forum thread Posted by jdfetterman • May 30, 2024
May 30, 2024 12:11 AM
Item 1 of 2
Item 1 of 2
forum thread Posted by jdfetterman • May 30, 2024
May 30, 2024 12:11 AM
FREMO Portable Power Station X700, 662Wh LiFePo4 Battery Generator $200
$200
$800
75% offAmazon
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1.0 out of 5 stars No Customer Service
Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2023
Our power pack loses its charge running 3 led light bulbs in one night (a couple hours). It's crazy heavy and the solar panel we also got from Fremo doesn't seem to charge. The jackery we have is much more reliable.
I have emailed fremo 3 times asking for assistance, and have heard nothing. Don't waste your money.
"
Business Name: Panasystem Corporation
6 total reviews.
1x 1 star
5x 5 star
... But one of the 5 stars is
"Solid and wonderful!
Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2023
I've had mine for about eight months. I use it every week. It's never let me down simple to use reliable, and I am pleased to have this. Update!! And the time I've owned it I've never let it go below 20% because that's what they recommend out there in the professional world with these type of units but two days ago running 100 W. It brought it down to zero and then I charged it all night and this morning it was still at one percent so it's been plugged in again for about two hours and it's locked into one percent so somethings wrong with it and I'm kind of pissed. !!"
So maybe starts strong but doesn't last?
Even name-brand power stations won't always hit their advertised Wh spec, mostly due to an average DC>AC conversion efficiency of 80-90%, but you seem to stand less chance of getting something advertised at 2-3x their actual capacity with a name brand unit.
I've also seen a few that get paired up with a shitty BMS that allows the cells to over-discharge or become unbalanced, then locks them out of being charged again in an attempt to protect the battery. This sounds similar to the review mentioned above where they let it hit 0% and now it's stuck on 1% while charging. Sometimes there's some sort of wizard mode menu you can get into that will correct this, but other times you just end up with a bricked unit. In theory, if you tore it down and corrected the problem, it would probably work again, but you're really playing with fire getting into high-power batteries like this, especially with DC>AC inverter circuits in there paired with questionable build quality.
It's kind of a roll-of-the-dice dealing with brands like this, because you could end up with something decent at a good price, or you could end up with garbage. Your best bet is probably to pay more for a name-brand device with an actually redeemable warranty in case something goes wrong. There's been deals recently on refurb Ecoflow devices on eBay that come with a 2-yr Allstate warranty.
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Even name-brand power stations won't always hit their advertised Wh spec, mostly due to an average DC>AC conversion efficiency of 80-90%, but you seem to stand less chance of getting something advertised at 2-3x their actual capacity with a name brand unit.
I've also seen a few that get paired up with a shitty BMS that allows the cells to over-discharge or become unbalanced, then locks them out of being charged again in an attempt to protect the battery. This sounds similar to the review mentioned above where they let it hit 0% and now it's stuck on 1% while charging. Sometimes there's some sort of wizard mode menu you can get into that will correct this, but other times you just end up with a bricked unit. In theory, if you tore it down and corrected the problem, it would probably work again, but you're really playing with fire getting into high-power batteries like this, especially with DC>AC inverter circuits in there paired with questionable build quality.
It's kind of a roll-of-the-dice dealing with brands like this, because you could end up with something decent at a good price, or you could end up with garbage. Your best bet is probably to pay more for a name-brand device with an actually redeemable warranty in case something goes wrong. There's been deals recently on refurb Ecoflow devices on eBay that come with a 2-yr Allstate warranty.
If I go out to Amazon, search on EcoFlow, and check the reviews for the very first product in the search results (https://www.amazon.com/EF-ECOFLOW...9XB57
I really want to get one of these devices for a variety of reasons, but when it's $500+ for one with decent specs from a bunch of companies I've never heard of and people keep having negative things to say about them all in the reviews and SD comments, I keep hesitating.
I still haven't found the correct connector to charge the unit via solar panels but my unit has been fine - seems like it's YMMV with others.
i have a bluetti and its been fine.
however, it is weird you're buying a glorified battery, a very simple idiot proof device in theory, yet end up at the mercy of all the complex software running the thing, kind of like todays tv's.
the other thing is power stations are quite expensive for the amount of power you get, and that doesnt seem to be changing fast. you are usually supposed to take 15% off the top for overhead. so, this thing would probably run my ~60 watt box fan and nothing else for only ~9hrs. once you start doing calculations for something like running a basic window ac unit even for a couple hours, you quickly get into 1000's of dollars! that said i have the 267wh iirc bluetti, which i picked up for ~115 refurbished. and i can see it being super handy if you were a big camper. or even giving some more options in a power outage, but as i said the cost/benefit ratio is pretty dicy on that. i've also found mine slightly handy for a portable power outlet in the attic. but really i dont use it much because we have very few power outages. in fact i dont think i've had one since i've owned it. and even then, a charged laptop and phone for hotspot wifi, a battery operated flashlight etc, are likely far more useful.
i guess i'm just a bit disappointed the power you get for the price on these devices in general and theyre not coming down fast. that said, even though it's usefulness might be debatable, i still love having one.
The Fremo Hyper 100 solar panel is less satisfying, as I haven't been able to get more than about 65 watts out of it. Hopefully the highly-lauded Dokio 160W panel I just got will do better, because I'll be doing some camping with a group that includes teenagers and want to be able to fully recharge daily.
If price were no consideration, I'd absolutely go with something from Ecoflow, some model in the Delta 2 line for portability, but they're not cheap.
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