. For most of us though who cares as we are never in freezing weather. I'm not anyway.
I am not a great believer in different brands being a massive problem. They all behave in virtually the same way and for the most part the cells inside come from the same couple of places in China. Only the BMS is a worry but how different could they actually be? Not much I would guess.  
Best wishes and thanks again for the response.  

ps Went over to your method of moving fluids. Love those pumps. They now have them in Walmart and Harbor Freight for $10.

 

[DLTooley]

The LiFePo4 market is now definitely good, but with some risks. SOK is another option to the Ampere Time, I believe with a low temp cut off. I and a number of others have purchased the 300wh GoLabs Power Station at 200 and change.

I personally went with the Alibaba method using the diysolar preferred vendor Luyuang with good results.

 

[jacqueg]

All post in this forum seems to be old. Any new opinions on the Patriot Power Sidekick? Their adds pop up continually in youtube videos. I can't find where they have asked Bob to review it - maybe they need to if it is that good. I would want to hook a bigger solar panel than 40 watts though.


The food one drives me crazy because it is 34 minutes long.

In general, I avoid most of those commercial prepper sites. IMO, just about anything you can get from them, you can get better and/or cheaper somewhere else.

For electrics/electronics, I rely on the advice HoboTech and Will Prowse. Now I'm sure there are good things that they haven't tested, but I'm not in a position to make those evaluations for myself.