Recharge Your Nexpow Power Station With Solar Panels
The Nexpow Portable Power Station 178Wh is a popular little power station, also known as a solar generator, that has 178 watt-hours battery capacity, an AC outlet, a USB C PD port, two USB A ports, a light, and a DC output port. With 178Wh it’s the perfect traveling or outdoor camping buddy that will keep your electronics charged up, or CPAP running, even if you’re not near the power grid.
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With its built-in handle, it’s a portable option for all kinds of uses. It even makes a great battery for home emergencies.
Nexpow Portable Power Station 178Wh
There are three ways to recharge the Nexpow battery: with the wall charger, in the car through the cigarette port, and with solar panels.
Today I am going to focus on how you can recharge this power station with solar panels, and the best solar panels to use.
The Limitations Of The Nexpow Solar Generator
Nexpow advertises that the 178Wh power station supports solar panels with a 12V-28V input and a maximum of 2.8A. It recommends a panel between 40-100W.
The input is a 5.5×2.1mm DC port, which makes it compatible with a lot of panels. But there are adapters available if you choose a panel with MC4 connectors, as I’ll talk about after listing the solar panels below.
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There is also a USB C PD port that supports input of up to 45W, so with a USB C PD solar panel you could possibly charge it faster than through the DC port.
Best Solar Panels For Nexpow Power Station
Let’s take a look at a couple of great solar panels that you can use. If you’re interested in one of the panels that require an adapter, I will show you that adapter below the table.
Note: Scroll left/right on small screens to see the whole table.
The Adapter You Need To Use Third-Party Panels With MC4 Connectors
To use the solar panels above that only come with MC4 connectors and no other adapters, or any other compatible third-party solar panel, you’ll need an adapter like the Aimtom MC4 to DC 5.5mm x 2.1mm.
This adapter is compatible with solar panels that have a positive male connector, and a negative female connector.
Which Solar Panel Is The Best?
Which solar panel is the best depends on your needs. It usually comes down to portability vs charging speed. The links below will take you to the product page on Amazon.com.
For portability – The Kingsolar 40W Solar Charger and the Rockpals 60W Foldable Solar Charger are the most lightweight and portable options. Both of them are compatible with the Nexpow 178Wh out of the box and require no additional adapters.
For charging efficiency – The Renogy 100W Monocrystalline Solar Panel and the Suaoki 120W Foldable will charge the battery the fastest.
Renogy’s panel requires the adapter above, while the Suaoki doesn’t since it includes DC adapters. The Suaoki also has a USB C PD port and two USB ports, which makes it a great choice if you want to be able to charge several different electronics and your battery all at once. I also recommend a solar panel with a stand unless you’re going to mount the panel on an RV or van roof, which the Suaoki 120W has.
For a mix of portability and charging efficiency – The Renogy 100W Eclipse is an excellent panel that will perform very well while being portable and easy to pack. It requires the adapter above to connect to the Nexpow battery.
Can You Charge The Battery Through The USB C PD Port?
Yes, you can.
How Long Will It Take To Recharge The Battery?
It’s unclear what the maximum input wattage of the Nexpow is, I have seen everything from 30 to 50 to 70 watts.
With a 100W panel, it would be fully recharged in less than three hours if the maximum input wattage is 70 watts.
A 100W panel usually outputs between 55-70 watts, and a 40W panel 25-30W.
How Can I Improve The Charging Efficiency When Using A Solar Panel?
The easiest thing you can do to make sure you generate as much power as possible is to angle the panel towards the sun and make sure it’s not shaded at all.
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During the early morning and late evening hours when the sun is low on the horizon, it’s very important that you angle the panel and don’t lay it flat on the ground.
How Long Will The Nexpow Portable Power Station Last?
It depends on what you plug into it and how many watts your device uses. If you plug the device into the AC outlet, you must count in an 85% inverter efficiency. If you use the USB ports, the efficiency will be higher, so if you have the option to choose between the two, use the USB or DC ports.
You can use devices that require up to 120W continuously. If you don’t know how many watts your device uses, you can use a P3 Kill-A-Watt that tells you exactly.
A 50W device will last about three hours, 178Wh/50*0.85=3.03 hours.
A 70W TV will last a little bit more than two hours, 178Wh/70W*0.85=2.16
A 10W device will last 15 hours.
Please leave a comment down below if you have any questions.
Thank you kindly for providing this much needed information.