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Since I bought mine for about 230 bucks Canadian, it's been my main device charger and it can serve as a UPS.
I decided to buy it after we had a bunch of power outages within a short time span.
It has a 288Wh battery, with an inverter that can deliver 600 Watts of power.
It's mainly used to keep my headphones, Google Pixel and iPad charged up however it can run my PC for a solid 2-3 hours before running out of power.
What do you think about power stations?
Project Farm recently did a video on them.
Based on his testing it seems kike the Bluetti is best for computer UPS stuff, and Jackery is best for general long term outages.
I have been curious about them combined with solar panels but every product I have seen so far doesn't seem to be overly practical, with a pay back period significantly longer than the warranty period even if you get perfect solar.
For off grid power, sure totally understand that. I already use USB powerbanks for when away from mains power. But for home? I can't really see the point currently until prices drop, capacities increase or warranties extend.
Beware of flaming hazards if it contains lithium battery cells though. I think the main advice from fire fighters is to not keep it close to the only exit out of the room it's in. And away from flammable materials if possible.
I may be wrong, but the majority of them are lifepo which don't explode.
They're less flammable than the lithium polymer ones but there is still a risk of thermal runaway where hot toxic gaz can escape and start a fire in the vicinity.
Part of disaster-planning is to figure out the blast radius. If it's just your house, or a small brownout, then something like this would work. As long as you plug your router so wifi can keep running, or maybe you can tether to a cell.
If it's a neighborhood-wide outage, chances are internet is down and possibly nearby cell towers. Most of them are suposed to have battery backup.
We once had a six day outage and it turned out the cell towers ran out of power after a few hours. Phone companies brought in diesel generators just to keep emergency phone lines open (with degraded data). All the food in the fridges had to be thrown out after day 3.
It was right after that when a lot of people went and bought gas-powered generators as home backups. Many signed up for satellite data. Those who could afford it got solar panels and home-size batteries.
Pretty sure I could eat and drink everything in my fridge in less than 3 days in an emergency. Plus a lot of things would last longer than 3 days, only real concern I can think of that most people have would be meat and some dairy, even cheese would last longer.
One thing I can add, don’t let batteries completely die. If you leave them dead for a long time, the BMS which controls the battery loses power, and if that happens, many kinds of batteries and power stations become bricks that you cannot charge. You gotta take it apart and slowly charge and balance the cells to recover it.
Everyone's saying "get solar" which is cool and all,
But the focus should be: hehe blue titty
Handy at times but worse value overall compared to a regular UPS
It doesnt look/sound like you are using solar panels with it, but thats like the main reason to buy one of these. Currently you are just slowly degrading the battery while getting zero benefit out of it unless you have power outages ever day.
I do have a foldable 100W solar panel for it. Unfortunately the battery degradation is real. On one hand, having your computer on backup is nice, but that battery will remain plugged in and full 24/7 which will degrade it with time.
I'm on the fence about using it as a UPS long term for this reason.
Can't you use it down to like 50% now and again? Might be a hassle.
If I discharge it now and again while using it as a UPS, I don’t think it would make that much of a difference. It would on average be full which is still stressful on the LifePO4 cells.
Keeping my computer powered with my power station is doable, and would protect my data from corruption, but the battery drains fast powering my PC, and if the power goes out while I am away or sleeping it’ll be depleted within a few hours. It also adds friction when I wanna use it for something else because I gotta power off my computer first.
For the size of the power station I’ve got, I think it is best used for DC powered devices, or small AC devices. I mainly use it for bedside power. I plug my personal devices into it, and they all charge at maximum speed. I cycle it and charge it when it needs it. This way it can be moved and used for anything without friction, and isn’t full 24/7.
The solar panel I have eases the idea of me forgetting to charge it and the lights going out after. The sun is an option in case that ever happens.
I think you can set the power charge level in the app. I leave my ecoflow at 80%.
They have their place and I generally like the concept, however, not crazy about most implementations.
I don't like the fact that the batteries are not replaceable in most of them and the ones that do have replaceable batteries (Ryobi and Ego come to mind) are generally prohibitively expensive per kwh and usually can't be used as a UPS like some of the integrated models.
I don't insist that the batteries be hot swappable like the Ryobi model I have, but there is no reason to toss all that extra plastic and circuitry when the battery itself eventually fails.
Solar panel and battery tech are finally mature enough to keep small electronics powered off grid near indefinitely now if you take the time to understand its capacity and build properly.
If your system is too small you might run into problems cooking, charging a car, gaming, or running an ac, basically things that draw huge amounts of power, but it can run a freezer, phone and laptop, and led lights pretty well. And those things can get you 75 percent of the way to feeling civilized if weather or disaster affects your neighborhood power.
So I'm a fan of this stuff, we are nearly in sci-fi territory with it, and think smart people with a backyard and some space should consider it for storm preparedness and the like. The tech will only improve with time, there's some recent developments with new battery tech on the horizon that are hopeful.
When I'm elderly in 40 years, I hope to live in a home with plenty of solar and a huge house battery setup in the basement. If I can cover all my electric off grid including cooking, I would feel very rich and secure.
The battery degradation is overblown with lithium iron phosphate batteries, which is what is in the Bluetti Elite 30. If you aren't putting it through deep discharge (greater than 80%) or high temperatures (above 30°C) it should still work well for a long time. The higher your draw on it, pushing up to that 600W limit, the worse the impact is too.
That said, it can work very well as a UPS for a freezer like what I have mine for, and adding a solar panel extends the usefulness of it a lot. I have a 200W panel which gives around 130-170W at any given time through the day, leading to a full charge in theory in about 2 hours. My freezer pulls around 60-80W with transient spikes to 700W when starting the compressor, but the power station can boost to cover that need for a short time. Over a day I use about 550Wh per day, so about 4 hours of sun per day in theory. It should be covered by the panel I have but the capacity is a little low so I can't get through the night at this point, it has to switch over to AC after a while. Still, during the hottest hours where I need the most power I am getting solar to do it, so that's handy.
Anyway, yes, they are useful, another more powerful system is definitely in the cards for me, but they are a great first step and handy as a backup for bad weather.
I usually look at the warranty period. So far not seen any that would pay for themselves in power saved within their warranty. Even 5 year warranty on some isn't enough, it would take like a decade or more and that assumes the solar panels charge it to 100% every day and you discharge it to 0% every night.
If you are charging it using off peak energy rates you don't need the solar panels but the payback period is even longer because the electricity is only cheaper rather than free.
I want one, but I want it to make sense financially too and so far everything I see costs so much.
They have their place.
You pay a premium for how much power you get, but it comes in a convenient package.
I have one with a small solar panel for scout camp. It sits on my tent all day and I can get a charge when I happen to be by. earns the kids some green points in the daily inspection
I have one to power my CPAP when I'm at a multi day festival. Those camp grounds don't have power. So, a literal life saver!
Get a solar panel to charge it
I have an Anker Solix 2kwh unit backing up my sump pumps. I'm looking to expand it.
In the next 5 years my plan is to add solar to my home with at least 10kwh of battery storage, or more if I can afford it.
Bought a Bluetti one last year for emergencies. And recently used it to power my laptop during a scheduled power outage. It worked well. Got me through the day, and that's all I needed.
Like someone else here recommended, make sure you get a solar panel to go with it.
I’ve been thinking of getting one but my main use case is powering the fiber modem and it will be living in the garage mostly. Are there any that handle decent temperature swings? I know batteries hate that sort of thing.
What if I put it in a fridge that is also powered by it?
I got a cheap UPS for this. They’re designed more for this purpose. My fiber modem takes FOREVER to reconnect so it’s moreso for little power dips in my case.
I was thinking of that but it gets both colder and hotter than most UPSes can handle in my garage.
Probably, but they’re likely cheaper per watt hour than the style in the photo.
A few years ago I would have said they are useless but I ended up buying one for my off grid cabin in winter and I like it.
I have solar panels and batteries with a small 500w inverter in the cabin and the setup works very well in summer for my usage. However temperature averages in January here are around -10C and the batteries get too cold to charge them. Also there is generally not much sun in winter anyway.
So I bought a small generic power station to bring there and it's excellent for my needs. It lights up the place and charges my laptop and phone.
To be fair it's kind of overkill because my laptop and phone can be charged from a hefty power bank using PD.
Honestly, future landfill unless the battery cells can be serviced or replaced.
If you need one for emergencies, sure. If you need a UPS, get a UPS instead.
All devices are gonna end up in a landfill eventually. LifePO4 should last much longer though.
The battery technology is solid, LiFePO4 cells should be good for 10-15 years if they're not abused, but my experience with these things is that the electronics are cheap and will fail long before the battery does.
I've been looking for a decent one, mostly to potentially run a fan in the event of a summer outage. I've actually been surprised how hard it is to find one that will support it at a reasonable price.
And recommended resources to learn about this and what to look out for? Appropriate size per use case etc? I like the idea of getting one+solar panel for my rental apartment, but i have zero clue which one would be good or if it's just a waste of money.
Last fall I bought a 1 KWh Anker power station, and I'm loving it. It charges from 800 watts of solar and powers all kinds of random stuff around the house each day. Useful for power outages, too.
Good question. I think we should have any electricity
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I have one, I like it, it can run corded power tools fans and stuff like that. I'm trying to avoid cordless tools except for a few important ones, because their batteries are a scam. The power station also = free electricity if I charge from solar panels, though I'm not yet doing that.
Ultimately I think some like it hot and some sweat when the heat is on
