Camping

Alternative Portable Power Devices

Introduction

Here I share a few devices that I think are worth mentioning. If I was going to try something other than the Jackery or the Bluetti power supplies, I would consider giving these a test.

All of these devices have an inverter with an output power between 500W and 1kW and a battery capacity of between 500Wh and 1kWh.

These boxes are available in South Africa.

Sunmaster 200W Solar Panel

Before looking at the power boxes, I want to look at an alternative solar panel. My requirement is 200W (8A) output power in order to be able to charge the Bluetti EB70. One that caught my eye on the Evocharge website was the Sunmaster 200.

What makes this panel different to the Bluetti PV200 is that it comes with a carry bag. Although Pat is getting pretty good at making bags for panels, it is time consuming.

Another advantage is that the stands have feet with grommets to tie the panel down in strong winds. Pegs are included as part of the package. My biggest gripe with the Bluetti PV200 is not being able to tie it down.

The Sunmaster 200 is fitted with a grey Anderson plug, but it does include an adaptor to fit DC7909, DC5525 and Anderson PP45 (black/red) input connectors.

If I was in the market, I would definitely choose this panel over the Bluetti PV200.

Romoss Thunder RS1000 Portable Power Station (933Wh)

Although this has a Li⁺ battery, I have added it to my "worth looking at" boxes as I am very, very impressed with the Romoss power banks that I have. The battery capacity of 933Wh is impressive for a box in this price range. What is more impressive is the 1000W inverter (which can handle a spike of 2000W).

A downside is that it can only handle a maximum of 120W solar input - this will make charging the battery take a pretty long time. It does have a DC7909 input port which makes it fit in with the kit I have.

An advantage is that it does have two standard SA 3-pin plug outlets.

What is quite worrying, is that no South African distributor wants to claim ownership of this box. This site does give pretty decent specs on the box

VigorPool Captain 700 (672Wh)

This is one of those boxes that I wish I had found sooner. It has a LiFePO₄ battery with a capacity of 672Wh, which is very similar to that of the Bluetti EB70 (716Wh). The 700W inverter has a surge output of 1300W.

Jasonoid tested one of these boxes and was very impressed with its capabilities. What I really like is that by linking two of the boxes (with a proprietary cable) you can both double the battery capacity and double the power output.

This box supports fast charging (1½h) as it does not require a power brick. It can handle 240W of solar input through an Anderson plug (red/black).

It does have UPS functionality with a switchover time of 10ms.

It has a standard South African 3-pin plug socket which means that, unlike the Jackery 500, the Bluetti EB70 and the Ecoflow River, you don't need adaptors to connect to AC appliances.

It also has a smartphone app to control the box. The only other box that I have looked at, with a smartphone app, is the Ecoflow.

I definitely think this box is worth further investigation.

Gizzu Hero Core (512Wh)

Gizzu have just released their upgraded boxes, and the successor to the Gizzu GPS500 is the Gizzu Hero Core. This is a massive upgrade on the Gizzu that I had. As the Gizzu GPS500 performed well on my usage tests, I have to add this box to my wishlist.

With the upgrades on this box, it's almost as if they read what irritated me with the GPS500. First off, if you look at the pic above, you can see there is far more information on the display. It has a LiFePO₄ battery with a capacity of 512Wh and it takes direct AC input (no power brick) which allows an input of 400W (1½h charging time). Gone is the 4mm barrel connector, it is replaced by an XT60 DC input port which can handle 200W (3.7h charging time). These alone remove most of my gripes about the GPS500.

Like the GPS500 it comes standard with a SA 3-pin plug socket which means no adaptors are required. It has UPS functionality with a switchover time of 10ms.

The price of this device makes it very attractive.

(updated: 7 September 2023)