Sam LewisSo before our epic hikes in Zion, we ran into an issue with our Jackery solar battery. While we overlooked amazing 360° views and worked for a few day at old highway 89, we had an issue with the inverter on our Jackery 1000. This is a lithium battery system that has both DC and AC (using a built in inverter) power for our computers and phones. We’ve been charging this system with 2 100w solar panels with great success. But this day we ran into an issue where the inverter on the Jackery just kept dieing. I was able to power my computer using the DC using a USBc power delivery adapter but Kristy’s computer required the AC inverter of the Jackery (or so we thought…) and it just wasn’t cooperating. Panic set in a bit. If we couldn’t work, then this trip would end quickly. So I made a call to Jackery, hoping to diagnose the issue and come up with a fix, but there was no fixing the issue. Jackery was quick to offer a replacement with no questions asked really. Can’t ask for much more than that except I guess to not run into the issue in the first place. I should mention that this is already our second Jackery as the first refused to charge. So reluctantly I tried to figure out where we could have a replacement shipped and decided that Cedar City would be a good spot as we could stop by after Zion and before we head towards Capital Reef and beyond. Not a huge loss as we were planning to take a couple of days off to hike Zion anyway plus we’d have electricity at the campground there as well.
After our time at Zion, and our few days with electricity, we had to search out a spot with some cell service. Surprisingly, in Zion/Springdale, we had great 4 bars of both AT&T and Verizon but the bandwith was awful. Incredibly hard to load anything so work was out of the question. We figured there were just too many people in town trying to use the cell service so we headed out of town about 5 miles to get better service to work the day. We found a decent spot on La Verkin Overlook road that overlooked a cool canyon (fancy that) and had good cell service without the WeBoost. So we setup for the day to work.
After closely watching the battery level on Kristy’s computers drop, we finally realized that not one but both of Kristy’s computers could also be charged using the USBc power delivery adapter. So we did our charging dance of moving the cord between the computers while we worked the day away. Conference calls, data transfers, no issues.
I should mention that we relied on the Jackery Solar Saga panels (2 100 watt panels) to recharge the Jacker 1000 and the trailer battery (which powered our fridge) for the vast majority of this trip. I was incredibly impressed with how well the system worked. Mornings always performed better and we could count on 120-140 watts of power recharging our battery systems with clear skies. For the first 3-4 weeks of this trip I don’t think we ran the Jackery below 40% charge and kept the trailer at or above our 12.3v “minimum” level (50% charge on an AGM battery). I stressed for the first few weeks about the state of batteries but it was just so easy to keep them both charged it became a non-issue. A different locale, with lots of trees or clouds could alter that in the future, but if we have sky, I am confident that we can get power with this system and setup.
After working that day on La Verkin overlook, we made our way to Cedar City, receiving a UPS notification that the replacement Jackery was delivered. A couple hour drive and we picked up the new battery and decided to hold the old one in reserve for a few days just in case. This was not necessary in the end and we ended up returning the bad unit while in Moab. FYI, a UPS store will accept and hold a delivery for you for a paltry $5 fee. Good info to know!
With our battery issues resolved and back on our schedule, we headed for Capital Reef from Cedar City. Wow what a difference in landscape from what we’d seen in the past week. We crossed a mountain pass that topped out at 8500’. Snow dotted the peaks and shadows as we climbed and climbed and climbed eventually reaching the summit and heading down the backside towards our next camping spot. What gorgeous scenery we saw that day. We also saw a few sleeping deer on the side of the road and one very live deer waiting for his chance to cross the road. Thank you deer, for waiting for us to pass!