Power Battery banks ?

[Vennwood]

To be fair its the claims that they make and all of the photos! One shows a bearded Pony tailed "Hipster" sat gazing out to Sea, casually leaning on his "buddy" the Delta 1300

Who would lug a 30 Kg battery out into the middle of nowhere LOL

They certainly make a lot of wild claims so you really have to get more than one opinion on any of these things. Pony tailed hipster - They didn't have my permission to show that photo BTW the Monster X weighs 14.7kg

 

[chaser]

One question I would like to ask is what do you do now that you couldn't do without one?
In our case I can't see one thing that we could do with this we don't do now.

 

[Pausim]

I agree these portable power packs do not make much sense for use in a motorhome. However I have been looking at them for other reasons. Later this year we hope to be moving and at the new place our electric bikes and cars will have to be stored in a barn without power. A power pack might well be a way of carrying AC power out to the barn.

The Bluetti models are the only ones I have found that have LiFePO4 cells in them. All the others seem to have unspecified Li-ion cells and I am always suspicious when they use the generic Li-ion rather than being specific. I decided to check this out with Bluetti sales and got this reply.
“Yes, it's LiFePO4.
The AC output is a proper pure sine wave.”

 

[Jo662]

This is part of a review on the EcoFlow site a £1300 lump of battery



I just don't get it, we power all those items and charge as we drive.

I suppose if you have a new van with a 75AH battery no inverter, no solar, it might come in handy

You can't if your staying on a THS for a week with no EHU.

 

[Jim]

You can't if your staying on a THS for a week with no EHU.

Well how does the person who has one, charge it if they are staying somewhere with no EHU

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[Jim]

One question I would like to ask is what do you do now that you couldn't do without one?

If you didn't have one you wouldn't have to store it safely or recharge it

 

[Lenny HB]

I didn't have any room to fit extra battery(s

But that unit is bigger than a battery.

Also in the Hymer manual it specifically says "fitting an inverter would invalidate the warranty".

On my 3rd new Hymer never seen that written anywhere.

 

[jezport]

I lent one out to a fellow trader at Malvern. his inverter had packed up. It ran his laptop and vinyl cutting machine for 2 days no problem. And at £350 its not silly money.

 

[Jo662]

Well how does the person who has one, charge it if they are staying somewhere with no EHU

We didnt need to as it was just used to top up the batteries a couple of times. But you can recharge with your solar panels on your motorhome or use a portable solar. panel.

 

[Jo662]

To be fair its the claims that they make and all of the photos! One shows a bearded Pony tailed "Hipster" sat gazing out to Sea, casually leaning on his "buddy" the Delta 1300

Who would lug a 30 Kg battery out into the middle of nowhere LOL

The Ecoflow Delta is 14kg!

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[Vennwood]

But that unit is bigger than a battery.

On my 3rd new Hymer never seen that written anywhere.

True its bigger but I can fit it where I want. In my case it fits in the footwell underneath the seat. I couldn't fit a battery in there as I would have to wire it in permanently and the distance to link it up with existing batteries would be difficult and I would not have been able to carry passengers. As it is I can simply move the Power Pack to the garage and use the seats with seat belts.
On my Exsis the manual says adding an inverter would invalidate the warranty but to be fair its out of warranty anyway but they must have said it for a reason.

 

[Vennwood]

As I said at the begining it will not suit everyone and over the past 20years of motorhoming (with a short break with a caravan) we have come to like our creature comforts. With our previous MH our proud bost was that in 12 years of using our van around 20 weeks each year we never once needed to use EHU. True we had 540W solar panels and 800+ AH of batteries and a 2000W inverter. With this MH I had looked to do something similar - maybe even try an Efoy but they seem to be out of fashion these days. I didn't have room to fit extra batteries nor have room to easily fit an inverter (I could have found a place if I really wanted it) This works for us and as I say we like our creature comforts and our lifestyle is we use Aires and move on every few days so charging on the move works for us. I guess if we stayed on campsites everytime we wouldn't even consider a Battery Bank or Inverter.

 

[Pausim]

maybe even try an Efoy but they seem to be out of fashion these days

Not out of fashion with me, I love my Efoy despite the cost.

 

[funflair]

maybe even try an Efoy

I have one in the "classified" if you still want to give it a go

 

[Boris7]

I look into one of these because I spent long weekend off grid at motorsport events and we tend to get low on battery power now and then, but I found a 1kw Honda generator at less than £800 was a better result. Don’t use a hair dryer or the microwave mind.

Thar said power packs will get better and cheaper in time.

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[Boris7]

I have one in the "classified" if you still want to give it a go

I keep looking at that, but the faff of installation puts me off.

 

[funflair]

I keep looking at that, but the faff of installation puts me off.

A couple of wires to the battery or any handy connection point, a small hole about 8mm dia for the condensate drain to outside and then just mount the control panel and plug it in, you don't need the panel inside the van as you can just set parameters for automatic operation, as long as it has space around it you don't need to vent the exhaust to outside.

 

[eddie]

The Ecoflow Delta is 14kg!

Who would lug a 14kg battery in a box up a mountain!

 

[Clive Mott]

If you have a motorhome with a leisure battery then these power packs are just unnesesary payload. If you need to even think about these then improve your leisure battery. LiFeP04 if you feel the need. These power packs are as much use as those small poke in the window solar panels. Not a lot.

 

[Teithwr]

I’ve got one of these on the way. (The link didn’t appear, so edited)
SUNGZU SKA2500- portable power station
LiFePO4 battery/2500Wh Capactiy/Solar Generator/Cycle life 6000+/AC2000W/Surge 4000W
solar panel add on for about £800. Seems a good deal.

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[Ginger.Tog]

We have a Jackery 500 watt - It's used all the time for the wifes hairdryer, hair straightener - charging the laptop and the daughter uses it up in the pop top to charge her devices when we don't need it. On the move it's charging..

We don't have an inverter so for our use it's perfect...

 

[Raul]

I’ve got one of these on the way. [. 2500Wh, pure sine, solar panel add on for about £800. Seems a good deal.

At 2500wh implies a 200ah battery at 12,8v. If, it has a 200ah battery and the rest, inverter, solar charger etc: it’s a good price. I would be very curious of the quality of components at that price. There is no free lunch.

 

[Pausim]

I’ve got one of these on the way. (The link didn’t appear, so edited)
SUNGZU SKA2500- portable power station
LiFePO4 battery/2500Wh Capactiy/Solar Generator/Cycle life 6000+/AC2000W/Surge 4000W
solar panel add on for about £800. Seems a good deal.

I would be interested in a review of the product when you get it. Appears to be a lot cheaper than others and says it has LiFePO4 cells.

 

[Ianto]

If you need only 12v and are happy to use inverter if needed, Check this out. Also it is handy as a jump starter if needed. I got mine on offer at Amazon. Amazing piece of kit for the money. And takes up very little room. <Broken link removed>

 

[AgeingAndrew]

On my Exsis the manual says adding an inverter would invalidate the warranty but to be fair its out of warranty anyway but they must have said it for a reason.

Are you sure. My Hymer B544 manual states "Retrofitting of an inverter can lead to damage to the electrical system. We will not be held liable for this damage. " This is very different from invalidating the warranty.

I did watch one Youtube video where a motorhomer tested one of these power units, a jackery or Bluetti I'm not sure which one. The only uses he and his wife could come up with were to mow their lawn with an electric mower (at home), or to charge their laptop in the awning!. In either case a decent extension lead would suffice and would have been much cheaper (assuming they bought the power unit) as they are pretty much always on EHU.

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[Teithwr]

I ordered it on Indiego which means paying early and accepting some risk. It’s an established firm though with a good reputation. The price now being quoted is about £1,400 for the unit and £350 for the solar panels. Some units have shipped and the reviews look very good.

 

[Gizmouk]

Who would lug a 14kg battery in a box up a mountain!

A tosser with a man-bun living off a trust fund?

 

[Revolvor]

Who would lug a 30 Kg battery out into the middle of nowhere LOL

You may have seen the EE Advert during the Euros, with a guy being shaved on the top of Mount Snowdon. My son was responsible for all the technical part of that shoot, including interfacing the 5G signal with the robot. The robot was powered by two Ecoflow River Max battery packs that were carried by hand to the top, along with the robot and all the cameras and production equipment.

 

[Jamesh]

You may have seen the EE Advert during the Euros, with a guy being shaved on the top of Mount Snowdon. My son was responsible for all the technical part of that shoot, including interfacing the 5G signal with the robot. The robot was powered by two Ecoflow River Max battery packs that were carried by hand to the top, along with the robot and all the cameras and production equipment.

Great story to dine out on!!

Cheers James

 

[two]

The likes of these look really interesting and I don’t think the approach should be discounted so quickly. They can have huge capacities (but I’m not sure that anyone would need as much as 25kWh in a motorhome). They are very flexible in that you can take them wherever needed and charge them in multiple ways (some can even be plugged into electric car charging points for a rapid charge). I have also seen a collapsible 400W tracking solar panel that looks interesting. I’m sure there will be even more options to choose from before long and competition should make them even more affordable.
They may have more appeal to those who do not yet have Lithium installed, have other needs for portable power, or do not plan to keep their present vehicle for very long.

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