Bluetti EB70

[Kontiki]

As my leisure battery isn't accessible taking the cupboards apart (stupid design) I've been looking at the power banks +PV panels for some extra power. I have downsized to a VW poptop so space is at a premium. I need something to charge my mobility scooter & also give me some extra power to the van battery. I've been looking at the Bluetti EB70 + PV 120 solar. I'm not expecting it to be used for much more than a few days probably a week max. I usually charge my scooter when it gets down to 50% (couple of decent trips) & wonder if it is possible to keep leisure battery boosted by using the Bluetti to charge van through the hook up cable. The most use of the leisure battery would be the fridge (can draw 42amps) but only have it on low as don't need any frozen food. Also the diesel heater but hopefully won't be using much as only going camping if the weather is reasonable.
Looking at the info the Bluetti is suposed to be able to supply power & charge at the same time. Specs of the EB70 1000watts inverter, 716Wh & 120W solar. Question is would this work (providing sun is shining) & just wondering if anybody is running something similar.

 

[Moped]

You can use the Bluetti as a hook up and use the onboard charger to charge the leisure battery.

Given the need to charge a mobility scooter battery and to run a fridge the real question is, would an EB70 and 120w solar panel be sufficient to cover these needs for the duration of a trip.

The fridge will be a big drain on any leisure battery. Can’t it be run on gas? And what size is the scooter battery?

You also have to think about security. Where are you parking up? How are you going to route the hook up cable from the Bluetti to the hook up socket? Is the solar panel going to be fixed on the roof or portable? Can pop tops have solar panels fixed to the roof? You mention mobility scooter so presumably you will be away from your vehicle at times.

What you don’t want to be is paranoid that things might get stolen when you are away from your van. If wildcamping on a fishing trip then you will be around the van during the day but if parked up in a town then you will not want to use portable panels and visible hook up cables.

And to maximise solar harvesting if you use a portable panel you need to keep moving it daytime so that it faces the sun. Otherwise just leave it at an angle facing south.

These are all considerations for any Bluetti and portable solar panel arrangement.

Work out your daily power needs in amp hours and assume you can harvest around 600ah daily from a 120w portable panel in summer. Then you will know if the set up you are proposing is good enough.

Have a look at the Bluetti EB240. Plenty of power but it is heavy and bulky. We use it with a 200w panel for charging ebike batteries and keeping the leisure battery topped up in a “hook up” mode when the sun don’t shine but it always does for us! We run the fridge on gas when not on mains hook up. It is an older model with some decent discounts to be had right now. In terms of bang for your buck it is unbeatable but it is slow charging when using the brick but can charge using a good sized panel. Parking up on continental aires have permitted daytime solar charging. Plenty of sun in Spain.

For our circumstances and van use it works for us. My view is power takes priority over features but what works for us may not work for others of course and a feature rich lower powered lighter unit weight wise may be better depending entirely on circumstances and needs.

 

[REC]

Mobility scooters can be used in UK, I think? If not on the road then pavement.

 

[Moped]

Mobility scooters can be used in UK, I think? If not on the road then pavement.

I did spot that and did an edit. Sorry to confuse.

 

[Moped]

I might be wrong but I thought mobility scooters used 2x1000wh leisure batteries so a 50% of useable power drop would be 500wh. The EB70 has a 760wh capacity so one top up would use around 70% of its theoretical capacity.

A 120w solar panel should recharge this fully during a good day but this leaves little room to manoeuvre for Bluetti eb70 use for other significant energy uses.

 

[Nabsim]

Mine has 2 x 17ah battery’s at 24volt. You can get many different configurations though

 

[Okta]

Work out your daily power needs in amp hours and assume you can harvest around 600ah daily from a 120w portable panel in summer. Then you will know if the set up you are proposing is good enough.

I don’t think you will get anything remotely close to 600Ah per day and the EB70 only holds the equivalent of 60Ah at 12V.

 

[molly 2]

I don’t think you will get anything remotely close to 600Ah per day and the EB70 only holds the equivalent of 60Ah at 12V.

I think he means watts

 

[wildebus]

With these power stations there seems to be two key styles around from what I can see looking around at them.

1) Power stations that have a Fast Recharge - the EcoFlow River 2 Pro for example, with a quoted 100% Recharge of 768Wh in 70 minutes
2) Power stations with a basic Recharge - so the Bluetti EB70 mentioned for example, which has an 80% charge of the 716Wh Battery in 180 Minutes

It really depends on the individual if the ability of a fast recharge is important or not.
You see on Youtube reviewers talking about taking their Ecoflows into a coffee shop and charging them up while having a coffee and cake for example. If that is you, you probably need a fast recharge one.
If the idea is mainly to take advantage of extra portable power and inverter to recharge ebike/scooter batteries and then you are able to plug into power overnight to recharge, a basic recharge speed would be fine probably.

There is a bit of a price premium for the fast charging. You will either pay more, or lose out on some other features (maybe the Inverter will have a lower output, for example).
I would suggest compare the charging speeds and if that is important to you is a key consideration when choosing which type to get

 

[QFour]

If you fit a lithium battery to the vehicle you will have twice the amps in a lighter package. A set of foldable panels and some on the pop top. You could use semi flexible panels as they are not as heavy as the framed version. I fitted mine using 10mm anodised square tubes glued to the roof. More glue area than the corner fittings and room for air to flow underneath. The larger lithium will charge while on the move and a small inverter to recharge the scooter batteries while driving or stationery. When stationery you get the foldable panels out. I found some nice ones on Amazon but decided to add extra to the roof. Bit of overkill with ours 360w solar and 120A lithium.

 

[Okta]

With these power stations there seems to be two key styles around from what I can see looking around at them.

1) Power stations that have a Fast Recharge - the EcoFlow River 2 Pro for example, with a quoted 100% Recharge of 768Wh in 70 minutes
2) Power stations with a basic Recharge - so the Bluetti EB70 mentioned for example, which has an 80% charge of the 716Wh Battery in 180 Minutes

It really depends on the individual if the ability of a fast recharge is important or not.
You see on Youtube reviewers talking about taking their Ecoflows into a coffee shop and charging them up while having a coffee and cake for example. If that is you, you probably need a fast recharge one.
If the idea is mainly to take advantage of extra portable power and inverter to recharge ebike/scooter batteries and then you are able to plug into power overnight to recharge, a basic recharge speed would be fine probably.

There is a bit of a price premium for the fast charging. You will either pay more, or lose out on some other features (maybe the Inverter will have a lower output, for example).
I would suggest compare the charging speeds and if that is important to you is a key consideration when choosing which type to get

When I bought my Bluetti EB70 for home use it was the only one available with a LiFePO4 battery and that was the essential determining factor. Now that Ecoflow has introduced LiFePO4 batteries too there are other determining factors and I might well have chosen the River 2 Pro. However speed of mains charging wouldn’t be a factor for me, it is unlikely I will be lugging 7.8kg into a coffee shop on the off chance they will let me charge it. When it comes to solar charging they run much closer at 200W v 220W with the Ecoflow having only a small advantage.

@Kontiki I have only taken my EB70 to the motorhome a couple of times, I bought it for home use. I think it would be inefficient to use it to charge the installed leisure battery. You will get more out of it using the AC output directly for powering chargers etc.

 

[Moped]

Mine has 2 x 17ah battery’s at 24volt. You can get many different configurations though

That is 816w total. Assuming a 50% recharge = 408w then the EB70 would be good for one recharge and a leisure battery top up.

As mentioned above I meant watts not amp hours for the solar charging so you could harvest 600w on a good day which would not quite fully charge the EB70 from empty however if you rotate the panel around through the day to face the sun you should harvest more of you have clear blue skies.

Purchase a higher grade monochrystaline panel as these are more efficient and perform much better on cloudy days than lower grade and cheaper polycrystalline panels. Check out reviews on YouTube where the difference is demonstrated.

Direct charging from the EB70 is more efficient use of the power reservoir than using it as a hook up to charge but it can be done of course.

The fridge is the issue as this is a constant drain on the leisure battery. A gas option for the fridge would definitely help especially on days with little sun.

Maybe a fixed panel on the roof linked to the leisure battery and a portable panel for the EB70 would help to extend the use of 12v power for the fridge. The more solar the better basically.

You are not using the van for full time living so you don’t have to go full welly with a 4 x 120ah agm batteries and 600w solar panel arrangement with 2x invertors for charging scooter batteries etc but I have met full timers who have this type of arrangement and it works for them. They still use gas for the fridge though.

As we spend more time in our van than at home I guess we count as full timers but it is much easier in France and Spain especially given the size of our van at 9m long. Hence the use of our EB240 and a 300w solar capability. We have 2 ebike batteries to constantly top up.

 

[wildebus]

That is 816w total. Assuming a 50% recharge = 408w then the EB70 would be good for one recharge and a leisure battery top up.

As mentioned above I meant watts not amp hours for the solar charging so you could harvest 600w on a good day which would not quite fully charge the EB70 from empty however if you rotate the panel around through the day to face the sun you should harvest more of you have clear blue skies.

Purchase a higher grade monochrystaline panel as these are more efficient and perform much better on cloudy days than lower grade and cheaper polycrystalline panels. Check out reviews on YouTube where the difference is demonstrated.

Direct charging from the EB70 is more efficient use of the power reservoir than using it as a hook up to charge but it can be done of course.

The fridge is the issue as this is a constant drain on the leisure battery. A gas option for the fridge would definitely help especially on days with little sun.

Maybe a fixed panel on the roof linked to the leisure battery and a portable panel for the EB70 would help to extend the use of 12v power for the fridge. The more solar the better basically.

There are quite a few ways to do this kind of thing. The best way (IMO) is automated so you avoid the risk of running out of power and the fridge turning off and consquent food spoiling.
For example, Roaming Rog's setup has the Fridge running on AC Power (via Inverter) until the battery drops down to a certain State of Charge, at which point the inverter output is cut to the fridge, which then - as part of the AES function, switches to LPG.
This is actually achievable more easily with the built-in battery power and an inverter fitted in the Motorhome than it would be via a Portable Power Station for a number of reasons.

You are not using the van for full time living so you don’t have to go full welly with a 4 x 120ah agm batteries and 600w solar panel arrangement with 2x invertors for charging scooter batteries etc but I have met full timers who have this type of arrangement and it works for them. They still use gas for the fridge though.

As we spend more time in our van than at home I guess we count as full timers but it is much easier in France and Spain especially given the size of our van at 9m long. Hence the use of our EB240 and a 300w solar capability.

A Portable Power Station (I am so pleased they seem to have all dropped the term "Solar Generator") that looks good to me and I have toyed with getting is the VTOMAN Jump 1500X - https://amzn.to/40ih8UN
This has not got an especially large Battery (65Ah), but it is LiFePO4.
What it does have which I think makes it very useful compared to a lot of the others is a high output Inverter at 1500W (3000W Peak), which makes it a very flexible option of those high-power short-duration devices which won't work on larger Power Stations but with lesser Inverters. If I were still doing work on Camper Conversions, I think I would get this. The Battery bank is relatively small but can easily be recharged overnight so as a 'workhorse' Power Station where you need access to good AC power off-grid, it would work well.
Charging is slow (like quite a few of these Stations), so it is not "coffee shop compatible", but for many (including me) that would not be a factor.

 

[Moped]

It is cheaper if purchased through their website @ £791. The images show US spec 110v sockets so something to check before a purchase is made, They also do a 1500w add on battery boost pack which triples its storage reservoir.

Info for Kontiki. They claim that a 45w fridge will last 17 hours with the standard 828wh pack assuming no solar charging available of course. Now 45x17 = 765 so basically they are claiming only 90% of the fully charged pack is useable. Probably the same applies to all battery packs including Bluetti.

If you can top up with solar during the day then you should get 24 hours daily fridge use but the question then is would you have enough free float to charge the mobility scooter and leisure battery? I assume the leisure battery drives the fridge for part of the day. You can see the need for power usage calculations.

Bluetti Maxoak EB240 with 2400wh capacity currently available for £999 on special offer. With 200w solar panel should have enough power to cover all your fridge and charging needs for 5 days. But it is bulky and heavy and takes 13 hours to fully charge using the charger but then it is massive on capacity. It is a function over form product:-

BLUETTI EB240 2400Wh/1000W Portable Power Station

BLUETTI EB240 (UK version) high-capacity portable power station is equipped with over 2400Wh/1000W of lithium battery storage for long runtimes on all your necessary equipment. Versatile energy storage system backs up in your home and scales, reliable access to power sources at any time...

maxoak.uk

 

[wildebus]

It is cheaper if purchased through their website @ £791. The images show US spec 110v sockets so something to check before a purchase is made, They also do a 1500w add on battery boost pack which triples its storage reservoir.

Check again Amazon is £700 as there is a £300 discount promotion.
The extra battery also has a £300 promo on it on Amazon.

Info for Kontiki. They claim that a 45w fridge will last 17 hours with the standard 828wh pack assuming no solar charging available of course. Now 45x17 = 765 so basically they are claiming only 90% of the fully charged pack is useable. Probably the same applies to all battery packs including Bluetti.

If you can top up with solar during the day then you should get 24 hours daily fridge use but the question then is would you have enough free float to charge the mobility scooter and leisure battery? I assume the leisure battery drives the fridge for part of the day. You can see the need for power usage calculations.

For the mobility/ebike thing, I would regard a Portable Power Station as basically a one-off power transfer and then recharge the station.

Bluetti Maxoak EB240 with 2400wh capacity currently available for £999 on special offer. With 200w solar panel should have enough power to cover all your fridge and charging needs for 5 days. But it is bulky and heavy and takes 13 hours to fully charge using the charger but then it is massive on capacity. It is a function over form product:-

BLUETTI EB240 2400Wh/1000W Portable Power Station

BLUETTI EB240 (UK version) high-capacity portable power station is equipped with over 2400Wh/1000W of lithium battery storage for long runtimes on all your necessary equipment. Versatile energy storage system backs up in your home and scales, reliable access to power sources at any time...

maxoak.uk

The key question is size of inverter. That EB240 is only 1000W (1200W peak). For me, Inverter ability is more important than battery capacity. But having the ability to have an Add-on battery at a relatively good price (for these kind of products) is handy. Attach when you need it, don't take it when you dson't need it.

 

[Okta]

The Bluetti EB240 is a lot of Wh storage for the money but it is one of the older models which does not have LiFePO4 batteries. Also as pointed out by @wildebus the 1000W output is surprisingly small for the capacity.

 

[molly 2]

Nothing wrong with blueti but the ecoflow delta 2 is much better no power brick 1024 watts, 1800 watts output will run a microwave
charges to 80% in i hour , plus 5 year warrenty 3000 + charge cycles £1099

 

[Moped]

The Bluetti EB240 is a lot of Wh storage for the money but it is one of the older models which does not have LiFePO4 batteries. Also as pointed out by @wildebus the 1000W output is surprisingly small for the capacity.

Agreed the 1000w output is relatively low for a unit with this size of battery reservoir. It is sufficient for using battery chargers though which was good enough for us.

And it does offer 2500 charge cycles which is OK for an older model.

Horses for courses as they say and the big appeal was battery size for the money. If you are not on hook up and relying on solar to charge then charging time is no different to the very latest models.

The only charging speed benefit is when you are mains charging which is not available when parked up without hook up.

The big charging consideration is solar panel size and the EB240 can cope with panels up to 500w in size.

I'm not using it for high power requirement cooking devices such as a microwave but it will run an 800w kettle, a DVD player, and the 12v TV

All things for Kontiki and others to consider.

Just to add that we do use a gaslow refillable lpg set up so gas refrigeration, heating and cooking is relatively low cost compared to calor bottle users. The batteries are used purely for things that can't run (or charge) on gas. Again something that potential Bluetti or similar buyers should consider when assessing their needs.

 

[Kontiki]

Sorry for not replying sooner, appreciate all the comments. A few points I should mention, my fridge is a compresser type so gas isn't an option, also the gas locker is only big enough fo a camping gaz 907. I would have liked to get a bigger power pack but space is limited, the EB70 will fit nicely in a cupboard for travelling. My mobility scooter is a Atto Sport with a 249Wh lithium ion battery, it has a range of 20 km. Up to now I've only once got down below 50% so that is an idea how much I use it. As for security for the power pack it would be inside the van (the side sliding window will lock partially open) as for the panel I would secure it with cable lock but restrict use if we had doubts. I thought about fixed solar panel but even then I would need an extra battery, a have a cheap 700 watt inverter that will charge scooter but costs are about same.
We aren't planning doing trips of probably more than 2 to 3 days so no big trios planned.
Took the plunge & ordered the Bluetti EB70 + PV120 solar, they had a sale on & I also found a code to get an extra £80 off.

 

[Okta]

Sorry for not replying sooner, appreciate all the comments. A few points I should mention, my fridge is a compresser type so gas isn't an option, also the gas locker is only big enough fo a camping gaz 907. I would have liked to get a bigger power pack but space is limited, the EB70 will fit nicely in a cupboard for travelling. My mobility scooter is a Atto Sport with a 249Wh lithium ion battery, it has a range of 20 km. Up to now I've only once got down below 50% so that is an idea how much I use it. As for security for the power pack it would be inside the van (the side sliding window will lock partially open) as for the panel I would secure it with cable lock but restrict use if we had doubts. I thought about fixed solar panel but even then I would need an extra battery, a have a cheap 700 watt inverter that will charge scooter but costs are about same.
We aren't planning doing trips of probably more than 2 to 3 days so no big trios planned.
Took the plunge & ordered the Bluetti EB70 + PV120 solar, they had a sale on & I also found a code to get an extra £80 off.

I am pleased with my EB70, glad you got yours for a good price.