Power kits for home (Ecoflow?)

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heavenlywild

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#303475 13-Feb-2023 10:02

I feel we are going to face a lot more severe weather due to climate change. Anyway, I am now keen to look at purchasing a power kit for home that can power the essential items at home for a temporary time:

Fridge
TV
Microwave
Charge phones
Computers
Potentially charging the EV (although not too important)

I have seen the Ecoflow power kit solutions. They vary from $800 up to 7k.

I am looking for something that could last say, 6-12 hours to support the above appliances.

Is something like this sufficient?

https://www.torpedo7.co.nz/products/0NG1B23AAAA/title/river-portable-power-station---288wh

Or this one?

https://www.torpedo7.co.nz/products/0NG1B23ABAA/title/river-pro-portable-power-station

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#3035773 13-Feb-2023 10:10

Nope, you'd be looking at a generator for that kind of workload and a decent one at that.

Jase2985

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#3035774 13-Feb-2023 10:10

it only has 600w output so wont be powering all those or even some of those, the microwave is 800-1200w, fridge is about 150-200w when its compressor is running.

you will never find a portable power bank like that that can power an EV.

do you need your PC running, do you need your fridge running, how long do you expect to be without power for?

mentalinc

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#3035775 13-Feb-2023 10:12

Fridges and microwaves have large power draws.

You're going to need a proper and powerful generator to power them, the ones you linked are to charge laptops, tablets etc.

600W Total is listed as the total output. Microwave will be 2000w or so...

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heavenlywild

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#3035777 13-Feb-2023 10:13

Jase2985:

it only has 600w output so wont be powering all those or even some of those, the microwave is 800-1200w, fridge is about 150-200w when its compressor is running.

you will never find a portable power bank like that that can power an EV.

do you need your PC running, do you need your fridge running, how long do you expect to be without power for?

Thanks for the feedback. I am a noob so please excuse my ignorance.

We had a power cut yesterday through to this morning for about 14 hours so don't want to repeat this again in the future.

I would ideally just need to run the laptop, charge the phone and make sure the fridge is working at a minimum. Don't worry about the EV. Would the $1500 battery pack work for this purpose for say 6-12 hours?

RogerMellie

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#3035778 13-Feb-2023 10:19

this guy in NZ has reviewed an Ecoflow :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czgps8947Z8

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#3035779 13-Feb-2023 10:19

heavenlywild:

Would the $1500 battery pack work for this purpose for say 6-12 hours?

No. Without the fridge, you'd probably get in that range.

wellygary

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#3035780 13-Feb-2023 10:20

This on is great for what you need, plus its got a bit left over to charge the EV, :)

https://www.bunnings.co.nz/briggs-stratton-9500w-420cc-elite-generator_p8915295

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heavenlywild

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#3035781 13-Feb-2023 10:20

Hehe prefer a non petrol solution.

I live in the burbs so storage is an issue.

What about this?

https://www.rvsupercentre.co.nz/ecoflow-delta-1300-portable-power-station-1800w-12

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#3035789 13-Feb-2023 10:24

heavenlywild: Hehe prefer a non petrol solution.

I live in the burbs so storage is an issue.

What about this?

https://www.rvsupercentre.co.nz/ecoflow-delta-1300-portable-power-station-1800w-12

Take the kWh and divide the the total load of the appliances you wish to run (in kW). This will give you an approximate runtime in hours. The appliance power draw is the maximum, so you may get longer, but inductive loads such as motors (and fridge compressors) may peak well above what these devices can deliver.

You need a generator for the types of load and runtimes you have specified.

RunningMan

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#3035793 13-Feb-2023 10:37

Jase2985:

you will never find a portable power bank like that that can power an EV.

That's not quite correct. As long as they can sustain about 2kW then it can be done quite easily. The question becomes how much battery capacity do you want to have, and how much range will your EV get from it. An Ecoflow with say 2kW capacity might give you 10-15km range.

Lias

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#3035800 13-Feb-2023 10:44

SirHumphreyAppleby:

You need a generator for the types of load and runtimes you have specified.

Not strictly true, she could put in a very big UPS

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heavenlywild

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#3035805 13-Feb-2023 10:51

Yeah I think the fridge and essentials are more important to me than the EV.

Based on my calculations I would need to fork out 7k just to make it worthwhile, which is a huge cost. But with the storms and what not becoming worse by the year, it may be a lifesaver.

Scott3

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#3035809 13-Feb-2023 10:56

The linked items are 288Wh & 720Wh respectively.

Both have 600W continuous, 1200W max inverters.

As for your list:

Fridge - Likely will struggle to start a larger fridge, unless it it has an inverter or some means of soft start. Also battery won't last that long. Looked up a bigger residential fridge RF610ANUB5. rated to use 453kWh/year. That works out to 52Wh/h, so your small pack will last 5.5 hr, and the large one 13.8h.
TV - Should be OK - something like 100 - 200 watts should be typical, so a few hours run time only.
Microwave - No go. Typically these are 1200 - 1400W continuous. Perhaps if you have an inverter microwave that you can run on 1/3rd power? - going to drain the battery fast though...
Charge phones - Yip, easy, many charges.
Computers - Yip Should run laptops for quite a few hours.
Potentially charging the EV (although not too important) - Nope. Most EVSE's can't handle charging at less than 6Amps (1380W), which is way more than the peak output of the station. Even if you could find a setup that could charge slow enough to work, the power bank's size is trivial. The 720Wh battery pack, is going to only add just under 1% to the state of charge of the 74kWh (useable) battery pack in a kia EV6 LR. Worth perhaps 5km of range (on a car with 450km or range).

lxsw20

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#3035811 13-Feb-2023 10:58

If it's for 12h then keep enough ice in the freezer that you can put a decent size bag in the fridge and keep the fridge door shut as much as possible.

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#3035812 13-Feb-2023 11:00

heavenlywild: Based on my calculations I would need to fork out 7k just to make it worthwhile, which is a huge cost. But with the storms and what not becoming worse by the year, it may be a lifesaver.

It looks like Ecoflow claims 80% capacity after 10 years. That's not bad, but I personally wouldn't count on the device being in working order when you next need it.

Personally, I think the money would be better spent on an electric start generator, automatic transfer switch and optionally, a small UPS to keep essential systems running while the generator starts up. Not cheap, which is why I haven't done it yet, but a generator, with basic maintenance, will last decades.

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