Any power bank whores about?

[V8Granite]

After making my own for camping to run a fridge I now decided I NEEDED a seperate one for flashlights, phones, tablets etc.

I upgraded my MPPT controller to a Victron Smart Solar MPPT 75/15 with Bluetooth so I could see watts in, watts out, the voltage regulation for charging current etc. this pleased me far more than it should have . That's giving me 480 watt hours.

So I purchased an Anker Solix C300 DC, 288 watt hours.

It shows me how many watts per connection, has charged 8 items at once, you can charge through 2 USB C connectors at the same time as discharging from the other connections. Has a fancy display, will charge at 85 watts with a cigarette connector to a XT60 connector. Has a light I can control by the app and gives discharge and charge times at the current usage. Seeing what it can do as I can charge it through my trailer wiring I did for my other battery bank, it's the simple things

I'll charge this from my own power bank as when the solar is good it makes more power than I need so won't get seperate solar for it.

https://www.ankersolix.com/uk/products/ ... 1800599227

From jump leads and a car battery to this, it's all oddly pleasing.

Dave!

[Jobbo]

How long will 288Wh last? I've seen Jackery being spammed on influencer videos recently and they do a 1000Wh one (1000W load capacity) with two UK plug sockets for £450 currently; doubtless there will be a discount code floating around.

Harry Dwyer on Youtube has clearly been given a big capacity one to promote but he's using it without it being blatant product whoring. Nice video of him flying drones the whole length of Hadrian's Wall recently, charging from the power bank in the boot of his car.

[IanF]

Lots of choice here.. with a possible saving on the one you were looking at..

https://www.costco.co.uk/Home-Improveme ... cos_8.1.10

[Gavster]

I have zero use cases for that Anker Solix unit but it's CAF and I want it

[Mito Man]

I’ve used Ecoflow for 7 years now. The original Delta is still going strong, I got it just after the Kickstarter ended and it started to be sold online as it seemed too good to be true/a scam at the time.

[V8Granite]

How long will 288Wh last? I've seen Jackery being spammed on influencer videos recently and they do a 1000Wh one (1000W load capacity) with two UK plug sockets for £450 currently; doubtless there will be a discount code floating around.

Harry Dwyer on Youtube has clearly been given a big capacity one to promote but he's using it without it being blatant product whoring. Nice video of him flying drones the whole length of Hadrian's Wall recently, charging from the power bank in the boot of his car.

If you look at it like a fast to charge 90,000 mAh battery bank then it's a simpler way to look at it. The good thing about this though is that it can push out nearly 300 watts if you needed to charge a lot of things at the same time.
For everything we need it will last a week camping, it would charge up in just over 3 hours from our other battery bank so will be fine. I specifically kept away from AC power as it's not as efficient as you have transformer losses and also we dont use anything that's 230v.

If we were running the fridge aswell then the 1000Wbone would be about perfect and pretty much the same cost as the one I built and this one.

There is a huge mix of stuff out there though and the value is getting better and better. Anything to keep away from a powered pitch.

Dave!

[V8Granite]

I have zero use cases for that Anker Solix unit but it's CAF and I want it

It does have a lovely feel to it, they even do some lovey home charging stations with screens and clicky buttons.

Impulse buy!

Dave!

[Jobbo]

Anker stuff is my go-to for normal USB chargers, charging cables etc. Really good quality.

[Gavster]

Same here, I've got a bunch of their 16,000mAh power banks for general use, they're really reliable and have lasted for years.

[Beany]

Can also confirm that Anker stuff is solid - I've lunked a 20ah battery of theirs around for a few years to meetings, peoples houses, etc and it just keeps on trucking, and can chuck out 120w from a single port when necessary. Not as fancy as the one linked, obvs.

Their power bricks are also good, for around the house, etc.

[Barry]

I’ve used Ecoflow for 7 years now. The original Delta is still going strong, I got it just after the Kickstarter ended and it started to be sold online as it seemed too good to be true/a scam at the time.

Same, I have a Delta2 1kwh and 200w PV panel kit (yet to need to use that mind you). It easily covered my basic demands during a 2hour power cut a few weeks back, fridge/freezer, lamp, couple of low drain items. Am looking to get a 2/3kwh pack, seeing as the grid appears to be a bit sh!t these days.

(Am still looking at house PV/Battery but the installers I want to use are busy until late spring)

[simon_g]

I’ve got a little 288wh Allpowers one, it’s a perfect size if you’re not running anything heavy. Will run our little compressor fridge for about 24h tops. Gets used a lot in the family bus as there’s no rear power so keeps the kids iPads going on long trips.

Have a 1000wh Jackery for longer camping trips (and as a just-in-case for the house) but it’s a chunky thing.

[V8Granite]

Just adding to similar geekery.

Just order a 500 Watt Victron 12V to 230V Inverter, bluetooth connection widget, Victron 30amp smart solar, Cabling, 300ah Battery with shunt and once home i'll measure up and decide what solar panel I want for the roof. The current smaller 10amp Victron smart solar will go in the Defender.

I'll be able to use the big panel to charge the home made camping battery as the Smart Solar should clip anything more than 15 amps off, i'm not so sure about the Anker so will have to do some reading.

Just deciding on the battery but will probably go with a 300ah Renogy and a display, it needs to be wife and kids friendly as trying to explain loads and current is proving difficult. They just see cable, electric, all worky.

This is all so we have more power in the shed, I'll charge my Makita batteries in there and the pond will (hopefully) run 365 days a year from it. Just the pond should save £140 a year in electric but it's all about learning. If I'm happy with this then next year i'll make a bigger system up for the garage and take it away from the mains. It can all come with us when we move so I don't mind spending a bit.

Dave!

[Barry]

I've just put deposit on solar/battery install at home, 8pv panels @3.4kw, and 9kwh battery, mostly Sigenergy kit, with the gateway to switch in a power cut. Needs a new consumer unit but that's expected. Will integrate the car charger so I can shunt excess solar to a car if desired.

[V8Granite]

It's how it should be done, domestic solar and battery are by far the best solution.

You will soon be putting your head out the window before starting the tumble drier

It's a really interesting topic imo.

Dave!

[V8Granite]

So as you are all itching to learn about this then here goes

The whole point of doing this is to learn about Victron, imo the 1980s Mercedes of the off grid world, and live with the limitations of renewables.

So all installed, a 320watt panel facing south east and the back of the house on the shed. To the west are some very tall trees so I only get solar from morning till about 3pm and then it starts to be in shadow. This is the reason I went for Renogy for the panel as it does incredibly well in shaded areas.

A 500 watt Inverter, 100/30 MPPT main solar charger and separate 75/10 auxiliary charger as I want to have a fiddle with vertical axis turbines at some point, I'm curious as currently they seem to provide about 10% of the rated output on a good day.

There is also a 12V distribution board for outside lights, shed lights, a 100W usb C charger, for the battery banks, plus I want to find an online 12v water pump so we can use one of the water butts on a hose instead of with a bucket.

Currently have a double outdoor socket for the wife's twinkly lights and the twin pond pumps, UV light and pond lights running from the shed. That's £12 a month saved without using the power for anything else, man maths

I charge my Makita and Sealey batteries in the shed plus the radio, trickle charger and eventually a battery lawn mower etc.

It's a 314ah LifePo4 , unlike lead acid it gives me every single amp so the battery gives me 3.7kwh of power, I'll happily run it down to 5% and charge to 100% every time, this 20-80 is old logic and not beneficial.

A bit of fiddle fucking to make the Battery monitor and Battery BMS calibrated together and it's been running fine since. I will need to add a panel but I'll do this on the wrong side of the shed roof lifted into the sun by a linear actuator so it is used when needed, this will be operated from a button in the house so if it's raining we won't need to go outside.





All monitoried by Bluetooth which annoyingly stops getting a signal just as I close the back door



I'll do my best to make it wife friendly so when the battery hits 20% it will turn a red light on you can see from the house. This will be till I figure out exactly how much solar I can get away with. I don't like the logic of over-paneling as it seems wasteful and lazy to me. This is all about learning for when we move and go off grid completely.

Next year I want to build a system for the garage but a 48V one with server rack batteries, the issue being I'd need to figure out how to send excess power back to the grid as Victron I don't believe are G99 certified. So I may need a separate switch and they are costly.

Dave!

[Jobbo]

The 20%-80% thing is still spouted regularly. If I wanted to use only 60% of the capacity of my battery I’d buy a bigger battery, so I’ve always ignored it.

[Nefarious]

I've done a solar system at the shotgun club. 4 x 415w commercial panels bought of Facebook marketplace, plus an Aferiy P310 integrated unit (not my choice). It's a 3.8kwh battery and does a great job of powering interior lights, outside floodlight, the CCTV system and the Starlink. At least it did until the Aferiy unit shat its biscuits and needed to go back for a warranty fix. Two months of fannying about to get the unit collected and now nearly a month waiting for their engineer to report. Great, simple system in theory, but let down by bad customer service.

But on the back of that little project, I picked up six of the same panels for £45 each to rig up a system at home (partially to hide an unsightly wall that I'm sick of repainting). I'm very impressed with the panels - seem to chuck out max power even in less than perfect sunshine and keep up a meaningful trickle even in shade.
Also picked up a Solis Hybrid Inverter, a Solax 5kwh battery, and all the necessary wiring/switches/fuses etc from Gumtree from £550.
Had fun going caving inside the walls of my house to run the 240v feed to my meter/consumer unit, and now just waiting for Octopus to switch my meter before I can fire the whole thing up.

[V8Granite]

It's a fun thing to play about with isn't it!

I'm hoping to get about 3.2 kw on the roof and server rack batteries in the garage but I'll see what system I want to build when the time comes.

I don't like how most companies don't use proper busbars and also too much integration makes a small failure a big cost. All imo but it's a very interesting industry currently. All must be moveable as it won't stay with the house.

The biggest issue is making a system that works with people with zero interest or understanding in how it all works. That's what it needs to work like or it's just a geeks or bill payers interest.

Dave!

[Nefarious]

TBH I've been really quite shocked at how easy it is to put together a genuinely useful system for a fraction of what all the installers charge, and how much of an outright scam the whole "installation certification" stuff is. Fortunately, Octopus will quietly forget all the critical safety protection of the certification system if you get a regular spark to sign it off and bung them £250 (which lets you do feed-in too, which seems a no-brainer if you've got the space for the panels)