Any experience with Beaudens LiFePO4 power station?

[psartman]

I'm looking at the 380WH unit, comparing it to a Jackery 500. Its a fairly new model, there are very few reviews online but it sounds promising. The [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif] advanced 2000 cycle battery seems like it's worth the -25% less WH capacity. It is also very reasonable at $380. Any experience with this model and this company?[/font]

 

[highdesertranger]

got a link? highdesertranger

 

[barleyguy]

Hobotech on YouTube reviewed the 160wh and gave commentary on some of the others.

I personally would take longevity claims with a grain of salt until they've been proven, which means waiting ten years to see if their ten year claim was true. ;-)

 

[DLTooley]

The lifecycle claim is believable due the chemistry.

I’m surprised LiFePo4 has not been made available earlier. I do believe this tech is not as energy dense and lithium ion is lighter.

One critical feature to consider is pass thru charging, where you can charge and use the battery at the same time. This will be critical for some setups, less so in an auxiliary capacity.

I’m definitely looking at this exact model.

 

[psartman]

got a link?  highdesertranger

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083J5XCRW/

 

[psartman]

Never heard of this brand, and they have very few customer ratings.
If that's your only power supply, I would go with the Bluetti 50 that's on sale now, (500 wh) for $399, or a
WattFun (a clone of Bluetti) for $389.
They have been around for a while, they charge up fast, and they have good reviews.

I actually bought the Wattfun/Bluetti AC50, but I am returning it. It does not provide a steady 12V (drops under 12 very quickly), and thus does not run my Alpicool AC22 fridge unless I set the safety cutoff on the fridge to the lowest setting. It will also only charge to 50% off a 12V vehicle connection- I bought a 12V-24V booster to remedy that, but I'm returning that too. Finally, I saw this youtube review by Will Prowse and he said "Do not buy this" for the reasons I already discovered. Bluetti is releasing a revised regulated version AC50S, I may get that or that the Beudens, hence my question here.

 

[user 37446]

Seems so far that Jackery is the only lower priced battery box with a regulated 12v output. Wonder why others don't do that (other than it might cost them a little bit to add it in).
People don't realize what the unregulated 12v does to things like appliances. Not good.

 

[psartman]

Seems so far that Jackery is the only lower priced battery box with a regulated 12v output. Wonder why others don't do that (other than it might cost them a little bit to add it in).
People don't realize what the unregulated 12v does to things like appliances. Not good.

I ended up buying the Beaudens last spring, and it is performing well (although my use has been limited.) The company may have gone under during COVID times, Professor Hobo mentioned a while ago they might be in trouble. The output is not regulated but it seems to stay steady at 13V or close to it, perhaps that's the nature of the LifePO4 chemistry? It will run my Alpicool 23 fridge from almost 2 days.

 

[DLTooley]

I purchased the Audew 300wh LiFePo4 this winter and was immediately disappointed with the build quality - cheap brittle plastic and a ciggy port cover that broke on day 1. It stopped accepting a charge just before the day 30 return.

There is little availability from Beaudens. Another brand, GoLabs, has just showed up on my Amazon feed. It claims pass through charging. The company bio claims expansion from another product line, which sounds reasonable and would also provide the engineering expertise to do pass through.

I’ve seen the question about regulated 12v output asked many times and the reasonable response has been that voltages are more stable with this chemistry. What sorts of appliances have issues?

Voltage regulated input is a factor I had not considered, if you are not charging direct from a panel but from your own regulated system bulk phase charging will be very slow to non existent. Has anyone thought about this further?

 

[jonyjoe303]

"I’ve seen the question about regulated 12v output asked many times and the reasonable response has been that voltages are more stable with this chemistry. What sorts of appliances have issues?"

Some 12 volt fridges seem to be very sensitive to voltage drop when the compressor kicks on. My joytutu 26L fridge kept cycling back and forth with my 220ah lifepo4, the compressor would start then shutoff, then a minute later do it again. Some fridges have no problem. Having a regulated 12 volt output would be definite plus.

The beaudens 380wh is a 30ah powerpack, 30ah is good enough to run a fridge for at least 24 hours, my fridge uses 18ah/24hours when set to 26 degrees F. Even a small 26ah 3s 11.1 volt li-ion powerpack ran it that long with a regulated output. Worst case scenario use the inverter, there will be some losses but it will at least run it.

According to some of the reviews the unit charges at 3 amps from wall charger, and takes about 9 hours to fully charge. The slower you charge lithium, the longer they last, that might be one of the reasons for the 2000 cycles. Lifepo4 will last that long, but will the surrounding parts last that long, all it takes is for a toggle switch or the lcd screen to go bad to render it unusable.
One of the big reasons to charge lithium slowly is to keep the cells in balance, charge too fast and the cells will go out of balance, if they go out of balance the charge stops early before it reaches full charge.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

. . .
I’ve seen the question about regulated 12v output asked many times and the reasonable response has been that voltages are more stable with this chemistry.  What sorts of appliances have issues?

Will Prowse answers the question:
https://diysolarforum.com/threads/12-v-regulated-output.3733/

 

[DLTooley]

My 40l dometic died this winter, definitely subject lots of 12v lead acid fluctuation - but no unexpected observed cycling with the cutoff set at the mid level.