I just bought an ecoflow river max solar generator and im not sure it was a good buy
1. the term solar genertor is a bit of a marketing trick. these are battery power banks and not generstors. the ability to recharge from a solar panel in the UK seems very hit and miss from what I have tried so far
2. the price. they are very expensive
for me when camping I had a smaller power bank I used to power some usb lights and I charged my phone from the car but my son loves his gadgets. I was hoping he would enjoy camping and he does but in the evening time no video games and no internet is forign to him so I bought one to charge his ipad and laptop so I guess the next trip will see if it was worth while.
I go to alot of sites that dont have EHU. charging his stuff in the car took too long and I was always worrying about flattening the car battery.
the portable nature of them is a big plus but i am still to be convined it was worth the investment.
now I have one what other options will it give me that I did not have befoe?
You have to be careful with some of the "solar generators". Not really designed for the UK where we have wet weather. Take the Jackory for instance - their solar panel isn't waterproof and they state it should not be left in the rain. Sometimes in the UK we get unexpected showers and if you are not on site at the time......
Their advantage is they have the invertor, charger and battery in one handy trendy-looking box. Making your own setup is much cheaper but a bit more inconvenient. They have their uses and some people love them. Like everything they have their advantages and disadvantages - enjoy using it and don't beat yourself up that you might have made a mistake.
Any solar panel worth having is rated in Watts, all the battery banks with built in solar panels the size of a pocket diary are rated in mA and not worth having.
A solar panel claiming 20W is currently the base model although 40W ones are now available:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175303872441?hash=item28d0eccfb9:g:7NAAAOSwjw9hUD6B
Add a decent battery bank to your solar panel and you can charge the battery bank during the day and your valuable personal electronics in the tent at night.
A good battery bank will carry 4 18650 lithium ion batteries, unfortunately there are many fake and 2nd hand lithium ion batteries for sale so be careful where you buy them. The fakers can rebrand anything.
As well as your phone, tablet and Kindle you should be able to recharge lithium ion and AA and AAA batteries with the right adapters. You'll also need a variety of USB leads some of which you'll already have.
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I guess I was having second thoughts due to the cost and the fact it is a single unit with no further method for expanding the capacity. The next model up has this feature.
I have previously built my own power pack from used 18650 cells. whist it lasted it was good i did not want to go through the effort of building another and once it whent bad I ended up trying to charge things in my car. This was bad for a number of resons. 1 things took forever to charge. 2 you could not use the device when it was charging unless you sat in the car. 3 there was always the worry of draining the car battery. the solar generator does solve all thoughs problems in a conveniant package
The River Max is rated at 576 Wh which by my maths is 41Ah so about half a decent leisure battery.
The only thing solar about it is a socket for connecting a solar panel
Don't quite understand how they get away with calling them a 'Solar Generator' under trades description act, 'cos it's neither, that's a GROSS misrepresentation! It's a power bank, no more, no less, having the scope for an external solar panel hookup does not make it a 'generator', solar or otherwise, a basic lead battery has the same scope to be charged by a external solar panel!
They certainly have their uses, but then again think they rather over hype the stored power capabilities on many, with misleading terminology like Wh instead of Ah, and the cardinal sin of thousands of mWhours!!!!
Long before LiPo batteries came along, we knocked up a DIY integrated pack with a Olde Worlde Lead Leisure battery, Inverter for 240v, and 12v and USB outputs. Had a small external Solar Panel that added a bit of a boost for free, but mainly recharged when the petrol generator was on. Bit of a beast, but served us well in camp for a few years. Cost peanuts as a DIY project.
We've got the same one and for use it allows flexibility when in the van. If we feel we need it we pack it if not it stay's home. We've only had are van for just over a year. So are still working a few things out. To get the best from solar panels the eclectics and battery storage would need a bit of a rethink.
A fair bit of work moving a few things around and upgrade of charging unit. So with this we get the best of both until we really know just what we really need to meet our needs now and in the future. We have tried a simple portable solar panel to change the leisure battery. But it was not the right set up for us and had on controller stop working 2rd time i'd used it. Then had right job getting the company to admit it was faulty.
We got ours using a discount code so worked out good value. If it works out to be not the long term solution then we are still left with a portable power supply which at home will have plenty of users. Also if we upgrade our van at some point we are not worrying about getting we cost of out lay from adding panels and the rest to the van.
They maybe not for everyone but for some it suits them best.
Simple advice is you've got one now so enjoy it and just use it. Plenty of port's to go at so i'm sure it will be more than up to the job of keeping your lad happy. Which in end is all what matters.
On paper, these things always come across as expensive but it's over 500w/hr which is about 40a/h. A 40a/h leisure Lithium-ion battery is around £350 and is simply just a battery with no inverter unlike this. A 110watt solar panel isn't too badly matched to that though it appears an additional 110watt panel from them is over £300 which is a high price to pay for a 100watt solar panel.
In my experience, many people that have a solar panel on the roof of their campers (more often just a 100watt panel) have a 100ah lead acid battery (from Halfords say). That gives them 50ah of usable power and a few hundred cycles before they replace their inexpensive battery. Your battery provides about 33ah if you can discharge to 80% which is only around 34% less which isn't too bad really. If you run to 100% DOD then you're almost in the same place as those people.
If you had a van then you can build a bigger system sure but I know some people that wouldn't want to do that and are happy just being able to capture a bit of sun and charge it up from the mains then use it in the evenings to charge a laptop or a couple of iPads and their phones. Then there are people that don't have a van so this is kind of a cool solution for them. Maybe even taking it to a pub then asking if you can plug it in somewhere. It's only a 500watt charger so somewhere around 20p to charge it from flat to full in the time it takes to have a few beers. Looks like you can charge it from a 12volt cig lighter as well though this will take hours and hours, it's something you can do whilst driving somewhere
I can see the value in it though my concern would be if you were camping in a tent and wanted to head off for the day in the car or walk to the beach say, what would you do with it then? You can't leave it in a field charging ready for when you get back. That to me is obviously a restriction though I suppose you could put the panel on the roof of the car, the base unit in the foot well and leave the window open a little for the cable?! The other benefit that springs to mind is that solar panels on the roof of a van rarely get direct sunlight as in pointing directly at the sun so they are more often than not always off axis from the sun which is why so many people exclaim to be disappointed by the current they are producing. Portable panels allow you to point them in the general direction of the sun if you don't mind risking knocking over your glass of wine when you get up to reposition it a few times in the day!
These are niche' products and though expensive, £550 is a couple of hundred more than similarly spec'd lithium-ion battery but some with the inverter and 5vdc outlets and all the safety features from a unit built around those cells so I can see a real value in them. I'm not sure why they claim a 500 cycle for the batteries as Lithium-ion is usually in the 1000's which I think is a concern but I actually quite like them and although the price seems high, it's not that terrible really. Maybe get the extra solar panel and it'll come in to its own.
I went to their website for the specs and at no point read them claiming it was a Solar Generator by the way.
at soggysteve At last a balanced view point seeing both sides.
In the end if you feel they meet your needs and you afford one then get one. If you don’t then don’t buy one. For many having a flexible and portable power solution that easy to use and set up is how they want to be.
A USB solar panel system runs on about 5V and powers phones, tablets, Kindles, torch/cycle lamp batteries etc.
A car battery/leisure battery solar panel system runs on 12v and will run tv/laptop, tent lighting system and all the stuff above.
The holy grail of solar power systems would allow you to run a camping fridge plus everything above. It has always been almost but not quite possible. To achieve it your campsite would be covered in solar panels and wind turbines leaving no space for the tent.
One day ........
Quote: Originally posted by Bramston on 18/6/2022
A USB solar panel system runs on about 5V and powers phones, tablets, Kindles, torch/cycle lamp batteries etc.
A car battery/leisure battery solar panel system runs on 12v and will run tv/laptop, tent lighting system and all the stuff above.
The holy grail of solar power systems would allow you to run a camping fridge plus everything above. It has always been almost but not quite possible. To achieve it your campsite would be covered in solar panels and wind turbines leaving no space for the tent.
One day ........
Up until recently, we’ve run off grid whilst camping for about six years with a 100watt panel running a 240ah AGM set battery bank . It’s not the system I would recommend now at all as it was well out of balance and was installed by me when finances were tight (when we had just paid thousands for the van).
We’re now 360watts (though the third panel Isn’t currently installed). There is a 30a DC —> DC smart charger and a 30a Victron mains battery charger rigged to the hook up.
We have a 65ltr fridge (with a little freezer) which draws around 1ah. The lights are all 12vdc and we have 5Vdc chargers for phones etc and a 1000 watt sine wave inverter (soon to be replaced with a Victron 500 for its efficiency and standby current draw) and we never get below about 70% DOD unless there is literally no sun or haven’t run the engine for a few days. We even have a diesel heater which does draw around 8amps at start up but settles down to around 1.2amps.
People buy and try to run fridges that are grossly inefficient and in this application destroys leisure battery capacity which i suspect is the main draw other than people’s obsession with having 240vac in their vehicles.
A sensibly considered system definitely runs all well chosen appliances if you set the system up correctly in the first place.
My plan in the next year is a 200-280ah lithium battery refilled by a combination of the 360watt Pv, the 30amp hookup of available and the DC —-> DC charger. Overkill for our application but it will give us room to expand without constantly worrying about wet acid battery shortcomings and capacity issues and their short life span (and that the 50% DOD that people work within is not realistic at all).
Anyone that finds their batteries are struggling a day after they turn the fridge on simply haven’t thought things through.
I picked up a Bluetti 500Wh AC50 and with a 120W solar panel, was able to run a fridge, phone charging for two and a laptop “working from home” in a tent for 3 days. I’m really happy with the setup, lots more freedom without needing EHU.
Outside of camping, the fridge can be kept running in the car on this battery pack, which is good for day trips where picnics and drinks are kept cool whilst we wander around whatever it is we’re visiting. At home, it’s been put into use in the garden when it’s nice to work outside or power speakers and the fridge again for a bbq.
I’d probably need a bigger panel, battery and/or more reliable sun to guarantee self sufficiency for a week or more without finding somewhere to plug it for a mains recharge. But at least it’s small enough that I’m sure I could find somewhere to give it a boost.
Quote: Outside of camping, the fridge can be kept running in the car on this battery pack, which is good for day trips where picnics and drinks are kept cool whilst we wander around whatever it is we’re visiting. At home, it’s been put into use in the garden when it’s nice to work outside or power speakers and the fridge again for a bbq.
Now you mention it like that, I can see a load of new uses for something like this. Cool box for a remote picnic is a good one. Even using it down on the beach with a cool box with the family lunch in it seems worth considering it alone. Or a few friends out in the park with some Prosecco, beer and a frisbee. Hmm..
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Topic: solar generators do you use one?
via mobile 18/6/2022 at 10:57am
