The storm last night

Wasn't a big one but the electricity has been out in Riberas del Pilar since about 10 pm last night. Using my Jackery back up power. Sigh.

More wind than rain in Ajijic Centro.

Power went out around 10pm but surprisingly came back on after about 20 minutes.

Rain gauge says 0.05" but it's possible it blew over; will check monitor when it gets light outside.

We have solar battery backup and it worked flawlessly. I didn't know the power had gone out until I saw that the street light was out.

Power restored at 11:55
Apparently CFE was overwhelmed with calls. Outages in La Floresta, San Antonio, Riberas del Pilar, parts of Chapala, Brisas and Chapala Haciendas. In some cases, trees were down over the lines and the CFE were there with chain saws.
Currently re charging the Jackery, two fans and a cell phone and it's back up charger.
Solar battery back up sounds divine!

I had never heard of a Jackery until I read this thread. Went to the web sight and wow, I had no idea this kind thing existed. I checked CNET and they rated number 1, "the best" of the 90 they tested.

We get sales tax breaks at certain times of the year for hurricane preparedness for items on the states list (Florida). It is not listed, but I am going to contact them about it.

Realize this is GDL forecast.  But close enough with high percentage that we may be in for a repeat tonight.

RoyD wrote:I had never heard of a Jackery until I read this thread. Went to the web sight and wow, I had no idea this kind thing existed. I checked CNET and they rated number 1, "the best" of the 90 they tested.

We get sales tax breaks at certain times of the year for hurricane preparedness for items on the states list (Florida). It is not listed, but I am going to contact them about it.

I have the smallest one and it has served me well when needed for 8 years now. There are others on the market but I really trust the Jackery. They have continued to innovate and improve their offerings. Love that there are three ways to charge and none of them involve gasoline or propane.

Costco (US) has the 3000 unit with 2 solar power panels for recharging for $2500 (retail $3700). That is right in line with low end backup generators and much cheaper than high end generators. No fuel required.
RoyD

ferret wrote:Wasn't a big one but the electricity has been out in Riberas del Pilar since about 10 pm last night. Using my Jackery back up power. Sigh.

Wondering what capacity is your Jackery? Thanks.

It's the smallest they have. The 254. It will not run a pump (that's what my gravity fed tinaco is for) or anything with a big draw. I have two rechargeable fans as well. Use the Jackery for laptop, modem and cell phone AND they are not on 100% of the time. I would love to have BISBEE gal's solar powered battery back up but really have nowhere to put the batteries.

ferret, the system doesn't take up much space.  Here's photo of complete system.  It hangs on the wall in our laundry room.  Doesn't take up any floor space. The tiles in photo are about 3 or 4 feet up from floor.  

LOL. Like I said, no room. My house is very small and I don't even have a laundry room.
Here's the Jackery website for Plan B and there is also a Canadian version (just swap .com for .ca It looks like mine isn't even available anymore... either a 240 or a 300 but the new 1,000 model with a 200 watt solar panel caught my eye. These sites have sales often that are not available on Amazon.
https://www.jackery.com
Electricity was out here again this morning and just came back on... must have gotten at least another three drops of rain.

I didn't know about Jackery either.  Checked out the website tonight - they are having a 'Flash Sale' now thru June 7... and they have a 'refurbished' section too where the 300 is only $299 usd.. a 550 is $499.. and  refurb solar panels too. Have to revisit this site in the morning.

ferret wrote:
Electricity was out here again this morning and just came back on... must have gotten at least another three drops of rain.

That has always been hilarious to me in Mexico (well, not so hilarious when having to try to sleep with no fan or wondering how much longer my fridge and freezer food can survive)- a few drops of rain and a little puff of wind and the electric goes out.

The "preventive" shutting down of electricity on the coast when a hurricane is supposed to blow through is annoying as well. Being without electricity is annoying at any time but being without water is worse, imho.

Definitely. Living without electricity is inconvenient and uncomfortable (and could be life-threatening in some circumstances, but not in general) but living without water is basically impossible.

So this is ironic- my  Canadian friend who was here for two months, staying a property with a good well, so she never lacked for water, flew back to Calgary 2 days ago, just in time for their huge water main break and being told not to shower or wash dishes because of the need to conserve all available water. :-)

Got my Jackery 3000 Pro with 2-100 watt Solar Panels. The solar panels provided an increase from 28 to 35 pct in two hours of intermittent sunshine (lots of puffy clouds). They provided 160 to 180 watts in direct sun. I charged it to 100 pct from the house electric. Today, I ran the garage freezer totally on the Jackery and it used 2 pct of the capacity in one hour. The freezer pulled 65 watts in operation. One solar panel can handle that. I am running the refrigerator in the kitchen now to see what it will pull over an hour's time. I'll get back to you later on that. My third test will be limited electric to keep a light and the internet running through the unit.

RoyD

Update.

My refrigerator when it cycles on, draws 105 watts. I have not finished the test yet. but doing the math, the freezer & refrigerator pull 170 watts combined. This is at the max of the 2 solar panels. In order to recharge the unit AND power the appliances it looks 4-100 watt solar panels would be needed to do the job off grid. Naturally, the freezer and refrigerator do not run constantly, but cycle on and off. Demand will not be as much on the Jackery during off cycles. I am still experimenting with my new toy so I will update you as I get more accustomed with its operation.
RoyD

After an hour on the Jackery, the refrigerator lowered the capacity from 98 to 92 pct. It draws 3 times more power than the freezer. In IDEAL circumstances, it would take two Solar panels about 2.5 hours to recharge it back to 100 pct. Without the recharge, the Jackery can keep the the appliances running for 12.5 hours. IMO 4 solar panels would be needed to make this system work as a self sustaining backup using the solar recharge.
Roy D

Glad you're having fun with your new toy. FYI, there are other brands of solar panels that are compatible with the Jackery... some of them are 200+ watt panels. Now you can go googling while waiting for your electrical read outs.
A chest freezer is far more efficient than an upright one... the cold air doesn't FALL out of it when you lift the lid. In the event of a power failure, a chest freezer can keep food frozen solid for about four days without an electrical boost. That was our experience on the west coast of Nayarit in Mexico. At that time, we only had a gas generator (Honda 2000 i) which we alternated between the refridgerator, the pool pump, the water pump and two fans.

I really appreciate your info on the fridge draw, Roy. When the power goes out, my main concerns are having food go bad, and having to try to sleep in hot weather with no fan. Lights I can do without, using candles, internet I can do without for a day, and I always try to keep my phone charged up during rainy season, in case we lose the power. I also have a little battery pack I can use for the phone if the electric is out for sometime.

When considering whether to get a Jackery (or whatever brand) and the size to purchase, it's really helpful to me to get info like "the fridge ran for X number of hours on a system with X number of 100 watt panels", rather than having to do some complicated math with appliance specs, etc.

Mudgirl, every fridge is going to be different. Your first line of defense is to purchase (or borrow) a kilowatt reader. It plugs into the outlet that (for example) your fridge uses and the fridge is plugged into the reader... ideally for a 24 hour period. The reading will tell you exactly how much energy it draws in that time frame.
Every person is going to have priorities on what they can or can't live without.

Oh, I realize that all fridges don't draw the same amount of power. But it just gives me a general idea of what size system would be needed to run a fridge as opposed to some lights and a fan. Of course it would be smart do a test, like you say, before I actually decided on what to buy, to make sure I wasn't spending money on something that would be overkill or insufficient.

Thanks for the tip on the kilowatt reader. I have a friend who's an electrician, he might have one I could borrow.

https://www.degreedays.net/kill-a-watt-meter

Know what's funny about those two meters referenced in the article? The "enhanced" model is less expensive than the basic model! Weird.