If we could not mutate this thread into a climate change, or anti-solar panel and anti-wind turbine, anti-renewable energy thread... that would be appreciated by everyone.

 

A pretty awesome device. 6 months of off-grid power. Bet its expensive, though. No electrician required.

 

 

That thing is on sale in the U.S. for $1,169.  

It's not quite true that for 6 months one can get completely free power, however.  Like he said, some fixed appliances like water heaters and furnaces can't be plugged into it, and even if one had special electrical work done so that it could power those systems, I wouldn't want to try that plus run the fridge, washing machine, microwave, TV, computer, etc. as the capacity for this thing is limited to 3800 watt-hours.  They do sell expansion batteries so that could be an option.

Anyway, this is not a bad deal at all.  Much more reasonable than the 10-20 grand systems I see, although those can power the whole house and have larger capacity.

Dave

There are quite a few companies that make these DIY friendly battery packs, now. They are designed for a few appliances, not entire houses.

His video is very misleading. The unit has 3 13 amp sockets, I recall, so you obviously aren't going to power your whole house. In just a kitchen for example, you have multiple devices...  cookers, microwaves, dish washers, fridges, freezers, mains lighting, etc. Then there's the rest of the house, mains lighting in all rooms, TV sets, computers, bedside lamps and on and on. Obviously not possible with just three 13 amp outlets.

You can only power a few devices within range of the unit. You aren't going to run a super long extension cable thats a trip hazard so you'd have to wheel the hefy device around.

I think he's misrepresented what they are designed for.

Edited September 15, 2025Sep 15 by martin-w

looks like it would be perfect for a small cabin, off grid with not too many electrical gadgets.

9 minutes ago, vgbaron said:

looks like it would be perfect for a small cabin, off grid with not too many electrical gadgets.

 

Yep. Summer house, cabin, anything with just a few appliances. 

 

I would suggest reading amazon feedback on these things before purchase. Look at the kilowatt hours on your monthly bill right now. Compare that to the rating on the batteries and the charge rate. These type of things have been around for at least 20 years.

Probably at least half of the people use them are preparing for emergencies (a hurricane shuts down the electrical power plants in your city, or maybe riots cause law and order to break down). Preppers (people preparing for SHTF) buy them. And also shelves full of freeze dried food, ammunition, backpacks, lightweight tents, alcohol stoves, some racks of filled 5 gallon water bottles, etc. There are at least tens of thousands of Youtube videos on prepping. 

They are for people who buy two 5090s just in case one melts.

54 minutes ago, Fielder said:

These type of things have been around for at least 20 years.

Probably at least half of the people use them are preparing for emergencies 

 

Portable batteries have been around for years. Not LFP and lithum ion batteries with built in inverters.

Im sure preppers like them, but no, not 50% of sales, thats way over the top. 

Wait a couple of years, lots of new battery tech coming out in 2026 and 2027 and even more due in 2030.

this is a year old, but has made progress:

Warning: science inside 😉

 

35 minutes ago, SayAgain said:

Warning: science inside

Oh gosh, I hope the rest of us backwards simple folk can understand this science stuff?  I'm so glad that there's smart people here like you to explain it all to us😊

Capacitors have long been used to store electricity, especially in applications where a lot of current is drawn for a short time, for example, when a compressor starts up.  If the energy density can be increased that much then that's a pretty big deal, as they can then be used like a battery.  Capacitors charge, and discharge, very fast, hence they can be charged much faster than a battery, and the discharge can be regulated.

Advancements like this are what will make EVs more practical.  Now we just need more and better charging stations, but those will come as EVs become more popular.

Dave

Read the top line of the first post on this thread (cough). Oh dear.

Not designed to power your entire house.  In my former marital home, I put 9kWh (18 x 500W panels) on the roof.  Now that cost me £8k, and provided not only all the electrical power a 7bed house needed, but also 2 immersion heaters in a hot water tank for hot water.  The only running cost was the standing charge for connection.

Now that system benefitted from an old analogue meter, which happily ran backwards when the system produced more electricity than was being used.  So over the summer a massive excess if electricity ran the meter backwards several thousand kWh, and then ran forward again in the winter 🤣.  Essentially using the national grid as a big year round storage battery.

Post divorce, I have a smaller place which is unfortunately on a smart meter.  That has 10 400W panels matched to a 3.5 kWh battery.  I'm finding over the summer the exported electricity just about balances my usage, but in the winter it's going to cost me a bloody fortune still.  But at least my 5090 isn't bleeding my wallet dry over half the year! 🤣🤣🤣

 

Ecoflow is LFP so minimal fire risk if any.

 

https://uk.ecoflow.com/products/stream-ultra-x?variant=51451071201619

 

Edited September 16, 2025Sep 16 by martin-w

Not sure about other countries, but I recall the UK being concerned about power being fed back into the grid during power cuts. Not sure if something like this is approved in the UK or not.

 

 

Edited September 16, 2025Sep 16 by martin-w