15 Best portable solar generators in the UK in 2022: Comparison Table

What is the best solar power station? A solar generator would be always a safe bet if you need a reliable solution for power outages, a charger for your various devices when being outdoors, or an eco-friendly alternative to a petrol generator. The best options are manufactured as portable electric stations which allow using multiple power sources including solar panels, AC/DC outlets, and petrol generators. 

The advanced models are capable of meeting the majority of your power needs. Despite incredible compactness, they produce lots of power and grant outstanding versatility. The latter is grounded by the compatibility with different devices to be powered, and the number of charging sources it can be connected to. 

You may like the Buyer's Guide: Best Portable Inverter Generators in the UK Compared

• Wattage shows if a certain solar generator has enough capacity to cover the maximum power consumption rate whenever you are off-grid or not. Solar-powered generators with lower wattage (100-150 Watts) can support different sensitive electronics. Larger devices with higher output (500 Watts and more) are capable of powering plenty of devices simultaneously.
• Battery capacity is one of the most important issues you should take into consideration. The battery capacity impacts directly on the running time of a power supply device. Besides, if this parameter is high enough, you will be able to connect several devices with different power ratings to support them for a long time.

For instance, the JACKERY PORTABLE POWER STATION EXPLORER 500 comes with a 518Wh(24Ah) lithium battery which provides enough capacity to power up to 7 different devices simultaneously.

The advanced solar-powered generators can be quickly recharged via solar panels, wall outlets, carports, and gas generators. Besides, the majority of modern units come in a user-friendly design featuring an LCD screen and a multi-mode flashlight.

Charging & recharging time of solar power stations

Let's take for example a 240Wh(16.8Ah) lithium-ion battery. Its charging time is about 3 hours from 0-100%.

• Recharging time:
  — solar panel for about 5-6 hours (recharging time varies from a different location, temperature, weather, etc.),
  — wall outlet (5-6 hours),
  — car outlet (6-7 hours).

JACKERY PORTABLE POWER STATION EXPLORER 240 | 230V/200W Pure Sine Wave AC Outlet | Best Solar Generator Under £300

Jackery presents its super-portable power generator. Despite its lightweight, it can power devices that run within the 200W range. This model is primarily designated for powering sensitive electronics like cell phones, laptops, and multiple outdoor electronics. Overall, it can power up to 4 devices through 1 pure sine wave AC outlet, 2 USB and 1 carport.

The Jackery station can be conveniently recharged in 4 different ways by means of Solar Saga panels, wall outlet, carport, and gas generator.

Features

• Battery capacity (Ah): 16.8
• Power output (W): 200

This compact power generator will always help you to stay charged whenever you are on the way.

JACKERY 240Wh: Check the current price

If you do not have your solar panels yet, we recommend that you choose the ECO-WORTHY 100 Watt 12V Solar Panels Kit, which combines a high-efficiency 100-watt solar panel, an 20A solar charge controller, a five-meter solar cable, and a mounting kit. This solar panel works great in harsh weather and even on cloudy days. With a weight of only 13 pounds, this unit is made with a reliable frame and is covered by a tempered glass.

Another good option is the Jackery SolarSaga 100W Portable Solar Panel for Explorer 240/500/1000 Power Station. The unit offers the same wattage as the above-mentioned item but is better in terms of portability. This solar panel has a convenient, foldable design and features a rubber handle for easy carrying. Additionally, the Jackery SolarSaga has an IP65 water-resistance rating that protects the panel from water splashing. The solar conversion efficiency reaches as much as 23%, meaning the unit will produce more energy than conventional solar panels.

Expert Opinion: John Michael Walls, Professor of Photovoltaics for Power Systems

Best-Selling Portable Solar Generators & Power Stations in the UK | Comparison Table

Testing & Customers Reviews

We found reviews from real YouTube bloggers about the products from our article.

softroadingthewest: "When I'm out on the trail filming adventures I have a lot of batteries a lot of devices that I have to keep charged up. What typically ends up happening is in the rush of navigating and filming and simply experiencing being outdoors is I never keep up with getting everything charged. Having Jackery Explorer 500 along with me on overland trips has been an absolute game changer. I don't even have to worry anymore. I can have a lot of my stuff charged up before I even get to bed at night. On top of that this powers my fridge during the day. I checked and found it was able to keep the fridge going for about two and a half days straight without getting recharged. I keep the Jackery plugged into the car and when I'm driving the car keeps it recharged. This has worked out extremely extremely well. I've been very very pleased with just how seamless that has been.

While Jackery can't jump start a car I can in fact charge up my capacitor based jump starter off the Jackery if needed. I can recharge my main camp light which only has an AC charger and it can directly power my other camp lighting option. It can also prove useful around the house in the event of a power outage. This has essentially given me something comparable to a dual battery system. But ultimately this is less expensive and so much easier. It has the additional benefit of being able to come out of your car when you need to use it someplace else. And given that it's a 500 watt device and it holds a lot of power it can recharge a lot of devices.

I kind of wish I had more than three USB outputs because most of my items recharge off of USB cables and I cannot plug them all in to the Jackery at once. The handle is nice for carrying this device but the shape of this does make it a little trickier than some other units to pack into your vehicle especially if you're over landing you've got a lot of gear. It would be easier if this could have stuff stacked on it. This is just an awkward shape and this thing is so heavy that you can't really put it on top. You want it down low and not up high in your vehicle. The other annoyance I've had with this is that if the Jackery doesn't detect power being drawn for I don't know if it's two or three hours a certain period of time it simply shuts off and it stops outputting. All that said there's not been a single point in my travels where I thought oh gosh I wish I had a different power station. This thing has done what I've needed it to do and it has been 100 reliable."

John In Bibs: "I got six 100 Watt panels from Echo Worthy just over a year ago and I put them up on my roof and I have been extremely happy with those. We've had a couple of storms. They've held up really well. All the glass is still intact frames are still intact and the panels are performing exactly like they did a year ago. What more could you ask for in that sense? I mean no degradation. They've been out in the weather for a year else storms rain snow. We've had it all and they're still performing fantastically and I'm very happy with them."

jettlash1000: "I've had Jackery 240 for probably about a month and a half now and I've been really really happy with it. One of the things that I really really like about this is the fact that it has a pure sine wave inverter which is a big deal. This is tiny at six pounds. This could go in a backpack. Even I would have no problem carrying this around at all. It is very very quiet. I've had some devices some power stations that actually make a very loud sound when the fan is running and not a really big fan of that and I've also had some that admit kind of an odor to them. Some of the sealed lead-acid options. And with this being a lithium battery you don't get any of that. You also don't have to worry about it tipping over or being you know rough on it. It is very very durable. But that being said this is a very simple to use easy to read device which I really really like.

The other thing I like is that this is 240 watt hours. So 240 watt hours out of something this small is awesome. The other big advantage of this over some of my other power stations is passed through charging. Which basically means I can have my solar panel being hooked up to this and charge devices at the same time and it'll actually give you a reading of your input versus output watts. The wall plug charges at roughly 40 watts so that's gonna take a little bit of time to get this charged up. Yet it is twice as fast as my two other sealed lead-acid chargers. We had a five-day power outage and one of them took 24 hours to fully charge. Which is no good. In those situations this will charge a lot faster and I was actually getting close to the full 60 watts out of the solar charger. So I can charge this faster on solar than I can plugged into a wall outlet which is awesome.

Another thing here is these feet on the bottom are kind of like a rubber silicone feel does a very very good job of keeping this thing from moving around at all. Which is obviously a big deal. I have not had any issues with the Jackery and I've really put it through its paces. I've done a lot of pass-through charging which you know that generates a lot of heat and I have had no issues with it whatsoever. It also has just standard screws all over it so I just get a sense that if I really wanted to tear into this five years from now if the battery is dead I feel like I'd actually have that option. This one by far and away is the best at being a power station does not have a compressor built-in doesn't have a jump-starting capability but just strictly for power this is hands-down better."