EcoFlow River Portable Power Station
Solar Saves the Day
Tech Demands Power
You can’t get away from tech no matter how hard you try.
Obviously that’s not true but ditching the tech makes life harder. Even if all you want to do is keep your food cool when camping you’ll need a fridge, that fridge needs power, be it gas or electric. My old camping set up was a micro caravan with a gas absorption fridge. I wanted to simplify my set up and go back to tent camping so I picked up an ARB compressor fridge freezer. This meant I would need 12 volt power when parked up, without draining the car battery.
Why The EcoFlow River?
Compact and portable, the EcoFlow River is a powerful portable power station. You can plug it into a normal house socket for 1.6 hours to be 100% charged.
The River is light at just 5KG and uses an integrated Lithium-Ion battery. Yes the newer models have lithium phosphate (LiFePO) batteries which can take more charge/discharge cycles and are lighter but the River was a great price and it met my needs.
With full sine wave AC output of 600W and up to 1200W when the X-Boost mode is on I can run pretty much any 240v device I’ll need on the go. EcoFlow power stations can also be used while they are being charged. The units support discharging while connected to an AC outlet , a car charger or a solar panel.
With the 110w solar panel the battery can be recharged in under 3 hours. Even while running the fridge and charging other tech it would be fully recharged in a day allowing the fridge to run all night.
The first use was an overnight camp without the solar panel on a hot October weekend. The fridge was precooled and running off the car on the way to camp switching over to the EcoFlow on arrival. Running the fridge overnight, charging phones, powering the Bluetooth speaker I was pleased to see the battery still at 60% the following morning. For a 2 day camp I’d be happy to go without the panel but I wanted to add the 110w folding panel for longer trips and to give me the option to power lights and other things without worrying.
I was glad to have added the solar panel as unfortunately on the next longer camp I manged to run my car battery flat. I scoured the campsite and adventure centre for jump leads, I called a few local friends to see if anyone had a boost pack (we usually have a Noco Boost between us) and the best I could find was a friend an hour away with a 240v car charger that could plug into the River. Rather than wait for him to arrive and wait again while the charger was working I engaged my brain. I have a 12v source with the EcoFlow and I just needed to get it into the car. I cut the 12v cord off my paddleboard pump and stripped the ends with my Gerber Truss knife and connected the EcoFlow. The display on the unit showed me it was charging and I gave it half an hour which was enough to start the car and get me home.
Overall I have been delighted with the EcoFlow River and would definitely buy another. If anything happened to my current River I would upgrade to the River 2 with lithium phosphate batteries and a few extra features. I like to have the gear to get me out of most situations unaided and the EcoFlow certainly helped with that. It’s a well designed piece of kit that feels tough, well made and is really easy to use.
What are you waiting for?
If you still have questions send us a message or find us on Facebook
