ACOPOWER Portable Solar Generator for Camping 60,000mAh Lithium Ion Battery DC Inverter Power Bank USB/5V DC/12V 110V Input: AC, Car & Solar Panel

So I bought the solar panel (70W) and the matching battery (220 Wh) both from Amazon based on what ACOPower said worked together. I got them out this morning and tried to set them up, and...nothing.First off, I read through the 70W Foldable Solar Panel instruction booklet last night, and felt like I had lost IQ points by time I was done. The best way I have to describe this booklet is if you took a meat grinder and shoved the English language through it.It was bizarre, filled with 'tips' like, "In order to obtain the maximum output power of solar modules, it is recommended to adjust the solar modules based on solar trajectory toward." Or this step I am supposed to follow, "The battery type setting method." That's literally step #4 on the list of steps to take to set this up. What does that mean? Your guess is as good as mine. There are misspelled words (fues instead of fuse) and words from another language (guano and majeure, among them).This morning, I went to set up the solar panel and battery, and found that the solar panel was extraordinarily light, and it seemed to be inside of a case that would protect it well. I just opened it this morning so it's hard to know about longevity, but it certainly appears to be well built. A definite plus.Once I connected the solar panel to the battery (very, very easy to do – dummy proof, in fact), the battery did not light up or indicate that it was charging in any way. It's supposed to have five rolling lights going across it to indicate that it's charging. Reading through reviews of the battery, someone said that the lights were dim so you needed to block out the light around you so you could see the rolling lights, but I tried doing that and couldn't see that the lights were lit up at all. #nothappyAt this point, I then called ACOPower at the number provided by them in their instruction booklet AND on their website AND here on Amazon (626-575-7722) and got a message that this voicemail box has not been set up. ???? I was NOT impressed by that. I tried it again about 30 minutes later and got a voicemail message by a woman who appeared to be mumbling; I couldn't tell what her name was, and then I was supposed to be leaving a voicemail. At no point did she say that I'd reached ACOPower, nor was there a phone tree where I could select who to talk to. It simply went directly to this random voicemail box.I left a voicemail, and then went in search of another way to contact them. I found their email address ([email protected]) and sent them an email. As of the writing of this review, I have not received a response (granted, I just sent the email about 90 minutes ago).In the midst of me chasing my tail around and around on this, my husband came back home and I showed him everything that I'd done, hoping he'd help me figure out where I'd gone wrong. He too tried to see if the battery was charging by taking off his glasses, cupping his hands around the display and creating almost total darkness while peering at it from a half-inch away from the display. Sure enough, it was charging. I'd done virtually the same thing earlier except I'd left about an inch of space between my hands and my face, so I hadn't made it dark enough. When I pressed my face directly up against the battery, I could finally see the flashing blue lights. Think like darkroom-for-developing-photos kind of darkness in order to see these lights. ???In order to fix this, ACOPower needs to change the light color from blue to red. It's a stupidly easy fix, and would make it possible to see the light no matter how bright it is outside.So in the end, I'm giving the solar panel and battery combo a four-star rating because they do work, they are both light, and they are easy to set up. I'm deducting a star because their phone number for their customer service doesn't work, from what I can tell; their instruction booklet was written by Google Translate after chugging a 12-pack of beers (go home, Google Translate – you're drunk); and the lights on the side of the battery are so dim as to almost be unusable.With some small tweaks and an actual usable customer service phone number, this would easily be a five-star product.ETA: Just a few hours later, and I received a response to my email. Still no phone call, but at least they do seem to be quick about responding to emails.ETA2: They did call me back and leave me a voicemail, so the random voicemail box seemingly unconnected to anything is actually the right number for them.ETA3: I've been using this combo (solar panel and battery) together for about a week or so now, and am very impressed with it. We're even able to trickle charge our house batteries on our travel trailer by connecting the solar panel directly to the house batteries using the cables included with the solar panel. A typical day has me doing the following:1) Charging up the battery until it's a full five lights; then2) Connecting the solar panel to the house batteries of the RV and trickle-charging them while3) I bring the battery inside and use it to charge up my various battery-powered devices (laptop, smaller external batteries, fans, lights, iPhones, iPads, etc) until4) The battery is completely drained of all power, at which point I take it back outside and reconnect the battery to the solar panel so I can start to recharge it again.5) The next day, I start the process all over again.On my next payday, I plan on buying a second solar panel so I can charge the battery up even quicker, and can charge up the house batteries on the RV better, rather than just trickle charging them, since I can connect solar panel --> solar panel --> battery, and charge the battery up much faster by doing it that way.Despite the frustrations that I had with this product in the beginning, 100% stemming from the fact that their blue lights are almost impossible to see unless it's pitch dark, I'm very, very happy with this purchase.I still strongly suggest that the company change the lights to red to make them easier to see no matter how bright it is outside.My other big suggestion would be to make the lights go steady once the battery is charged up that far. Meaning, as it is, all five lights are rolling, right up until the battery is fully charged, and then all five lights go steady. Most batteries have the first light go steady, then the second light go steady, etc, as the battery is charging, so you can easily track the progress of the charging. Right now, it's a binary state – it's either:a) Charging; orb) Fully ChargedYou never know how far along in the process the charging has gotten, until you trip over into Fully Charged. This means that I'm constantly checking it, wanting to make sure I'm not frying the battery by leaving it charging too long, without any idea of how far along in the process it actually is.Honestly, this is a great setup even for solar-panel-challenged folks like me. It's straightforward, it's sturdy, and it works every time. A few tweaks, and it'd be perfect.

I've been using this for several years now and it has served me very well. I recently had an issue and wrote into the customer service via Amazon and the company replied with some instructions that helped fix the problem, which appeared to be a lose connection inside. Hopefully will keep working for some more years to come!

Would have gone with a 4.5 rating.Headed to the "wilds" of Nebraska to watch the eclipse. Planning to go a day early to beat the traffic and stay late to avoid traffic. Will be taking two smartphones, two iPads and a laptop (yes, we live or die with our electronics, cannot live off "of the grid"). Decided this "generator" aka (light weight, portable battery) would be an excellent way to prevent running down the car battery while keeping us "juiced".Immediately after getting it I tried it out.. Before buying I had read about various issues folks had so these issues were expected:- needing an extra cable to connect to solar panels (much to my surprise, mine came with the cable).- Cannot charge the "generator" and charge a device. you can only do one of these operations at a time.One issue I did have is that you cannot see the LED lights on the device when in bright sun. I seemingly could NOT get the solar panels to charge the device until i finally cupped my hands around the LED lights and sure enough, they were charging...It seems to work as advertised. i did run the laptop and an external 27" monitor for an hour and used about 30% of the charge.I also purchased a 12 volt 50W solar panel kit with this unit with the idea of being able to recharge the battery. I do not know how long it will take to fully recharge the battery in full sun but I am hopeful.

I’m extremely happy with this product. I have sleep apnea, and I used this battery to power my ResMed AirSense 10. I turned off the humidifier and heated hose function, and I was able to use this battery to run that machine, charge my iPhone and Apple Watch. When I woke up, after 7 hours of sleep, the unit still had over 50% charge left. I was able to charge it via a car lighter outlet each day. I’m so happy that I found this product as now I’m able to sleep well and rest while camping remotely.I had a small problem with one of the USB plugs. I emailed the company and they quickly sent a replacement. I’m very happy with this product and with the company! They stand behind their product.

It’s small in size but really seems to put out more than I expected. The dc out attachments allows for cigarette lighter in and out it had a mc4 solar panel adapter which I’m currently testing with my 60 watt panel in low light. There’s no charging indicator simply a battery level indicator. Good for camping emergencies and even light duty charging at job sites . That being said know what your uses will be it’s not a gas powered generator. This is more like a massively over developed usb charger and light duty ac power source . Won’t run a fridge or a house obviously.

Worked like a charm for our camping trip. Was able to run two small but powerful 10” fans, several strings of led Xmas lights and charge phones and a blue tooth speaker for several hours over two days before needing anrecharge for a few hours from my vehicle. I believe after charging it three times over six days, it drained the car battery. But I was able to easily put a charge into my also dead emergency jump-start pack from this and get going in no time. Very pleased with this purchase. Much easier to handle, and completely silent outweighs the need tonrenchage. Compared to the small gas powered inverter generator I have used before, this is where it’s at. Will try out the solar charger for the next trip I think.