The Engineer of His Own Power

How retired medical and construction professional Anthony Haddix built a storm-ready home with the Jackery Explorer 5000 Plus.

A Life Engineered for Order

In Orlando, Florida, Anthony Haddix has built a home that runs on precision. A retired medical and construction professional, he still approaches life like an engineer. He talks about clinic layouts and airflow, and copper threads in vinyl flooring that prevent bacteria. “Detail is everything,” he says. “You plan correctly, and chaos never surprises you.” That same discipline now shapes his approach to storms.

Storm Lessons

He remembers 2004: three hurricanes in six weeks, Charley, Frances, and Ivan. Roof sections gone. A tree across the driveway. Neighbors with chainsaws helping neighbors. Back then, backup power meant flashlights and a noisy gas generator wired through a hot-tub outlet. “We had light,” he recalls, “but no peace.” The fumes and the noise lingered. From that moment, he promised never to rely on fuel again.

From Fuel to Silence

Today his condo feels like a small laboratory. Lights respond to voice commands, cameras watch his cats, robots sweep the floors. When he decided to replace fuel with portable power, five electricians turned him down. Then Palmer Electric, one of Orlando’s biggest firms, installed both a manual transfer switch and a Jackery Explorer 5000 Plus in five hours. “When storms come, I flip the main, turn on the Jackery switch, and the condo wakes up,” he says. Every circuit except the stove, dryer, and washer hums back to life.

Reliable. Safe. Quiet.

Anthony tried other brands first, but they drained fast when idle. Jackery impressed him with its silence, durability, and charge retention. “I can leave a unit for months and it’s still at 99 percent,” he says. No hiss, no exhaust, no roar. The phrase reliable, safe, quiet has become his shorthand for calm.

Building His Power Stack

He began with an Explorer 1000, then more, until it became a system. Today, his home runs on a Jackery Explorer 5000 Plus with three external batteries, a Explorer 3000 Pro for heavy loads, and several Explorer 1000s and a Explorer 300 for smaller needs. “If the main ever failed, the others could keep everything running,” he says. 

The 5000 Plus powers the fridge, freezer, lights, and coffee maker; the 3000 Pro drives a portable AC; and together they also support the router, Wi-Fi extenders, nine interior and exterior cameras, three large-screen televisions, two desktop computers, and the home security system. The app tracks watts in and out with perfect predictability, giving Anthony the satisfaction of knowing every circuit and every device is accounted for.

Prepared for Every Outcome

Solar charging in Orlando can be tricky under old oak trees, but Anthony adapts. “After a hurricane, I spread the foldable panels on the driveway,” he says. A backup fuel generator sits unopened in its box, a relic of an earlier era. He still keeps Sterno stoves and a battery-powered coffee maker “just in case.” Boy Scout training taught him to improvise. “You don’t panic if you have a plan,” he says. For him, Jackery is more than equipment; it is that plan made visible.

A Circle of Care

Two elderly sisters, aged eighty-nine and ninety, live in condos below. When storms hit, they know where to go. “They come upstairs,” Anthony says. “We will have light, power, and coffee.” He does not advertise his setup, since there are 185 units in the building, but his nearest neighbors will be fine. His home has become both refuge and reassurance.

Everyday Comfort

Comfort, for Anthony, means reliability. The fridge stays cold, the fan hums through the night, the coffee brews at dawn. The Jackery stack delivers a normal life when everything outside stops. The smaller Explorer 1000 and 300 join him on beach trips and camping days, keeping coolers and lights running. “It’s the same feeling of security,” he says, “just portable.”

Design That Endures

Anthony’s power system evolved like his career, one improvement at a time. First, a generator, then a competitor’s battery, and now Jackery has finally integrated, making it efficient and quiet. “When the grid fails, I want three steps and a house that behaves the same,” he says. He laughs, admitting he would almost welcome a short blackout just to test everything. His wife disagrees. “Better to keep it theoretical,” he concedes. Still, knowing the condo could run for days gives him calm. The grid has become optional.

What Stays When the Storm Passes

In places that weather remembers, resilience becomes a lifestyle. It looks like a clean electrical panel labeled in careful handwriting, and sounds like a home that stays silent while generators roar outside. Power, for Anthony Haddix, is no longer a luxury. It is design, foresight, and peace stored neatly in orange boxes. Reliable. Safe. Quiet.