expiredowl posted Feb 01, 2022 07:57 AM
Item 1 of 6
Item 1 of 6
expiredowl posted Feb 01, 2022 07:57 AM
Costco Members: EcoFlow River Pro Portable Power Station
& More + Free Shipping$430
$579
25% offCostco Wholesale
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With the Tesla pricing, that's about $778/kWh (without taxes, installation, circuitry, etc), and the Powerwall is not portable, if that matters to some of us.
With the EcoFlow pricing, it's $791/kWh (without taxes and still need something like a power transfer switch installed) at the Costco price or $1,000/kWh (at the EcoFlow retail price of $3,600) and $750/kWh for the extension batteries (at the EcoFlow retail price of $2,699).
I consider the EcoFlow Delta Pro model as a DIY (as someone else has put it) starter version of a home battery backup system, with some other benefits, such as having clean energy for camping and other peripheral uses. To have it fully able to be a home backup system for a decent amount of time (12-24 hours), I will probably need 4 of these linked in series, which might be the max at this point in time. With ~14kWh, that should be more than enough for my essential needs, if I turn off non-essentials. (I'm using around 6-8kWh for essentials per day and about 12-14kWh for a typical day that includes non-essentials, too. This is in San Francisco, so no A/C.)
The Delta Pro can power essential things for at least a few hours in a serious pinch.
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1) Inverter strength - what you plan to power and the energy demand it has
2) Capacity - how long you want/need to power said device
3) Charging speed - how fast can it get to 100%
I have the EcoFlow River Pro with the extra battery. My usage scenario is predominately for power outages/emergencies so that I don't need to break out my dual fuel generator and the occasional camping trip. The benefits of this are that it's quiet, can be kept inside the home, and is very portable at 20 lbs. The combo can power my fridge and backup freezer for 8-10 hours before needing a recharge. When it does need a recharge I have several options: use my solar panels, charge it in my car, take it somewhere that has power and fast charge it, or break out my dual fuel generator. In an emergency, I have other things to keep the lights on that are battery powered and can cook with a gas stove or portable butane/propane stoves. For prolonged outages where I need my generator, then I can power it up as needed, typically 2-3 hours at a time to get the battery charged to full and shut it down, conserving fuel. With a 20lb propane tank, I can get approximately 30 hours of run time, which could give me about 3-5 days with some energy to spare. Beyond that, I can tap into my vehicle's gasoline and go longer.
These types of devices are particularly useful for devices that cycle on and off like fridges/freezers and are considerably more efficient than a gas generator that needs to be constantly running. These are terrible for resistive heating such as heaters, blow dryers, etc. If you live somewhere really cold and need heat, then consider a 12V blanket or just buy something like a Mr. Buddy with propane tanks.
This is also a good option for people that live in an apartment/condo that need to keep their fridges running. It would be impossible to use a gas generator or a powerwall. Even better if they have a sun facing porch so they can throw on some solar panels to get a little more juice. Even if they don't, due to the fast charging, you could go out to your local Starbucks or McDonalds, grab a coffee/lunch and charge it up in an 1-2 hours and likely keep your fridge running for 8-12 hours.
If you're in a blackout prone area and have a lot of valuable food/medications in your fridge, something like this is a good consideration.
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The Issue is: a lot of the time you're in a situation that pretty much takes solar out. Power failures usually happen when? During some type of storm. Those same storm conditions make the solar part of the system impotent.
Due to the recent forecast of ice storms, I decided to pull out my second solar panel and connect it up to the system which normally just has 1. Lucky I haven't lost power because the ice storm has made these panels basically useless. It's been so overcast for days that I have been pulling around 10 watts on both (100 watts each). It's amazing what not being able to see the sun will do.
That's something to think about. You're not going far on just the battery by itself. it's going to take some serious solar array to keep this thing juiced through a real emergency (Not even close in price to what mine cost). You better hope that array Actually Works when it's needed.
I would buy it to power the router and cable modem and small USB fans.
I would buy it for charging smartphones and tablets.
1) Inverter strength - what you plan to power and the energy demand it has
2) Capacity - how long you want/need to power said device
3) Charging speed - how fast can it get to 100%
I have the EcoFlow River Pro with the extra battery. My usage scenario is predominately for power outages/emergencies so that I don't need to break out my dual fuel generator and the occasional camping trip. The benefits of this are that it's quiet, can be kept inside the home, and is very portable at 20 lbs. The combo can power my fridge and backup freezer for 8-10 hours before needing a recharge. When it does need a recharge I have several options: use my solar panels, charge it in my car, take it somewhere that has power and fast charge it, or break out my dual fuel generator. In an emergency, I have other things to keep the lights on that are battery powered and can cook with a gas stove or portable butane/propane stoves. For prolonged outages where I need my generator, then I can power it up as needed, typically 2-3 hours at a time to get the battery charged to full and shut it down, conserving fuel. With a 20lb propane tank, I can get approximately 30 hours of run time, which could give me about 3-5 days with some energy to spare. Beyond that, I can tap into my vehicle's gasoline and go longer.
These types of devices are particularly useful for devices that cycle on and off like fridges/freezers and are considerably more efficient than a gas generator that needs to be constantly running. These are terrible for resistive heating such as heaters, blow dryers, etc. If you live somewhere really cold and need heat, then consider a 12V blanket or just buy something like a Mr. Buddy with propane tanks.
This is also a good option for people that live in an apartment/condo that need to keep their fridges running. It would be impossible to use a gas generator or a powerwall. Even better if they have a sun facing porch so they can throw on some solar panels to get a little more juice. Even if they don't, due to the fast charging, you could go out to your local Starbucks or McDonalds, grab a coffee/lunch and charge it up in an 1-2 hours and likely keep your fridge running for 8-12 hours.
If you're in a blackout prone area and have a lot of valuable food/medications in your fridge, something like this is a good consideration.
I bought a dual fuel inverter generator a couple years ago and ran it for several days on propane last summer during a blackout. Then I got the River Pro with extra battery a few months ago mainly for indoor/winter use during blackout. I also have 10 or so UPS around the house to maintain my network drives, routers, hubs, and some home automation devices.
Does your totally portable power supply charge from solar and 12V car port?
The River Pro $430 for 720Wh.
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