I use the EB3A since a few months and encountered no problems. It powered my laptop, phone and desk lamp all day when I had a recent power outage due to a grid maintenance. For me the 100W USB-C Port is one of the most important features, even some expensive Jackery models don't feature that one. I don't need 8x USB-A ports with 2A. WIreless charge works fine as well on the Bluetti. The European version features only one AC socket, that's ok though. For example my small hair dryer works perfectly while it pulls 500W in the lowest setting. I tested random DC sources to charge it and encountered no problems, even a random 12V battery will do the job.
I ordered the EB3A for dual purpose. At home I don't need super portable but I do when I travel. It can be a gateway for my two 110AH (2X12v = 24v) forklift batteries connected to two 100w solar panels. It can make full use of the inverter without quickly draining the EB3A. I will use it for my computer/router/wifi as a UPS. hub. When I motorcycle travel, it is a good size to fit in my sidecar, charge off the bike when moving and a portable solar panel when at camp.
Thanks for the informative and entertaining video. Just purchased my EB3A last week. So far so good. The purpose for my purchase is one of camping. I have used it at home with my cpap machine and was able to achieve three nights with it. All the bells and whistles were off on my cpap and I also charged my iPhone each night. I tested a small 5 cup Mr. Coffee maker with it and it performed well. Yes it takes some juice to produce the coffee but at least it can do it with the power lift feature turned on. I don't think the lack of usb A ports are that important as I have many car plugs that have quick chargers and also more usb c plugs on the car/cigarette plug. I also have a EcoFlow River 2 Max that I use camping. It has about twice as many watt hours and can do the same functions. both are needed for our boon docking camping excursions. I love them both. From what I have experienced the EcoFlow appears to a little more efficient on using watts with my cpap (ResMed Air sense 10)machine. Thanks again for great review of the EB3A.
I didn't even know this had a UPS (Uninterrupted Power Source) feature when I bought it. That's really useful for keeping computers or sump pumps on if the grid goes down for a short time unexpectedly.
Did an Experiment.... I have a USB powered Fan I put into a sheet of plywood to fit in my car's sun roof. Particularly for parking at Tourist Attractions where the car is left out in the sun all day. At the Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC, Canada, the Bluetti EB3A went from 100% down to 73% after spending 4 hours there, and amazingly it kept the car cool inside, drawing cooler air in from the vents.
2 more cons (that almost no of the so-called testers report): 1st: Doesn't start charging by solar until certain amount of watts. Some found out, it is current related and it needs at least 1 amp to start charging. After it started, lower amp-charging is possible. What it means: On low-light days with smaller panels (like 1x100W) you may never get a single Wh into the PowerStation. Instead it will continiusly try to start charging. Activate the display and Bluetooth and after 10h you have 10% less battery. Bad for dripple-charging with small camping-panels. 2nd: Fan-noise from not spinning fan. PPM is set to low for the fan and it makes a buzzing sound. Stops when the powerstation gets hotter and the fan actually starts spinning.
That's a handsome looking sweatshirt! 😉 I liked this review format; I have one of these on my Christmas list and this was all valuable insight if Santa can hook it up. Thanks Matt!
Thanks Pete. It was a gift last year from my friends at The Average Overlanders Podcast. Glad I could help ya out with the info and thanks for the feedback on the format. I've been trying to find a good flow that works so I can spend more time focusing on informative content.
I ordered one of these 2 weeks ago and been playing around with it for a week and said oh what the hell since Amazon has them on sale for like $209 too $219 near every day if you’re a prime member and I ordered another one so it can have a sibling lol. Anyways the 2nd one arrives tomorrow. Double the fun lol. Also ordered a car charger for them. It’s stupid they won’t include that but every other Power station out there does. Makes no sense. But I still love my Bluetti.
Another PRO is the fast solar charging, I have 2 100 watt panels which will max out the input on a bright day at 157 watts and this is charged in less than 1.5 hours if I start with 20% capacity.
Eco mode can be changed with buttons on the front, not sure about some of the other things. I don't use the app. I totally love these units. I am a senior woman with periodic back issues, so the 10 pound weight is fantastic for me!! Yes, love the display and the fact that I can use a 200W solar panel to charge them, which. Yes, love the price, especially when a flash sale meant I got one for $209! As someone who often cannot lift heavier units, I have used these to "fill up" a 32-pound 1800W Oupes unit that I mainly use to run my fridge much of the time. Not the most efficient, but definitely useful when my back will not handle carting the big one out for solar charging and back in. If the EB70S had this type of display I would buy one for the extra watt-hour capacity in a unit that still not too heavy. Instead, I went for the new Growatt Vita 550 unit to have a somewhat small unit with more run time. Great review you did, covered everything very nicely.
I think Jackery was one of those successful influencer marketing fairly tales because, yeah, their product isn't that great relative to the competition, they just branded it better.
The biggest Con with Bluetti is they have absolutely no customer service! I am attempting to cancel my order but the numbers provided are either full mailboxes or disconnected!! Also they show the 6 ways to charge the unit, one of which being in your car, but fail to mention that cord is not included. Very deceptive...
Not true. I called them several times, someone always answers. And their site says 'what's in the box'. All you have to do is scroll down on the device page.
Mine (that I got a few days ago) did come with the 12v car adapter, so I wonder if that changed recently. Purchased on Amazon though, so maybe different if bought somewhere else?
@Nisie23 Not my experience at all. They do not answer their phone. They always let it go to voice-mail, which is always full. And if you have point credits with them, they do not automatically apply it towards your next purchase. Then they send you a notice that your points have expired. So much for appreciating your repeat business. Not nice.🫢
Had to return mine since it was only getting about 65% of rated capacity. Also the UPS feature started overloading almost daily while powering my PC, after running fine for a week (despite my PC only drawing 100-200W). I may have gotten a bad or returned unit that had been abused.
Dany, that's definitely not good to have happen. Please follow up and let us know how the experience with the second model goes. How was their customer support to work with in getting it all resolved?
I had a very similar issue sent it back got replacement and it did same shit have completed a full refund and moved on to a different device. It’s sad too as this was a great device until it wasn’t :(
Matt, I'm looking at a 12v fridge freezer that pulls 45 watts on eco mode, 60 w on max. . Plan is to charge from ac to precool, load it with frozen blocks of ready made meals and run on eco. I am trying to figure out how long the eb3a will power this little fridge on it's own. In our fifth wheel we boondock with solar charging our batteries during the day but we power everything down but the propane fridge when we go to bed. I'm hoping there's enough amp hours in the bluetti to keep the freezer running until the sun comes up.
I have a Flashfish brand unit I bought on amazon, I used it for running aquarium pump during power loss. After less then 30 months the unit no longer held a charge,Money down the toilet.I am looking at this unit with the LifePo4 battery.I hope battery has longer life.
I paid $209.00 for mine. I got it for emergency back up for my computer, cellphone and LED lights, or for when I'm on the road for extended periods of time.
I heard elsewhere this thing has trouble starting to charge with weak solar input (cloudy days etc), needing a rather high voltage/amperage. So probably no slow lowpower trickle charging when the panels end up in shadow etc. .. anyone managed to figure out what minimal voltage/amperage it takes to get it start charging reliably?
I think you're wrong about the power lifting mode. It doesn't switch to modified sine wave like you suggested, it simply drops the current, thereby reducing the output of your device. Not sure where you got that info.
i think the first Con isn't really a con, more of just an inconvenience, as if you have a wall plug fast charger, you can use that to do so. or a USB C dock can do similar. i do believe they have changed it so the car cable is now included, but i'm not 100% sure on that one.
I just got mine a few days ago. It indeed does include the car cable, and it also included the solar panel cable. The user manual says the solar cable is not included so that's why I mention it here.
Four months of light occasional use and mine is no longer powering on or charging. If I had bought from a shop I would be able to take back but Ebay not so easy. That said it was good whilst working but no good to me now it is broken.
I wasn't able to see anywhere in the literature and manual where it can do more than 600w in power inverter mode? Perhaps this model is different in other parts of the world than it is in the US but it seems to only be 1200w for surge and 600w continuous sine wave power.
The wireless charging pad is a bonus but not essential as most people don't have a wireless charging phone. However no ability to add an expansion battery. The Vtoman 600x can be expanded to 939wh would be a great alternative. Separate charging brick has it's pros and cons, The con is, if it becomes faulty, you only need to replace the charging brick rather than the whole unit or sending the whole unit back to the manufacturer/seller.
Love my EB3A. I learned that my DELL laptop charger will charge the EB3A as well. I already have a car adapter that will fit so not including it is not an issue for me. I do agree that not having buttons onboard to change options/modes is a real bummer.( I say the same about my $#+%ing cable box ). But purchasing at 150 bucks makes me wish I'd bought 2.🤷🏾♂️
I bought this unit. I agree the wireless charge is un needed give me the control button. Is this a show stopper naw it’s an amazing device, most people under buy power supply they really need. This is for charging iPads, iPhones when traveling or camping. Don’t run a heater just want to recharge devices.
The one problem using this as a UPS is that it does not seem to have a USB trigger to connect to a computer with software to automatically shut down the computer when the battery gets low. Without that the computer will just crash. Maybe you can plug a real UPS into this unit to extend the time of the UPS and still have the automatic shutdown.
Thanks Jared! I'm working on it man. Might actually get to finally get back out and take a camping trip of some sorts in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I can make a decent video outta that!
Great review and breakdown of how you've use it and what you think about it. Thankyou for the info. Not sure what the technical term is, but will this unit allow charging while in use powering something?
I bought one of those generic portable panels and it included a bunch of different output adapters. The generator does include a standard PV solar panel cable but you don't have to use it if your panel won't work with it. I was able to directly connect it using one of the cable that came with the panel, directly into the 12VDC input port on the unit.
great video , I just purchased EB3A notice charging only reach 99% but ,also reviews show a lot of customer service negative feedback hope this isn't the case if so they should fix that ASAP, also I purchased at same time the Big boy AC200P and what do you know a DUD right out the box No digital display panel operation , returning that for something more reliable any suggestions ? thanks in advance
How well with this work charging a BODEGA 【Upgraded】 12 Volt Refrigerator, Car Fridge Dual Zone WIFI APP Control, 64 Quart? I have 200 watt of solar I could hook up to the unit?????
I want to use this to Power my Sony TV 241W + Router 15 W + Cable Model 36 W would this handle it or I a better off upgrading I like get around 3 to 4 hours of use
i find the EB3A discharges too fast for my liking but ill fix the time capacity with a 24 volt battery .Also mine seems to have a heating problem when charging from the AC outlet.
You don’t have a smart phone? Lemme guess you’re a boomer and you believe everything the internet tells you that smart phones are Chinese spy devices. Not true at all.
I love my eb3a solar generator. I was able to charge 0 to 100 percent on 12 of my devices and took 80 percent out of 100 on the device. I was able to work my whirlpool 3.1 two door fridge for 12 hours max depleting eb3a . I also use it on a mini ricecooker and was able to cook rice and soup. It only took like 40 percent on this device. Dont use it on microwave toaster aor fryer or hairdryer anything that is over 600 or u will overload it. Have not tested the solar panel yet cause it was expensive for me to buy. The charging is fast on normal mode. 0 to 100 percent only toom like 50 mins for me which is a win. The fan is not that loud when charging it or plugging it with higher wattage. My mini fan is louder than 3b3a. I would recomend this to anyone. If u want more power get ecoflow delta pro or anker if it is in your budget
I bought Bluetti because of good review. But it Failed as most important feature that is Solar Panel dont work. Went through hell looking for connecters to Fit Harbor Freight Thunderbolt 100w panel to find out they won't work after i realize i had to buy Harbor Freight solar connector kit. Sae to 8mm plug.😮
Im looking to buy a power source but i need something that has a grounded 3 prong outlet for a guitar pedal so that there isnt a ringing noise. Anyone confirm it will work?
Is it possible to connect an inverter having a high wattage of 2000W from the 12v cigarette socket inorder to run a devices having a wattage of 1200w to 2000W?
Mmm, I’d probably say no. Every inverter that size I’ve ever seen required it to be hardwired to the battery. Even if you could wire an inverter in, the battery is so small, that kind of load would deplete it in a few minutes, and might cause a fire. I would strongly recommend buying a portable power bank that already comes configured with the correct size battery and inverter for that load.
Way too complicated for an old person to understand! Live in a 6th floor Senior apartment. Want to able to run a tv and Coffee maker, charge an IPad and I phone, computer and possibly my apartment sized refrigerator. What should I buy???
What’s your anticipated use case? Like, are you wanting to have something that covers you if the power goes down for a day or so, or are you looking at a setup that can sustain that use load for an extended period of time like days or weeks? If it’s just to bridge you during at 24-48 hour power out emergency, than I’d say look at a 1500-2000 watt hour system, especially with that coffee maker and fridge in the mix. If it’s gonna be longer than that, you’ll need to look at that, plus a way to put more electrons back in it via a sufficient enough amount of solar panels or some other generation method.
Will discharging completely degrade the internal core battery performance over time? Is there any safe max charge percent and min discharge percent for this unit to maintain healthy battery quality?
Like any lithium-based battery, if you only charge to 80% it'll extend the life-cycle of the batteries. That being said, this is less important with the LiFePo4 batteries that Bluetti uses than it is with lithium-ion based batteries. I personally wouldn't worry about it considering the low cost of the unit. The 20% figure is just because you won't be able to get good voltage below 20% so it may not work well for many devices below that. Also, keep in mind that most modern BMS (Battery Management Systems) will slow the charge rate after around 90%.
Thanks for the video. I dont like to use apps or my phone, so is the factory setting on the Generator set to slow/normal charge or fast charge? I rather have the normal charge out of the box since I read below of overheating with fast charging. I was about to buy this over jackery, eco flow and anker's comparable systems; now I am concerned from your comments below and the poor customer service (nice guy in africa) that couldnt answer any questions. Sales or tech only responds via email, so that a concern too. Walmart has this for $208 right now and so if it bombs, I could return it for full refund easily. Let me know any info, thanks, Chris
There are three videos on RU-vid put out by Bluetti support. One of them talks about the button combinations to hold on the face of the device to enable or disable some of the features if you are not using the app.
@@newuser507 Thank you, I decided to start small and with the Eco Flow River 2 at the same price. There email support and phone support was way better then Bluetti and their warranty was 5 years and the battery life cycle longer too.
Hi Matt, these are sold in South Africa now, where were are on a permanent 4hr power cut (2 x 2hr ; 6hrs apart - recharging won't be an issue). Can you do a quick calculation, I have a 70" Samsung TV, and was wondering ihow long the charge would last running a modem, power to the Fibre box, and the TV itself? Any ballpark figure within 20 mins of supply?
I don't know your exact TV model, so can't look at the exact wattage but the average 70" LED flatscreen TV uses around 140 watts when on. The EB3A only has a 268Wh capacity so you're looking at less than 2 hours, especially if you need to run a modem and fibre box as well. This should be pretty easy to figure out. Look on the labels on your devices and add the watts together. That's how many watts it uses per hour. If you are wanting a battery backup for those devices, you're probably going to need at least 200Watts for each hour... or a 1200Wh battery backup for 6 hours. It'd probably be a better investment to just buy a small camping style generator at that point.. though I don't know what the fuel situation is like there in SA so perhaps not?
@@MattKester I thonk its 65?i dont really unfetstand it all.i do know with16 pressure it didnt work.but now its 8 pressure.the resned i think drawd 65w.
@@joanbroyles9802 I just looked up the Resmed Air 11. Spec sheet says a typical draw of 54w and a peak of 73w. With that kind of load, I’d say you’ll probably want to look at something in the 500 watt/hour class.
Therein lies the magic or lack thereof. It actually WILL power a 1200W coffee maker. However it will only power it with 600w. Sometimes even less as the voltage drop necessary is just staggering.
Hello all. Could I charge this from my van's battery, continuously (while driving), in my campervan? Is this possible through the input DC port? Thank you very much
You could..one way would be to split off wire's from the positive and negative ends of the battery and connect them to a 12v cigarette style plug, and then that can plug directly into the 12v cig plug adapter for the Bluetti. I'd be worried about accidently draining your battery though, unless you mean the "house" battery?
@@DeepDishPizza Yes, but Bluetti does not honor their warranty. I have been trying for 6 months to get a return authorization and talking on the phone, and emails with Bluetti haven't gotten any real results. They told me to take a picture of return packaging and send it to them, I did that, I had all of the original packing, showed them, and even explained that to them, and nothing but silence. I have also heard of others who have experienced this and have been given the run-around.
Ebay sells them for $9.00, always check eBay and the manufacturer page, even if the manufacturer page says "sold out". I often see the EBay site of a store sell cheaper than Amazon.
I want something that can power a cooler in my car to keep foods from going off. Near the end, you said you wouldn't recommend using this for a 12 volt fridge. Does that include a 12 volt portable fridge? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QgEoxtcKlVQ.html
Yes. If I was going to run a fridge like the one you showed, I would opt for something closer to the 500 watt/hour class of battery, especially if you’re going to need it to power that fridge for a whole overnight. The EB3A will certainly handle running that fridge, it’s just not gonna be able to do it for as long as a 500 watt/hour battery, especially if you have other electronics you need to run off it.
@@MattKester - GREAT!!! Thanks for the Info! I have an EcoFlow Max with 576Wh and a 600watt inverter. So that should work, right? The last thing I want to do is keep our cooler/fridge plugged into my car, only to wake up and find it's not running and the car battery is dead. Been there! Done that!
@@MattKester - I purchased 2 EcoFlows actually. The EcoFlow Max and the EcoFlow Pro which has even More Power, as I was wondering if they would last the whole night, or if I'd have to get up in the middle of the night to switch them over. Now I've learned that I can attach a Solar Panel while it's in use, so when the sun comes up, it'll raise the strength so it's ready for another night. How cool is that??? So my other EcoFlow can be used for other things I guess, like lights, music, etc. THANKS AGAIN!!!
I have a gasoline powered generator that works Ok for me but I was interested in this kind of a power supply UNTIL I watched this video. It's WAY to complicated to use. All these numbers he was talking about turned me off on this thing. My gasoline powered generator is easy to us. Just fire it up and plug in what you want. None of this buttons and number stuff.
I wish you reviewers would read real customer reviews so you know what to look for. This thing has issues. Bluetti customer service is non-existent. I waited 2 months to get the thing approved for a return. Very common complaint is not being able to reach them. Huge issue for boondockers that need solar charging. It takes at least 1 amp to start to charge. Worse if when solar quits the battery discharges! Also mine was set up with euro voltage for charging cause problems here. None of you reviewers who got these for free addressed this. Lots of people who bought them did.
Seems to be a lot of these being sold as refurbished. Sums it up. Not to mention, all it's advertising shows people setting at a picnic table with their lap top. What a load of BS.
I'm a bit confused. It's like you're looking at this backward. It allows you to sit at a picnic table with your laptop! Maybe that's not for you but that's just awesome and I would definitely advertise that.
Didn’t know when it would come too a end… Kinda like my marriage he says…. man I can relate… Those narcissist are something else. At least my Bluetti’s is more loyal lmao.
Seriously. Wished I'd have known sooner about narcissistic abuse cycles, might have saved me the anguish of getting discarded two weeks after having to put my dog down. Ain't no motivator like pain though!
@@MattKester That’s the truth sorry about you losing your man’s best friend. I know how that is too. And yes pain of being used and done wrong after wasting near 6 years on her just too be praised and told I’m her soulmate and the best of everything than anyone before me and how she couldn’t ever live without me and would never want too and promised too always love me till death do us part and bla bla bla love bombing lies is what these narcissistic women do. Telling ya what we want too hear and when that use is up they then start being mean and snappy at us left and right. Just walking by them and our wind blows on them and it starts a argument and we’re being yelled at for anything. They try too chase us off and when we don’t cave in to the manipulation or threats then they eventually leave and then smear campaign us as these horrible bad men that we aren’t. They love too play victim like they never do wrong at all it’s always US. Yup I know what you went through man, went through it with a ex wife of 15 years and the recent ex of near 6 years. 21 years combined dealing with 2 different hit alike narcissist women. It’s pretty much did major damage foo me emotionally and mentally but it is a motivator to improve our health and life that’s for sure. Women like that should have to serve prison time using and abusing men and then playing victim. It’s the most heartless thing they do and continue to do. It’s sad.
Huge waste of money. Actual useable Watts. About 240 ! Real life usage. What would you want to leave on for 7 hrs? A 500W heater. This Bluetti will not power it but for 1.75 hrs tops. What about a TV for 6hrs? Hmmm? Then you must recharge it. Waste of money. Look at it this way. Nobody's talking about this low Watt available over the long haul for the nite or day. 240W ÷ 7 hrs = 34 W useable per hr before it's empty. Nobody's talking about this talking point.
It's great for things like small teardrop trailers that have a low amount of electricity needed, but yeah not great as a home backup but it wasn't really intended for that I don't' think. If you're using this to power your home TV and space heater you're not really using it for what it is good for.
this isn't a house generator, it's not even really for home at all. It's for traveling when you don't have easy access to electricity and want to recharge mobile devices/lighting/ect. It's a 250 dollar unit, often less on sale. You sound like you're looking for a $1000+ unit that's far more built to be a true home emergency backup
