Great review Australian Image . ive had mine for nearly 18 months . For camping and love the product awesome bit of kit . Did 1 week camping with a 160w solar panel with a MPPT controller running a 55lt Dometic fridge. Ps without the solar i get just on 4 days from battery
Thanks for the video, I'm thinking about a battery generator system for my place. The power here goes out rarely but I'd like to be covered for a few lights and the refridge. Your pup loves your videos man.
You're welcome. We went camping for five days before posting this video and the battery pack ran our 50lt fridge without any issues. We were giving it a boost with a foldable solar panel, but it still performed way better than my 100A sealed lead acid battery setup, which couldn't keep up on our last trip.
On our camping trip, the fridge didn't run because it had a lot of frozen meals inside, but when it started to draw on the battery, the battery pack was plugged into the camper 12V cig socket and had no problems charging. I've also tested the cig lighter socket using my lead acid battery box (which runs the fridge at home because the internal fridge inverter died - another reason why I don't like built-in inverters) and it charges as quickly as it does via mains. So charging directly in the car should be just the same.
As with anything power related Grant, you need to work out how many Watt Hours (Wh) your CPAP requires. If it's 12v, then the math is simple, and the pack will work that out for you on the display, and say how many minutes are remaining. If you have a 240V CPAP machine, then you need to throw a 240V inverter into the equation and allow for the 90% efficiency of the conversion. Look at your machine, somewhere it will say how many "Watts" it uses. As a ballpark figure, for example your machine consumed 50 Watts @ 240V, then I'd be calculating about 60Watts per hour including the 240v inverter drawn from the battery pack. The Companion battery specifications say that it is 512Wh, so, if you divide 512(source) by 60(drain), you get a running time of approximately 8.5 hours. Now, this is a really rough guess, as I don't know what your machine needs, nor do I know if it's 12V or whether a small inverter is required. Again, YOU will need to do some basic math to figure this out exactly. Hope it helps you with the numbers though.
I’ve already have a MPPT controller on my bifold solar panel will this still be ok to charge via the Anderson plug port although the rover unit has a built in MPPT solar controller?
I have a fold-up solar panel with a separate controller that has an Anderson plug input and output, so I can just use the supplied Anderson plug and connect it directly to the solar panel. I also have an older bi-fold solar panel and I disconnected the supplied controller and connected a better quality one with Anderson plugs. I honestly don't know if you can connect two controllers in series and it may be safer to modify the solar panel so that the controller can be disconnected if desired.
@@AustralianImage Does this mean, you don't use the "Mini-Anderson" plugs? Does that also mean that you need to power the main anderson outlet from the control panel?
@@KegRaider The mini-Anderson socket on the end of the Companion Rover Lithium 40Ah power station he's demonstrating is the only power input on the device so this is where you plug in any charging device such as mains power, 12v DC, solar panels, etc. The standard Anderson plug below that is for power output via a cable with an Anderson plug attached (the standard Anderson output is switched on via the front panel). The device comes with several cables for charging (input into the battery) with the mini-Anderson plug on one end and, for instance, a 12v DC car cigarette socket plug on the other end.
The manual for the Companion Rover Lithium 40Ah power station specifically states 'The solar panel MUST be connected directly to the power station with unregulated solar.' They don't say why, they just say it must - or rather 'MUST'. Given their emphasis, iit might be safer to assume if must be unregulated because it may cause damage or perhaps it might simply not charge as well. I have a 150W bi-fold panel that came with a PWM controller. I simply bypassed the controller and now connect an Anderson-ended extension lead to the Anderson to the Anderson to mini-Anderson short lead that came with the power station and that works a treat.
Won’t point this light at the camera cause it’s bright, proceeds to burn the old dog’s retinas out😂😂. Good review
Great review Australian Image . ive had mine for nearly 18 months . For camping and love the product awesome bit of kit . Did 1 week camping with a 160w solar panel with a MPPT controller running a 55lt Dometic fridge. Ps without the solar i get just on 4 days from battery
Do you only use it to power your fridge? Or you charge your devices and LED lights while camping?
Thanks for the video, I'm thinking about a battery generator system for my place. The power here goes out rarely but I'd like to be covered for a few lights and the refridge. Your pup loves your videos man.
You're welcome. We went camping for five days before posting this video and the battery pack ran our 50lt fridge without any issues. We were giving it a boost with a foldable solar panel, but it still performed way better than my 100A sealed lead acid battery setup, which couldn't keep up on our last trip.
Great review, thank you ..
Great video mate… how well do you find it changing from the car cig socket?
On our camping trip, the fridge didn't run because it had a lot of frozen meals inside, but when it started to draw on the battery, the battery pack was plugged into the camper 12V cig socket and had no problems charging. I've also tested the cig lighter socket using my lead acid battery box (which runs the fridge at home because the internal fridge inverter died - another reason why I don't like built-in inverters) and it charges as quickly as it does via mains. So charging directly in the car should be just the same.
Gday mate would this unit be safe to run a cpap machine an if so how long would I get out of it
Good video by the way thanks 🙏
As with anything power related Grant, you need to work out how many Watt Hours (Wh) your CPAP requires. If it's 12v, then the math is simple, and the pack will work that out for you on the display, and say how many minutes are remaining. If you have a 240V CPAP machine, then you need to throw a 240V inverter into the equation and allow for the 90% efficiency of the conversion. Look at your machine, somewhere it will say how many "Watts" it uses.
As a ballpark figure, for example your machine consumed 50 Watts @ 240V, then I'd be calculating about 60Watts per hour including the 240v inverter drawn from the battery pack. The Companion battery specifications say that it is 512Wh, so, if you divide 512(source) by 60(drain), you get a running time of approximately 8.5 hours.
Now, this is a really rough guess, as I don't know what your machine needs, nor do I know if it's 12V or whether a small inverter is required. Again, YOU will need to do some basic math to figure this out exactly. Hope it helps you with the numbers though.
I’ve already have a MPPT controller on my bifold solar panel will this still be ok to charge via the Anderson plug port although the rover unit has a built in MPPT solar controller?
I have a fold-up solar panel with a separate controller that has an Anderson plug input and output, so I can just use the supplied Anderson plug and connect it directly to the solar panel. I also have an older bi-fold solar panel and I disconnected the supplied controller and connected a better quality one with Anderson plugs. I honestly don't know if you can connect two controllers in series and it may be safer to modify the solar panel so that the controller can be disconnected if desired.
Hey Richard this is the same setup i have . will do the job no problem
@@AustralianImage Does this mean, you don't use the "Mini-Anderson" plugs? Does that also mean that you need to power the main anderson outlet from the control panel?
@@KegRaider The mini-Anderson socket on the end of the Companion Rover Lithium 40Ah power station he's demonstrating is the only power input on the device so this is where you plug in any charging device such as mains power, 12v DC, solar panels, etc. The standard Anderson plug below that is for power output via a cable with an Anderson plug attached (the standard Anderson output is switched on via the front panel). The device comes with several cables for charging (input into the battery) with the mini-Anderson plug on one end and, for instance, a 12v DC car cigarette socket plug on the other end.
The manual for the Companion Rover Lithium 40Ah power station specifically states 'The solar panel MUST be connected directly to the power station with unregulated solar.' They don't say why, they just say it must - or rather 'MUST'. Given their emphasis, iit might be safer to assume if must be unregulated because it may cause damage or perhaps it might simply not charge as well. I have a 150W bi-fold panel that came with a PWM controller. I simply bypassed the controller and now connect an Anderson-ended extension lead to the Anderson to the Anderson to mini-Anderson short lead that came with the power station and that works a treat.