I know we’ve discussed smaller battery devices for charging phones etc. (Anker), but does anyone have a larger unit (500Wh - 2kWh)* that they use and recommend - e.g. from the likes of Jackery, Ecoflow or Bluetti?
My immediate use case is to power an LED TV for a day at a business Expo where mains power will not be available, but I’m thinking it will be handy to have anyway to provide power in the garden and as a general (short-term) electricity backup after I move to France.
Having done a bit of Googling I have ordered a refurbished EcoFlow Delta 2 (from Ecoflow themselves via Amazon) for what seems a very good price (32% discount), but I’d be interested to hear if any SF folks have practical experience of this kind of device and can tell me if I’m being a muppet buying this or if I got a good deal!
(Being from Amazon I can send it back if necessary!)
I know such devices are beloved of the survivalist and “living off grid in a camper-van” fraternity, but what do ordinary mortals think?
wattages above edited to bring them into the realms of possibility…
I believe @letsmile has a few Bluetti storage batteries ?. He may be able to help more.
I was actually looking at one of these to power my telescope rig so that I could take it in the car to very dark locations. But, I only need 12V outputs and can make my own for half the price.
I have a bluetti AC200MAX as a backup for my Citroën Ami. Only needed to use it once to recharge but it seems to be the done thing to get one because of the limited range, it either gives you 15km to get to a charger, or powers your fan / GPS / phone / whatever, so it’s not drawing from the car battery. It seems like it does what it says on the tin and at times they do some very good discounts on them. Bloody heavy though!
There are a million YouTube channels which cover this sort of thing, but I discovered the bluetti on a channel called Me and Mon Ami, two Brits who live in Villefranche with, as the name hints, a Citroën Ami. I’m very easily entertained but I find it great fun if anyone fancies a watch. I’m also pretty certain I spotted @Roger_Lapin’s Morgan in an episode, I kept meaning to say. Anyway, they do pretty regular power bank reviews @ChrisMann as they get sent a lot to try.
Not bigger, in fact smaller in capacity. Yours just has a 220V inverter for mains power. I could do it with mains power as well, I have two 12V 6A power supplies but why convert 12V to220V just to convert it back to 12V again ? I’m looking at about 1.5Kwh to power everything comfortably for at least 13 hours.
However the Ecoflow has twice the capacity for not too much more money (as a refurb unit), and also uses an LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) battery which I understand has a significantly longer lifespan than standard lithium batteries.
The YouTube gurus seem to approve of Ecoflow so I’m going to see how it performs when it arrives - if anyone suggest anything significantly better then I can always send it back to Amazon.
As I said, I was looking at this sort of thing. I did quite a bit of research and if I’d gone that route, the Ecoflow would have definitely been in my top three and maybe my number one. As it stands I’ll go in a different direction for practical reasons.
Yes I will - I’m grateful for all the comments and suggestions that people have made - I realise I got things a bit arse about face by ordering the unit and asking for advice afterwards!! - but it does seem like a good deal on the face of it.
I think in many ways that’s all we can do! Horses for courses and all that but I for one will be most interested in your opinion of the one you’ve ordered.
We had the first of the ones we bought as part of a deal on the micro caravan we got a couple of years back. We were so pleased with it, we got another but it is certainly limited on the power output side and acquiring others is on our list of possibilities!
Finally, yes I have 2 x AC200MAX units, one B230 extension batteryand 2 x EB70 units and very pleased with all of them. I kicked off with the smallest EB3 to really start understanding solar and batteries, but since sold that one, but I must say, Bluetti customer service was fantastic after I seemed to have an issue with the EB3 and they replaced it immediately without question.
You can obviously see all the detail specs on the Bluetti website, but must say, very pleased with all of the units, after just over a year of using them. The AC200MAX units are relatively heavy but quite manageable, which also goes for the B230 which is connected to one of the units to give about 4kwh, and also over 2000w which I do use. I like the fact you can connect with bluetooth and also the myriad of connections as well as wireless charging on top. One of the other drivers for my selection was indeed the lithium phosphate which is night and day lifespan versus plain lithium. Some of the other benefits I like are the 900w solar input plus another 500w with an adapter, that I also have.
The EB70’s are also good, but quite a different use case to the AC200MAX. I use these for more mobile power either around the house or outside. The capacity is obviously far smaller, but very transportable for powering smaller wattage gear or recharging various. The main downsides for me were the limit to 200w solar input, the lower solar voltage input versus the AC200MAX and no bluetooth connectivity.
In summary, when I was looking, and that was last March (approx), Bluetti appeared to be better value and gave a ‘bigger bang for the buck’, but that may have changed now of course, as that market is rapidly changing. I think the key point is that, when calculating how much power you need, you need to also factor in the amount of the power the unit consumes to operate with inverter on i.e. despite the spec wh being the same for the AC200MAX and the B230, I get more wh from the B230 as it doesn’t have to power the same inverter. The B230 unit I purchased was from Bluetti but was refurbished, looked brand new but was an absolute steal for 600€. And Bluetti do seem to vary prices quite alot, so it is possible to catch bargains.
I’m not looking to power a whole house off mine at this stage - my needs are quite limited in that initially I just need to power an LED TV at two business exhibitions where mains power won’t be available (or at least may not be where my stand is going to be). With that in mind, portability is a factor.
And then I thought it could come in handy generally and as a basic backup when I do (eventually!) move to France.
As you rightly say this seems to be a fast-moving market - I’ve watched some online reviews and Bluetti, Ecoflow and Jackery seem to be the front-runners, depending on exact needs.
Anyway it’s all good info - if the Ecoflow doesn’t do the job I can send it back, and in any case it will give me some good experience with such devices for the future.
