What does balcony solar bring in winter? The Jackery HomePower 2000 Ultra put to the test

A balcony power plant is all well and good as long as the sun is shining. But what about the remaining eight months in Germany, where you get everything except continuous sun? I’ve had the Jackery HomePower 2000 Ultra in use for several months and I’m looking at what a balcony power plant of this size brings in winter. The link to the device in the video description is marked as an ad.

My setup

The HomePower 2000 Ultra is an all-in-one system with an inverter, integrated storage and an additional battery. The main module and the additional battery each have 2 kWh. I could add two more battery packs and reach a maximum storage capacity of 8 kWh.

Four solar panels hang on the balcony railing. It isn’t pretty, but a few flower pots help. The system is compact, though, and takes up little space. I see the cables that are too short and lie across the balcony as a weakness. The device should be placed protected from the weather, and there was no other way. My tip: on Amazon, there are matching extensions so the cables can be routed along the edge of the balcony.

Everything is controlled through the Jackery Home app. On the home page, I see how many kilowatt hours have been generated and how much CO2 has been saved. I find the CO2 aspect not insignificant when deciding whether to get a balcony power plant.

The four operating modes

1. Battery priority: The battery is charged first, via the solar panels and the home grid. This mode only makes sense if you want to charge the battery fully and quickly, for example as a power station for other devices on the go or in the garden. The less sun there is, the more grid power flows into the battery, and you pay for that.

2. Self-consumption: The power from the solar system and from the batteries is fed into the home grid, in Germany up to a maximum of 800 watts. You set how much is fed in in the app. This lets you minimize or replace grid power, which costs money.

3. Time-based use: You set when the battery charges and when it discharges. That makes sense with a dynamic electricity tariff. Example: during the day between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., electricity is cheaper, so the battery charges. From 4 p.m., when it gets more expensive, the battery discharges into the home grid. I don’t have a dynamic tariff. I’m missing a way to charge the battery during the day exclusively from the solar panels. Then I could at least use my own electricity in the evening, and the mode would also make sense without a dynamic tariff. Unfortunately, that isn’t possible.

4. Smart mode: With a dynamic electricity tariff and a provider from the list in the app, you set when the battery charges and discharges based on the actual electricity price. Here you really save hard cash.

What the system delivers in summer and in November

In July, in the middle of summer, the four panels together generated 7.5 kWh. A two-person household in an apartment uses an average of 150 to 175 kWh per month if hot water isn’t produced electrically, and 230 to 280 kWh if it is. Ours isn’t electric. In July, the HomePower 2000 Ultra thus covered about 0.05% of my electricity consumption.

It has to be said: four panels are not a large area. Mine hang completely vertical on the balcony, and a tilt angle would be better. If you own property, you can mount the system on a garage, for example, and get a much better angle of incidence. In addition, July had only 89% of the usual hours of sunshine. Even with 10% more yield, I would be nowhere near my needs.

In November, it looks even gloomier. I installed the system at the end of October on a different balcony. On days without sun, hardly any electricity is produced. In the first week of November, it was a little over 1 kWh in total. Extrapolated, that is maybe 4 kWh over the whole of November.

Emergency power during a blackout

The device has an AC output. During a blackout, the HomePower 2000 Ultra can power a refrigerator, Wi-Fi router, floor lamp, coffee maker or whatever is vital to you in an emergency. With a full battery, you get through several days that way. I find that quite reassuring, because it makes me independent of the public power grid, at least for a while. But that only applies with a full battery. If you depend solely on the power from the panels, you should have more panels.

Verdict

Balcony power plant, yes, especially when it is as compact and smart as the Jackery HomePower 2000 Ultra. For saving money, it makes the most sense with a dynamic electricity tariff. You should drop the expectation of covering your entire electricity needs with four small panels. The more panels, the more electricity, of course. For your own CO2 footprint and as a safety backup during a grid blackout, the HomePower 2000 Ultra is, in my view, consistently recommendable.