Good video Jason. Learning basics of these will help people understand why it didn’t power an item as long as they wanted, and help them buy the right size unit. Merry Christmas 👍🏼🎄
I get poeple commenting all the time on my small power station videos saying "this thing doesn't last very long" or "the runtime is HORRIBLE in this"... They don't understand how to calculate this stuff.
Excellent presentation. Thank you. For me and car/van/truck camping, you have to decide what form factor will fit in the desired location (HxWxL and weight) and then get as much battery capacity that will fit there. As you have discussed, to help reduce the form factor/weight, I use the Li Time Mini to boost the capacity of the Power Station. Also as you have discussed, avoid using the AC inverter unless it is absolutely required since the power loss penalty is very significant with 120v AC devices. When you try to convert as much "stuff" (lights, frig, fans, radios, etc) as possible to 12v, you will get much longer run times *plus* you can run these things directly from a secondary battery such as the Li Time Mini (or the car/truck/van directly) and not even need a Power Station. This 12v aspect is part of the reason why many of the new Power Stations with limited 12v outputs are disappointing (yes, you Bluetti). Honestly, for car/truck/van camping, if you can convert everything to 12v, just buy 2-3 Li Time Minis in parallel, charge via an inexpensive MPPT controller (both via truck and solar - Victron 75/15 is only $50 now and has Bluetooth), and skip the Power Station entirely.
For a mobile build you have, going with a few 100ah minis is a GREAT way to keep things efficient and compact :) Thanks for sharing your experience, Mark.
Would you review the Bluetti AC70? I know you reviewed the AC180, but I think in another review of the EcoFlow River 2 Pro, you mentioned how the Bluetti EB70S was getting a little old. Maybe do a comparison between the EcoFlow and Bluetti? Thanks for your channel.
Great information for someone like me who just can't figure this stuff out!!! Thank you, Jason. I'm getting the Watt Meter for myself as a Christmas present! 😂 Merry Christmas to you and the family! Especially the kids!! 😂
Is the AC 70 on the spreadsheet that you created with the 10 categories that you graded other power banks on? I saw the EB models however I did not see this AC 70.
It's amazing how basic this information is now after being involved in this stuff for a couple years... But man this is a brilliant video considering how clueless I was when I started. Great job Jason. So simple but incredibly useful for folks getting started.
wow...this was great, I was given a watt meter a couple of days ago. now I know how to use it. love how you did get a funny play on words in. thank you
Of two Bluetti AC200P power stations only one is still functioning properly after 2.8 years. The newer one at 2.2 years apparently has a battery / cell failure OR the BM circuit has failed . . . can only get about 350 watt hours out before it goes to '0' and quits (showing 46 battery volts). Put it on charge and it quickly charges to 52 battery volts but the charge indicated is from 8 to 20 percent depending on it's mood that day. From 52 volts to 56.7 volts slows but it will still reach a 'full' charge in about an hour. Have tried recharging at less than 400 watts and at about 800 watts with no discernible difference in battery capacity. Also have tried discharging at slower rate as well as 1400 watts . . . . . again no noticeable difference . At 1400 watt discharge rate it is finished in minutes ! SO I would classify it as a 'POS' . . . . . . . . . my ex-wife's term for 'not really usable' . take care, rh
I'd guess one of the cells of the whole pack is out of balance or failed. The internal BMS sees the voltage get full and stops charging prematurely and it's the same when discharging, the BMS sees the voltage of that specific cell get to the cutoff point and it shuts down. The early models of the AC200P actually displayed the individual cell voltages so you could see what was happening.
@@Jasonoid - I think you are right. My first AC200P has the individual cell voltage page . . . . and of course that is the one that is working properly. This one went completely 'dead' and I had to open it to charge the battery above (approx) 42 volts. Charge & re-charge never got it above about 500 WH capacity. SO I guess if I can find the time among other projects (and a 'round - tuit' or two) disassembly (again) for a faulty cell or two is in the future . . . . drat ! ! ! take care, rh
I really like that AC70, seriously thinking about grabbing one tomorrow for Prime Day. But I want to know, if I charge it via solar do I need to get a panel with a charge controller or does the AC70 have one built in?
oh yeah i sure coulda used this video when i was looking at getting a powerstation way back when, and had to do 'math' to find the right one for me. thanks for the great video
Very nice! The AC70 deserves a look as it has 500 watts of solar input, which is great for a smaller power station such as this. I have a couple of suggestions though for the run times. Since you used the ICECO, you could have run it off the cigarette lighter output for the AC2A and AC70 to show the usable DC side of the power station and the AC adapter that comes with the ICECOs isn't exactly what i would call efficient:) For the laptop runtime, you could have also just used one of the 100 watt PDP's instead of the AC inverter. Just to be on the safe side, the easiest thing to do is to multiple the watt hours by 0.85 (which is probably good for most power stations in the last couple of years) to get the estimated available watt hours and maybe have a little in reserve, which is always a good thing. Merry Christmas to you and your family and thanks for another useful and practical review!
Using the 85% trick only works for consistent loads on the power station. When dealing with a load that changes it get much more complicated to calculate run-times (that's why I wanted to show everything running off an inverter in the video). Yes, DC outputs are more efficient and I really wanted to drive that concept home. Basically anytime you can use USB or DC output, you'll get much more power over time vs using the AC inverter. Thanks for watching, John and have a great Christmas!
@@Jasonoid Maybe a company will actually put a load sensing inverter in that switches the inverter to eco mode (typically about 4 watts) when cyclic loads such as a refrigerator are in between cycles, but i'm not holding my breath!
Good info! I think it's important for people to know how much power it requires to run a fridge or any other item for X amount of time and maybe, appreciate having an almost unlimited amount of power coming out of the outlet. Some believe that because there is a 120v outlet in their car, they can plug a toaster and expect it to work. My Ecoflow Delta 2 ran my fridge for about 12 hours, I wanted to see if it would run overnight and give me time to either, eat all the food or find a way to keep the fridge running for several days.
So I tested my mother's Bluetti 700 on a small fan, it uses 16 watts. I that 700 and divided it up by 16 and it said 48. Three nights ago I tested it and it ran the fan for up to eight hours.
@@orlandobabe you need to use the usable capacity in your math. It should be something closer to 600wh... So 600wh/16 watts. I'd make sure you don't have other outputs enabled during the test (like make sure the AC inverter is turned off).
Honest Question. The Solar generators seem to be a decent idea for a few days without power. I own 2 myself. BUT lets say there is an extended power down situation due to cyber, solar flare, EMP or whatever else. Perhaps 3-6 months or more. Would a person be better off, instead of havingone or two solar generators, having just some good 100w solar panels, voltage reulators and some small, car sized power invertors? Then he/she would have the ability to scavenge dozens of car batteries and charge them instead. If the grid is down people won't be driving after the first week due to gasoline shortages and batteries in cars, boats, mowers, tractors, motorcycles etc would be abundant. The ability to charge car batteries around the clock and even set up arrays of car batteries would be very adaptive to the situation. In other words how many car batteries would be equal to say a Jackery 1000 solar generator with a lithium battery? I would love to see a video on that.
Well I'd much rather use a power station compared to a lead acid battery / inverter setup just because of the convenice but both would work just fine in an emergency. If your house is covered in aluminum siding or if you built a shed with aluminum siding and a metal roof you'd protect it pretty well against an EMP and it would be fine to use after. It's hard to tell since we don't have much real world data on what an EMP can do.
Hi there. I am so terrible with math. So here it is. My laptop shows 65W on the adapter. We run with 220V. I have bleutti eb55. The ads says I can charge 7x ( I know it can be less) but i can only charge max of 3x. Thanks in advance.
These devices are great, I have two, for what they do but I find their reality hard to take. If I buy a certain sized box of cereal or can of soup I'd expect to get the stated quantity of the contents. For some reason buyers of power stations are expected to be happy receiving only 88% of the stated capacity. Maybe something the "truth-in-advertising" people should look into. The need for you to show the simple arithmetic required to calculate the usability of these devices is a comment on the educational system. Sad.
I guess whoever started the whole power station trend didn't start with a realistic capacity so now all the companies do the same thing. They only include the full rated capacity before losses.
I see it like the HP rating in vehicles. To get true HP rating of what your car is putting down you take it to get it dyno’d to get the RWHP which is around 80-85% of the advertised HP of the car
Im sorry but if you cannot figure our basic math. How the heck did you afford most of these. 2000wh. 100 watt bulb. 100 goes into 2000 20x so 20 hours. Minus an average 20% or 1/5th of the total use time. For every 10 hours, subtract 2 hours. 20 hours...subtract 4 hours. WTF is so hard anout that????!
You can purchase the WATT METER in the video from this link: amzn.to/3TtzXUc
What devices do you run off your power stations the most?
Good video Jason. Learning basics of these will help people understand why it didn’t power an item as long as they wanted, and help them buy the right size unit. Merry Christmas 👍🏼🎄
I get poeple commenting all the time on my small power station videos saying "this thing doesn't last very long" or "the runtime is HORRIBLE in this"... They don't understand how to calculate this stuff.
Great informative video as always Jason Merry Christmas to you and your family
Thanks!
Thank you so much! Wow! 😍👍
Good video and great reminder of how much power the inverter consumes.
Thanks 👍
Excellent presentation. Thank you. For me and car/van/truck camping, you have to decide what form factor will fit in the desired location (HxWxL and weight) and then get as much battery capacity that will fit there. As you have discussed, to help reduce the form factor/weight, I use the Li Time Mini to boost the capacity of the Power Station. Also as you have discussed, avoid using the AC inverter unless it is absolutely required since the power loss penalty is very significant with 120v AC devices. When you try to convert as much "stuff" (lights, frig, fans, radios, etc) as possible to 12v, you will get much longer run times *plus* you can run these things directly from a secondary battery such as the Li Time Mini (or the car/truck/van directly) and not even need a Power Station. This 12v aspect is part of the reason why many of the new Power Stations with limited 12v outputs are disappointing (yes, you Bluetti). Honestly, for car/truck/van camping, if you can convert everything to 12v, just buy 2-3 Li Time Minis in parallel, charge via an inexpensive MPPT controller (both via truck and solar - Victron 75/15 is only $50 now and has Bluetooth), and skip the Power Station entirely.
For a mobile build you have, going with a few 100ah minis is a GREAT way to keep things efficient and compact :) Thanks for sharing your experience, Mark.
Would you review the Bluetti AC70? I know you reviewed the AC180, but I think in another review of the EcoFlow River 2 Pro, you mentioned how the Bluetti EB70S was getting a little old. Maybe do a comparison between the EcoFlow and Bluetti? Thanks for your channel.
I think it's worth comparing the new AC70 against the new Ecoflow River 2 Pro!
Great information for someone like me who just can't figure this stuff out!!! Thank you, Jason. I'm getting the Watt Meter for myself as a Christmas present! 😂 Merry Christmas to you and the family! Especially the kids!! 😂
You'll love that watt meter! Have a Merry Christmas :) :)
Great Video Jason! Merry Christmas to You and Your Wonderful Family!
Katy
Same to you
Hey Jasonoid,is it possible to use one 48v battery to charge 2 delta pro's at the same time❓️there's a video idea👊
Sure, here's a video I made about that:
th-cam.com/video/tK4JKmfndh8/w-d-xo.html
JUST THE RIGHT INFO THANK YOU!!!!
What is the brand of the in line wattmeter?
would like more info on the AC2A
Is the AC 70 on the spreadsheet that you created with the 10 categories that you graded other power banks on? I saw the EB models however I did not see this AC 70.
I haven't tested the AC70 yet
I am looking forward to when you do!@@Jasonoid
It's amazing how basic this information is now after being involved in this stuff for a couple years... But man this is a brilliant video considering how clueless I was when I started. Great job Jason. So simple but incredibly useful for folks getting started.
Thanks, Dean! This is an important subject for anyone just getting into the hobby.
Going on amazon and get that meter, thanks
wow...this was great, I was given a watt meter a couple of days ago. now I know how to use it. love how you did get a funny play on words in. thank you
Pull out that watt meter and start testing stuff! :)
Of two Bluetti AC200P power stations only one is still functioning properly after 2.8 years. The newer one at 2.2 years apparently has a battery / cell failure OR the BM circuit has failed . . . can only get about 350 watt hours out before it goes to '0' and quits (showing 46 battery volts). Put it on charge and it quickly charges to 52 battery volts but the charge indicated is from 8 to 20 percent depending on it's mood that day. From 52 volts to 56.7 volts slows but it will still reach a 'full' charge in about an hour.
Have tried recharging at less than 400 watts and at about 800 watts with no discernible difference in battery capacity. Also have tried discharging at slower rate as well as 1400 watts . . . . . again no noticeable difference . At 1400 watt discharge rate it is finished in minutes ! SO I would classify it as a 'POS' . . . .
. . . . . my ex-wife's term for 'not really usable' . take care, rh
I'd guess one of the cells of the whole pack is out of balance or failed. The internal BMS sees the voltage get full and stops charging prematurely and it's the same when discharging, the BMS sees the voltage of that specific cell get to the cutoff point and it shuts down. The early models of the AC200P actually displayed the individual cell voltages so you could see what was happening.
@@Jasonoid - I think you are right. My first AC200P has the individual cell voltage page . . . . and of course that is the one that is working properly.
This one went completely 'dead' and I had to open it to charge the battery above (approx) 42 volts. Charge & re-charge never got it above about 500 WH capacity. SO I guess if I can find the time among other projects (and a 'round - tuit' or two) disassembly (again) for a faulty cell or two is in the future . . . . drat ! ! ! take care, rh
How long will this run a dometic 25 cooler for a 5 day camping trip
@jasonoid
Does it/Can it work in a country that runs 220V?
Good explanation. Well done.
Thanks!
I really like that AC70, seriously thinking about grabbing one tomorrow for Prime Day. But I want to know, if I charge it via solar do I need to get a panel with a charge controller or does the AC70 have one built in?
oh yeah i sure coulda used this video when i was looking at getting a powerstation way back when, and had to do 'math' to find the right one for me.
thanks for the great video
You're welcome! I wish I had a video like this a few years ago as well! LOL
Very nice! The AC70 deserves a look as it has 500 watts of solar input, which is great for a smaller power station such as this. I have a couple of suggestions though for the run times. Since you used the ICECO, you could have run it off the cigarette lighter output for the AC2A and AC70 to show the usable DC side of the power station and the AC adapter that comes with the ICECOs isn't exactly what i would call efficient:) For the laptop runtime, you could have also just used one of the 100 watt PDP's instead of the AC inverter. Just to be on the safe side, the easiest thing to do is to multiple the watt hours by 0.85 (which is probably good for most power stations in the last couple of years) to get the estimated available watt hours and maybe have a little in reserve, which is always a good thing. Merry Christmas to you and your family and thanks for another useful and practical review!
Using the 85% trick only works for consistent loads on the power station. When dealing with a load that changes it get much more complicated to calculate run-times (that's why I wanted to show everything running off an inverter in the video). Yes, DC outputs are more efficient and I really wanted to drive that concept home. Basically anytime you can use USB or DC output, you'll get much more power over time vs using the AC inverter. Thanks for watching, John and have a great Christmas!
@@Jasonoid Maybe a company will actually put a load sensing inverter in that switches the inverter to eco mode (typically about 4 watts) when cyclic loads such as a refrigerator are in between cycles, but i'm not holding my breath!
Good info! I think it's important for people to know how much power it requires to run a fridge or any other item for X amount of time and maybe, appreciate having an almost unlimited amount of power coming out of the outlet. Some believe that because there is a 120v outlet in their car, they can plug a toaster and expect it to work.
My Ecoflow Delta 2 ran my fridge for about 12 hours, I wanted to see if it would run overnight and give me time to either, eat all the food or find a way to keep the fridge running for several days.
Hi thank you sometimes we need are hand held through the technology bits 👍🐝🌞☃️🌲
You're welcome!
So I tested my mother's Bluetti 700 on a small fan, it uses 16 watts. I that 700 and divided it up by 16 and it said 48. Three nights ago I tested it and it ran the fan for up to eight hours.
Did you calculate the AC inverter background usage also? DC output is much more efficient
@@Jasonoid DC output. Was the math right?
@@orlandobabe you need to use the usable capacity in your math. It should be something closer to 600wh... So 600wh/16 watts.
I'd make sure you don't have other outputs enabled during the test (like make sure the AC inverter is turned off).
@@Jasonoid I sent you some pictures of my fan and Blueitti. Hope you got them.
I'm 70 yrs. old & don't own a smart phone. Can I still operate a Bluetti without an app?
Yes, pressing the AC and DC buttons at the same time allows you to change a bunch of the settings (newer models only seen in the video).
Honest Question. The Solar generators seem to be a decent idea for a few days without power. I own 2 myself.
BUT lets say there is an extended power down situation due to cyber, solar flare, EMP or whatever else. Perhaps 3-6 months or more.
Would a person be better off, instead of havingone or two solar generators, having just some good 100w solar panels, voltage reulators and some small, car sized power invertors? Then he/she would have the ability to scavenge dozens of car batteries and charge them instead. If the grid is down people won't be driving after the first week due to gasoline shortages and batteries in cars, boats, mowers, tractors, motorcycles etc would be abundant. The ability to charge car batteries around the clock and even set up arrays of car batteries would be very adaptive to the situation.
In other words how many car batteries would be equal to say a Jackery 1000 solar generator with a lithium battery? I would love to see a video on that.
Well I'd much rather use a power station compared to a lead acid battery / inverter setup just because of the convenice but both would work just fine in an emergency. If your house is covered in aluminum siding or if you built a shed with aluminum siding and a metal roof you'd protect it pretty well against an EMP and it would be fine to use after. It's hard to tell since we don't have much real world data on what an EMP can do.
Hi there. I am so terrible with math. So here it is. My laptop shows 65W on the adapter. We run with 220V. I have bleutti eb55. The ads says I can charge 7x ( I know it can be less) but i can only charge max of 3x. Thanks in advance.
I heard that the AC70 has a dangerous wiring problem.
I've never been hurt by it.
These devices are great, I have two, for what they do but I find their reality hard to take. If I buy a certain sized box of cereal or can of soup I'd expect to get the stated quantity of the contents. For some reason buyers of power stations are expected to be happy receiving only 88% of the stated capacity. Maybe something the "truth-in-advertising" people should look into. The need for you to show the simple arithmetic required to calculate the usability of these devices is a comment on the educational system. Sad.
I guess whoever started the whole power station trend didn't start with a realistic capacity so now all the companies do the same thing. They only include the full rated capacity before losses.
I see it like the HP rating in vehicles. To get true HP rating of what your car is putting down you take it to get it dyno’d to get the RWHP which is around 80-85% of the advertised HP of the car
No, 88% is not that good. Before buying, check other manufacturers. There are some over 90%.
Not what the data shows, testing over 45 models, you can see all the results in my grading system:
jasonoid.com/powerstations/
88% vs 90%…I rather take Bluetti even at 88%.
Im sorry but if you cannot figure our basic math. How the heck did you afford most of these. 2000wh. 100 watt bulb. 100 goes into 2000 20x so 20 hours. Minus an average 20% or 1/5th of the total use time. For every 10 hours, subtract 2 hours. 20 hours...subtract 4 hours.
WTF is so hard anout that????!
Not everyone knows or wants to know about electricity. Each person has their own specialty.
Why Not just run everything You Plan to use and Read the Generator for Watts used - Duh
...Because devices change their loads constantly and the estimated time remaining on the screen bounces around all over the place - duh.