Review after 18 months of use: EcoFlow River power station and 110W EcoFlow solar panel
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- Опубликовано: 31 янв 2024
- I've had the EcoFlow River power station for over 18 months so it’s a good time to give it a review now that I’ve used it a lot. I originally bought the EcoFlow River 600 (288Wh) model and then upgraded using the River Pro battery clip to bring it up to 576Wh, and I also bought the EcoFlow 110W solar panel. In this review, I’ll talk about the cost and where I bought it, what it comes with, it’s capacity and specifications, charging speed, the weight of it, its functions, how well it holds its charge over time in storage, the problems I’ve had with the unit, what their customer service was like, what I like and dislike about this product, and whether I’d buy an Ecoflow product again.
Regarding the 110W solar panel, the cell type is monocrystalline silicon which is considered higher quality and more efficient than polycrystalline, so that partly explains why EcoFlow's price for their solar panels is quite high.
About me:
I'm a Kiwi travelling around New Zealand in my used caravan, making informative videos about the campsites I've visited. The reviews are about DOC campsites, freedom parks, campgrounds and holiday parks.
My vlog is for camping tourists (both international and New Zealanders) who are travelling in caravans, RVs, vans, buses and motorhomes, who want to see the facilities campsites have in advance of staying. I discuss what I liked and disliked about each park, so you know what to expect.
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Thanks for watching!
I mentioned in the video that you can set it to slow charging mode in the app. If you're wondering why they offer that setting, it's because experts believe lithium-ion batteries will last longer as slow charging produces less heat and stress. I keep mine set to slow charging.
Thank you so much. We don't see many videos about the power stations that have been in use for 3, 4, 5 plus years. I just mostly see videos about people who've own the same unit for a few months. My only suggestion is consider adding that to a video title like: EcoFlow after 18 months of use, or Ecoflow after 3 years of use, or Bluetti after 3 years of use. Because I search and searched for " the same power station used for years" power stations's longevity of use & performance, before I decided to click on this video and behold you mentioned you got it 18 months ago.
Thank you again.❤😊
That's a good point; I wrote "18 months" on the first line of the description, but that only shows up when people search videos in list format. I'll add that to the title - thanks for your help.
I think the main reason why so many RUclips videos only show the power stations after a few months of use is because so many RUclipsrs in the US were posted a free power station in exchange for talking about it. But 2-3 months is not long enough to test it out in all seasons.
Thanks I was thinking of buying a power station for camping
It's great being able to use your laptop and phone when you're camping. Even if you can't pick up an internet signal, it's just nice to be able to read an e-book or write down ideas or to-do list on the laptop.
They are good to have ...for me its the no more dragging the extension cord out to work on my car .. now I have power right on the spot ..I might have gotten carried away with 4 units 🤔...but at least I'm ready for the next power outage 🙂
That's right. And your other alternative is a generator, but they are extremely heavy as they run on diesel or petrol, and you have to buy a tin of fuel from the petrol station for them. Power stations are a modern, no mess way to access power.
I used to lie the solar panel across my car bonnet or roof, but the panel left some scratches, so it's better to lie them on the ground.
Invaluable! Thanks for the experience and providing so much detail. (I had no idea that QLD runs a different main voltage :) Disappointing that panel performance is not good on a cloudy day. I'm looking at a 12mth old River 600 Pro (720Wh) + 120W panel for a good price, and I'm thinking a 3rd party panel could provide better solar performance. The 720Wh expansion battery still seems to be stocked in NZ.
Thank you. I bought my generic 180W solar panel for my caravan roof from GoodsDirect2U in Rangiora (I collected it when I stayed at the holiday park out there) and it performs well. I chose the EcoFlow solar panel for my EcoFlow power station purely because the warrant is void if you use unbranded solar panels with it, but since my warrant is about to expire anyway, next time I buy a cheap solar panel I'll try it out with the power station and see if gives me better cloudy day performance.
Great information! I needed this. Thank you! How to you make sure you dont charge to 100% or discharge to 0 % if you are not watching it? Eg charging over night
Thank you - that's a great question. In the EcoFlow app, there are a number of settings you can choose. In the app, I've set my EcoRiver River so that 95% is the most it can charge to and then it will just stop charging at that point (you'll see the input watts go to 0 as it just stops charging at the level you choose).
To ensure it doesn't discharge to 0%, I just simply avoid using it once it gets below around 30-40% and that way I'm safe as it is nowhere near the harmful 0% over-discharge. There may actually be a setting that prevents it from discharging down to 0% in the app, but I just avoid using it below around 30% anyway. I own four power stations and my caravan battery is 100ah, so I switch to another power station when this one gets low.
@@caravanlifenz thanks for that information.
Thanks for sharing your experience with the ECOFLOW River. I'm still trying to figure out how to attach the MCA to XT60 cable. The connection instructions in the EcoFlow manual states to connect the positive of the MC4 connector to the positive connector to the EcoFlow solar panel, but the positive connector on the panel and the positive connector on the MC4 Coonector cable are both male connectors and therefore won't connect together. Is the MCA to XT60 solar charging cable the correct cable for the ECOFLOW River and is it supposed to connect positive to positive and begative to negative? I have looked all over and no video really explains the positive/negative connection and ECOFLOW costumer service in the USA is useless!! Any assistance you can give would greatly be appreciated. Thank you!
Are you sure the solar panel you bought actually is an EcoFlow solar panel? I made sure I bought an EcoFlow solar panel from a reputable dealer that is approved to sell EcoFlow products, otherwise you may find you get scammed into buying a cheap knock-off product that isn't an official EcoFlow solar panel and doesn't have the right connectors. Because both my solar panel and River are EcoFlow products, each had a male and female connector that easily clipped together with the other male/female connectors without any issues.
That’s strange I have two (river 2 ) and one ( RIVER ) and they connected instantly with no problem when I use one it automatically connects to the phone. Via. Bluetooth ..
That's really good the app connected well for you. With mine, I have to plug the modem into the power station directly. We do have quite weak internet in the South Island, but I saw a lot of people on the global EcoFlow forums complaining about getting their app connected, so I think it's one of the more common complaints about the product. Once I'd chosen the settings I liked, I haven't needed the app since :)
@@caravanlifenz ... That's strange because the new river 2 ... I could understand that it would connect no problem ... And the first Gen RIVER it connected just as easy and it's older 2 ...yeah all three of mine connect no problem and every time I use one of them it shows up on my phone automatically ...
That's good. It's a common complaint about the unit, but I don't use the app much so it doesn't bother me :)
@@caravanlifenz yeah I don’t use app much once I set the settings for all ( 4 ) units , I just bought a river 2 max I don’t really need the app for anything because it doesn’t control any major features , I think it’s more for the WOW ! Factor .. but I’m very HAPPY WITH MY ECOFLOW UNITS .. yes I got carried away with having ( 4 ) 😃😃
WOW...4 posts in 3hours.. having trouble sleeping??.🤣🤣
😂 Those videos use up so much of my internet data to upload that I just went to the local library and uploaded four at once by connecting to their internet. The supermarket is almost next door, so I may as well work in the library when I'm driving in to do my weekly groceries. How is your summer going?
@@caravanlifenz haven't been away in the caravan so far this year...to hot and school holidays isn't the best time...just at home enjoying the garden for the moment..are you back in nz for awhile?.❤️🇳🇿
You must in the North Island? Canterbury has been too cold and windy this summer.
I went to Australia for 6 months. NZ had gone down hill so badly after Labour got in and consumer confidence was at an all time low, so I was losing faith that NZ would ever recover. I used to be a Labour supporter and loved Helen Clark, but this the latest Labour government was crazy. I came back from Aussie when the media reported a change in government in NZ.