I own several portable power stations, and live in a part of the world where they aren’t just a luxury, but essential to daily life. So imagine my disappointment when my expensive power station failed me again, and again, and again.
Portable Power Stations Are My Lifeline
I live in South Africa, and in case you didn’t know, we don’t have enough electricity to go around. So, for much of the time, we have to take turns with our electricity by way of rolling blackouts. Something our government euphemistically refers to as “load shedding.”
When load shedding is light, I might be without power for five hours a day in two 2.5-hour blocks. When things are really bad, I might be without power for twelve hours a day. Inconveniently, this happens mostly during the day when I have to work, cook food, and otherwise live my life. You quickly realize how much you rely on electricity for everything when you don’t have it anymore!
Over time, we transitioned all our most crucial technology to battery power in my house. No more desktop PCs, backup power for my fiber connection, and, of course, portable power stations to keep things like TVs or microwaves going. In dire circumstances, even the washing machine.
The first backup power station I bought used two large truck batteries, but they wore out within two years. Then I bought two 550Wh hand-portable power stations, so that my wife and I could each take power with us from room to room as we needed it. This was very useful, but sadly these small power stations can’t handle more than 500W of load, so you can’t, for example, run a microwave on one. Therefore I needed to add something bigger and better.
Related
I Spent a Lot of Money on My First-Gen EcoFlow
This is where the EcoFlow Delta 1300 came into the picture. This was the first generation of the Delta series, released in 2022. On paper, this was the perfect power station for me. It had almost 1300Wh of capacity, and it could handle an 1800W continuous load, so my microwave was no issue. I could add solar charging later if things really became dire, but because it had such a fast charging rate, I could fill it up from the grid between load-shedding sessions. It also acts as a UPS with pass-through power. So I could leave it hooked up, and it would transfer power automatically without skipping a beat.
The only issue was the (roughly) $1500 asking price thanks to demand, import costs, and a weak exchange rate. However, I needed something and bit the bullet.
Related
5 Things You Should Have in Your Blackout Emergency Bag
Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it!
It Kept Breaking Down for No Reason
For the first six months, this device worked perfectly. I had it hooked up to my home entertainment system, with an extension cord I could roll to various spots, like the microwave or coffee machine, as needed.
However, after about half a year of service, it seemed the station only had half of its capacity left. I hadn’t put it through nearly enough charge cycles for the capacity to drop that much, so I got in touch with EcoFlow via the retailer I bought it from. First they had me jump through all sorts of diagnostic hoops, the main one being calibrating the charge controller system so that it knew what the real state of charge was in the battery. This involved charging the station to full and then running it down all the way several times.
When this didn’t work, EcoFlow let me send it in for assessment. First telling me that the charge controller board was faulty and would be replaced, then deciding that the whole power station needed to be replaced and sending me a new one.
Power station number 2 was faulty out of the sealed box! “This is just bad luck,” I thought to myself, and the company duly sent out another new unit with apologies. Power station number 3 arrived, and I tested it thoroughly before letting them know that this one seemed good to go. As luck would have it, just as I received this third replacement, our rolling blackouts stopped for about a year. That’s a good thing, but I knew it couldn’t last. So I kept my EcoFlow 1300 plugged in, ready for the return of load shedding.
Except, as soon as the power went out, my backup solution was dead. It was an ex-power station. It had ceased to be. This power station wouldn’t “voom” if you put four million volts through it!
After having to do the diagnostic dance again, and with just six months left on my original warranty, back it went to the EcoFlow technicians.
After a much too long time, with little feedback, EcoFlow sent me power station number four. which mercifully turned out to be a Delta 2. Sadly with slightly less capacity, but with much better technology. It seems that EcoFlow had grown tired of throwing power stations at me, though probably not nearly as tired as I was of it.
If you go to the South African Ecoflow website, there’s a notice that the Delta 1300 has been discontinued.
This new model has all the smart stuff, including an app that could help me diagnose and fix problems that might otherwise require a return. Most importantly, this model has LiFePo4 batteries (Lithium Iron Phosphate) which are much hardier, and explains why this model comes with a 5-year warranty rather than two. Well, it does for other people, as EcoFlow informed me that the only warranty I would be getting is the balance of the two years that came with my original unit. So here’s holding thumbs!
Don’t Assume That Your Power Station Is OK if You Haven’t Been Using It
There are more than a few hard lessons I’ve learned through this painful saga. First, you need to check in on your power station at regular intervals. I already knew this was true from my years of flying RC gizmos and the intricacies of storing their lithium batteries long-term, but I had assumed a fancy gadget like this would actively preserve itself in storage, and it turns out I was wrong.
This is probably less of an issue on more modern systems, but if you have something like my old EcoFlow Delta 1300 standing in your garage as part of a blackout-readiness kit, you better go see if it hasn’t quietly passed away in the meantime with no warning. Even if it’s actively plugged in, and even if it’s currently passing power to your devices, you need to turn the power off at the wall occasionally to make sure it still works as a battery backup.
It also showed me that some of these power stations that are old stock and have been standing for a long time effectively have an expiration date. LIthium batteries gradually lose charge while in storage, and when they drain beyond a certain point they can be permanently damaged. I’m not claiming that this is what happened to the DOA power station 2, but you can’t leave lithium batteries in storage indefinitely without maintenance charging.
Related
EcoFlow Delta 3 Plus Review: A Backup for Small Emergencies and Recreation
Small and lightweight, this little station could get you through a brownout.
It’s Worth Investing in Later Generations of Power Stations
If you find that your old station has given up the ghost while you weren’t looking, and you’re no longer in warranty, then it’s important to make the right choices when getting a replacement. I really appreciate the live, internet-connected features of my (hopefully) final replacement unit, since it gives me a real-time view of what’s going on with the device.
What I would really consider non-negotiable when buying a new portable power station now is better battery technology, which at the moment means LiFePo4. They might be more expensive, but they will last far longer, have better warranties, and be less prone to failing without warning.
If I hadn’t happened to check in on my power station when I did, I might have been stuck with a dead, out-of-warranty paperweight and a huge hole in my wallet with nothing to show for it. Don’t let that happen to you.
Related
What Are LiFePO4 Batteries, and When Should You Choose Them?
The wonder-battery you can actually buy.
