Portable Power Stations

[linkinpark]

I purchased the Rentech PPS750 unit last month and can say it functions as advertised and is great. 786Wh capacity with 500W pure sine inverter and UPS functionality for R8500 is a great price compared to the River units. https://powerprovider.co.za/product/rentech-pps750-portable-power-station-500w-786wh/

I think powerprovider messed up on their description.
Everywhere else says the Rentech PPS750 is not a UPS and you should not charge and draw power from it at the same time.

 

[SeRpEnT]

My Gizzu 296Wh unit just ran flat during load shedding for the first time. Either that or the unit just died completely.

I think it's just not getting enough time to recharge now and I'm only pulling around 50W from it. The charging solution is extremely feeble though.

I have the same unit. Doing heavy duty work at night during loadshedding - +- 100W for TV and droidbox.
Been running it quite low every time. Takes around 6h to fully charge.

/me wonders how long the battery will last.

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

I have the same unit. Doing heavy duty work at night during loadshedding - +- 100W for TV and droidbox.
Been running it quite low every time. Takes around 6h to fully charge.

/me wonders how long the battery will last.

Yesterday we had loadshedding 6am-10am, then again 2-4pm and again at 11pm-midnight, then again at 4am to 6am. There just isn't enough time for it to recover enough charge like this with its measly 45W charger.

My Ecoflow goes like a champ though, it charges more than 10x as fast as the Gizzu

 

[SeRpEnT]

Yesterday we had loadshedding 6am-10am, then again 2-4pm and again at 11pm-midnight, then again at 4am to 6am. There just isn't enough time for it to recover enough charge like this with its measly 45W charger.

My Ecoflow goes like a champ though, it charges more than 10x as fast as the Gizzu

/jealous

 

[Vernon]

Picked up an EcoFlow River unit the other day.

Testing it out today I see that its internal temp is on the high side even though the load is low. I have it in a well ventilated area.
Should that be a concern? In the settings I see the default setting for the "Auto Fan Speed" is set in the on position. Would that make a difference?

 

[redbaron]

This looks like another excellent option in the 500Wh range:


GENKI – Portable Solar Inverter 500W/515WH – GK-500 : R7000+

https://www.facebook.com/GenkiPortablePower/

Good description & FAQ here:

https://www.comx-computers.co.za/GK...00mAh-portable-inverter-with-Buy-p-261595.php

What's interesting is this:
Automotive Grade Cell: 21700 cell usually used for electric car, its energy density is 20% higher than traditional 18650 cell and can reduce 10% battery weight.

Avoid this product at all costs. i purchased a Genki GK1000 1000W/1166Wh Portable Power Station and it is absolute rubbish. First one wouldn’t charge over 58% and the replacement won’t charge over 44% and we are talking less than 2 months for complete failure and it was not cheap either. It barely lasts 2 hours running only a TV, decoder and router and that was when it still took a full charge. Extremely annoyed to say the least

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

Picked up an EcoFlow River unit the other day.

Testing it out today I see that its internal temp is on the high side even though the load is low. I have it in a well ventilated area.
Should that be a concern? In the settings I see the default setting for the "Auto Fan Speed" is set in the on position. Would that make a difference?

That temp is perfectly normal, remember it's the internal temperature where there are a bunch of electronic components.

 

[Crusader]

Picked up an EcoFlow River unit the other day.

Testing it out today I see that its internal temp is on the high side even though the load is low. I have it in a well ventilated area.
Should that be a concern? In the settings I see the default setting for the "Auto Fan Speed" is set in the on position. Would that make a difference?

That's normal. My River Pro sits at 31°C without any load. With a load it's also about 35+

 

[Bundu]

I've got one of these trolley inverters with Lifepo4 batteries running in UPS mode.

I charge and discharge it through two Sonoff POWR2 switches - these can measure daily power usage.

I just compared these two readings over the past two weeks and was surprised by how low the input/output efficiency is.
On average 60%. So 40% of the electricity is wasted!

Have any of you guys tested this?

I guys you guys don't care what the running costs are?

 

[Crusader]

This might be important info for for Ecoflow users. They finally posted a definitive answer if you should keep your Ecoflow unit permanently plugged (using as EPS) in or not:

About EPS Use:
Hi all! Here is the answer from our RD team regarding EPS or should you plug in permanently:
In order to better make use of the EPS function, please make sure:
1. the firmware is up-to-date
2. It is recommended to disconnect every 1 month >> fully charge and discharge the unit (0~100% that's a full cycle) twice and then use EPS again

 

[Valaskjalf]

How is the switch-over of the EcoFlow once Loadshedding kicks in? I'm really keen on getting the River, but read that one would still need to put your Fibre ONT / Router on a dedicated UPS. Is this the case or is the transition pretty seamless with no downtime?

Thanks

 

[Crusader]

How is the switch-over of the EcoFlow once Loadshedding kicks in? I'm really keen on getting the River, but read that one would still need to put your Fibre ONT / Router on a dedicated UPS. Is this the case or is the transition pretty seamless with no downtime?

Thanks

I'm not using mine as an EPS so somebody else can comment about real life experiences. In most cases I think you will need a UPS as there is a 30ms switchover time. Some devices will be fine with that, others not.

 

[Icemanbrfc]

Any of these capable of running blenders/mixers etc. Business is suffering, so just need a short term solution, that could power those appliances.

 

[richjdavies]

I've got one of these trolley inverters with Lifepo4 batteries running in UPS mode.

I charge and discharge it through two Sonoff POWR2 switches - these can measure daily power usage.

I just compared these two readings over the past two weeks and was surprised by how low the input/output efficiency is.
On average 60%. So 40% of the electricity is wasted!

Have any of you guys tested this?

That does sound like pretty poor performance.

Are you sure you aren't including the power when it's in pass through mode?

 

[wingnut771]

That does sound like pretty poor performance.

Are you sure you aren't including the power when it's in pass through mode?

Isn't it the power factor. Isn't power factor worked out by taking W and divide by VA.

So Mecer 720W1200VA MSW has a power factor of 0.6 which is 60%.

 

[richjdavies]

Isn't it the power factor. Isn't power factor worked out by taking W and divide by VA.

So Mecer 720W1200VA MSW has a power factor of 0.6 which is 60%.

I assumed he was doing watts both sides? Not VA one side and W the other?

 

[KantSnyer]

Any of these capable of running blenders/mixers etc. Business is suffering, so just need a short term solution, that could power those appliances.

Yes, you know the power specs of them?

 

[richjdavies]

Any of these capable of running blenders/mixers etc. Business is suffering, so just need a short term solution, that could power those appliances.

What's the start up current of them? When running wouldn't be too much (few hundred watts), but likely need to be pure sine wave. Really depends on what the exact things are...

 

[Bundu]

That does sound like pretty poor performance.

Are you sure you aren't including the power when it's in pass through mode?

I've got meters on UPS INPUT and on OUTPUT, each measuring kWh.
The output meter is 40% less than the input meter.

Edit:
I'm only running a PVR and a for a couple of hours a TV, so the load is very small.
I've read inverters are quite inefficient at low loads.
Will try and put a larger load on it and see what happens

 

[wingnut771]

I assumed he was doing watts both sides? Not VA one side and W the other?

So? If only 60% of the power coming out the battery is converted into watts then when it recharges it needs to charge 40% more than it used. Also, add inverter running load and charging efficiency of 95%.

If you change to an inverter with power factor of 1 then the 2 sonoffs will be much closer imho, maybe 10% off.