A friend of mine asked me for advise. They need a load shedding plug and play trolley (they will move again in a few months - to a year time) to power the tv, router, 2 x lights and Playstation (if possible).
I warned them to stay away from lead acids and gels. Any suggestions as to how to approach this?
I have a Multiplus 1200/48 that I am not using and wanted to suggest just adding a pylontech and cerbo but that puts you at R22 000 odd already…
What I say to people: UPS is going to cost you. The battery is the most expensive part. The question is: Want to buy once for years to come, or every 1-5 years?
You can then slap on any inverter AS LONG AS IT IS PROGRAMMABLE.
Then, from there: Is it a future plan, or just a backup plan?
Future plan, as in this case, get a Cerbo. Get the control, the data, the info.
Or not a future plan, what Mark said, just get a well-priced decent Lithium battery and slap the MP onto it.
… or get a lead-acid battery from a local Dixon Batteries.
A decent UPS solution will cost a pretty penny. Just look at the prices of these new cool-looking portable UPS’es. Works great, till you outgrow it.
With a Victron kit, as you thought of the MP 1200, you can expand/upgrade, as time goes on. Hence the idea of the Cerbo added, future plan.
So, future plan, or just a UPS?
Buy batt once for longterm use or every few years?
unless buying used mecer type trolleys you are unlikely to get away for anything under about R10K if wanting to go lithium. Unless budget is extremely limited I would rather combine an Axpert type 1000W/12V inverter with one of the lithium options. Depending where you shop you might get in very close to R12K.
To power the mentioned loads the flexopower/EcoFlow type jobbies R10-R15K might also work. For me these are not ideal but might do what they want (just look at charging times etc. as this can make these especially troublesome during higher loadshedding stages). While useful these for me are not generally good value.
If wanting to stay Victron + lithium you are unlikely to get it down below R20K.
Don’t know if sold but there is a multiplus 800/12 in the classifieds for R8K. If you add the cheapest 100/200Ah 12V LiFePO4 battery you will be somewhere R16-R18K. Should not need a GX device for this type of setup. Rather spend the extra money on a readyboard on the output of the multi to keep EL protection for the inevitable switchless extension cords all over the place.
If going by your numbers a pylontech and your existing multiplus 1200/48 gets you at R22K odd. Just keep in mind IIRC the pylontech warranty requires cycling and not basic standby use (this might have changed but check). If they think they will be in a position to build up a bigger system at some stage then they at least have a good battery to start with (but also bought into pylontech to some extent).
remember on all options other than flexo/ecoflow there will probably be some fan noise which could also impact overall satisfaction if these things are directly next to the TV.
EDIT: my wall of text doesn’t answer the question of what would I do but variables like budget, circumstances, etc. also need to be included.
A 100Ah BlueNova battery will set you back almost 10k. For around 8k (I did a quick google) you can get other cheaper options. That puts you about on par with the smallest Ecoflow pack, but if you already have the inverter, that option gets you 5 times more capacity, 1.2kWh vs around 250Wh.
For longer term use, or if you cannot borrow or steal an inverter, I still recommend the Ecoflow River Pro. It has basic UPS capabilities (terribly slow changeover time, but fine for many appliances), and they go for around 12k to 15k. You’re not going to get a lithium battery+inverter combo in trolley form for that price.
As the official DC representative on this forum may I suggest the following:
This is a PSU for a current TV (not a 19 footsack wall mount monster!)
This can be powered directly from a 12V battery (e.g. Nenergy 100Ah) via a converter.
Your other devices can be powered in a similar manner from the same battery.
This isn’t a plug & play solution but…
This is a ‘buck’ converter which converts a higher to a lower voltage.
A ‘boost’ converter converts a lower to a higher voltage.
These are normally smaller than inverters…
The same is true of my Ecoflow recommendation. I’ve seen enough reviews to know it is a good product, but I have no direct experience with it myself. Friend of mine has a FlexoPower and it works well for them, but has no UPS functionality.
What I’ve seen of the Red-E looks very decent. I’ve seen the product at the local Outdoor Warehouse, and just on the face of it, it looks much better than the other budget option, the Gizzu. And with LFP batteries, it seems like really good value for money.
The problem with Ecoflow is - the last time I checked most of them aren’t LiFePO4. Which means that it will likely have very diminished capacity within a year or two of loadshedding…
Only the very top models are LiFePO4. But I don’t think NMC does that poorly. I know it isn’t really comparable to the battery in our EV, but even for my cell phones over the years… you have to abuse them really badly to get a large capacity loss. I keep my phones 3-4 years and then give them to a kid, friend, or family member, and I have never had a phone die before 5PM because the battery is going bad.
