Portable Power Stations

[blea]

Does anyone use a portable power station to charge their ebikes while on road trips, camping etc? If so, I would love to hear about recommendations.

 

[RsGaz]

Check the thread in the travel section

 

[urastus]

Bluetti eb200p is looking good. I've been keeping an eye on things for a while. It's a newer model, so not many reviews yet. Very similar to the ac200p max.

BLUETTI EB200P Portable Power Station | 2,200W 2,048Wh

BLUETTI EB200P portable power station is a power monster, with a capacity of 2048Wh and an output power of 2200W.

www.bluettipower.com.au

 

[steve_sordy]

@Rob Rides EMTB has reviewed one very favourably. I can't recall whether it is one that he owns or not.

 

[Richywalker64]

I bought a Jackery 1000 from ebay, I think the rrp is around £1000 but I paid £550 and I've been pleased with it
I have 2 x 504wh batteries and can almost get 2 charges/top ups as long as they are not totally empty
I would have preferred a larger capacity power station but they were quite expensive at the time

 

[urastus]

the big advantage of bluetti over others is the battery technology used. I don't know that there is anything else that comes close to them;

• LiFePO4 Battery with 3,500+ Life Cycles to 80%

The nerds who use these types of batteries in banks for their homes suggest going from dead flat to full charge because it's the calendar that will kill them before anything else. They still don't recommend keeping them at full charge, or charging at around zero degrees celcius.

 

[hogicid]

the big advantage of bluetti over others is the battery technology used. I don't know that there is anything else that comes close to them;

• LiFePO4 Battery with 3,500+ Life Cycles to 80%

The nerds who use these types of batteries in banks for their homes suggest going from dead flat to full charge because it's the calendar that will kill them before anything else. They still don't recommend keeping them at full charge, or charging at around zero degrees celcius.
I’ve got 20x 21700 10amp batteries

buck Converter

10s Bms from Amazon

usb board

300w inverter and portable power station

Hello,

I’ve given it a go creating the portable power station.

I’ve got 20x 21700 10amp batteries

buck Converter

10s Bms from Amazon

usb board

300w inverter



could anyway give me a hand with a circuit diagram as whatever I’m doing is not working

Many thanks.

 

[Tubby G]

Evening guys

Revisiting this thread as I’m considering in investing in a Portable Power Station for weekends away next year.

I’d need around 2000Wh to comfortably charge two 360Wh batteries and two 256 Wh range extenders with enough left to give the range extenders another charge.

Is the Bluetti still the cream of the crop or is there far more choice available now at more competitive prices ? Thanks

 

[Nickolp1974]

rather than a portable power station can you not just get a 150ah lithium battery(£400) which will give you 1440w of useable power at 80% DOD and a 500w inverter (£100 ish)which should be just enough to charge 2x 700wh batteries given the efficiency of the inverter and that the bike batteries wont be totally flat. £500 all in ain't bad

 

[dobbyhasfriends]

Evening guys

Revisiting this thread as I’m considering in investing in a Portable Power Station for weekends away next year.

I’d need around 2000Wh to comfortably charge two 360Wh batteries and two 256 Wh range extenders with enough left to give the range extenders another charge.

Is the Bluetti still the cream of the crop or is there far more choice available now at more competitive prices ? Thanks

the kings of the hill are bluetti and ecoflow.
both have expandable batteries so you dont need another inverter type unit, just an additional battery module that usually comes with the appropriate connector lead.
both systems have different features like peak max load or charging time etc
just compare them to what suits your usage best

the alternative is a camper style battery with inverter separately or... a quiet honda petrol generator for about half the price

 

[Tubby G]

Thanks guys. I’m a little out of my comfort zone here as I’m mechanically biased rather than electrical so this is all sounding like a foreign language to me right now, but I’m a fast learner with Google at my aid

I was just looking at the Ecoflow website, the Delta 2 at £799, but I can’t quite see what it’s capacity in kWh is

Edit - so the Delta 2 is 1 kWh, the Delta Max at 2 kWh is £1399

 

[dobbyhasfriends]

Thanks guys. I’m a little out of my comfort zone here as I’m mechanically biased rather than electrical so this is all sounding like a foreign language to me right now, but I’m a fast learner with Google at my aid

I was just looking at the Ecoflow website, the Delta 2 at £799, but I can’t quite see what it’s capacity in kWh is

Edit - so the Delta 2 is 1 kWh, the Delta Max at 2 kWh is £1399

yea so if you dont consider any losses, on paper a 2000wh battery will charge your 500wh battery 4 times.
however there are losses, usually around 10-15% for inverter and battery charging is inefficient so count on losing 25% total and you wont be disappointed.
both the units charge via solar or plug in to a wall - or generator.

if you wanna faff around with fuel, a honda generator is nearly silent, they are eerily silent for a mechanical device like that.. but have the downside that you couldnt just leave the bikes charging in the back of a van or anything.. it all depends on how and where you plan to charge, if you know that I might be able to help more.
as @Nickolp1974 said above, you can buy something like this: Roamer 460SMART3 - 12V 460Ah LiFePO4 Lithium Leisure Battery + Free Consultation and add an inverter (must be true sine wave) to it and you will get more bang for your buck.. that battery above is 12v and 460ah giving you potentially 5.52kWh. it wont have the whistles and bells that the powerbanks have but that only matters if you would use them, stuff like solar PV charging, fast charge features, wireless phone charging etc..

 

[Tubby G]

Well a van isn’t an option for me unfortunately, I drive a company car and will be for the foreseeable future. So, I’m looking for a unit that will sit neatly in the boot when travelling, then can camp for weekends and charge the bikes either from the boot of the car or tent etc. It needs to be portable without breaking my back.

We go travelling all over the UK at weekends from March to October, and since having emtb’s tend to stay in Air B&B’s, which on average are around £100 a night, so £200 for the weekend. I have a tonne of camping gear which I haven’t touched since having emtb’s, so the idea is to get back inside the tents and use the power station to charge the bikes. I reckon the savings on the Air B&B’s will pay for the power station in the first year.

Batteries to charge: 2 x 2 x 360Wh & 2 x 256Wh range extenders, or 1 x 360 + 256Wh and a Bosch 750Wh

So, max required for bikes is 1366Wh. Add in phone charging, GoPro and a few other gadgets over the weekend and we should be covered by a 2kWh unit even with 25% losses.

If we stay at a campsite we may be able to charge the unit in the campsite reception whilst out riding but that would require some sweet talking / charming from me

 

[Tubby G]

The Bluetti AC200P is currently £1299 and uses the LiFePO4 batteries whereas the EcoFlow uses NCM batteries

 

[Tubby G]

So, this battery should provide 1920Wh - £688.50

Roamer 160SMART3 - 12V 160Ah LiFePO4 Lithium Leisure Battery

The Roamer 160SMART3 is a compact drop in 12V 160Ah LiFePO4 battery for install in a campervan, motorhome, boat, tiny house or even wild camping. Includes 200A continuous discharge, active balancing, Roamer BMS bluetooth app and handles for additional portability. Free delivery, Roamercare, 10...

roamer.com

Inverter £200

2000W 12V Pure Sine Wave Inverter With English Standard Socket (with UPS Function)

The 2000W inverter is capable of producing cleaner and smoother electricity to operate tools, fans, lights, and other electronics without interference.

uk.renogy.com

Total £888.50 for a DIY version, but not as portable or quite as neat as a power station

 

[Nickolp1974]

So, this battery should provide 1920Wh - £688.50

Roamer 160SMART3 - 12V 160Ah LiFePO4 Lithium Leisure Battery

The Roamer 160SMART3 is a compact drop in 12V 160Ah LiFePO4 battery for install in a campervan, motorhome, boat, tiny house or even wild camping. Includes 200A continuous discharge, active balancing, Roamer BMS bluetooth app and handles for additional portability. Free delivery, Roamercare, 10...

roamer.com

Inverter £200

2000W 12V Pure Sine Wave Inverter With English Standard Socket (with UPS Function)

The 2000W inverter is capable of producing cleaner and smoother electricity to operate tools, fans, lights, and other electronics without interference.

uk.renogy.com

Total £888.50 for a DIY version, but not as portable or quite as neat as a power station

at 80% depth of discharge you will get 1536W from a 160ah battery, i would not go lower than this figure as it will shorten its lifespan.
AS for the inverter, 2000w is not required for ebike chargers, check the label on the charger or plug into a watt meter to see draw, amps x volts, so if its a 5amp charger for a 36v battery that would be 180w required, if you will be running 2x chargers a good 500w inverter will suffice, anything over 500w should ideally be hard wired to the battery, 500w and below its safe enough just to use the crocodile clip things.

these are great batteries and this would provide you with 2200w of useable power!! oh dont forget you need to factor in a battery charger!!

Lithium Leisure Battery - Fogstar Drift 12v 230AhDefault Title

230ah 12v Fogstar Drift Lithium Leisure Battery | Grade A LiFePO4 cells, JBD BMS, Bluetooth, Heating | Lowest Prices in the UK. 10 Year Warranty.

www.fogstar.co.uk

Inverter, you can plug an extension lead in for more sockets 500W Pure Sine Wave Mains Inverter - UK Socket - 12V/230V 50HZ

For a charger, dependant on how quick you want the battery recharged, higher the amps quicker it is, this one needs some terminals on the end but you can leave them on with the inverter attached or it only takes a minute to remove.

500W Pure Sine Wave Mains Inverter - UK Socket - 12V/230V 50HZ

We introduced this budget range of inverters for the people that simply want mains power in their vans. We removed anything that wasn't essential to achieve this, such as a remote, LCD screen, Bluetooth connectivity etc. and just provided what was important, a pure sine wave inverter with UK...

www.wiredcampers.co.uk

 

[Nickolp1974]

@Tubby G so with the above, complete chargeable system with 2200W(useable) £850, battery is bluetooth so you can monitor the battery via your phone which is useful.

edit. and you have to factor efficiency of the inverter, so if its 85% efficient for every 100watts of power you use you will be taking 115w from the battery

 

[dobbyhasfriends]

The Bluetti AC200P is currently £1299 and uses the LiFePO4 batteries whereas the EcoFlow uses NCM batteries

thats a killer deal !
you can always buy an expander battery and its packaged nicely.
personally I would rather go for that over the separate units of battery and inverter.

so yea, the NCM battery stuff has its advantages but lifepo4 has a longer lifespan and isnt known for spontaneous combustion etc.

 

[Tubby G]

@Tubby G so with the above, complete chargeable system with 2200W(useable) £850, battery is bluetooth so you can monitor the battery via your phone which is useful.

edit. and you have to factor efficiency of the inverter, so if its 85% efficient for every 100watts of power you use you will be taking 115w from the battery

Thanks for your help, it’s all beginning to make sense now, even at 6.45am!

So that battery weighs in at 25kg, add in the inverter & charger, and a plywood box to house it all in, it’s going to be quite a weighty beast, and not as portable as a purpose made off the shelf power station.

Perfect if I had a van and a no brainer to save money over the Bluetti, but not as convenient when using it from my car / tent etc

 

[Tubby G]

thats a killer deal !
you can always buy an expander battery and its packaged nicely.
personally I would rather go for that over the separate units of battery and inverter.

so yea, the NCM battery stuff has its advantages but lifepo4 has a longer lifespan and isnt known for spontaneous combustion etc.

Yes I’m leaning towards the Bluetti for its all in one convenience & portability . It still weighs in at around 26kg though, so a hefty bit of kit to be lugging around

 

[TheSnowShark]

Hi all friends,

I made my portable energy station myself based on 4 high quality LFP4 cells (> 3000Wh), the cost price is around €1500 not including my work.

Maybe this will give other people some ideas.

Technical description
Prismatic LFP4 cells 240A CALB A+ > 3072Wh under 12.8V
BMS Jikong BT 4S 200A
BusBars 300A in-house manufacturing (3mm copper + each 3 x M8 + 4x M4, brass screws)
400A Hall Effect LV Coulombmeter (WLS-MVA400)
Edecoa pure sine converter 2500/5000W
Output 2x 230V 16A schuko
USB 3.0 + Type C
outputs 12V cigarette lighter
output 15A XT90 8awg
50A charging port (50A 12V output possible)
Antarion BT 30A MPPT solar regulator
XT60 12awg solar charging port (mppt > 8awg battery)
200W folding solar panel (ALLPOWERS 4 panel version)
Ventilation: 4x 80mm Noctua NF-R8 + 1 triple 40mm on converter
Ventilation is automated with 4 temperature sensors
Internal temperature is controlled with 3 sensors
General circuit breaker 200A (max 300A)
Alucase Berwall SW 043 suitcase
External protective cover
External charger 230V LFP4 50A
Total weight: 27 kg

Cheers, Pascal

 

[Tubby G]

Yes I’m leaning towards the Bluetti for its all in one convenience & portability . It still weighs in at around 26kg though, so a hefty bit of kit to be lugging around

I’ve just seen that the AC200P was reduced further to £1099 during their Black Friday event, so I’ve emailed them to see if they’ll honour that price. No doubt they’ll be having a Christmas / Boxing / New Year sale soon anyway so can’t see why they won’t take my money at that price

 

[Tubby G]

Hi all friends,

I made my portable energy station myself based on 4 high quality LFP4 cells (> 3000Wh), the cost price is around €1500 not including my work.

Maybe this will give other people some ideas.

View attachment 130046

View attachment 130045

View attachment 130044

Technical description
Prismatic LFP4 cells 240A CALB A+ > 3072Wh under 12.8V
BMS Jikong BT 4S 200A
BusBars 300A in-house manufacturing (3mm copper + each 3 x M8 + 4x M4, brass screws)
400A Hall Effect LV Coulombmeter (WLS-MVA400)
Edecoa pure sine converter 2500/5000W
Output 2x 230V 16A schuko
USB 3.0 + Type C
outputs 12V cigarette lighter
output 15A XT90 8awg
50A charging port (50A 12V output possible)
Antarion BT 30A MPPT solar regulator
XT60 12awg solar charging port (mppt > 8awg battery)
200W folding solar panel (ALLPOWERS 4 panel version)
Ventilation: 4x 80mm Noctua NF-R8 + 1 triple 40mm on converter
Ventilation is automated with 4 temperature sensors
Internal temperature is controlled with 3 sensors
General circuit breaker 200A (max 300A)
Alucase Berwall SW 043 suitcase
External protective cover
External charger 230V LFP4 50A
Total weight: 27 kg

Cheers, Pascal

Awesome

 

[Tubby G]

So, just a little update on this …

I was tempted by the Bluetti AC200P, which worked out at around £0.58 per kWh, but they wouldn’t negotiate on price and the best they would offer was £1199.99, so I left it and researched some more

That lead me to the Anker Powerhouse 767, which is more expensive, but at £1349.99 worked out at £0.66 per kWh, still a good price. That system is heavy though, 30kg

Not quite wanting something that heavy, and to spend over £1300 on a battery, lead me in another direction

A relatively unknown company, but which received great reviews, is the VTOMAN Powerspeed 1500

It’s a smaller battery at 1548Wh, but therefore a lighter unit at 18kg, and still capable of charging two SL bikes and their range extenders, or one SL, range extender, and one full fat. Paid £628, which works out at £0.40 per kWh. It can live in the boot of my car and can charge range extenders on standard days out at the trails, and will be more portable when going away for weekends. It only takes an hour to charge it from 0 to 100% on AC mains too, not bad:

 

[RsGaz]

Would I be right in thinking that this would fully charge two 625 batteries?

 

[Tubby G]

Would I be right in thinking that this would fully charge two 625 batteries?

Yes, but to around 99% each

The power stations are around 80% efficient, as they use 20% to operate their own BMS, inverter etc

So take 20% off 1548, gives you 1238Wh available energy. You need 1250Wh to fully charge 2 x 625Wh batteries

 

[RsGaz]

Paid £628, which works out at £0.40 per kWh.

Hi, where did you get one for this price

 

[Tubby G]

Hi, where did you get one for this price

From Amazon. It was 18% discount, then there was an additional £280 off voucher to add

Just had a look on Amazon now, it’s listed as £1099.99 but with 40% off if you tick the little box, so currently £659.99

 

[Mcharza]

The Bluetti AC200P is currently £1299 and uses the LiFePO4 batteries whereas the EcoFlow uses NCM batteries

Ecoflow 2 version have all LiFePo batteries

 

[Tubby G]

Now then, it’s arrived …

Gotta love a company that sends a sticker sheet, bonus

Seems like a well built solid piece of kit. Feels quality. Time will tell