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  • 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 stationnow'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 completelythey 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.

This video is sponsored by Jackery.

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