Portable Power Stations

So my unit was miscalibrated meaning I thought I was using and recharging 25% per load shedding slot but it will definitely be less. For now I can only go with a thumb suck of about 15% of a full cycle per 2 hr slot, then multiply that by load shedding slots during waking hours in a week. Obviously it's varied depending on what stage we were on so hard to average it out.
Yeah would be hard to tell unless you don't charge it between load-shedding sessions and see how long it lasts in a week. Do you work from home?

My use case would be 2 hours on some days when I am back from work e.g when I have load shedding between 6-8pm

If I were to use 15% of the Delta Max (15% of 2016Wh = 302Wh) every single day it would it would take a week to use 1 full cycle. 52 weeks per year so roughly 9 years before the battery gets to 80% of the original capacity. (Assuming 500 full cycles to get to 80% capacity).
 
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Do you work from home?

Yup. It's been a mission, particularly when we hit stage 6. Wanted solar and was happy to pay but my brother owns the property. He also works between home and his office so he would just go to work when he needed power. We are also low energy users (literally 10 units per day between the two of us during summer) so it didn't make sense financially (at least until stage 8 becomes more of a threat) but maybe the tax breaks that are coming will change things.

So to keep my job, my first purchase was the Delta in 2021, and now I have the Bluetti. Might get a River 2 as well, but will see once we have an actual price tag on them. But ya, used the Delta on and off in 2021, and then really gave it a work out in 2022. But I haven't exactly been keeping a spreadsheet of how I've been recharging it...
 
But it outscore the Bluetti on most points. I'm not biased in any way. Just giving facts. In terms of out lasting it's only 8% longer https://www.dropbox.com/s/4zxqly8s8syuisi/Screenshot_20230210_090410.jpg?dl=0
The EB70 seems outdated in terms of tech. Its cool that it has LFP but its due for an upgrade.

The newer small Bluetti EB3A has a lot of features that is similar the original River.

Better tech in the EB3A when compared with the EB70:

EB3A has an internal fast charger (0-80% in 30 Min.)

Better info display. Show input and output wattage and time remaining as well as battery percentage.

App / Firmware support (I would not want one of these smart power station if bugs cant be fixed in future via firmware updates.). Ecoflow is still better here IMO because their app works via WiFi.

"Power lifting mode" which drops the voltage and allow you to power bigger than 600w resistive loads (1200W). It tricks the device into thinking it is getting 1200W but it actually is only getting 600w.

Power lifting mode = Ecoflow's x-boost. This feature can be quite handy. My wife used it to power her hair dryer from my River (1800w with x-boost) on occasion.

Bluetti seem to have lifted these new features from Ecoflow...
 
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"Power lifting mode" which drops the voltage and allow you to power bigger than 600w resistive loads (1200W). It tricks the device into thinking it is getting 1200W but it actually is only getting 600w.

I agree with all your points except for this one. This (edit. and X-boost) is basically just smoke and mirrors. By fiddling with the voltage/amps the device stays on, but it doesn't necessary work the way it is supposed to. I remember I watched a video where the guy was testing different draws on a heat gun, and even though the unit was running the heat gun on its medium strength, it was producing less heat than it should because it couldn't handle the actual power draw.

Ultimately, it comes down to what you're doing with the machine and the price you're willing to pay. The EB70 may not have some of the nice-to-haves you've mentioned above, but it has the best balance between price per KW and charge time currently in the market. The only way you can get cheaper per KW Lifepo4 is if you buy units that take 12 hours to charge (or buy the Bluetti EB240). You can get NMC units but they either have horrible charge times (8+ hours) or are terribly priced per KW.

Here's a spreadsheet I've been building to help people decide what to buy:

Spreadsheet.jpg
 
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I agree with all your points except for this one. This (edit. and X-boost) is basically just smoke and mirrors. By fiddling with the voltage/amps the device stays on, but it doesn't necessary work the way it is supposed to. I remember I watched a video where the guy was testing different draws on a heat gun, and even though the unit was running the heat gun on its medium strength, it was producing less heat than it should because it couldn't handle the actual power draw.
Yes X-boost will run your high power draw items slower but the point is that it will allow them to run. Without it, it wont.

The maximum power that my River can supply is 600w no matter what, but this feature allows me to trick certain appliances into running.

A hairdryer is a good example, many ladies use one to style their hair daily and the ability to be able to use a small power station in order to run it in case of a emergency is great.
Plug a hairdryer into any other 600w power station without this feature and it will overload immediately.

It works by lowering the voltage and upping the amps. The device draws more amps so it is able to run but it is also getting less volts so it will run slower than usual.
 
As someone who has been waiting for news of when the new Ecoflows with LiFePO4 batteries will hit SA, it's interesting to read some of the posts here and the actual experiences of running some of the currently available units.

Not sure if it will ever be sold here, but the Hysolis Apollo looks like a beast, amazingly powerful and expandable. Pity the much vaunted build quality was let down by this early model shocking the reviewer towards the end of the video!!! They've now put off US shipping until June for "final Q&A"...

 

That youtuber is Will Prowse.

He has an amazing story. He had rough childhood, he got multiple injuries. Lived in a van, he went to homeless shelters for food. He could not walk on occasion. He read a bunch medical books and he manged to fix his medical problems, he then wrote a some books about how to fix the injuries that he had.

He seems pretty rich now with multiple properties and fancy electric cars.
 
That youtuber is Will Prowse.

He has an amazing story. He had rough childhood, he got multiple injuries. Lived in a van, he went to homeless shelters for food. He could not walk on occasion. He read a bunch medical books and he manged to fix his medical problems, he then wrote a some books about how to fix the injuries that he had.

He seems pretty rich now with multiple properties and fancy electric cars.
I would guess its easy to make a success when you live in america.
 
I have the river pro. Works nicely.

I see the price varies by reseller.
 
Got some possible pricing on the Ecoflow River 2 Max/Pro and Ecoflow Delta 2 from TechGuySA. Really disappointed on how **** the pricing is per watt on all of these units.

Shocking.jpg
 
Very interesting spreadsheet. I recall in that recent interview with the Syntech directors they mentioned the new Gizzu models coming this year will have UPS functionality and move to LiFePO4 batteries. Could be a good option in its niche.
 
Very interesting spreadsheet. I recall in that recent interview with the Syntech directors they mentioned the new Gizzu models coming this year will have UPS functionality and move to LiFePO4 batteries. Could be a good option in its niche.

Ya, hopefully they get to market soon. At the current prices I found online Ecoflow's new products are looking a bit kak.
 
Got some possible pricing on the Ecoflow River 2 Max/Pro and Ecoflow Delta 2 from TechGuySA. Really disappointed on how **** the pricing is per watt on all of these units.
Nice spreadsheet. Wish they would update the EB240. Hobotech did a review on that unit and I don't think it has LFP it seems to have some kind of other lithium polymer batteries.

I was set on getting the Delta 2 but I got a great deal on an Ecoflow Delta Max and I could not resist (there was only 1 available).

Now I can use my airfryer (2200w), microwave or kettle during load-shedding. :D
 
I was set on getting the Delta 2 but I got a great deal on an Ecoflow Delta Max and I could not resist (there was only 1 available).

Now I can use my airfryer (2200w), microwave or kettle during load-shedding. :D

Being able to boil a cup of water using my Delta is one of its many perks :)
 
Hobotech did a review on that unit and I don't think it has LFP it seems to have some kind of other lithium polymer batteries.

Yeah, I watched his review and he says he's not sure, and no amount of Googling seemed to help so I put it down as a ? under its chemistry.
 
Being able to boil a cup of water using my Delta is one of its many perks :)
How many percentage points does your Delta drop after boiling roughly 1L of water? I need to do more testing but I think my Delta 2016wh is giving me closer to 1400wh than 2000Wh.
 
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