Portable Power Stations

[Tubby G]

Which one did you get in the end? This is what me and my Mrs need also for our trips away. Thanks

The Vtoman. Haven’t used it in the wild yet but seems a solid bit of kit and does what it says on the tin

 

[Deadpool2e]

The Vtoman. Haven’t used it in the wild yet but seems a solid bit of kit and does what it says on the tin

How many watts did you get? Thanks

 

[Tubby G]

How many watts did you get? Thanks

When I tested it I charged two bikes and a range extender

Orbea Rise - 360Wh battery, down to about 15% - charged full

Canyon StriveOn - 750Wh battery, down to about 20% - charged full

Range extender, think it’s 250Wh - full charge

It then only took an hour to charge the Power Station back to full on the mains

So without doing the maths I’d say it will comfortably do around 1200Wh, perhaps more

 

[Tubby G]

When I tested it I charged two bikes and a range extender

Orbea Rise - 360Wh battery, down to about 15% - charged full

Canyon StriveOn - 750Wh battery, down to about 20% - charged full

Range extender, think it’s 250Wh - full charge

It then only took an hour to charge the Power Station back to full on the mains

So without doing the maths I’d say it will comfortably do around 1200Wh, perhaps more

To be honest we rarely deplete our bike batteries fully. Typical rides are anywhere from 15-25 miles and around 1000m elevation, so this Power Station will be plenty to give our bikes a fresh charge ready for another day on a weekend away. Even if it only charges to 85-90% it’ll still be enough

 

[Deadpool2e]

To be honest we rarely deplete our bike batteries fully. Typical rides are anywhere from 15-25 miles and around 1000m elevation, so this Power Station will be plenty to give our bikes a fresh charge ready for another day on a weekend away. Even if it only charges to 85-90% it’ll still be enough

I take it the Vtoman is Sinewave already?

 

[cozzy]

That vtoman is a really good shout.
One full charge of a 750wh ebike battery overnight plus a lunchtime top-up both days. Would cover 2 days riding nicely. With my 50quid Amazon voucher it comes in at £610.

Have you looked at a solar panel? I'm thinking a foldable one I can just put on the roof of my van or in the windscreen during the day when I'm riding to charge the unit up.

EDIT. Bugger. There is always an issue that comes to light when you do some more research. In this case it seems to be the ups function and pass through. During charging the failover is instant if the power is disconnected. However once charged it's 4 seconds.
My other usage would be to run electronic equipment during the day and charge overnight on eco7 electricity. So it would appear that as soon as the electricity disconnects after 7 hours all the connected devices would reset as they would loose power for 4 seconds.

Shown at 7.25.

 

[Tubby G]

Have you looked at a solar panel? I'm thinking a foldable one I can just put on the roof of my van or in the windscreen during the day when I'm riding to charge the unit up.

Although a solar panel or two is a great idea for endless free energy, I don’t think I would make the most of it as we don’t tend to sit around the campsite for hours and I wouldn’t leave a solar panel and Power Station unattended. However, I do like your idea of leaving a solar panel in the windscreen and charging inside the vehicle, never thought of that!

 

[Tubby G]

EDIT. Bugger.

Aah, bugger

 

[cozzy]

Aah, bugger

Actually I've just seen another user that doesn't have this ups issue when fully charged.
Maybe if you have some time you could test yours as per the video I linked above?
It's the only thing stopping my buying this model currently.

 

[Tubby G]

Actually I've just seen another user that doesn't have this ups issue when fully charged.
Maybe if you have some time you could test yours as per the video I linked above?
It's the only thing stopping my buying this model currently.

I’ll test it on Sunday afternoon for you and report back

 

[Tubby G]

Right, a slight change of plan this morning so I was able to run a quick test and made a little video:




All seems ok. Switchover from main power to battery is instant, both when charging or at 100%

 

[RsGaz]

I also bought the Vtoman after seeing tubbys first post when he got one, and I can confirm that it also works the same, without any delay on switching over. You can’t go wrong for the price, charges up from flat in an hour and then charges two 625 batteries from one bar on the display upto five. It’s ideal for a weekend trip, or longer if you can plug it in somewhere for an hour.

 

[cozzy]

Still researching these. Naively I hadn't realised that the wh capacity figure the manufacturers claim isn't a usable capacity, more like 80% less. This applies to all manufacturers with some dipping to 70%. An Aferiy 1200 to be precise so barely enough to charge a 750wh ebike battery.
Most YouTube 'reviews' on power banks are nothing but an advert, someone who was given a free one reading out the spec sheet then offering a discount code. There are a few doing proper load tests though which is useful.

The vtoman is still top of my list for price and capacity. Yes a top tier bluetti or ecoflow would be preferable, but so much more money.
I just need to fully understand the issues around the 36v solar input as this comes up as a negative. Perhaps needs larger of more expensive solar panels.

 

[Mikerb]

you could get a petrol generator as well to charge the power bank....to charge the bike.........hang on..........just use the generator to charge the bike!!

Seriously I think there is still a role to play for generators...horses for courses!! I use a small 240w/h Jackery to run all the lights at our stables ( no mains there) simply because my wife and daughter need the power source to be quiet and fast/easy to switch on. It also runs things like horse clippers but obviously limited for bigger power tools. So the power bank is most useful when very low noise and ease of use are important. To recharge it is another issue though. The small Jackery is very portable so it is kept in the car and brought home to charge.
A 2kw petrol inverter/generator ( sine wave) can be bought these days for c £300 and some are pretty quiet ( 60db ish). Cheaper than solar panels and certainly a damned sight faster to charge the power bank. The power bank fans are probably c 40db so not silent either!

 

[cozzy]

you could get a petrol generator as well to charge the power bank....to charge the bike.........hang on..........just use the generator to charge the bike!!

I'll probably wake up dead in the morning if I'm sleeping in my van with a petrol generator chugging away next to me all night charging the bike.

 

[Mikerb]

I'll probably wake up dead in the morning if I'm sleeping in my van with a petrol generator chugging away next to me all night charging the bike.

well you would not do that would you!! If it only takes an hour to charge the one you have your eye on it could be recharged over a lunch break in a layby using the genny, outside the van!..........or you could spend a couple of days waiting to find enough sun to trickle charge it using solar panels!!

 

[cozzy]

Trigger pulled. Cracking deal that appears to be ebay specific with £75 off. TAKE20 code. 20% max £75 off.

I got the bundle with the 400w panel for £775 all in.
The 400w panel alone is £450. There is a deal that appears invalid, that being the flashman with a 220w panel. This is described as the non-pro panel at 19v which wouldnt work with the flashman. Ive contacted them to confirm.

Unit on its own would be £564.

 

[cozzy]

Arrived today. The panels are frikkin massive and heavy! I think any hope of draping them over my van roof has gone out the window.
Currently running my telly. I recon I should save at least £10 / month by charging it overnight on economy7 elecy and powering the tv and perhaps playstation during the day. Might not sound much but it's 25% of my bill.
Can't do an ebike charge test yet as it's currently full. Hopefully get to rogate during the week to empty the battery.
Constant low fan noise in use was unexpected, it's only showing 60 watts so hardly overloaded. Don't recall that being mentioned in reviews.

 

[cozzy]

@Tubby G
@RsGaz

Have you done a load capacity test yet with one of them plugin mains watt meters?
I expected to get around 1200wh useable from the rated 1548wh.

It's only done 800wh before switching off, so about 50% down.
I'm repeating the test tomorrow then will be getting hold of them.

I've put the meter on the input socket for charging tonight so will see how many wh have gone into it.

 

[Tubby G]

@Tubby G
@RsGaz

Have you done a load capacity test yet with one of them plugin mains watt meters?
I expected to get around 1200wh useable from the rated 1548wh.

It's only done 800wh before switching off, so about 50% down.
I'm repeating the test tomorrow then will be getting hold of them.

I haven’t. On the day I received it I ran a few household appliances from it to test it all out. I then charged a range extender, lightweight bike and full fat bike (both from around 15% to full) and all seemed fine.

It’s then sat in the corner of a room unused until the day I tested the UPS for you

Btw , the fan only comes on when charging the unit on mains, not during normal use

 

[cozzy]

Interesting results so far.
Charging the unit from flat took 1.75kw.

Running a 1kw heater.

Ran for 76mins and supplied 1.33kw before going flat.

The previous test was running the TV for 13 hours which used drew 60 -100w and ran out after supplying .8kw.
So I guess they are super inefficient at low power draw over a long time period.

I think my secondary use of running the TV will have to be shelved as it costs pretty much the same whether I run it from the mains or the vtoman.
Plus I'm wearing the batteries out quicker by charging them each day.

1.75kw @ 15p/kw nighttime rate = 26p
.8kw @ 35p/kw daytime rate = 28p

Still haven't been able to test ebike charging as it's pissed down all week.
But at least I've satisfied myself it's not faulty. I'm still happy this was the better option compared to buying a 2nd battery for about the same money.

 

[cozzy]

I thought I would try the solar panels seeing as the sun has briefly come out, although very weak.
Fit on the roof fine. I would lock them if leaving the van, but I would like to think they wouldn't get stolen from dirt farms carpark or similar.
Currently outputting 155w. I'm sure in the summer they should do at least double.

How many cats in the photo?

 

[Tubby G]

How many cats in the photo?

Two

 

[Mikerb]

Two

3... you forgot the one under the vehicle..part of the exhaust system

 

[Tubby G]

3... you forgot the one under the vehicle..part of the exhaust system

Nope, it doesn’t have an engine, it’s a solar powered ev van

 

[Mikerb]

Nope, it doesn’t have an engine, it’s a solar powered ev van

solar powered in Yorkshire??

 

[Tubby G]

solar powered in Yorkshire??

Not my van, Basingstoke

 

[cozzy]

I've managed another test on the vtoman today, charging a Bosch 500 external battery from pretty much zero. This is on my ride to the shops ebike.

Took 3 hours.
Wattmeter indicated .49 kwh consumed.
Vtoman indicates 53% left.

The output started around 200wh tailing down to 50wh as the battery neared full charge.
I think our requirement is quite unique, needing a large wh battery but a small inverter for maximum efficiency. I understand inverters are most efficient when at over 75% of their max load. Certainly not the 13% or so being drawn from a 1500w inverter on the vtoman.

I'm still torn as to whether a home-brew 100ah battery, 300wh inverter, mains charger, car charger, solar charger plus panels would be more suitable. Certainly not much cheaper though or as convenient.

 

[cozzy]

Finally managed to test charging a specialized 700 battery. It was down to 10%.

Took 5 hours.
Wattmeter indicated .7 kwh consumed.
Vtoman indicates 30% left.

So this is enough for 1 full charge and 2 lunchtime top-ups as originally planned.
So overall I'm happy with what this unit is capable of.

I am surprised how little power these ebike chargers draw though, approx 160w.
If my Bosch smart 750 bike ever arrives , I'll test that as well.

 

[Stevolad]

Why don’t you guys just use a Petrol generator? It would cost less and not be weather dependent for charging via solar.

That's what I've just done, £145 for a brand new 'suitcase' 2kw one, extension lead with the charger plugged in top the battery up while I have some scran is the plan. Was hoping to see how many miles the range increased by over an hour using the genny when I got back from Hamsterley last weekend but it hadn't stopped raining before I came away for a fortnight. I'll try and remember to update when I get round to doing it.