I come to this admission when faced with an online discussion of “Solar Generators.” I believe this term arises from really poor use of language.
There really is no such thing as a “solar generator.” Except perhaps the sort of installation found in Nevada’s Ivanpah Dry Lake.
Let me break this down a bit:
Generators
Burn some fuel to create motion, which in turn creates electrical energy.
Batteries
Store electrical energy. Batteries are charged by, and deliver, “Direct Current” (aka DC) which is in contrast to the electric grid, which is alternating current (AC.)
Solar Panels
Solar panels (aka photovoltaic arrays) that create direct current (DC) electrical energy when exposed to sunlight.
Inverter1
At their most basic, an inverter is a device that converts direct current (DC) input into alternating current (AC) output. These are required to take the DC provided by solar panels or batteries and transform it into AC for household use.
Inverter2
That said, the term “inverter” can be confusing. It’s also used to describe a generator that has a two-stage approach to creating AC electricity. Our Predators 9500 inverter burns fuel to create motion. That motion is used to generate relatively dirty AC electricity. The dirty AC is rectified into DC, which is then used to feed a high-power electronic circuit that creates extremely clean AC power.
Solar Generator?
“Solar Generator” is some vague marketing language that implies a bundle of photovoltaics, battery & inverter.
Ecoflow make a well-established (perhaps well-regarded) range of products in this space. If they suit your situation, you’ll be happy. The trick is to know what you need, so you have some way of knowing if they’re a good fit. How much power do you require? For how long? 120v or 240v?
I suspect at the low-end (120v) these kinds of products from Anker, Bluetti, EcoFlow, Jackery and the like, do quite well. With respect to EcoFlow, as I have noted previously, I find their marketing claims for whole home backup to be optimistic to the point of suspect. They make bold statements without establishing an application context.
How can they claim to provide a solution based on “1-4 day outages” or “Over 5 day outages?” The power needs of a home in Portland, Oregon are quite different from our home in Houston, Texas. Heck, the needs of my 1,600 square foot house are very different from my neighbors 3,600 square foot house! The details matter.
So What?
Why does this matter? Why bother with the pedantry? It’s just very loose terminology. Not specific, so open to abuse.
I think the defining thing about “solar generators” as a possible product category is really a question of scale. The marketing term defines a thing, really a power bank (battery + inverter), with a DC charging input for an (often optional) solar panel.
It stipulates something limited in scale. The whole setup is portable. This where the term may bring some value.
If you need to go larger scale for whole home backup, like the largest of the EcoFlow range, you surely would not call that a “solar generator” product. It’s a much larger system, comprised of many products.