If you’ve wanted to add home battery storage, but thought it was too expensive, thankfully there is another option. EcoFlow portable batteries offer the ability to power your devices in the event you don’t have power or are away from home.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with the EcoFlow DELTA Portable Power Station.
While you could certainly use this product if you have a blackout at home, the idea here is that this is small enough and portable enough to take with you on trips away. For those who love to go camping, you’ll know that having the best of both worlds, the peace and quiet of nature, while having electricity and the ability to power devices, is a great thing.
There are also times when emergencies happen and having confidence you can always charge your phone is certainly reassuring. If you want to take a microwave for more of a glamping getaway, then that’s up to you, but made possible by a device like this.
The device offers connectivity at both ends. At one end, you’ll find 2x USB-A ports, 2x USB-A fast-charge ports, along with 2x USB-C ports. This covers most devices smaller devices you’ll need to charge, things like phones, GoPros, and Drones, and does a nice job of accommodating the transition period we’re in between the two connections.
The opposing end of the product contains 6 AC power outlets. this allows you to power devices with higher power requirements like laptops, computers, TVs, and more. The amount of power available here is really impressive, allowing items like TVs, coffee makers, microwaves, hair dryers, electric scooters and ebikes to all charge from the battery.
This brings us to the question of the battery capacity. While the EcoFlow range of portable power solutions range in size, the EcoFlow DELTA offers a very healthy 1260Wh or 1.26kWh, while their biggest and most expensive product, the EcoFlow DELTA Pro offers a massive 3.6kWh.
Like many, I have found myself running low on a phone battery before and purchased a 5,000mAh battery. By comparison, at 1.2kWh, this battery capacity represents many, many times what is often offered by portable solutions.
The ability to charge a single device from a battery bank is definitely useful, however, the ability to charge a whole family’s devices is even better. The EcoFlow DELTA supports charging as many as 11 devices at the same time. If you’re camping overnight with a group of friends, your friends and family will certainly appreciate the ability to wake up with a full charge on their phones. If there are only a couple of you, you’d certainly get many days worth of charging, but you may also like to use the energy to heat hot water for a shower.
So what happens when the battery runs out, what then? Well here’s where the product’s features really show how well this product is thought through. On the side of the device, you’ll see a panel that offers connectivity to solar panels. These are also sold by EcoFlow and come in a range of sizes to suit your needs. Typically up to 4 panels fold on top of each other for easy transport and can simply lean up against a vehicle or tree to collect energy from the sun and recharge the battery.
Design
The design of the EcoFlow battery is certainly more utilitarian than futuristic. It’s a very practical design, black and grey in colour, something you don’t feel like you need to baby. The ends of the device have integrated handles, making it easy to fulfill the ‘portable’ part of the name. This allows you to lift the device safely, and confidently, without these handles, moving it about would be awkward given the weight.
At each end of the device, you’ll find the power outlets, but you’ll also find the power button to turn the device on and off. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have an auto-off timer which I really think it would benefit from. Say you have a phone charging and sitting on top of the DELTA. You need your phone, so you walk over, disconnect and take your phone, but then need to remember to turn off the battery.
Something else you should know about the design is that you need to press a button at each end to switch to allow the connections at that end to draw from the battery power. I figured this was one battery, with multiple outlets, so you’d simply plug it in and it’d work, however, there appears to be an electrical division between the two ends.
You’ll also find a 12v connection which I found useful when using our tyre inflator for my eBike.
On the side of the battery, you’ll see there are a couple of large fans to keep the internals cool. Given electronics and water don’t mix at the best of times, this isn’t a big issue as you should always keep this (and your device) dry.
The display on the device provides details like the state of charge remaining, an estimation of the hours of battery life remaining, and a measure of the energy in and/or out of the battery.
Features
EcoFlow DELTA Power Station
Represents the new standard of battery-powered generators. Compatible with a wide range of devices, you can stay powered for hours whenever and wherever.
The World’s Fastest Charging Power Station
Charges at 2 to 3 times the speed of most portable power stations in the market. 0—80% in under one hour.
Huge 1.2kWh Capacity
Portability doesn’t have to sacrifice capacity. DELTA is a battery-powered generator with a massive 1.2kWh capacity. Enough for hours of backup power.
Power Almost Anything
DELTA’s large inverter load can even support heavy-duty DIY tools up to 1800W (3300W Surge, Pure Sine Wave). That makes it the best portable power station at this size for output.
Solar Charging, Car Charging & More
DELTA is a portable solar power station too. Charge to full in as fast as 4 hours with EcoFlow Panels. On a road trip? Plug into your car port and charge up on the go.
Power 11 Devices At Once
All the ports you’d ever need for your gear. Power up to 11 devices all at the same time via AC, DC or USB outlets. Ideal as a battery generator for blackouts.
Price and Availability
The EcoFlow DELTA normally costs A$2,399.00 but is currently on sale for A$2,099.00.
If you want to grab EcoFlow’s 400W Portable Solar Panel as well, that’s an additional A$1,299.00.
If you want the biggest single portable solution, the EcoFlow DELTA Pro, you’ll obviously be up for more money and this will set you back $6,299.00.
Note: EcoFlow are having a Christmas & Boxing Day Sale with up to 26% off. You can find detail at https://au.ecoflow.com/pages/christmas-sale
Issues | Room for improvement
While exploring just how much the EcoFlow DELTA could handle, I did find one limitation. I connected the mobile charger for our Tesla Model Y to one of the AC outlets on the battery and attempted to charge the car. I was met by a warning on the car’s display that there was an error with the charger, it lacked proper ground and showed a red light on the charging port, but no luck.
After investigating the issue, EcoFlow informs me that the power draw required by a car like Tesla, exceeds the maximum draw possible on this particular battery, however, charging an EV off a battery pack is possible with one of their larger models.
Given the battery pack inside most electric cars are 60kWh and up, even a 6kWh battery is going to have limited use but may buy you a get-out-of-jail card, in the event your state of charge dropped below the amount required to get to the next charging location.
Overall
Before this review, I’d never really considered portable battery solutions more than a battery bank to charge a single phone on the most intense work days. Now having spent time with the EcoFlow DELTA, I really appreciate the freedom this gives you.
While this does have some weight to it, it’s certainly easy to throw this in the boot (or frunk) as insurance that should you need power for basically anything, you can charge it from the EcoFlow DELTA.
If you’re someone who has a caravan, I think this kind of battery would be perfect and help you avoid using propane for all your energy needs while on the road.
Overall I’m very impressed with the EcoFlow DELTA battery and would recommend it to those who travel or have concerns about powering devices in the event of a power outage.
This won’t replace home battery storage but is the best insurance policy you can have against being without power and when we all rely heavily on our phones and laptops in 2022, this is a great option.
I have reason to believe it will charge the Tesla, (though wouldn’t get you very far) as long as you add a box with a bridge between neutral and earth.
It’s stated max power is 1800w.
That’s 7.5amps @240v, 7.82A @230v.
The Tesla can be set charge with as little as 6 amps at 240v.
Like I said though, it won’t get you very far.
A major con with this unit is the manufacturers use of high frequency, transformerless inverter technology that operates at a much higher temperature which can lead to component stress that results in early failure, especially when powering inductive loads like microwave ovens, refrigerators and power tools. A much better choice would be to purchase a solar generator that uses low frequency, transformer based technology.