Solar, inverter, battery thread

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Rudolph Hart

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I’m considering one of these:

DP2000iL - 2000W LiFePO4 Portable Power Station (Trolley)

DP2000iL - 2000W LiFePO4 Portable Power Station (Trolley) Portable Power Stations 2000W Pure Sine Wave Inverter, 4000W Surge Power, 2048Wh LiFePO4 Lithium Battery. This portable power station features one of the largest capacity batteries on the market plus a 2000w inverter capable of powering...
www.ecohub.co.za www.ecohub.co.za

I need something portable (I use a CPAP machine and can’t sleep without it and end up with some uncomfortable nights when travelling). It’s also big enough to drive a few things in the house over a typical load shedding; although the recharge speed is pretty poor.

Any comments or ideas welcome.

The other idea would be to buy a 5kWh battery and an inverter and make a portable power station for myself. It’ll cost a similar amount and be a lot more future proof, but probably slightly less portable.
 
biometrics

biometrics

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Rudolph Hart said:
I’m considering one of these:

DP2000iL - 2000W LiFePO4 Portable Power Station (Trolley)

DP2000iL - 2000W LiFePO4 Portable Power Station (Trolley) Portable Power Stations 2000W Pure Sine Wave Inverter, 4000W Surge Power, 2048Wh LiFePO4 Lithium Battery. This portable power station features one of the largest capacity batteries on the market plus a 2000w inverter capable of powering...
www.ecohub.co.za www.ecohub.co.za

I need something portable (I use a CPAP machine and can’t sleep without it and end up with some uncomfortable nights when travelling). It’s also big enough to drive a few things in the house over a typical load shedding; although the recharge speed is pretty poor.

Any comments or ideas welcome.

The other idea would be to buy a 5kWh battery and an inverter and make a portable power station for myself. It’ll cost a similar amount and be a lot more future proof, but probably slightly less portable.
Click to expand...
Pure sine wave is good. Looks like good kit. But R33k is a lot!

Brother got this recently:

 
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biometrics

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Rudolph Hart said:
That’s a lot cheaper, and would probably be enough for my immediate needs.

Edit:- 7hrs charging time is also quite slow.
Click to expand...
Think he got the 500Wh model. Seems happy with it.

I see there is a Sunsynk logo, so must be a rebrand. Sunsynk is the inverter I'm getting with my solar install.
 
SauRoN

SauRoN

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Rudolph Hart said:
I’m considering one of these:

DP2000iL - 2000W LiFePO4 Portable Power Station (Trolley)

DP2000iL - 2000W LiFePO4 Portable Power Station (Trolley) Portable Power Stations 2000W Pure Sine Wave Inverter, 4000W Surge Power, 2048Wh LiFePO4 Lithium Battery. This portable power station features one of the largest capacity batteries on the market plus a 2000w inverter capable of powering...
www.ecohub.co.za www.ecohub.co.za

I need something portable (I use a CPAP machine and can’t sleep without it and end up with some uncomfortable nights when travelling). It’s also big enough to drive a few things in the house over a typical load shedding; although the recharge speed is pretty poor.

Any comments or ideas welcome.

The other idea would be to buy a 5kWh battery and an inverter and make a portable power station for myself. It’ll cost a similar amount and be a lot more future proof, but probably slightly less portable.
Click to expand...

Just make sure it can be used inline.

Many of them only charge off mains and then you need to move the plug of the thing you want to power onto it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
SauRoN

SauRoN

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You won’t regret it a single day.

Especially after that first full month and your Eskom top up is virtually nothing.

I have already generated 5% of my initial investment back in 4.5 months over winter and that’s without accounting for benefits like no price increases and not having load shedding.

Summer is an unknown factor but I suspect it may just pay for itself in less than 7 years and my budget was to offset my electricity costs for 10 years so that will give me 3 years for “free”.

Anything I get after that is pure bonus.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Spizz

Spizz

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My install was meant to start Thursday but the rain kept them away Friday also. So hopefully dry on Monday and they can make a start on the panels.
 
Spizz

Spizz

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About the cabinet, wife didn't want the industrial look as the only place to install the inverter and battery is on our stoep, so we looked about for an old cupboard and chopped it up a bit to make it look quite nice. Problem now is we are replacing the Sunsynk 5k|W with a Victron 8kW and adding another battery the same size. So might have to chop it up a bit more next week.

WhatsApp Image 2022-10-15 at 9.06.18 AM-2.jpeg

WhatsApp Image 2022-10-15 at 9.06.18 AM.jpeg
 
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biometrics

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Spizz said:
About the cabinet, wife didn't want the industrial look as the only place to install the inverter and battery is on our stoep, so we looked about for an old cupboard and chopped it up a bit to make it look quite nice. Problem now is we are replacing the Sunsynk 5k|W with a Victron 8kW and adding another battery the same size. So might have to chop it up a bit more next week.

View attachment 34423

View attachment 34424
Click to expand...
Good idea, that looks nice.

I don’t mind the industrial look, in any case don’t have a choice as it’s rackmount batteries.

1665826784287.jpeg
 
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Rudolph Hart

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SauRoN said:
Just make sure it can be used inline.

Many of them only charge off mains and then you need to move the plug of the thing you want to power onto it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...
Thanks for the heads up. I did see that they’re very limited in charging current and any power you draw drops that even further, ending up with it actually losing charge while plugged in. The roughly fifty-fifty split between one and five star reviews seem to be along the line of those who wanted an in-line inverter to act as a UPS and those taking it out when needed.

I’m getting the feeling that I should buy a battery and an inverter and build up a portable system for my needs. It’ll probably save money too in the long run.
 
biometrics

biometrics

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Rudolph Hart said:
I’m getting the feeling that I should buy a battery and an inverter and build up a portable system for my needs. It’ll probably save money too in the long run.
Click to expand...
That's what I've been using for years, certainly not very portable in my case.
 
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Rudolph Hart

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biometrics said:
That's what I've been using for years, certainly not very portable in my case.
Click to expand...
You’re right.

Upon reflection, what I really want is two things - a medium sized inverter/UPS that can handle the internet connection, TV, a couple of lights and perhaps the fridge on top of the CPAP, and I power bank that I can throw in the car when travelling. And I was hoping that one device could do both, but if it exists, I haven’t found it yet.
 
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biometrics

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