Is the Bluetti AC300 a Worthless Amazing Solar Generator?

There is no question that most people who are looking into powerful solar generators are considering the Bluetti AC300. On paper, it looks absolutely incredible. Its expandability is great, it can make 240v power, it can be monitored wirelessly, and even has really long-lasting LiFePo4 battery cells.

Then why is it that I do not recommend this power station? That’s a great question and I will explain why here in this full review. But if you’re looking for a short answer, I’ll save you some time.

The main reasons I do not like the Bluetti AC300 solar generator are first the idle power consumption rate, the screen has multiple issues, and the efficiency varies greatly between units.

But is it all bad? Definitely not. There are many great features like a powerful inverter, expandable batteries, a true UPS setting, and really good solar input. But is that enough to make it a considerable option? Only you can make that decision. For me though, not so much. Let me explain.

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Output Power

The Bluetti AC300 has a 3,000w pure sine wave inverter that is capable of surging up to 6,000w. An inverter of that size is plenty powerful for nearly everyone’s needs for back up power supply. Even for a 30a service RV, van or small off-grid cabin 3,000w of continuous output is plenty to run all the essentials minus a 240v well pump.

The Bluetti AC300 solar generator can link two units together and make 240v power which then allows it to run things like well pumps and electric dryers. No solar generator can do central A/C so the AC300 is exempt from having that as a downside. But having 240v power and 6,000w of continuous output power is very good for small off-grid living or for emergency power.

Having the ability to make 240v power and using that in conjunction with a transfer/interlock switch means you don’t have to run extension cords to every room, fridge, freezer, and device you want to run which makes life less of a hassle when the power is out. You’ll need an electrician to install the transfer switch but that is a very simple task for nearly any electrician and isn’t overly expensive either.

Whether it’s running a fridge and a couple of freezers or powering up a shop to run a miter saw and a table saw, the Bluetti AC300 can absolutely do it. But is it still good enough?

The biggest issue that no one seems to be talking about with the Bluetti AC300 in any reviews is the idle power consumption rate. IPCR is how much power an inverter uses to simply be turned on. You can think of it as turning on your car on and being in park. The engine is running, which means it’s using gasoline, but you’re not going anywhere.

On the Bluetti AC300 it has an IPCR of about 64 watts. Other solar generators of similar size in this comparison chart have a much lower IPCR. For example, the Delta Pro, a main competitor to the AC300, only uses about 13 watts when turned on. That means the AC300 is using about 5x the amount of power just to have the inverter running but not even doing anything. Also keep in mind, if you turn on the Bluetooth receiver to use with the app, the IPCR goes up to nearly 100w! That’s a lot of draining.

In a 24 hour period, the Bluetti AC300 will consume about 1,536wh of battery capacity. That’s about 50% of the overall battery capacity on the AC300. It’s used up, for no good reason. Now on the plus side, the AC300 has an auto shut off function where if it’s not running anything for about 8 hours it will just shut off. In those 8 hours will use up 512wh of the battery, about 17% of it. But the bigger issue is, that many people need to run things like a sump pump, which only turns on when water fills a tank in the ground and then the pump pushes that water out to the city or septic system. They sometimes don’t run all day, or for long periods of time until they get filled up. This is just one example, but many items don’t constantly run which means the AC300 could turn off, and then there’s sewage back filling in the basement and there’s a much bigger mess to deal with. That would only happen if the tank got filled and the AC300 was off, not running that pump. But, if it’s happened once, it can happen again.

The second big issue with the inverter is the efficiency. All inverters do for the most part is convert battery energy to usable energy for your devices. Because there is a voltage change in doing that, there is an efficiency power loss. Meaning if you have 100wh of battery, you may only get to use 90wh of it, because the other 10wh were just burned up in the form of heat to convert from one voltage to another.

The Bluetti AC300’s inverter efficiency has varied greatly according to multiple reviews and posts on forums. One person will get 87% efficiency out of their unit, and another person will get 72% efficiency. That’s a massive spread. 87% is quite good for most systems, but 72% is quite bad. How do you know which one you’re going to get? Will Prowse in his own review got a higher number than the review done by Tom from HoboTech which was as low as 72%. This causes major concerns since you could be getting a poor-quality unit and not even know it. It’s basically a lottery system if you get a good unit. That’s quite the risk.

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Battery Power

The batteries that go with the AC300 are called B300 batteries. They are quite nice on the AC300 because they are high-grade LiFePo4 or Lithium Iron Phosphate. They last a very long time but are a bit heavier than Lithium NMC/Lithium Ion. But the LiFePo4 batteries for the AC300 are rated to 3,500 lifecycles which is very impressive. That means it can go from fully charged to empty and then fully charged again once a day for 10 years before the batteries have any noticeable degradation. After doing that for 10 years straight, which no one does, the batteries will be 80% efficient. Meaning they’ll have 80% of the original usable capacity from when they were new.

But there have been multiple reports now in reviews of people saying they found out one or more of the cells in their B300 have gone bad. How is the average Joe who isn’t an electrical engineer or who doesn’t play with solar stuff all of the time going to know that their battery is faulty? They probably will never know. And then sometime, maybe even years down the road when they need it the most that battery may just stop working all together. That’s a big concern for most people.

The Bluetti AC300 requires you to use proprietary Bluetti batteries. EcoFlow does the same thing with their Delta Pro and other systems. The Titan is the only solar generator where you can use any other battery with it as long as it’s a 24v battery which makes sense.

Each B300 battery is 3,074wh in capacity. There is no battery built into the inverter of the AC300. So if you get just an AC300, it will come with one battery that attaches to the inverter with a heavy duty cable. But each AC300 can have up to four B300 batteries connected to it for a total battery capacity of 12,296wh which is quite large. And even better yet, if two AC300 units are linked together for 240v power, you’re able to have 4 batteries on each system which maxes the total battery capacity to 24,592wh which is absolutely incredible. The expandability of the batteries is extremely impressive.

The Delta Pro can have two extra batteries per unit which makes its maxed our setup with two Delta Pros capable of having 21,600wh of batteries capacity all connected together. So the Bluetti AC300 definitely wins in that area, but we have to keep in mind that a lot of excess power from the batteries simply gets burned off just by using the AC300 so it may not actually have much more usable power than a Delta Pro.

Also, by comparison, the Titan can have up to 270,000wh of battery capacity connected. Not that anyone would ever do that, but it’s so much easier to add batteries to the Titan as far as having a large capacity than any other unit so far. And the Titan can use more Titan batteries, or other brands of batteries.

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Input Power

Out of all the other solar generators in the heavycap and ultracap size categories, the Bluetti AC300 has some of the best solar charging rates out there. Each AC300 can input up to 2,400w of solar into it. This part is a little confusing because there is only one solar input port. But the Bluetti AC300 has a nifty adapter than has two MC4 connections built into it. The single solar input plug in reality has two inputs built into it. This is a great way they saved space and kept things simple for users.

There are two MPPT charge controllers inside and each one is rated to work from 12-150v and up to 12a to get a total of 1,200w into each one. That is how it gets 2,400w of solar input. This is something that would’ve been incredible in the Delta Pro because it only has one solar input maxed at 1,600w but that’s still quite a bit of solar input for the Delta Pro.

It’s pretty easy to get 1,200w connected to the AC300 but because of it’s really low 12a parameter, it’s difficult to get a good over-paneled setup on it. It’s definitely possible, but just keep in mind over-paneling isn’t great. For example if you were using 100w panels, each solar panel is going to put out about 20v and 6a. That means I can connect seven 100w panels together to be at 140v and 5a with a total input of 700w. Then I can double that and connect that to the unit for 1,400w connected to a single charge controller. Then double that again for a total of 28, 100w solar panels for 2,800w of solar input. I am able to over-panel the system in that way but it’s only over-paneled by 400w which isn’t huge.

One of the extra cool features though is that it’s possible to add an additional 200w of solar going into each battery that’s added to the system in order to maximize the solar input and increase the charge speed. That’s a cool feature that only the Hysolis MPS3K has been able to do in the past.

By the way, make sure if you’re using the two solar inputs to change the settings on the screen to PV charging on both solar input ports, as well as turn off “PV Parallel Enable” so if one set of panels is a different voltage than the other, the unit will continue to charge from solar. Many people were not getting a good charge from their solar panels according to different reviews and that’s how you should be able to fix it.

The wall charging speed is programmable which is a really nice feature. If you need to charge it up really fast, you can change it to 15a for a normal house wall outlet. If you want to trickle charge the system, you can go as low as 1a charge speed. If you have a high-speed charging outlet like a 30a outlet you can go up to 30a charging speed for the AC300 which is incredible, but those plugs are extremely rare and nearly no one will ever get to use that feature.

If you’re really in a rush to charge, the AC300 can be charged with both AC (wall outlet) power and solar power at the exact same time. And of course, it has pass-through charging meaning you can charge the system and use it at the same time.

Things to Know About

The battery expansion cables are a big hassle for pretty much everyone. Nearly every review out there mentions that they don’t like the big bulky and unwieldy cables for the batteries.

There are a lot of outlets on the Bluetti AC300 which makes it very versatile. It has a 12v 20a cigarette lighter DC port as well as a 24v 10a cigarette lighter port. Six 120v 20a oultets (house outlets) and one 120v 25a TT-30 RV plug to run your RV off of. There are a number of USB ports as well for mobile devices and even two wireless charging pads on the top of the unit.

It does have a car charger that you can charge up the AC300 from a cigarette lighter port in your car, but it only charges around 120w at the most which means it’s a very slow trickle charge and no one uses those DC charging ports hardly anymore.

Pros

There are some really big wins for the Bluetti AC300. It has a powerful inverter:

Powerful 3,000w Pure Sine Wave inverter.

240v Capable for running nearly the whole house.

3,500 cycles on the LiFePo4 batteries.

UPS setting to supply immediate backup power for essential devices.

A large 2,400w solar input through two MPPT charge controllers.

Pass-through charging to run equipment while the unit is charging.

Dual charging from solar and wall power at the same time.

The batteries are separate from the inverter, so it makes the more portable

It has a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi app.

Cons

Extremely high idle power consumption rate, pretty much a deal breaker.

Any load under 100w will not show up on the screen.

The screen has a harsh viewing angle, you have to be right in front of it to be able to read it.

There are so many settings and options on the screen it can be confusing.

The inverter efficiency varies greatly, another deal breaker.

Most reviews dislike the dust covers on the outlets and the large battery cables.

The 240v power hub has had issues in the past and they are nearly never in stock.

The customer service is horrible. I have never received an email back for any question. I have never had my phone call answered. And their voicemail box is full. Basically, if you have the system, and something comes up, you’re on your own. Another deal breaker.

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Conclusion

Would I recommend this unit to anyone? Sadly, no. The issues that are built into this system are way too big. Not having reliable efficiency, the unit draining on its own really fast, and no one to help support me from customer service are major deal breakers. Just one of those items is enough to be a deal breaker and so the fact that there are three major issues like that means it’s definitely a no-go unit.

In essence, it’s a really good but worthless unit. It has many great features, but the bad features outweigh the good features.

What would I recommend? There are three units I’d recommend over the AC300:

The first would be the EcoFlow Delta Pro because it has a good price for what you get, can do 240v power, is expandable and has pretty decent solar input. Also, their customer service is great and the units are efficient and have a low idle power consumption rate.

If I don’t absolutely need 240v power to run something like a well or to run the outlets and light switches in my house, I’d for sure go with the Titan. The Titan has the same sized inverter at 3,000w, has a similar 2,000w solar input but has massive battery expandability and doesn’t even require proprietary batteries to expand the system. They are tried and true, I have two Titans, one of them has been running my off-grid cabin non-stop for over 2 and a half years without any issues. It’s hard to beat a track record like that. But the Titan will not do 240v power.

If not the Delta Pro or the Titan, then I would absolutely go with the MPS3K. It’s a very basic and not-so-user-friendly unit but it works extremely well. Once it’s set up, it’s very easy to run. It too has a 3,000w inverter but has a 4,500wh battery and 1,500w of solar input. But if you get the expansion battery for the MPS3K it adds another 4,500wh of battery and you can add another charge controller to that battery and add another 2,400w of solar input for a total of 3,900w of solar input which is ridiculously powerful. It is also a better bang for the buck than the Titan and Delta Pro, but the MPS3K will not do 240v power either.

In the end, the reviews speak for themselves about the Bluetti AC300. It’s great on paper, but not so great in person. And that’s really too bad. These other units will serve people very well as they have served me personally very well too.

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Hysolis Apollo Review of the Most Powerful Solar Generator Ever

Introducing the all-powerful, industry revolutionizing, and mind-blowing Hysolis Apollo. Truly, we have never seen a solar generator or power station like this one before. Similarly, to how the Titan revolutionized the solar generator industry, the Apollo is now doing it too.

If you’re looking for a super-powerful, do anything, go-anywhere type of solar generator, this is it.

The Greek God Apollo was capable of protecting people from evil, healing people from disease and illness could see the future, and was extremely powerful in battle. The name for this solar generator is very appropriately given.

A big disclaimer up front, this article has not been sponsored in any way, shape or form. And also, as another disclaimer, this product will not be available for delivery until November 1, 2022. There will be a pre-order for 500 units only. If you go through this article and feel this is the system for you, then do not hesitate to grab it because you do not want to be kept waiting for this one.

For a quick view of the Hysolis Apollo, it will have a 3,000w inverter, 5,376wh internal removable battery, 4,000w of solar charging capability, 6,500 cycles on the LiFePo4 battery, 240v capable, extremely expandable, and an AC input charge speed that is programable up to 3,000w! This shouldn’t have been named the Apollo, it should’ve been named “The Beast!”

And the price, it’s extremely good for everything included, read through the see all the info.

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What Will it Run?

The Hysolis Apollo will quite literally be capable of running anything, as long as you build it to the necessary size. The vast majority of people have found that a 3,000w inverter is plenty strong enough to run their equipment, and that is why the Apollo has a 3,000w pure sine wave inverter with a 6,000w peak. That is for 120v power only, but the Apollo can attach two units together to make 240v power and have a 6,000w inverter continuous output rating and 12,000w peak.

Not only that, but the inverter efficiency rating is 94% which is unheard of. A good quality inverter has 85-90% efficiency. This means that you get nearly 100% of all the battery capacity to use. Many other brands like the Jackery, Pecron, Inergy, and others have inverters with even lower efficiency ratings.

But that’s not even the most impressive part. The EcoFlow Delta Pro has a 3,600w inverter and can put two Delta Pro units together to make 7,200w of output power in 240v. The Apollo can do much more. It has the unique ability to attach up to nice Apollo units together. With nine units it will still be making 240v power but have the output capacity of 27,000 watts of continuous power and 54,000 watts of peak output power.

No other system has been able to connect more than two units together to have superior output capacity. This is literally fully capable of running an entire house without any issues.

For AC power outlets it has six 120v house style outlets (NEMA 5-15) and can push out up to 25a (3,000w) between them all. A single plug will max out at 15 amps which is normal. It also has one 30a style RV plug (TT-30R) that will output up to 25a (120v x 25a = 3,000w).

For 12v DC power outlets, there is one cigarette lighter style plug rated to 15a. There are three USB A fast-charging outlets and one USB C PD60w port. The Apollo includes two 5521 barrel ports. But one DC plug that is not common on other solar generators is the 30a output plug to run heavy equipment like HAM radios and other vital DC equipment.

The Apollo doesn’t mind if you’re running just a fridge, freezer, lights, fans, and kitchen appliances or if you want to run a well pump, electric dryer, central air conditioner, welder, and everything else. If you want to run those things, you just have to build the system big enough to do it.

But how long will it run your equipment?

How Much Battery Storage?

The Apollo has an internal battery made from rectangular LiFePo4 cells connected to make 51v, which are considered the highest quality of all the different lithium battery types and styles. Other systems like the Bluetti AC300 and Bluetti EP500 use cylindrical LiFePo4 cells which are definitely good, but rectangular cells are better.

The Apollos internal battery is 5,376wh of capacity. With 94% inverter efficiency you’ll be able to get 5,050wh of total output for running AC-powered equipment (anything that uses a normal house-style wall outlet).

The Apollo internal battery can be easily removed by the end-user with just a screwdriver. This is great in case the battery needs to be replaced many years down the road from now. It is also a huge advantage if the unit ever does have to get shipped back for warranty work the battery can be removed to greatly reduce the weight for shipping and ease of transportation. The internal battery is about 60lbs and each external battery is about 65lbs.

As mentioned at the beginning, the Apollo is extremely expandable. Not only can up to nine Apollos be connected together to make excessive power, but each Apollo unit can also have up to eight batteries attached to it. Each Apollo can have a maximum of 48,348wh of the battery all connected together. That’s the main internal battery plus eight external batteries for over 48kwh of battery.

At my home, which uses propane for everything heat-related, my entire family and extended family together use an average of 20kwh per day. Maxing out the batteries on just one Apollo would give us 2.5 days of non-stop power. That’s incredible.

I will have at minimum two Apollos to make 240v power for my house which means I can have up to 96,696wh of battery. If maxed out that would give me 5 days of non-stop normal power usage. That’s without using solar panels.

If someone decided to put nine Apollos together with each one maxed out with batteries, the total battery capacity would be 435,132wh. I doubt anyone will ever do that but that’s enough power to run my house just like normal for over 21 days non-stop.

All of those numbers are based on my average daily use, not emergency essential power use, which is 10,000wh at a max per day.

The Apollo expansion batteries all link together with a heavy-duty cable and can all be stacked together in one stack can be in two stacks or all side by side. This gives so much flexibility with where it can go. Especially when using the Apollo in an RV it’ll be very easy to store the main unit and batteries in different configurations.

But with all of that battery capacity, how can they all be recharged?

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Does it Recharge Quickly?

The Apollo so far has not ceased to amaze us. Will the recharge capability let us down? Definitely not.

The Apollo solar generator has a built-in MPPT charge controller capable of charging up to 4,000w of solar to recharge the batteries! The biggest solar charger of any solar generator so far has been the Titan with 2,000w of solar input. The Apollo is now doubling that.

The MPPT charge parameter is 120-500v and 80a. That highest voltage solar input of any other system has been the EcoFlow Delta Pro with a max solar input of 150v and the Apollo demolishes that. The only tricky part with the Apollo is getting at least 120v connected. That is perfectly fine since no one will realistically connect just 500w of solar to this unit. At the minimum, it will recommend having no less than 1,000w of solar panels connected to it.

With such a large charge parameter the Apollo will be able to charge with any solar panel out there and be configurable in many different ways to charge quickly and efficiently. Also, it will be easy to over-panel the system if someone wants to do that, but likely not. Keep reading to see why.

Volts are easy to send over long distances, amps are not. By having such a high voltage range, it will allow people to connect up to two dozen or so solar panels directly to each other making it very easy to set up the solar panels.

With 4,000w of solar input, it is possible to get up to 20,000wh of battery recharged per Apollo each day since there are an average of five solar peak hours per day. Does this mean the Apollo can only charge itself and up to three external batteries? Nope, they thought of that issue too.

Each expansion can have its own MPPT charge controller attached to it. Each battery can have up to 2,400w of solar panels recharging it in addition to the main solar charge controller inside the Apollo. A single Apollo with one extra battery can have up to 6,400w of solar recharging it. Again, this is incredible!

This makes the Apollo the most expandable solar generator ever created. It won’t matter if a new solar generator comes out in a few years with cooler features, because the Apollo will last decades of full-time operation since each battery has 6,500 cycles.

It can charge from a wall charger as well and the wall charging speed is programmable all the way up to 3,000w. Wall charging and solar charging can also be done together at the same time. This would also be applicable when there is no grid power and it’s very cloudy. You can use a gas generator to recharge the entire system quickly along with the solar panels.

How Do Other Units Compare?

There are multiple solar generators that have some similarities but let’s define these in one easy-to-see comparison. The comparisons listed below will be based on 240v configurations, meaning two units.

Inverter: Apollo 6,000w | Delta Pro 7,200w | AC300 6,000w

Base Battery Capacity: Apollo 10,744wh | Delta Pro 7,200wh | AC300 6,144wh

Max Expanded Battery Capacity: Apollo 96,696wh | Delta Pro 21,800wh | AC300 24,576wh

Base Solar Input: Apollo 4,000w | Delta Pro 3,200w | AC300 4,800w

Max Expanded Solar Input: Apollo 46,400w | Delta Pro 3,200w | AC300 4,800w

Price (2 units): Apollo $9,390 | Delta Pro $7,198 | $7,398

Price per Unit Wattage: Apollo $1.20/w | Delta Pro: $1.42/w | $1.33/w

As you can see with how these different specs stack up against each other that the Hsyolis Apollo is the best bang for the buck. Once everything is factored in from the inverter capacity, battery capacity, solar input capacity, and the expandability of each unit, the Hysolis Apollo wins by quite a bit.

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Pros

As we can tell from this review, the Hysolis Apollo is an extremely powerful system. It is unrivaled in terms of power output, input, and expandability. It is very well priced for everything that is included. The Apollo can literally run an entire house, RV, cabin, van, or anything along those lines just by building it up to meet your needs.

One neat feature is that the screen is removable from the Apollo. It can reach up to 60ft away from the main unit and still read out what’s going on. It has a simple yet beautiful looking screen. The Delta Pro has a wireless screen that can be added for an additional $99 but the Apollo’s screen is already wireless, for no extra fee.

The Apollo will also have a phone app so that you can leave the screen on the main unit and monitor everything through your phone easily.

All of the standard safety features are included such as short circuit protection, high voltage protection, and low voltage protection and can even be used as a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) so it will continue to run all your equipment immediately after the power goes out.

The inverter size is just right, the battery is huge, and the solar input is unmatched anywhere. It even has an eco-mode to save even more energy.

The customer service with Hysolis has been top-notch. Having spoken directly with the owner of the Hysolis, he said they are actively looking for more support staff members, here in the USA, so that when someone calls in, they can speak to someone who knows exactly what they’re talking about. Fingers crossed they keep up with customer service because it has been so great.

Cons

Obviously, the weight is a big concern for the Hysolis Apollo. Each battery is 65lbs which is definitely on the heavy side, but it doesn’t even come close to the Delta Pro expansion battery at 84lbs. The Bluetti AC300s battery is 80lbs. And the Apollo batteries have far more energy packed into them than the other brands.

That’s pretty much it, no other cons. The Apollo will have a rolling cart just for it to make it easy to move it across flat surfaces. The only difficulty will be getting it out of the box and going up/down stairs.

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Conclusion

I don’t know of any other system that has the matched capability of the Hysolis Apollo as you can tell from this review. Since I have personally been in the solar generator industry for many years and have talked with tens of thousands of people about systems, I can tell that the Hysolis Apollo is going to truly change the solar generator world.

I am extremely excited to get my first two Apollos, each with one extra battery. That’ll be how I start off. After that, I will keep expanding it so it continues to meet my needs for my home, cabin, RV, and any other situation that arises.

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Duracell PowerSource 660 Gasless Portable Power Station Review

The Duracell PowerSource 660 gasless portable power station has many people looking at it to see if it is something they should buy. There are some reviews out there that say it is the best power station/solar generator to have come out in a long time. Many say in their reviews that “it’s great for the price.” But what do you get for the price? Will it work long-term in a blackout that lasts a few days to a few weeks?

We will find the answers to all of these questions and more in this review but first, we need to understand what’s inside the Duracell PowerSource 660. Since Duracell is one of the world’s largest battery companies, you’d think they would make a gasless portable power station that is top-notch.

I’ll tell you upfront, it’s not what you think. But there is a solution that is amazing!

Battery

The battery inside the Duracell PowerSource 660 is 660 watt-hours which is why it’s called the Duracell PowerSource 660. That’s not a very large battery, to begin with. If you take the average refrigerator, it will use about 80 watt-hours per hour that it’s turned on. So we can take 660 ÷ 80 = 8.25 hours of run time.

For the average power outage, you can get about 6 to 8 hours of run time before it turns off and the battery is dead. That’s not a very long time.

This review online from Charlie said “Purchased like 2 months before the Texas freeze. Following warnings of blackouts, I set the generator as a backup to the refrigerator. I did lose power one day for 14 hours, the battery lasted for 6.”

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During the Texas winter blackout, many people didn’t have power for days. The six hours isn’t enough then. But it has the ability to charge off of solar so wouldn’t that fix that? I’ll address that shortly.

The battery is a Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) battery which for decades has been the common type of battery used for solar setups. However, in today’s day and age, SLA batteries are not considered any good. SLA batteries can only use 50% of their total battery capacity and are very heavy for how much power you get out of them. The Duracell PowerSource 660 weighs 56lbs for just 660wh of battery capacity.

Then the last part about the battery is how many cycles it has. Or in other words, how long will it last until it’s only 80% efficient. The Duracell PowerSource 660 has only 250 cycles. And it will only hold a charge for up to three months.

To put that into perspective, the average smaller solar generator that uses Lithium-Ion can 500 cycles and can hold a charge for up to a year. That is why the number 1 recommended power station is the Titan solar generator. It has 2,000 cycles on its lithium batteries, is 2,000wh of capacity, and can hold a charge for up to five years.

In terms of the Duracell PowerSource 660 battery, there are a number of issues. The capacity is small, the lifecycles are short, it’s heavy, and is old technology.

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Inverter

The inverter is actually great on the Duracell PowerSource 660 power station, well mostly. It is a 1,440-watt continuous output inverter that is capable of running most electronics due to its larger capacity. Many other solar generators or power stations have smaller inverters at 1,000w such as the Bluetti EB240, Suaoki G1000, and the Jackery 1000. But all of those units, even though they have smaller inverters, have pure sine wave inverters.

A pure sine wave inverter means that the inverter is capable of running any electronic efficiently and safely. The Duracell PowerSource 660 portable power station uses a modified sine wave inverter.

The differences between a pure sine wave and a modified sine wave inverter are pretty simple. Basically, there are only certain things that should be run on modified sine wave inverters. And pure sine wave can run anything. That doesn’t mean that you can’t run certain things on a modified sine wave inverter, it just means it won’t run them efficiently.

Going back to the fridge example where the fridge will use about 80wh per hour it’s running. That’s off of a pure sine wave inverter. Running the same fridge off of a modified sine wave inverter could decrease its efficiency and use something like 100wh or 120wh per hour instead of 80wh.

The size or capacity of the inverter is great, 1,440 is generally enough to run any essential piece of equipment. But the sine wave is considered “dirty” and you need to be careful what you run off of it.

Luckily, the Titan uses a pure sine wave inverter and since it’s a 3,000w continuous output inverter it’s capable of running multiple heavy loads from multiple pieces of equipment at the same time without any issues. It’s even capable of running up to a 1.5hp well pump with the right equipment.

Charging

The third most important feature of any power station or solar generator is how fast it can charge and from what sources it can charge. It has a wall charger of course and the wall charger is very nice in that it is a simple power cable, with no power adapter. There’s no black box in the middle of the cable, it’s just a straight power cable.

But most importantly is the solar charge capability. First things first, we know that there is an average of five solar peak hours each day around the USA. That means for up to about five hours a day your solar panels can make up to their maximum rated output. A 100w solar panel can make 100w per hour for up to five hours which equates to 500 watt-hours of battery capacity created.

Since the Duracell PowerSource 660 has a total battery capacity of 660wh we know that we need to make at least 132w off of the solar input to charge in a single day (660wh ÷ 5hrs = 132w). Sadly, the Duracell PowerSource 660 can only input a max of 100w.

It uses a PWM charge controller, which again is older technology. That means it’s incapable of truly letting in 100w from the solar panels. In my video where I tested the PowerSource 660, I attached two 100w solar panels and still was not able to input more than 89w at a time.

Not only does the PowerSource 660 have older technology using a PWM charge controller, but it can only let in 89w at a time which means it cannot be charged in a single day.

Not to mention, that in a true blackout scenario, we need to be running a fridge while charging. Since a fridge will use at least 80wh/hr and the solar panels can only make 89w, the maximum amount of power we can make during the day while running a fridge is 9w, which is nothing.

That is why I love my Titan solar generators so much. Not only do they have incredible battery capacity and a large pure sine wave inverter, but it has 2,000w of solar charge capacity. That is 3x more solar input than any other solar generator on the market and 22x more (2,000w ÷ 89w = 22.47x) than the PowerSource 660.

It’s unfortunate that Duracell, being a huge worldwide company, decided to use the cheaper PWM charge controller.

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Pricing

But remember, the reviews said that “for the price, it’s good.” The Duracell PowerSource 660 gasless portable power station typically sells for about $699 as seen here and has loads of great reviews. It is definitely working for people, but we have to know what their needs are to qualify those reviews. Because we know firsthand now that if you only need to run a fridge for six hours that it’s a great unit. But if you need to run a fridge for 4 days, it’s not a great unit.

Let’s break down the price. There are three main important features of any solar generator or power station. 1. Battery capacity, 2. Inverter capacity, and 3. Solar charge capacity. We take the specs from all three of those features and then divide each spec by the total price.

$699 ÷ 660wh (battery capacity) = $1.06/wh

$699 ÷ 1440w (inverter capacity) = $0.49/w

$699 ÷ 100w (solar capacity) = $6.99/w

Combine that all together and we create what we call the “Unit Wattage.” The total unit wattage for the Duracell PowerSource 660 is $2.84/UW. That’s pretty high. Truly then, when people say “it’s great for the price,” is it really? Because for the price you’re paying $2.84 per unit wattage. By comparison, the Titan breaks down to less than half of that at $1.33/unit wattage.

To be 100% fair, the PowerSource 660 is only $699 which means regardless of what you get for that price, it’s a cheap price in the world of solar generators and power stations.

The Titan is $2,995 which is much higher than the PowerSource 660. But, you’d have to buy over dozens PowerSource 660’s just to equate to one Titan. The Titan is literally 4x the battery, 2x the inverter, 22x the solar charging, and 8x the lifecycles of the PowerSource 660. Not to mention that the Titan holds its charge for 20x longer than the PowerSource 660.

According to all the reviews saying “it’s good for the price” I beg to differ. The numbers don’t lie. The real-world experience I had while testing the Duracell PowerSource 660 doesn’t lie. In no way can I recommend to anyone that they get the PowerSource 660. The only way I could recommend it is if you absolutely have to get something right now, it’s the only unit available, and you don’ have more than $700.

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Conclusion

But truly, you’d be better served to get an inverter gas generator with a propane fuel conversion on it and storing multiple bottles of propane and gasoline. The propane won’t go bad and you’ll spend less than buying the PowerSource 660.

Really you should just save up to get a Titan. Because the Titan has been out on the market for quite some time now and the biggest companies who make solar generators still haven’t beaten it. Goal Zero, Duracell, Inergy, MAXOAK, LION, Jackery, and so on, have all released new units since the Titan was released back in August of 2019, and still, the Titan is the #1 best unit out there bar none.

If you’re truly preparing for a long-term blackout, the Duracell PowerSource 660 gasless portable power station isn’t going to cut it. But the Titan will.

Continue ReadingDuracell PowerSource 660 Gasless Portable Power Station Review

Goal Zero Lithium Yeti 1400 Lithium Power Station Review

Yeti 1400G

oal Zero was truly the first company to make portable solar generators a big deal. With their launch of their big Yeti 1250 many years ago they entered the market and told everyone about it. The Yeti 1250 used a lead-acid battery which is very old technology, but, Goal Zero has come a long way with their lithium line of generators. From that line up the Lithium Yeti 1400 power station is my favorite one.

The Lithium 1400 seems to have a very good balance of inverter power to battery output power as well as simple to use setup. It is readily available on a plethora of websites and is backed up by a great warranty.

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The 1400 has many key features that set it apart from the competition. It is a well-rounded system that allows for some decent customization for each person’s situation. From upgrading to an MPPT charge controller, expanding the solar input capability and being able to use the full inverter capacity until the battery is dead are just a few of the great things about it.

Battery

It’s obvious from the name that the Yeti 1400 Lithium uses a lithium battery. Specifically, it uses a lithium-nmc or “lithium-ion” as it’s more often called. The lithium-ion is leaps and bounds better than what they were using before in their Yeti 1250 since that used a Using the Goal Zero Yeti 1400lead-acid battery. The lithium-ion battery is far lighter and has many more cycles.

It’s a 12v battery and is rated to 132-amp-hours. In easy terms, it’s a 1,425-watt-hour battery which is fairly large for its size. 1,425wh is enough to power a fridge, freezer, lights, fan and CPAP machine for the whole night. Running those items would mean the battery would be completely drained by morning though so it’s important to save as much power as possible. For this reason, it is always recommended to use an outlet timer to control how often the fridge and freezer run. This will save a lot of power and allow for less charging to be needed the next day.

Battery Draw Capacity

The draw capacity of the battery is the full 1,500 watts of the inverter. This is incredible since most solar generators on the market will either not pull the full inverter capacity for very long or have small inverters. This means if I need to use something like a toaster oven, microwave or hot plate/electric cooktop I can do it with no problems. Obviously, they can’t be run simultaneously since that would be more than 1,500 watts.

Other generators like the ExpertPower Alpha and MAXOAK Bluetti are other great generators because they can run the full capacity of the inverter. Their inverters are rated to 1,000 watts though so I can’t run things such as a hot plate which I often do during power outages for cooking. Both have 1,500wh batteries.

Then you have another such as the Inergy Apex which has a 1,500-watt pure sine wave inverter just like the Lithium 1400, but the Apex can only draw 550 watts continuously for more than a few minutes. The Apex uses a 1,100wh battery. It seems like the Goal Zero Lithium 1400 is the combination of those two units since it has both the bigger inverter and the bigger battery.

The Yeti 1400 is really one of the few on the market that can actually pull its weight in regard to using the inverter to the full capacity until the battery dies.

Inverter

The pure sine wave 1,500-watt continuous inverter has a peak value of 3,000 watts which is exactly what it should be. The peak wattage really should always be at least twice as much as what the running wattage is. This makes it easier to run heavy-duty items with large surges of power. Or when multiple items are running at the same time and then one of the items turns on a condenser are starts up a motor. The 3,000-watt peak allows the system to continue running without any interruptions.

Since the inverter is pure sine wave it will also have no problem running any kind of device that uses 1,500 watts of power or less.

Lifetime Cycles

Lifecycles of Goal Zero 1400 LithiumOne of the very limited number of things that is a weak point on the Goal Zero 1400 is how many lifecycles it has. Many lithium-ion based solar generators have a 2,000 lifecycle rating. This means it can be discharged and charged 2,000 times before the battery reaches about an 80% efficiency level. With the Yeti 1400 it is only 500 cycles before it reaches that point.

With that in mind, it’s important to understand how this is not that big of a deal. Too often people get caught up in the numbers and specs and don’t think of the real-world application. I use my solar generators semi-often and most of the time I never drain them below 50%. If I were to use my Yeti 1400 Lithium every single day for 500 days, I would then have a battery that is 80% efficient, or in other words, 1,200wh not 1,500wh where it first started.

Seeing as how I use mine maybe once a week it’s more like I have 500 weeks before I reach that point. 500 weeks x 7 days a week = 3,500 days (9.6 years) before my battery reaches that point. Plus, the fact that I only drain it to 50% at the most so it’s more like a 20-year battery. That is plenty of time to use the Yeti 1400 without having to worry about if the battery is still in good condition. Essentially, I don’t have to worry about it at all.

Yes, it is a weak point when comparing against other solar generators because it doesn’t have 2,000 lifecycles but it really isn’t that big of a deal since I will likely never reach that many cycles any time soon. The fastest way I could see it being reached quickly is if I were using this in my RV/camper all summer long. Even still if I use it every day for a few weeks each year while traveling in my travel trailer the battery will last years before reaching that 500 cycle point.

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Solar Input

The charge controller inside the GZ 1400 Lithium is a PWM controller. PWM is definitely not the top of the line and I don’t know why they even put it in there in the first place. The good news is that it is inexpensive to upgrade to an MPPT charge controller.

A PWM charge controller works perfectly fine on bright sunny days to charge up the Yeti 1400. It will let in a max of 360 watts of power from the solar panels. It is limited to 22v and 25 amps which means solar panels should be connected in parallel into the Yeti 1400.

Where a PWM lacks is when there are not perfect sunny days. When there are clouds the PWM controller can’t compute how to use the panels and make more power. Whereas the MPPT charge controller is designed for making more power in non-ideal conditions. Unless it’s summer it’s more common to have non-ideal conditions, even during summer it happens.

Goal Zero MPPT Charge Controller Before

When it’s cloudy or partly cloudy the MPPT charge controller vastly outperforms a PWM charge controller. The beauty of adding the MPPT charge controller is that it doesn’t replace the PWM. It is a small black box that fits inside the top of the lid of the Yeti 1400 Power Station and very easily attaches. By plugging in the EC8 cable and the USB cable in the top of the Yeti it will allow it to be charged with a second set of panels.

The second set of panels has the same limit as the first set of panels that are plugged into the PWM. Both are limited to 22v and 25 amps. Personally, I use three 100-watt solar panels in each solar charging port to make a max of 600 watts of power. But the limit according to Goal Zero is 720 watts combined between the two solar input ports.

Generally speaking, there are 5 hours a day where the maximum amount of power can be made from solar panels. This makes it pretty easy to calculate my maximum power production per day. If I have 700 watts in panels connected then I multiply that by 5 hours for a total of 3,500wh created each day. I will obviously make power outside of those 5 hours each day but the base number used is 5 hours per day.Goal Zero MPPT Charge Controller After

3,500 watts per day is great. This means I could drain the entire 1,425wh battery during the night if I needed to and the next day within about 2 hours can have it fully charged again. Or even better, I can continue to run my fridge, freezer, laptop, and fans while still charging the battery. After 5 hours I will have a full battery and all of my equipment will still have been running all day long.

It’s important to note that it’s not common to get full production from solar panels each day. Between the 5 prime hours and the rest of the day though it is common to get that much power over the entire day.

Connections

The Yeti 1400 Power Station uses two types of input power connections. Primarily it uses an 8mm barrel connector that is universal throughout all the Goal Zero power stations. It also has an Anderson Powerpole connector which is one of the most common solar power connectors worldwide. It’s great the Goal Zero didn’t try to make everything 100% proprietary because that generally makes people unhappy.

It’s very easy to get an PV Connector to Anderson Powerpole adapter and use that for connecting to other brands of solar panels besides Goal Zero. The Goal Zero solar panels use the 8mm connector.Anderson to PV Connector

The Yeti 1400 Lithium is able to charge simultaneously mostly do to the fact that it can have the second charge controller added to it. This means it can have solar panels in one charging port and the wall outlet charger in the other. This will not harm the battery or the system and will help it charge faster.

If just the wall outlet charger is being used it will take about 24 hours the charge the battery up from zero to full.

Wifi

The newest Yeti 1400 generators now come with built-in Wifi. What this means is that a phone can be connected to it wirelessly and can see what the input, output, and usage levels are of the generator. This is a really exciting feature because it allows people to watch their battery levels and solar panel production levels without having to go look at the screen.

This makes it perfect especially for people out camping or using it while RVing since the Yeti can often be in a spot that’s not easy to get to. Also during power outages, it’s nice to be in the living room with the Yeti 1400 in the garage and see how much power is being made and used.

Charging

There are multiple ways to charge up the Yeti 1400. Primarily is the wall outlet charger and solar panels. It also has the ability to charge from a car DC cigarette lighter port but that car charger seems to be unavailable from anywhere.

It does have a very special car charger called the “Link.” Most car chargers pull power directly from the battery. This is perfectly fine when driving from place to place because the alternator is charging the battery. What the Link does though is it charges directly from the alternator. This allows it to charge up to a rate of 500 watts which is about 5 or 6 times more than you could get with just the normal car charger.

The big drawback to the Link is that it plugs into the exact same spot as the MPPT charge controller. So there’s no way to charge from the Link and panels connected to the MPPT charge controller at the same time. Really it simply makes it a hassle to constantly have to disconnect the Link in order to install the MPPT. I personally prefer just to charge off of solar and a wall outlet so I keep just the MPPT charge controller plugged into that spot.

Weight

The Yeti 1400 comes in at 44lbs. It’s heavy. It’s not so heavy I can’t move it around but it is a bit of a hassle to pick it up and move it around. Every time I pick it up I feel like I’m at the gym lifting a large 45lb weight. I guess it would be possible to save on the gym membership and just workout with the Yeti Lithium 1400. Most likely not recommended by Goal Zero though.

Carrying the Goal Zero 1400

It’s important to look at it in terms of end-users. Many people are using solar generators simply because they understand that gas is hard to get during power outages, they don’t want dangerous fumes, or because it’s much easier to use than gas generators. 45lbs is above my comfort zone of 35lbs so it is considered to be a heavy solar generator.

Outlets

When Goal Zero first launched their Yeti 1250 with the lead-acid batteries it had three 110/120v outlets. I think four should be the minimum that companies go for because it seems like it’s very easy to fill up two or three outlets when running a fridge, freezer, laptop, CPAP, TV or whatever else. I generally don’t like having to put power strips into solar generator outlets because it makes it much easier to overload them.

The Yeti 1400 Lithium only has two 110/120v outlets. Why Goal Zero decided to put fewer outlets on there we’ll never know but I wish it had four instead of just two. To run multiple items there’s no choice but to run extension cords and or power strips to multiple items.

It has one 12v DC cigarette port for items that use DC power. It also has two USB A ports, one USB C port and one they call USB PD. Basically the USB PD port is a stronger version of the USB C port. These ports are enough to easily charge phones, some laptops, and other personal devices.

It does not include a 30amp RV plug which is too bad. With a 1,500 watt inverter and a 1,425wh battery, this could definitely connect to small or medium-sized RVs and give good power. Plus it’s very easy to mount solar panels to the roof of an RV which makes it all the more reason why it should have an RV plug.

Using the Goal Zero Lithium 1400

 

Warranty

As usual, it is recommended to charge/use the Lithium 1400 Yeti every 3 months. This keeps the battery is a healthy state so that it lasts for a very long time. It seems like if it’s fully charged and left for one year that it is still in good condition though.

The warranty that Goal Zero provides is somewhat general yet at the same time very unique. It as a one-year manufacturer warranty on it meaning anything that’s not the user’s fault will be able to get it fixed for free if it happens I the first year. This is why it’s so important to get it out and use it so that any issues come out and can be fixed before the one-year mark hits.

What sets their warranty apart is that the warranty is both transferrable and resets when sold to a new customer. For example, if someone owns the Yeti 1400 Lithium for 9 months then decides to sell it, the new owner gets a one-year warranty from the day they bought it, not from the day the original owner purchased it. This is a great move by Goal Zero to ensure that people are satisfied with their generators.

X-Factor

There are a number of things that set the Goal Zero Lithium 1400 apart from the other solar generators on the market. First that it can expand it’s solar with the MPPT charge controller up to 720 watts is great.

Also that it has the Link car charger is not available on any other brand of solar generator to this date. That is a great way to charge when in the car not only because it’s fast but it also means that when the car is turned off it won’t drain the battery of the car.

Weakness

It’s really too bad that the MPPT charge controller is an upgrade. It is so common for solar generators to have MPPT charge controllers as the standard now. Goal Zero should have redesigned an upgraded unit that has prebuilt MPPT charge controllers already in it.

The fact that it only has 500 cycles instead of 2,000 cycles is a weakness too but not a bad one.

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Conclusion

Whereas the Goal Zero Yeti 1400 Lithium Power Station is not my #1 choice it is definitely a top choice. For people, those needing moderate power needs during power outages or out on the road it definitely fits the bill. It can make and store enough power to easily get by day to day with essential power needs. I would definitely recommend it to anyone needing light to moderate power.

Continue ReadingGoal Zero Lithium Yeti 1400 Lithium Power Station Review