This video is sponsored by Jackery.
Today we're going to be taking apart this 240 watt portable power station called the
Explorer 240.
We're going to see how it works from the inside.
This guy can charge your phone up to 18 times.
Or a GoPro over 40 times.
It can even run a TV for a couple hours if you're out in the middle of the woods and
you want to watch a movie or something.
Normally this thing costs two hundred and fifty dollars which is a very fair price.
One dollar per watt hour.
But for one day only, on December 14th, 2019, there will be a $75 discount – 30% cuz it's
Amazon's deal of the day.
Which makes this the best power deal that I've seen so far in 2019.
So if you've been thinking about a portable power station – now's the time.
My favorite part though is that you can get detachable solar panels so you can go completely
off grid while using the power station.
This 60 watt foldable panel can charge the power station in about 7-10 hours on a sunny
day.
And if you want to get super crazy, this 100 watt solar panel chargers even faster.
And they're both for sale on Amazon.
The LCD screen shows exactly how many watts are being used in the USB ports.
You can use all the ports simultaneously.
And even better, you can use the outputs while charging the power station, whether, you know,
plugging into a wall of with a solar panel.
You can see exactly how many watts are coming in and going out.
It's pretty awesome.
I think it's time we take this apart.
Let's get started.
[Intro]
Just a quick reminder as I open this up.
This thing has a lot of power inside which makes it far more dangerous to take apart
than your average cellphone.
You should not attempt to take one of these apart on your own.
It is dangerous and does void the Jackery warranty.
There were 6 screws along the back and 4 more screws along either side of the Jackery 240.
This is my first time inside of one of these, so we're kind of just winging it.
It turns out the orange plastic vents along the sides act as little plastic clamps holding
both halves of the power station together.
Pretty smart.
There almost isn't even any need for screws with this design.
I found a few more screws underneath the bright orange feet – 4 of them to be exact.
And once those are out I can gently pry the two black plastic halves apart.
The information sticker at the bottom is the final boss, but once he's cut in half, the
two halves can completely separate.
Nothing is attached to the back plastic chunk, but there is a whole lot of cool looking stuff
attached to the front.
There's a fan along the left side.
This pulls air through the unit to cool down the circuits while it's converting power from
DC to AC, or while it's trying to power multiple devices all at the same time.
Four or more screws and a plethora of wires hold the battery pack to the front housing.
I'll wiggle the battery away and then start unplugging the connectors inside...just like
a little Lego.
The one on the far left is for the 12 volt car charging plug.
Then there are larger red and black wires for the battery portion of the unit.
And another pair of large power cables for the AC power.
There's also a little 40 amp fuse in the front.
We still haven't found the batteries yet so let's keep going.
Four more screws hold the motherboard to the top of the battery compartment.
Then I can pull the motherboard away, revealing another 5 screws holding down a large plastic
rectangle.
This little guy has the fan attached to it.
Finally, I can peel back the final plastic layer revealing a grid of 28 cylinder batteries.
Very similar to the battery packs that come out of electric vehicles.
Or even the Tesla power walls that people hook up to roof-mounted solar power.
You could say that the Jackery is kind of like a portable power wall for off-grid traveling
or camping.
The 28 little cylinders combine to make a total of 16,800 milliamp hours, or more importantly,
241.9 watt hours.
I did try to pop off the top of the battery housing to see if it would come apart easier,
but it was most definitely not designed to separate.
And batteries this big aren't something I want to mess with just yet.
Plus I do want this thing to work when I put it all back together.
All of these circuits inside the Jackery 240 include the BMS, or battery management system,
which enables the short-circuit protection, the voltage control, and that temperature
controlled fan you see on the edge.
Lithium batteries like the ones here or inside of your cellphone, or even electric vehicles
really don't like extreme temperature.
Meaning below freezing or above 40 Celsius.
So if you're going to store batteries for a long period of time, try to keep them at
room temperature.
Also, don't let lithium batteries die completely – they don't like that.
They last a long time if you take care of them.
I'll get the final 6 screws screwed into the back panel.
And would you look at that, everything still works.
Remember, the Jackery 240 and the 60 watt solar panel are both 30% off on December 14th,
2019 with that Amazon deal of the day.
I'll leave a link in the description for ya.
And thanks to Jackery for sponsoring this video.
I plan on doing a lot more solar projects in the future.
Hit that subscribe button and come hang out with me on Instagram and Twitter.
Thanks a ton for watching.
I'll see you around.