Power Station 300W,ZeroKor Outdoor Portable Power

Very Impressed – Love The Solar Charging & Many Other Nice Features
Update after nearly one year of use: Been getting lots of use from this Power Station for nearly a year now, and do have a tip for anyone using it. As with many electronics items, this unit works best if you give it a bit of a rest on occasion. More specifically, I found that it takes a charge much better when it is turn off for an hour or so before recharging it. When I turn it off for the rest I use a smaller battery pack to sit in for this one during the rest period. After it gets a little rest it charges much more efficiently and faster, as opposed to not taking a charge as well when it never gets turned off for any reason, and just running it 24/7.When I got this it didn’t seem to work at all on the DC output, not with the cell phone, nor the camera, nothing, and of course I had the dim thoughts about sending it back. Then as usual I realized the problem was not with the power pack, but something else instead, and when I tried a different cable and found I had a bad cable, then it worked fine, and I was happy again.In addition to the obvious multiple uses for outdoor things like camping etc., I have several uses for this power pack around home as well. I have a favorite security camera designed for indoor use, but I find that it works just fine outdoors as well, and I like it better than all the outdoor cameras, but it has to be plugged in, so I use this power pack to run it. I was using two smaller power packs that each lasted about 48 hours, then would swap them out every couple days. With this power pack the camera will run forever, or at least several days longer than the two smaller power packs combined, with a bunch of other things drawing power from it at the same time, and automatically charge from the 30 Watt solar cells that I got for it.But it is possible to overload it, as I found out in testing. Put a load from half dozen devices on the power pack, the DC charging outlets, they ran fine four a couple hours, then the DC output from the charger stopped. But of course most normal usage would most likely involve far less than a half dozen devices drawing from the power pack at the same time.The 19 volts from the solar panels charges the power pack quite nicely in only 3 to 4 hours of direct sun light, and the seller of the solar cells states that they protect the equipment being charged, but I keep an eye on the how much the power pack is charged and make sure I keep it at a maximum of 60% to 80% and don’t go above that just to be safe.My other use for this power pack is when it storms and the power goes out, which is not often but does happen and when it does it can be out for a few hours at a time, or a day or so in the worst case. So far it has only been out for an hour or two, but when it is out it can be uncomfortable in the summer with the air-conditioning knocked out by the power outage. I have two large 18 inch fans that this power pack runs very nicely for several hours, about 8 hours for one and 4 hour for both. Those fans make a big difference when it’s over 100 degrees outside.As the seller mentions, this Power Station is not designed to be used for emergencies only. In other words, you should not charge it, then put it in the closet and wait for an emergency. They are best kept in good condition by charging and discharging them.A very nice feature of this power station supports what they refer to ass “Pass Through Charging,” which means you can charge the power station from the A/C charger or the solar panels while also running several devices from the power station at the same time.So I plan to keep a steady load on the power station to slowly discharge it, while it also gets some solar charging when the sun is out, and will keep an eye on the charging to make sure it is charged to only about 80% to be safe, since Lithium batteries can potentially ignite if overcharged.

Follow instructions
This power station works really well for its size and relatively low price. I have seen many reviews stating that they charged it up and a few months later when they had a power outage it wouldn’t turn on anymore and would not charge. This is likely due to the fact that this product uses inexpensive lithium cells similar to a laptop battery. Lithium batteries can degrade or fail if you charge them to 100% and store them for long periods of time. If you plan to store this to be used as an emergency power generator, then only charge it to 80% and it will lessen the likelihood of damage to the battery. While this can be used for emergencies especially with an optional Solar panel, its actually better suited for outdoor adventures.Where this product, and others like it, truly shine is camping or other outdoor events to power your electronic devices. I’ve even used it to charge my ebike in an emergency and it worked great. It did not fully charge my bike, I but got more than half a charge, enough to get me home. The users manual notes that if this device is charged to capacity it should be used at least once a month. I use mine regularly and charge it both with AC power and sometimes Solar panels and its always reliable. It’s also small enough to pack on my bike and it has great capacity and wattage for its size although it is pretty heavy. So its easy to carry on a bike, camping, or maybe hunting, but probably too heavy for hiking. The flood light on this unit is also pretty nice compared to the tiny useless lights on other similar products. It seems like most of these products include a light for some reason, but they are usually terrible and I dont know why they bother with it, but the light on this unit is actually practical and it floods the area with a soft, but bright light. I’ve used it for cooking at night and it covers a good sized area. Plenty of light for cooking, reading, or getting dressed in early morning or evening in your tent.