DEAD EASY DIY Complete All In One Solar Power System for Off Grid Home RV Van | ECOFLOW Power Kits

Posted on by HOBOTECH Tom
ecoflow powerkits

DEAD EASY DIY Complete All In One Solar Power System for Off Grid Home RV Van | ECOFLOW Power Kits

 

The Professor reviews the world’s simplest DIY, plug & play, BEGINNER FRIENDLY all in one solar power system — the ECOFLOW POWER KITS, after a FULL YEAR in the lab! It’s a complete solution for off grid RV / Van / Home Backup.

ecoflow powerkits
Watch it here

Say you know little to nothing about building out your own fully featured solar power system, but you want to install one in your RV, van, boat, cabin, or outbuilding. As long as you only need single phase 120v power, one of the simplest plug n play solutions on the market today is the Ecoflow Power Kit system. It’s an all in one solar power solution that can charge direct from any DC source up to 60v including a vehicle alternator, has two built in MPPT solar controllers, it’s own 70A regulated DC output, and a built in 3600w inverter. Power Kits support up to a whopping 15kWh of power (or the equivalent of 12x 100ah lithium batteries). It all sounds pretty fantastic, but we’ve gotta know — is it any good? Let’s find out!

You may have heard of Power Kits before, since they’ve been around for well over a year, and I’ve actually had one in full time use since early 2023. I first installed it in my trailer and used it for a month in Quartzsite. At that time, it was a prototype. I received an updated version and installed it last year to power my entire Lab. I did this by running the AC output into a mechanical interlock switch in my breaker box. Unfortunately, I don’t have footage of exactly what it looked like then since I’ve changed it but here’s the general idea.

The Power Kits system comes with all the cables and mounting brackets that you need for either a mobile or static installation.

Now, I need to admit upfront that I didn’t use any of the battery mounting hardware but used my own straps instead. The reason being I knew the install in my trailer was temporary and at the time it was a prototype so I actually had an entirely separate conventional solar power system as a backup. I’m the kind of person that always tries to have backups in place for things like power which is vital when you are camping in the middle of the desert for a month without hookups. Here’s some old footage I took camping in Quartzsite with it in 2023. This is previously taken from the video “How to solar power everything in your RV”.

I did take some footage a few months back when I was testing out the inverter capacity on the Power Kit. This is when it was still hooked up as my primary system. You’ll notice I only had two of the 5kWh batteries and have since upgraded to a third battery.

I had the Power Kit as my exclusive power system in the lab for about a year. You have to understand that I use a LOT of power in here. There were many days 10kWh wasn’t enough. So I had some other 3rd party batteries feeding into the Power Kit via the Alternator Input.

This is probably the best feature of the Power Kit – the ability to charge from 12-60v sources at 60A up to 1600w. So if you are installing this in a mobile application in a vehicle with an alternator, you can hook up to your starter battery and there is a setting in the app that will only charge your system while the engine is running. It also has this cool feature where you can send emergency starting power from the Power Kit batteries back into your starter battery so you don’t get stranded. This is all controlled via the excellent Ecoflow app.

So what’s the Power Kit doing now? As you can see, it is still in my lab and is powering some equipment. Up until I had the Ecoflow Delta Pro Ultra and the Smart Home Panel 2 installed, I was exclusively using the Power Kit to run everything in the lab. It still charges daily with solar and is used as a backup system in case I have to shut down the main system. Let’s check it out.

I wasn’t sure if Ecoflow was ever going to want me to do a full review of this system because every time I asked them, there was a higher priority like a newer product launch. That’s why this review has taken so long and also why I don’t have tons of footage of it in action.

I did beat the tar out of it for a very long time and there were a few bugs that seems to all have been squashed in the past year of firmware updates. That’s one thing that makes Ecoflow top dog in this industry. The fact they release regular firmware updates to fix bugs and add new features across their entire product line. They even recently fixed a time display bug that I reported a while back.

So let’s talk about the basic specifications. A lot of this can’t be easily found on their website, but I pieced it together from several sources.

Specs:

  • Let’s start with the batteries. It supports from 2kWh up to to 15kWh of power kit batteries and these are of course 3500+ cycle LiFePO4 (the cycle life can be further increased by limiting charge and discharge limits in the app).

  • The batteries are available in both 2kWh and 5kWh sizes and up to 3 of the same type can be used together. You can’t mix and match. So if you start with a 2kWh battery you’ll be limited to 3 of those total for only 6kWh maximum – this is fine if you are severely limited on space. If your budget allows, I’d suggest starting with the 5kWh battery because then you can upgrade to the maximum 15kWh later down the line. Let me put the sizes and weights on screen so you can see it these fit your application. 

  • Note the 5kWh battery is pretty heavy at 90lbs, but it is very compact. I remember when I first recieved them, I thought they sent me the wrong size. I was like “no way they fit a 5kWh server rack battery in there!”. If you’re considering this for an RV just be sure you have a storage compartment big enough for these batteries. I decided to install both the main inverter head unit and the battery in the same compartment. This way the inverter keeps the battery warm and the cable runs are the shortest.

  • Of note, these batteries are also heated and rated IP54 for outdoor use. So you can place them in an area that is not insulated and receives some moisture. Heated batteries means you can charge them all the way from from minus 4 degrees, up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit.

  • On to the main inverter unit they call the Power Hub. This thing is amazingly small and lightweight for all that’s packed inside.

    • It’s only 31 lbs and measures approximately 19 x 6 x 12 inches. It does need to be mounted upright so the fans are up top.

    • It has a 3600w pure sine inverter with a 7200w 100ms surge ability. Note that the Power Kits only output 120v at 60hz and does not offer 240v or split phase capability. This is a non issue for mobile applications, but I wanted to mention this if you planned to use it in a residential capacity.

    • Lets talk about AC input. The Power Kit can be charged with AC power, for example shore power, from the grid, or from a generator. In fact, it is designed out of the box to be used with Ecoflow’s 1800w dual fuel gas and propane generator. That generator can be set to auto start and stop depending on the battery level percentage you set in the app. This would be an amazing combo while camping. I do have a separate full review on that product I did last year.

    • If you are charging from standard grid power, it can be charged at up to 3000w at 30A. So if you install a 30A RV plug on the AC input cable, you can plug it directly into 30A service at any RV park or campground. There’s probably a way to also plug it into level one EV chargers with the right adapter. Just remember it only charges with 120v.

    • As for DC charging, this thing is a total beast. It has 3 high wattage DC inputs. One is a low PV or alternator input, DC to DC charger that can charge with 13-60v up to a whopping 60A at a maximum rate of 1600w. The other two are MPPT controllers that can charge from 15v all the way up to 150v at 30A or 1600w. If you look at the current user manual it says these support only 60v, but that is old information. All 3 inputs can be run simultaneously for a whopping 4800w of DC charging. This means you can top up the maximum 15kWh of batteries in less than 4 hours.

    • If that’s not enough, it does support simultaneous AC & DC charging up to 6000w which will top up the largest battery combo in under 3 hours. So say you want to top up with shore power and solar at the same time before leaving on an adventure, you can certainly do that. If hooked to your alternator and solar, both will charge at the same time while you drive. It’s really a fantastic system since this is all built into a single compact unit.

    • As for solar options, you can use whatever solar panels you like as the cables come with MC4 plugs already attached. Ecoflow does sell rigid 100w and 400w solar panels with mounting kits for most surfaces. I’ve used everything from 4x 320w Renogy panels to 450w bifacials with the Power Kit, both at the same time even, and they all work great. So I won’t cover the solar aspect of this product as it is very versatile and you can basically do what you want to get to that 1600w per MPPT.

    • Last but not least is the high amp regulated 12v/24v output. The Power Kit can also be hooked directly into a fuse box to supply up to 70A at 13.6v or 60A at 26.4v. It doesn’t support 12v and 24v output at the same time but this is switchable from 12v to 24v within the app or console. 70A of DC output is the most you’ll get from any Ecoflow product, or any competitor for that matter. This output is of course protected internally by Ecoflow, but I would still recommend installing your own fuse on this output because a 70A short is nothing to laugh about.

    • As mentioned before, this entire unit can be monitored and controlled remotely from anywhere you have Internet access, and even if you don’t it has built in WiFi and Bluetooth that can be used without service. But what if you hate wireless access and apps?

    • You can also get the optional (but highly recommended) Power Kit Console touch screen display. Power and data are both delivered through a standard network cable so it is easily ran through most walls to where you would like to mount it. This will enable you to use the entire system without WiFi or Bluetooth if desired. You can even update the firmware from the console which is pretty sweet.

  • I do want to mention that this product is also UL1973 & 458 certified so it is safe to install in your mobile or residential application.

Opinion

  • So what do I think about the Power Kits system after using it for more than a year? I think it is a fantastic piece of engineering from Ecoflow and I was really shocked they didn’t really market the thing. It kind of came and went and some of you did ask me about it. I’m sure some of you already have purchased and installed it so I’d be interested to hear your comments and what you think about it.

  • I know already many of the DIY crowd is going to complain about this product because it is an all in one, plug and play solution designed to be a total no brainer install that literally anyone with no electrical knowledge can use. This of course comes at a price.

  • The Power Kits are not cheap. Prices range from 4k up to about 13k with discounts. This is about what a professional solar installer would charge for a much smaller component system. You can instead DIY the install yourself and end up with a system with much larger capacity for similar money.

  • This is state of the art technology and it does come with a factory 5 year warranty which can be extended up to 10 years – so your investment is protected. You also may qualify for the 30% federal solar tax credit depending on how it is installed.

  • A side note about how to purchase this product. Ecoflow has outsourced Power Kits to a vendor called Campervan HQ. They are a licensed distributor of this product so don’t be freaked out when you click the links and end up on their website.

CHECK IT OUT HERE: https://gohobo.io/efkit5k

Complete 2kWh Kit: https://gohobo.io/efkit2k

Complete 4kWh Kit: https://gohobo.io/efkit4k

Complete 5kWh Kit: https://gohobo.io/efkit5k

Complete 10kWh Kit: https://gohobo.io/efkit10k 

Complete 15kWh Kit: https://gohobo.io/efkit15k

 

BougeRV JuiceGo 240Wh Ultra Portable Power Station Solar Generator

Posted on by HOBOTECH Tom
bougerv juicego

BougeRV JuiceGo 240Wh Ultra Portable Power Station Solar Generator

The Professor reviews BougeRV’s new JuiceGo 240Wh LFP ultra portable power station with 50w folding solar panel.

bougerv juicego
Watch it here.

BougeRV, the brand known mostly for their solar panels and 12v fridges, is releasing a new line of portable power products in 2024. Their latest offering is called the “JuiceGo”, it’s an ultra portable LiFePo4 micro power station, designed for folks on the go. Is it any good? Let’s check it out!

The JuiceGo sports a 240wh LiFePO4 battery with a 3500 cycle life in a compact case that’s only 10 and a quarter, by 6.7, by 2.6 inches and weighs in at a measly 6 and a quarter pounds.

You carry it upright using this strap and when carried this way reminds me of a vintage camera case or maybe even a tri-corder that Spock used on the original star trek [image]

What’s different about this micro sogen is that unlike a lot of the competition, this has a built in color LCD screen that gives you all the necessary information like input/output watts, battery state of charge percentage, AC & DC output icons, and an error icon.

This mini power station is also very simple to operate. You have a single power button that you hold to turn the unit on, then press again to turn on the AC inverter. Yes, this has a built in 150w modified sine inverter on the back. The main purpose of this tiny inverter is to charge up your laptop but you can run other small devices too such as a fan, LED lights, a TV, radio, CPAP machine, or even a portable telescope. With the upcoming once in a lifetime T coro-nae borealis nova about to blow, I’ve been shopping for a good telescope, and the JuiceGo would be a great way to power it in the field.

As for DC outputs you have plenty on the front. The “Juice” offers a 13v regulated cigarette lighter accessory socket good for 10A or 130w total, a pair of USB-C ports – one is 100w bi-directional which means you can charge this with USB-C PD, and the other is a 30w output only perfect for phones and tablets. It also sports a single USB-A quick charge output great for powering anything USB. It’s actually very well rounded for a micro power station.

As for ways to charge there are 4 total, with one caveat. The JuiceGo doesn’t actually charge directly from AC wall power as there is no AC adapter included. However, an AC adapter is sold separately that simply converts AC power into 100w PD. You may already have one of these in your home.

So your choice for charging out of the box, is either going to be from solar, with 12v/24v from the included car port adapter, or if you have your own USB-C PD output (like from another solar generator) you can charge it that way. All four ways to charge are hard capped at 100w each so they all take relatively the same time, or 0-full in about 2.5 hours.

There is no simultaneous charging support on this product, so no you can’t charge with two methods at the same time. It does support pass through charging which means you can use both AC and DC outputs while at the same time charging. The maximum combined AC+DC output is 410w.

Solar is hard capped at 100w with the input limited to 11-32v @10A. The JuiceGo does come in a bundle with a very nice and compact 50w solar panel. Under ideal conditions you can fully charge the JuiceGo with their 50w panel in about 5 hours, or one typical solar day. You can use your own solar panel up to 32v and 100w to charge it in under 3 hours, but be aware the solar charge port is a 7909 or 8mm input. This is the same size solar input used by smaller Bluetti and Jackery power stations. You can of course use an MC4 to 8mm adapter to run any solar panel you like as long as it’s under 32v Voc, and those adapters are available at gohobo.io/adapters.

This product can be discharged in temperatures as low as –4F (or –20C), and can be charged in temperatures as high as 104F (or 40C).

As for auto shut off, the AC will turn itself off after 1 hour if under a 5w load, and DC will turn itself off after 1 hour if there is no DC load. This means it will power a DC refrigerator without issue as long as it cycles at least once per hour. If you’re camping in below refrigerator temperatures and the JuiceGo does power down your fridge, you can simply turn the LED light on and that should be enough load to keep the DC side running. 

Speaking of that light, do you think it has the infamous SOS feature? Let’s see… 

I did perform a DC battery capacity test at 8A and it scored 230wh out of 240 for a very impressive 96%. No one is going to care about anything else on a DC focused product such as this, so I didn’t bother with any of the other tests. We know that the 100w bi directional USB works just fine because that’s how I charged it up.

So there you have it, the JuiceGo by BougeRV. I think it’s pretty cool and I can certainly see several use cases for something of this size. It is designed for personal power only, and not for running your RV, home kitchen appliances, or anything like that. 150w won’t even run the smallest coffee maker so don’t even try. But if you need to throw a couple of charges into your laptop, or want an easy to carry CPAP battery, this is certainly a solid choice.

GET THE JUICEGO: https://gohobo.io/juice use code HOBOTECH20 (valid until May 31st)

SOLAR ADAPTERS: https://gohobo.io/adapters

 

Reviewing Amazon’s CHEAPEST Gaming PC Computer! Dell OptiPlex

Posted on by HOBOTECH Tom
dell optiplex $125 pc

 

dell optiplex $125 pc
Click HERE to watch!

 

Reviewing Amazon’s CHEAPEST Gaming PC Computer! Dell OptiPlex

 

The Professor reviews Amazon’s cheapest Windows 10 Pro, Intel i5 quad core, 4K FULL PC desktop computer with HD LCD monitor, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Keyboard / Mouse that’s gaming and workstation ready!

  • No, this isn’t click bait. You can actually buy a modern 64 bit, quad core desktop computer with LCD monitor, keyboard, and mouse for only 125 bucks. It also includes WiFi & Bluetooth, and comes preloaded with Windows 10 Professional, meaning it can run virtually any PC software, including most games. If this sounds too good to be true, it’s not ,because I bought one myself to ask one simple question, is it any good? Let’s find out!
  • So what’s the catch? First, these aren’t brand new PC’s, but ones that have been refreshed by qualified Microsoft Authorized Refurbishers. These aren’t fly by night companies but ones that have a proven track record of professionally refurbishing Windows PC’s. Being in this program allows them to install fresh, new copies of Windows at virtually no cost. Which is one reason why they are so inexpensive.
  • These PC’s originally started as new computers that were likely used in a corporate environment. When a business gets new PC’s, for example to move to Windows 11, the old PC’s get recycled to refurbishers that then clean them up, and flip them for resell in bulk. What this means for you, is that you get what looks like a brand new, totally clean, and fully functioning computer for pennies on the dollar. In most cases you won’t even know the parts were used because they are cleaned, tested, hard drives are wiped, and anything broken has been replaced. The PC I bought also includes a refurbished monitor, a new keyboard & mouse combo, and a full copy of Windows 10 Pro pre-installed in that $125 price. Amazon Refurbished does provide a 90 day warranty and some of the companies selling these bump that up to a full year.
  • Before we take a look at the PC in detail. You may ask why you even need one to begin with.
  • In 2024, there are still many reasons to own a desktop PC. While it is technically feasible to do most things online with a modern cell phone, there’s a lot of software out there that still requires a PC or Mac to run. Many tasks are simply easier on a big screen with a full keyboard and mouse. If you type a lot, need to multi-task, or use spreadsheets you know what I mean.
  • Yes, you can use a laptop but even the cheapest Windows laptops start around $350 and are honestly, garbage. They have horrible screens, mushy keyboards, and are slow as molasses for any real tasks. Let’s not even talk about Apple products because we all know what those cost – even the used market is crazy.
  • While the $125 PC I’m about to show you isn’t a power house by any means, it is far better than a cheap $350 laptop and is almost as portable. These are compact “flat top” or horizontal cases that can also be ran in the vertical position. They include a DVD drive so you can install software from CD’s or DVD’s as well as watch DVD movies. There is no floppy drive but they do support boot loading from flash drives. The included monitor is 19” which is just the right size to stick on top of the case as you see here and takes up very little space.
  • If you’re saying, well laptops have batteries and you can use them anywhere. My answer to that is “I have dozens of reviews on small micro power stations that will run this PC probably a lot longer than your cheap laptop.”
  • Okay, let’s get on with the review – starting with the basic specs of this PC.
    • This model is the Dell Optiplex 5040 with an Intel Quad Core I5-6500 processor clocked at 3.2ghz but boosts to 3.6ghz. This CPU made its debut in 2015 but is still a 64 bit processor that supports most of the modern Intel features such as Speedstep & Virtualizaion. This processor does include Intel HD 2500 graphics and supports up to 3 monitors using InTru 3D and Clear Video HD technology. All this means is that videos and graphics will look great. While I’m not a fan of processors with built in graphics, they do keep the price down. I do have an upgrade path for better graphics planned towards the end of this video.
    • This PC comes with 8GB of DDR3 memory which is fine for most tasks and can be upgraded to 32GB. We will add additional memory during testing for $20 to see how much faster it gets.
    • It also includes a 500GB SATA hard drive which can be upgraded later if needed. That should be plenty of space for most.
    • At this price point, it also comes with a 19” LCD monitor, a new keyboard and mouse, and Windows 10 Pro which is nice because Windows 10 Home sucks.
    • Now the reason I chose this specific PC is because it is still modern, and comes with enough power and memory to handle the majority of tasks. While it won’t handle the latest Call of Duty or edit 4K videos, you can get pretty close with a few choice upgrades.
    • What I will do first is test it as-is with a benchmark program to get a baseline then run a few popular games to see how it does. Then I’ll upgrade the memory and run the same tests again. Finally, I’ll upgrade the graphics and see how much improvement we get.
    • First, let’s put the thing together…

 

  • Default tests: PCMark, GTA5, Minecraft, Skyrim
  • Added GPU, repeated tests.

Opinion:

  • Wow! I have to admit I’m really shocked just how fast this thing gets with just a few minor upgrades. Yeah, I doubled the price of the PC doing it, but we’re still under $275 with all of the upgrades and the result is a PC that can handle some pretty serious gaming and is pretty snappy when it comes to programs. The major bottleneck is that clunky 500GB hard drive. I bet if I swapped that out for a SSD this little box would scream even with only 16GB of memory. [See YouTube Video after upgrade]
  • This goes to show you that just because you’re old, doesn’t mean you’re dead. While there are some amazing high end processors out there you have to realize that most of the software on the market today is far behind today’s monster processing power. A lot of stuff runs just fine on 10 year old hardware as long as you have half decent graphics and memory. A quad core 3.5ghz processor is generally “good enough” for anything short of high end gaming or video editing. If you’re not a serious gamer and you just tinker with photo/video editing, and want a much better experience online than a tablet or laptop … this is a real eye opener and a huge value when it seems like everything is just getting more expensive. They are also so easy to upgrade with the tool-less design that anyone can do it. I would totally buy one of these PC’s as a gift to anyone that wants or needs a computer. At $125 that’s less than the cost of a decent night out with the family. Instead of dinner for mother’s day, get her a PC! Kids need a computer for school? Bam. If they break it, so what. With the included DVD player and HDMI output it would even make a great entertainment center PC for your TV. The applications are endless at this price.

Pricing

  • On a final note about that price. I’ve been calling this the “$125 PC” because that’s what I paid for mine from Amazon Refurbished just a few months ago. This particular model’s price varies depending on which reseller that day has the “buy box” and that’s not always the one with the lowest price. I’ve seen this same PC go for as low as $121 or as much as $139. There is a lot of competition with this model so you may spend a few dollars more or less than the quoted $125. I purchased mine from the seller “United PC Tek” and if you get it from the same seller it should be identical to mine or somewhat close. I know some of the other sellers may offer the same product in a different Dell case or may include a different brand monitor of the same size. Since this stuff is refurbished and limited to product in hand, what they sell over time is likely to change.

CHECK IT OUT HERE: https://gohobo.io/dell7010

Graphics Card Upgrade: https://gohobo.io/gt1030

Memory Upgrade: https://gohobo.io/ddr3l

Speaker Upgrade: https://gohobo.io/IEbm

SSD Hard Drive Upgrade: https://gohobo.io/evo870

DVI to HDMI Cable (for graphics card upgrade): https://gohobo.io/QhGZ

CFORCE Portable Monitor: https://gohobo.io/bJlh (2.5K version – 4K sold out)

WANT A FASTER PC? Dell 7020 i7 with SSD $161! https://gohobo.io/dell7020