Jackery Whole-Home Backup Kit 5000 Plus (20kWh)

This generator is saving me a ton of money on my electricity bills. I have a 30 kWh system and it runs everything in my house for days. I have (14) 415 watt solar panels plugged into the two generators so the batteries charge back up super fast.

Purchased the 5000 so the wife could plug it into the manual transfer switch and just turn it on. We've had 5 power outages this year so far. I was so impressed I purchased an expansion battery. Power goes out, plug it in to the transfer switch, turn it on and flip ithe transfer switches to Generator. It's running a tv/DVD player, two inverter window ACs, a freezer and fridge, LED lights, two Coway airmegas, two small fans, some office equipment, two CPAP machines, a nebulizer, two pond pumps ... Basically we are using under 2000 Watts of power at any one time. I just got a second expansion battery and am currently charging it. We now have a 15kWh system. No solar, we gotta change it with a generator or a wall outlet. It does take almost 1800 watts to change via the AC charging cable, we have a dedicated 20 amp circuit in the house when there's power, or a dedicated 20 amp inverter generator power. I'm absolutely impressed with the ease of use. Batteries at night, Generator during the day. Hooray

I have the Jackery 5000 with the STS installed (no solar panels). So far I am very pleased with it. I have had it about two months and it has carried me through 2 power failures without issues. The first power failure lasted about 5 hours and the second was about 3 hours. In both cases I used less than 50% of the power. The system kept my network running and my essential circuits going without issue.

My only issue was the cost of the installation. It was higher than I was estimating, but that was driven by the number of circuits I have backed up (10).

In both cases, the system ran flawlessly! My previous backup (which I am keeping as second level fallback) is a gasoline generator. To start it, I previously, had to go outside (usually in a storm rain/snow) and start it, manually throw the transfer switch, then run extension cords around the house. Now, everything I need (network, fridge, critical circuits) switched without any actions from me! Great!

All in all the 20KWH whole home system is amazing! It works effortlessly, carrys the entire home load, except i kept high load circuits like my electric clothes dryer and whole home AC unit on the grid for obvious reasons. Excellent product Jackery.
I have noted a few potential concerns and have discussed with the tech team. Seems like a future patch is a potential to resolve them, otherwise i would give this product the highest score!
If Grid goes down for multiple days, and you do not have solar charging the 5000’s, or if you do, but need some additional juice, there is no way to charge via the 110 cord, unless you manually disconnect the cable from the smart switch. The Smart switch disables this ability on the base units themselves. If you do not have a smart switch plugged in, this 110 A/C charging does work.
When charging the 20kwh batteries via the smart switch, you are charging at 4kw per unit. So its an 8k draw until batteries are full. This is great in some cases. For me, due to a 2nd rack of solar i have thats tied to the grid at 120V this 8kw draw far exceeds what that system generates. I would love the ability to either charge at 8kw or bump it back to lets say a medium charge rate and cut it in half. That would maximize my solar generation and help reduce my electric costs.

Those are the only two things that “I” would love to see the app approve on.

If your looking to buy, this system is very good/solid and no general performance issues so far.

March 16 2026 received an email stating save$2700 on Solar Explorer 5000 +. I chatted, emailed and called Jackery and all they would give me was an additional $100 off for the inconvenience plus $1500 that was offered when you clicked shop. To me they should have honored the $2700 as advertised. I am a repeat customer I own a 3000 Home plus which I love but decided I needed more storage capacity.

While the systems still need time to be tested, it seems it should perform power as it states. My issues is it only allows the recharging of the batteries when the power comes back on when hooked up to the automatic transfer switch. It’s hard to find this information through the internet sales sites. I only discovered this after it was installed.

At this point when the system is discharging it can ONLY be charged by a solar powered input.

Now it can be charged by a generator if NOT hooked up to a smart transfer switch through the supplied power cord, if you want to move it around the house and directly plug in into your appliances.

So if you want to use it as a whole house power and backup system BEWARE it can only be charged by solar input while discharging and hooked up to a smart transfer switch.

You would think that they would allow the system to recharge from a generator and not only solar when being used as whole house backup.

It good product...expansion battery should only be about 1299 not1799.

Bought the Explorer 5000 Plus a few weeks ago, along with the additional battery. Both are working great. Solar charging was straight forward with surprisingly good results in less than ideal conditions. The Explorer, although quite heavy, moves easily given the wheels and handle. Very happy with the purchase!

The unit is of outstanding quality and came packaged professionally. I will need to purchase another two batteries in the future to provide reasonable long-term power outage.

The installation service includes removing my old EV charger and install new Tesla wall charger. Install STS and port over 12 breakers. He had to extend each set of lines over to the new breaker. Tested regular backup and UPS mode. Both worked flawless. Installation cost is $3800 plus $387 for WA tax. Total is $4187.60 for 7 hours of work.
The app shows how much my daily electrical usage so I can see how much battery pack I'll need for future purchase. Got this setup because my neighbor keeps opening my refrigerator during power outage. The only downside is the add-on battery pack can only go on the right side of the full unit due to short connector cable. It would have been nice if the add-on is stackable to save space like the EcoFlow.

So far so so good!

This unit exceeded my expectations for a power station. My blower on my furnace started quietly and spun up quickly while also powering a refrigerator, well pump, outdoor boiler and lighting. We loose power often and this will provide a quiet solution from my generator for overnight power.

Product works great and was easy to install and integrated into my home. I bought two Explorer 5000's and a Smart Transfer Switch and didn't realize the cable that connects them comes with the switch and only comes with one, then found out they didn't have any available to order online yet. I reached out asking if I could somehow buy one anyways to complete my set up and they responded in less than 12 hours that they would ship one out to me free of charge! Only complaint so far is the system works too well as a back-up and TOU reduction system and now I want to be able to go semi-off-grid so will need to buy additional batteries when I have more money!

Jackery Solar Generator 5000 Plus

Haven't yet completed the install with the smart switch, but so far the build quality looks very good.

Love my jackery solar Generator and smart transfer switch. I have already put it to use to offset reliance on the grid and stand ready for any outages.

Super easy to set and operate.

Jackery Solar Generator 5000 Plus

I have known about Jackery for over a decade. My company gave a christmas gift of a small USB charger. I thought no big deal. That was the only USB charger that i used even today. It was amazing. When i thought about a back up battery for my hone, I thought of Jackery. I am pleased with the Explorer 5000 for the most part. I bought a 5000 battery and 500W solar a week later.
The Good: I have a 2800sf home and the Explorer powered the house for 10 hours. That was good enough for me. So I bought the extra battery pack and solar and that has increased the capacity to about 24 hours with a recharge every 3-4 days on solar.
The Cons: The battery threw an error code after the first use. Tech support helped me through it and pushed a firmware update the next day. No issues since then. Also, the solar panels are a bit flimsy. If you are mounting then, know that they need a sturdy frame. I am sure they are fine with the hinges provided, but i put them on my roof. I dont think they recommend that. I will figure out the long term effects of doing that. I have not called them to discuss technical issues based on my first call for tech support. The CSR was on a script and felt the technical information i desired would not be available.
In general, i am happy with the purchase even though it seems a bit expensive. (I can afford it) It has only been two weeks so I may update this review later.

System fits nicely in the garage. I like the options this system provides. Half the price of installing a whole house general.

Great product

Works as designed, no problem plugging it in to my home system.
The only down side I see is you can't charge the unit with a inverter generator 120volt while using the units 220 plug. Saving up for an extra battery.

Explorer 5000 Plus