@Comedian@xtrunksiex The MPPT will handle 10-30V, which should include most 100W panels, or a pair in series, perhaps even a 200-250W panel. The MPPT will still only draw the ~90W max from that port though. Check the panel’s open circuit voltage; 300W panels start to exceed 30V and that’ll fry the fragile FETs (transistors) on the front end.
@caffeineguy@Comedian@xtrunksiex generally from a panel big you would always use a charge controller, which will regulate the voltage. I’s suggest using one even for a 100W. Many ‘kits’ come with one.
@pmarin This unit already has a MPPT built in, so a second charge controller (MPPT) in series might cause bizarre voltage/current tracking quirks. That said, I wouldn’t push the boundaries of this unit based on the number of failures reported.
@caffeineguy@pmarin Having a voltage regulator and load maintainer between an oversize solar panel and a small load can be pretty important, though. Solar does not like to have an open circuit presented.
@ohhwell Curious what kind of chemistry you think the battery is if not lithium. 518Wh in a small package like that would be very difficult with a lead acid battery.
@cengland0@ohhwell NMC, much like the Jackery model with a similar spec that has been working for me for a few years now. Lower power density (and cost) then LiIon.
@theonetruestrip NMC? That’s a new one for me. Never heard of that. Would you please enlighten me on what that means? The best search results that could possibly be battery related are:
Nuclear Material Convention
Non-metallic conduit
If you mean “Lithium nickel manganese cobalt,” then note that contains Lithium.
@cengland0@ohhwell@theonetruestrip LiFePo4 is a little more durable with less power density; LiIon (this thing) degrades pretty bad when fully discharged and stored fully charged. More than likely, these have terrible battery management systems and have all been dead on the shelf for a while with only a fraction of them willing to take a substantial charge.
@cengland0@theonetruestrip they probably mean nickel metal hydride battery (NiMH or Ni–MH). It is predominantly what was used before Li-ion and the alternative to NiCad (the other pre Li-ion alternative).
@caffeineguy@cengland0@ohhwell I have no idea what this particular battery is, I already own something “close enough” for my purposes (the Jackery), and that one documents it’s battery type. I would assume this is NMC or LiFePo merely because they are common in this kind of application, weigh way less than lead acid and cost less than a traditional LiIon chemistry.
Other people’s reviews of this particular deal’s product make me think I wouldn’t take the chance on it if I were in the market for a replacement. Which is a shame because just judging from the specs page it looks like it would be a good bargain if it works as advertised as opposed to as reviewed.
(Like the Jackery I bought was around half the capacity for twice the price when I bought it three years ago I think it was a good deal, today’s Jackery doesn’t seem to be the best deal anymore, I guess I bought before they had established themselves as a quality product though!)
@cengland0@ohhwell@theonetruestrip I have a Jackery 1000 that someone fried the MPPT on, so there was no way to charge it. I was able to do a reach-around bypass and put a plug right on the battery management system (5s x 4.3V = ~21.5V) I charge with a DC to DC step-up converter set to 22V and the BMS will cut it off when fully charged. The Jackery is NMC Li-Ion (as is the Goal Zero Yeti 6000 I’m salvaging cells from). Much smaller units and jump starter packs are generally Li-Poly pouches; Everything has been moving to LiFePo because it’s cheaper and slightly safer at a ‘cost’ of less energy density. (My earlier comment incorrectly referenced NMC, but actually nickel-manganese-cobalt is the ‘traditional’ form of Li-Ion; It’s the more recent Li-Iron-Phosphate that’s less energy dense and cheaper without cobalt)
@cengland0@theonetruestrip Jackery has a pretty good warranty for the first year, then zero product support after that. They will not fix anything, sell parts, etc. It’s just a doorstop if something fails. (much like today’s Meh offering)
@caffeineguy@cengland0 I’m not shocked. Before the Jackery I had a Goal Zero of some sort (I don’t think it was the Yeti). They had zero support when mine broke after a year and a half, so I didn’t buy another.
My issue with today’s offering is the apparently large number of people who bought one and had it fail in the first 60~90 days. Which actually might be a best case because they likely fail fast because most high density chamistries don’t like being hot and don’t like having zero charge and do have a non-zero self discharge rate. So sitting in a warehouse for an extended period which I assume a lot of products do before someone decides “this product isn’t moving and we want to use the warehouse pace for something that sells like knives with rainbow colors!” and it ends up at a place like Meh for a discount.
Anyway if they die quick I’ll bet the replacement hasn’t been sitting in an overly hot warehouse for a long time and will last longer.
Still dealing with warrantee claims is frequently a pain, and sometimes they also ding you for “we made a bad one but you get to pay to ship it to us and it had better have the original packaging or we will claim it was damaged in shipping because it was improperly packed and now none of it is our fault”
dealing with warrantee claims is frequently a pain
Particularly when the brand is a paste-on label that gives every indication of having dried up, turned to dust and blown away at some point in the recent past. Sadly, this can even happen between the time that Meh acquires the stock and when they get it sold and shipped to the customers. “Manufacturer” warranty length means absolutely nothing when the entity vanishes before you can collect. Many leave zombie websites that don’t get taken down for years.
@lichen That’s the chemistry most of my battery generators use. They can go through 3,000 full charge/discharge cycles and still have 80% of the original capacity. That is over 8 years of full charge and discharge 365 days a year and you still have 80% life left.
We bought something similar last year, plus the solar panels, and it works great. Thought about buying another unit for additional back-up, then read the Amazon reviews. I rately buy anything with a “Happy” rating (5 + 4 star reviews) of less than 88%… this product is at 73%. “Unhappy” rating (1 + 2 stars) is at 19%. The issues was mostly longevity, followed by customer service. So, no thank you.
@sudotrin Yes, this one by PryMAX: https://a.co/d/fW7wlfe
We got the battery plus solar panels for $316 total, and prop up the panels with guitar stands (2 for $28). Good setup. Though Happy/Unhappy rating on the 'Zon is 79%/14%, it is solid and has worked well for 18+ months.
@louisdi That’s because batteries (even lithium) need periodic charging, and any battery-based product that isn’t a refurb on this site has probably been sitting for at least a year. I’m convinced the cost of hazardous waste disposal for a commercial or industrial entity makes these types of things dirt cheap for meh, even if they they expect a 50% fallout rate. Especially if they put the burden of recycling /disposal on the consumer, which they’ve done in the past. Personally, I’d take a chance at $100 but have enough battery-based products around that I barely use, including a 1000W Jackery and a Yeti 6000x that’s a 450-cell salvage operation.
@louisdi It looks like the only one you wrote in about was back in March/April. If there are other items that were DOA, we’re happy to help if they’re still within our warranty/return window.
@Thumperchick Unfortunately not… One I just got rid of because it wasn’t even worth dealing with it was so cheap. The others tend to charge when first gotten but then within 6 months no longer take a charge and end up in the recycling pile. That’s an acceptable risk on a 3 for $18 battery pack, but not on something this cost.
Edited to add: On the one that was truly DOA and more expensive, you guys handled it well with an immediate refund. So thank you for that.
@werehatrack Problem is that the 6000 I’m reclaiming was in a flood; The bottom 1/3 of the cells are trashed, the entire thing sat at 0V. Interestingly, through very careful charging I’ve been able to get most of the other 2/3 of the cells to hold a charge, but there’s still a handful of cells with high self discharge (internal short circuits). All that said, I only paid $150 for it and can recoup my costs simply selling the inverter, MPPT, and brick charger), and then putting the cells into other projects. The $50 battery-powered spot welders are pretty cool for making small packs, but they’re not quite strong enough for thicker nickel/steel strips
@louisdi I’ve bought some smaller USB PowerBank type things from Meh that have all worked. One only gives like half the charge I expected (something or other with a built in lightning, ah EMPOWER(RED) that at 6080mAh should be “most of” an iPhone charge, but is more like “almost half”), and all the rest set to work “as advertised”, like the 10mAh one is a full charge and a bit left over.
If anyone still has one or more of these that failed, I’d be interested in troubleshooting them to see what’s systematically failing on them and/or paying the shipping to poke around. It’s likely either the BMS or perhaps the MPPT, maybe an occasional inverter failure; The cells are probably still useful and can be paired with 3rd party BMS and/or MPPT units if necessary.
@caffeineguy I’m curious to see what the issue is as well. If it’s just a failed battery (cell replacement) and the PCB and guts are still good, then it might not be the worst buy at $150~.
I bought one during the last thon I think (Aug 11) and knowing how battery items are, I’ve been doing some almost test cycles. I charge it up then run it down with a fan plugged in. According to the display, the fan pulls between 51 and 57 Watts. The first time the fan lasted about 8 hours the second, about 7 1/2. I’ve done a couple cycles since, but didn’t run the stopwatch or was away when it ran out of juice so i don’t know if it has dropped further, however i am doing another now.
So far the biggest issue is that the battery % remaining displays at 100% up until it dies. Then when I plug it in it starts at 35%. It reminds me of how a cell phone reports battery charge when its battery is failing. I still have about 50 days left in the warranty period, so hopefully I get a solid pass or fail before then as I bought this for a specific need that is outside of the original 90 day warranty. Looks like this is luck of the draw.
@jaybird perhaps there’s a way to reset the BMS so it forces an update to the calibration. I’ve seen a few posts in the other thread that the percent remaining estimate is BS. That said, it seems DOA/instant failures are more prevalent, so if your worst issue is piss-poor estimating, perhaps that’s it’s fundamental flaw
@caffeineguy That’s what I’m hoping. I figure if I can cycle it eventually once per week or once every other week which is probably too often, then when I actually need it for an outdoor event, it will still be operational. I bought a couple of battery backups at a discount store a few months ago. They were totally DOA and there were no returns. It was my mistake for not checking them out before purchase. However I can order new batteries online and install them, and I will still have made out better than full retail. Edit, I mentioned that because if this is just a bad battery, I should be able to replace it as well.
@jaybird I suspect the batteries are probably fine, unless there’s some sort of flaw in the assembly. More than likely an undersized transistor in the MPPT or BMS is failing, or the BMS has dropped into a deep sleep and battery needs to be manually charged
@The_Tim When mine arrives, if I think about it, I’ll stick a load on it after charging and see what the scope shows for a waveform. I’d be mildly surprised if it was really pure sine.
I have to think that the majority of these are functional when shipped, or Meh wouldn’t still be pumping them out. The number of them that are problematic is likely the reason that they’re being remaindered out via this channel.
I guess I’m the odd man out after reading some of these comments. I ordered one of these the last go around a few months ago (?) we have used it twice at outdoor parties to keep phones and outdoor speakers charged and works great.
I have no idea what any of these guys are talking about but it scares me enough to avoid it. Especially since someone unloaded these to meh for a bargain because they were no longer worth either retail or discounted.
This is not a Mehrathon item, it’s a pre-Mehrathon listing that remained available for purchase when the 'Thon began, but that does not make it part of the 'Thon.
@werehatrack I’m half tempted to buy one, knowing that I’ll need to abuse test it and cycle it the first week or two I’ve got it. Like any meh product, I suspect if it survives a few cycles, it’s probably going to be OK, but So many sketchy Meh products I’ve bought over the years, only to open them months later and realize they were probably DOA.
@caffeineguy A while back, I bought one of the earlier and smaller units like this, and it lasted exactly six charge/discharge cycles before it went wonky. Sadly, that was five months after purchase at that point. On arrival, I ran it through two cycles flawlessly.
I purchased one of these before we had a 4 day power outage recently. I was disappointed that it wouldn’t run my coffee maker, but it was great to change phones, iPads and my laptop. My neighbor used it to run his CPAP machine and considered it. a life saver
@betterways@mhilovsky Typical coffeemaker is 700 to 1200W for the full-carafe ones. Smaller single-cup units can be down around 550. Even those will severely tax a power supply of this size; the total output capacity is usually not expected to be drawn through a single outlet. YMMV.
@betterways@mhilovsky yeah, typically on the order of 1000-1500W; certainly likely to blow up the fragile inverters of these types of things. I was able to get a Jackery 1000 to run my popcorn cart (~1000W+ continuously for 10 min), but it sure felt dangerous, and kind of pointless. At such high power, the batteries/inverter everything is pretty hot and inefficient
The unit has arrived. Initial indications are not encouraging; it began “accepting a charge” from a 1% starting point at a rate of 7W, which then dropped to 5W. Those figures look like the power consumption of the charging circuitry itself. I very much doubt that the cells are actually accepting anything, but I could be wrong. I strongly suspect some fully-discharged and potentially unrecoverable parallel segments in the pack. If I unplug the charger, the display blanks and can’t be turned on. I’m going to leave it on charge and see what happens. If it takes any significant charge overnight, I have an opportunity to use-test it tomorrow at an event nearby. (I’ll still take my Jackery and my backups just in case.)
If it still acts like it’s battery-DOA after three days on the charger, I’ll consult with Support before entertaining any thoughts of exploratory surgery to seek possible cures.
@werehatrack Things quickly got more encouraging. It’s now accepting a charge at 94W, has progressed to 2%, and is now able to light the display when the charger is unplugged. The fact that it was at a “no charge” state on arrival speaks volumes to the length of time they were stored and/or the self-discharge issues that may be present.
@werehatrack After about 30 minutes on charge, the rate is up to 96W (good?) and the charge level is showing as 10% (likely an overestimate IMO.) It looks like this will get use-tested tomorrow, and Sunday as well if it doesn’t fail early. I’d be delighted to have it turn out to be a reliable unit.
@werehatrack that low power draw may have functioned as a trickle charge because the cell voltages were below some safe charging threshold. Once the voltages were back within “safe” levels after the trickle charge, it started to accept a normal charge. So yes, they were probably sitting in storage for a while and self-discharged to a critically low level.
@pyip23 And after about 6 hours, it was indicating 100%. It gets hot-tested on a low-drain laptop setup all day tomorrow (and if it does OK on Saturday, then Sunday as well); I’m cautiously hopeful.
@werehatrack curious what the output watt reading is. Keep an eye on it, mine will start at 99, drop to 98 after a couple hours, then die completely while still showing 98.
@jaybird Please keep us apprised as results are obtained. The more real-user datapoints we can get, the easier it becomes to assess the real value here.
@werehatrack I’ve done probably 12 test cycles. I don’t have exact times for some as the battery expired when I wasn’t around. the first test was ~8 hours. test 2 was about 7 - 7 1/2. the last two tests were both about 4 1/2. I’ve concluded the display is 100% useless and the battery is probably operating at 50% or less. It has some value if it stays at this level, however it isn’t as advertised.
The 1* reviews on Amazon that display as a strike-through text and bland comments such as “ This item was fulfilled by Amazon, and we take responsibility for this fulfillment experience.” or “ The fulfillment issues associated with this order were not due to the seller” seem unusual.
Hmmm and why is this still up for sale? I thought after 6 am the next day you would get a “it’s too late”? Does it qualify for the mehrathon IRK if bought during the mehrathon time frame?
@datruandi no it doesn’t qualify for that unless they put it up for sale again during this thon. I know many items are available for sale a couple days after their actual sale date. I don’t know if that’s only for members and VMP or if that’s for everyone. These were for sale a couple days ago, so the clock hasn’t run out on them yet.
@datruandi if you were thinking this would be an easy purchase to get a dollar irk, you would be mistaken. There would potentially be regret in both boxes.
The charging brick that came with mine gets hotter than I like, so I will be swapping to a different one ASAP. This one was pretty obviously intended for rhe laptop market where a 100% duty cycle for long periods would not be common. I probably have an old Compaq or Toshiba that will work. The unit rechrged at a rate similar to its initial one, with the power brick maxed out at its rated 95W.
My next test will be with two 100W incandescent clamp lights for two and a half hours. If it doesn’t zero out under that load for several cycles, I’m willing to call mine good. Results will get posted at some point, but so far the only verified shortcoming is in the subpar charging brick.
Not so Meh! I have a similar model to this that routinely powers a small portable fridge/freezer while I travel. It allows me to leave it in the car and forget about it for overnight (about 10 hours) while the car is parked and turned off. During the day, it is charged by the car and the car powers the fridge, as well. This unit was priced at around half of what I paid, and I immediately saw the bargain. I hope it does as meh as the other one.
Rc’vd 9/25. Battery at 0. Charged up to 99% in about 6 hrs, then input watts slowly decrease to 0 over next 45 min or so and battery at 100%. Unit shuts off automatically after that(sleep mode). So far, so good. Wall charger does get very hot!! Hopefully lasts a while. Haven’t used it yet to charge anything.
@mbeachs Far more important is a load test (or three), and to see if that state-of-charge (SoC) indicator is even remotely useful. If you don’t have a load meter, put a true 60W bulb on it for and see how close to the rated ~9 hours; with any luck you should lose roughly 10% an hour.
I don’t know what this means, but load tester says 0.053 KWh at 1hour. voltage on load tester was 53w and on Puleida 52w. Puleida battery just dropped to 87% at the one hour mark. Load tester said I was drawing 0.477 A.
Light bulb said 60W. Load tester reads 112.1V at 50Hz.
Sooooo, with those numbers I don’t know if good or bad, but seems ok to me?
@mbeachs 53W for an hour ~53Whr, seems reasonable. 110V / 55W = half amp current. (Note: a 60W bulb at ‘only’ 112V would be a little less than 60W since it’s probably rated 60W@130V) ; All that said, you really have to run it for a deep cycle (~8-9 hours, or until it quits to determine the capacity of the unit) . I’m a little concerned it’s running at 50Hz though; that’s not going to be great for some US electronics
@caffeineguy Thanks. I switched it to 60 Hz. Only ran for three hours. 0.160 KWh with 62%battery remaining. I hear you about running it to 0 a few times, but for the price I think it will be fine for my needs. I did charge for awhile at 117 W input with both DC brick and USB-C. Decided no sense in abusing it, so just went back to 91W with wall charger only. Everything seems fine.
@mbeachs On the contrary-- ‘abusing’ it before the warranty ends is important for such a product. If is survives a few deep cycles in the first month, odds are it’ll be a useful product for many more months.
@caffeineguy@mbeachs I hadn’t run a test since the day after this last sale until today. Unfortunately now mine only lasts an hour using the same fan I was using before in my test. Looks like mine is shot.
@werehatrack thanks, yes already in the works. Funny though, they want it back. Guess it’ll end up in someone’s irk in the coming months. Maybe I should tape a note to it for the next person,
Finally picked up one of these things secondhand; It was in someone’s IRK and they mailed it to me for a very reasonable fee. It was completely discharged and had something concerning rattling around in it. I disassembled the bottom via 4 screws hidden behind the rubber feet (the only way in) and a chunk of plastic fell out. I was worried it was a chunk of metal or a screw that was going to short out the inverter or battery. After examination, at worst it would have jammed up one of the two fans (not shown)
From this vantage point one can see the fairly small red/black wires in the EC5 connector that go to the inverter (maybe 10AWG?). The red/black wires on the left go to the outlets, the ones on the right with the choke go to the 12V socket, and the ~4 tiny black ones are likely enable lines for the inverter/dc out. In short, the bottom of the unit is all things that consume battery (inverter and 12V socket, perhaps DC to DC regulated), no BMS or charging electronics (those are up top). This is good news if someone has one that charges, but won’t do anything else, as the bottom electronics can be swapped fairly easy with someone that has a poorly managed/dead battery but working consumer electronics.
I couldn’t get to the battery itself without removing the top half, I didn’t have a super long/thin philips head screwdriver handy to get ‘down’ to the screws fastening the top on. I also forgot to disconnect that EC5 and measure what was likely the BMS output voltage.
Anyway, I plugged in the included charger and it started charging about 90W. I didn’t want it running overnight, so stopped it at ~50%, resuming the charge today when I can observe the charge profile, watch the temps, listen to fan, etc. The inverter seems to work, but only after some awkward holding of the AC button for > 2 seconds which I can see is probably frustrating and let to a lot of RTFM returns. Important to note this thing shut down the inverter as soon as I plugged in the 95W DC charging supply, so use as a UPS is not likely possible, but I’ll RTFM just be sure. The internal charger uses 90W, leaving little margin on the 95W brick, but perhaps it’s pretty efficient being pushed at 95% capacity?
FWIW, mine was running 50Hz and I had to hold the AC and DC button to switch it to 60Hz.
Specs
Product: Puleida 600W/518Wh Portable Power Station
Model: PU600A
Condition: New
What’s Included?
Price Comparison
$299.99 at CamelCamelCamel
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Sep 25 - Thursday, Sep 28
I got the power!
Duplicate offer for same price as before.
At least you have some additional comments to read about it.
Last time you could also have gotten an IRK.
@cengland0 Most of the good chatter is here: https://meh.com/forum/topics/puleida-600w518wh-portable-power-station
@cengland0 Getting the IRK would be better since you’d have a guarantee of regret rather than just a likelihood of regret from buying this alone.
Is the solar panel sold anywhere?
@xtrunksiex I imagine any 100W solar panel will work.
@xtrunksiex Manual says it’ll charge from a dc source (including solar panels) between 10 - 30 volts.
(Manual doesn’t show the size or type of the DC input port.)
@Comedian @xtrunksiex The MPPT will handle 10-30V, which should include most 100W panels, or a pair in series, perhaps even a 200-250W panel. The MPPT will still only draw the ~90W max from that port though. Check the panel’s open circuit voltage; 300W panels start to exceed 30V and that’ll fry the fragile FETs (transistors) on the front end.
@caffeineguy @Comedian @xtrunksiex generally from a panel big you would always use a charge controller, which will regulate the voltage. I’s suggest using one even for a 100W. Many ‘kits’ come with one.
@pmarin This unit already has a MPPT built in, so a second charge controller (MPPT) in series might cause bizarre voltage/current tracking quirks. That said, I wouldn’t push the boundaries of this unit based on the number of failures reported.
@caffeineguy @pmarin Having a voltage regulator and load maintainer between an oversize solar panel and a small load can be pretty important, though. Solar does not like to have an open circuit presented.
i bought one of these last time, in July, and it’s already stopped working. complete waste of money, avoid at all costs.
@omally These do have a 90 day warranty; have you pursued that?
https://meh.com/warranty
@omally I am not even a little bit surprised. 8 don’t think they use a lithium chemistry batter and they likely sat in a warehouse waaaaay too long.
@ohhwell Curious what kind of chemistry you think the battery is if not lithium. 518Wh in a small package like that would be very difficult with a lead acid battery.
@cengland0 @ohhwell NMC, much like the Jackery model with a similar spec that has been working for me for a few years now. Lower power density (and cost) then LiIon.
@theonetruestrip NMC? That’s a new one for me. Never heard of that. Would you please enlighten me on what that means? The best search results that could possibly be battery related are:
If you mean “Lithium nickel manganese cobalt,” then note that contains Lithium.
@cengland0 @ohhwell @theonetruestrip LiFePo4 is a little more durable with less power density; LiIon (this thing) degrades pretty bad when fully discharged and stored fully charged. More than likely, these have terrible battery management systems and have all been dead on the shelf for a while with only a fraction of them willing to take a substantial charge.
@caffeineguy @cengland0 @theonetruestrip How did you find out it is Lilon?
@cengland0 @theonetruestrip they probably mean nickel metal hydride battery (NiMH or Ni–MH). It is predominantly what was used before Li-ion and the alternative to NiCad (the other pre Li-ion alternative).
@caffeineguy @cengland0 @ohhwell I have no idea what this particular battery is, I already own something “close enough” for my purposes (the Jackery), and that one documents it’s battery type. I would assume this is NMC or LiFePo merely because they are common in this kind of application, weigh way less than lead acid and cost less than a traditional LiIon chemistry.
Other people’s reviews of this particular deal’s product make me think I wouldn’t take the chance on it if I were in the market for a replacement. Which is a shame because just judging from the specs page it looks like it would be a good bargain if it works as advertised as opposed to as reviewed.
(Like the Jackery I bought was around half the capacity for twice the price when I bought it three years ago I think it was a good deal, today’s Jackery doesn’t seem to be the best deal anymore, I guess I bought before they had established themselves as a quality product though!)
@cengland0 @ohhwell @theonetruestrip I have a Jackery 1000 that someone fried the MPPT on, so there was no way to charge it. I was able to do a reach-around bypass and put a plug right on the battery management system (5s x 4.3V = ~21.5V) I charge with a DC to DC step-up converter set to 22V and the BMS will cut it off when fully charged. The Jackery is NMC Li-Ion (as is the Goal Zero Yeti 6000 I’m salvaging cells from). Much smaller units and jump starter packs are generally Li-Poly pouches; Everything has been moving to LiFePo because it’s cheaper and slightly safer at a ‘cost’ of less energy density. (My earlier comment incorrectly referenced NMC, but actually nickel-manganese-cobalt is the ‘traditional’ form of Li-Ion; It’s the more recent Li-Iron-Phosphate that’s less energy dense and cheaper without cobalt)
@theonetruestrip funny that you mention Jackery and I got an email about the sale they are having at the same time. LOL
@cengland0 @theonetruestrip Jackery has a pretty good warranty for the first year, then zero product support after that. They will not fix anything, sell parts, etc. It’s just a doorstop if something fails. (much like today’s Meh offering)
@caffeineguy @cengland0 I’m not shocked. Before the Jackery I had a Goal Zero of some sort (I don’t think it was the Yeti). They had zero support when mine broke after a year and a half, so I didn’t buy another.
My issue with today’s offering is the apparently large number of people who bought one and had it fail in the first 60~90 days. Which actually might be a best case because they likely fail fast because most high density chamistries don’t like being hot and don’t like having zero charge and do have a non-zero self discharge rate. So sitting in a warehouse for an extended period which I assume a lot of products do before someone decides “this product isn’t moving and we want to use the warehouse pace for something that sells like knives with rainbow colors!” and it ends up at a place like Meh for a discount.
Anyway if they die quick I’ll bet the replacement hasn’t been sitting in an overly hot warehouse for a long time and will last longer.
Still dealing with warrantee claims is frequently a pain, and sometimes they also ding you for “we made a bad one but you get to pay to ship it to us and it had better have the original packaging or we will claim it was damaged in shipping because it was improperly packed and now none of it is our fault”
@theonetruestrip
Particularly when the brand is a paste-on label that gives every indication of having dried up, turned to dust and blown away at some point in the recent past. Sadly, this can even happen between the time that Meh acquires the stock and when they get it sold and shipped to the customers. “Manufacturer” warranty length means absolutely nothing when the entity vanishes before you can collect. Many leave zombie websites that don’t get taken down for years.
@omally I got you covered.
@cengland0 @ohhwell @theonetruestrip
LiFePo4 ? That is a way better chemistry for longevity. But it is not cheaper.
@lichen That’s the chemistry most of my battery generators use. They can go through 3,000 full charge/discharge cycles and still have 80% of the original capacity. That is over 8 years of full charge and discharge 365 days a year and you still have 80% life left.
@cengland0 @theonetruestrip
Wikipedia’s Lithium ion battery article lists the more prominent chemistries and their abbreviations.
Lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide NMC, LiNixMnyCozO2
Lithium nickel cobalt aluminium oxide NCA, LiNiCoAlO2
Lithium nickel cobalt manganese aluminum oxide NCMA, LiNi0.89Co0.05Mn0.05Al0.01O2
Lithium manganese oxide LMO, LiMn2O4
Lithium iron phosphate LFP, LiFePO4
Lithium cobalt oxide LCO, LiCoO2
“By the power of … Puleida?”
@hchavers Skeletor’s Grayskull at home.
KuoH
Some Un-favorable reviews on longevity and zero customer support so a big NO!!! For me. Buy at your own risk I guess
Another Chinese noname with no parts or service, poor quality control and probably a vanishing importer. Getting real tired of this game.
What’s it cost at TOETOETOE?
@KaraokeJoe I think you’re joking and mean camelcamelcamel because of the bad camel toe joke.
Anyway, that link and price was posted above in the writeup.
Puleida - best of luck finding any info on this company, but plenty of bad reviews
Bought one last time and it failed after the first full charge, thankful for the refund.
Meh needs to open-box all of these things and see if they actually take a charge for an hour or two. That’ll confirm at least parts of them work.
@caffeineguy Some Meh items are drop-shipped from a remote location. The option to verify function may not be present.
We bought something similar last year, plus the solar panels, and it works great. Thought about buying another unit for additional back-up, then read the Amazon reviews. I rately buy anything with a “Happy” rating (5 + 4 star reviews) of less than 88%… this product is at 73%. “Unhappy” rating (1 + 2 stars) is at 19%. The issues was mostly longevity, followed by customer service. So, no thank you.
@MrNews Can you share the one you purchased if you recommend it?
@sudotrin Yes, this one by PryMAX: https://a.co/d/fW7wlfe
We got the battery plus solar panels for $316 total, and prop up the panels with guitar stands (2 for $28). Good setup. Though Happy/Unhappy rating on the 'Zon is 79%/14%, it is solid and has worked well for 18+ months.
Another pass here. 100% of the battery based items I’ve bought from Meh ended up being DOA. Things with batteries are not good barn finds.
@louisdi That’s because batteries (even lithium) need periodic charging, and any battery-based product that isn’t a refurb on this site has probably been sitting for at least a year. I’m convinced the cost of hazardous waste disposal for a commercial or industrial entity makes these types of things dirt cheap for meh, even if they they expect a 50% fallout rate. Especially if they put the burden of recycling /disposal on the consumer, which they’ve done in the past. Personally, I’d take a chance at $100 but have enough battery-based products around that I barely use, including a 1000W Jackery and a Yeti 6000x that’s a 450-cell salvage operation.
@caffeineguy That Yeti would be an attractive enough project to make me buy the real spot welder. (And I know I’d need it.)
@louisdi It looks like the only one you wrote in about was back in March/April. If there are other items that were DOA, we’re happy to help if they’re still within our warranty/return window.
@Thumperchick Unfortunately not… One I just got rid of because it wasn’t even worth dealing with it was so cheap. The others tend to charge when first gotten but then within 6 months no longer take a charge and end up in the recycling pile. That’s an acceptable risk on a 3 for $18 battery pack, but not on something this cost.
Edited to add: On the one that was truly DOA and more expensive, you guys handled it well with an immediate refund. So thank you for that.
@werehatrack Problem is that the 6000 I’m reclaiming was in a flood; The bottom 1/3 of the cells are trashed, the entire thing sat at 0V. Interestingly, through very careful charging I’ve been able to get most of the other 2/3 of the cells to hold a charge, but there’s still a handful of cells with high self discharge (internal short circuits). All that said, I only paid $150 for it and can recoup my costs simply selling the inverter, MPPT, and brick charger), and then putting the cells into other projects. The $50 battery-powered spot welders are pretty cool for making small packs, but they’re not quite strong enough for thicker nickel/steel strips
@louisdi I’ve bought some smaller USB PowerBank type things from Meh that have all worked. One only gives like half the charge I expected (something or other with a built in lightning, ah EMPOWER(RED) that at 6080mAh should be “most of” an iPhone charge, but is more like “almost half”), and all the rest set to work “as advertised”, like the 10mAh one is a full charge and a bit left over.
If anyone still has one or more of these that failed, I’d be interested in troubleshooting them to see what’s systematically failing on them and/or paying the shipping to poke around. It’s likely either the BMS or perhaps the MPPT, maybe an occasional inverter failure; The cells are probably still useful and can be paired with 3rd party BMS and/or MPPT units if necessary.
@caffeineguy I’m curious to see what the issue is as well. If it’s just a failed battery (cell replacement) and the PCB and guts are still good, then it might not be the worst buy at $150~.
I bought one during the last thon I think (Aug 11) and knowing how battery items are, I’ve been doing some almost test cycles. I charge it up then run it down with a fan plugged in. According to the display, the fan pulls between 51 and 57 Watts. The first time the fan lasted about 8 hours the second, about 7 1/2. I’ve done a couple cycles since, but didn’t run the stopwatch or was away when it ran out of juice so i don’t know if it has dropped further, however i am doing another now.
So far the biggest issue is that the battery % remaining displays at 100% up until it dies. Then when I plug it in it starts at 35%. It reminds me of how a cell phone reports battery charge when its battery is failing. I still have about 50 days left in the warranty period, so hopefully I get a solid pass or fail before then as I bought this for a specific need that is outside of the original 90 day warranty. Looks like this is luck of the draw.
@jaybird perhaps there’s a way to reset the BMS so it forces an update to the calibration. I’ve seen a few posts in the other thread that the percent remaining estimate is BS. That said, it seems DOA/instant failures are more prevalent, so if your worst issue is piss-poor estimating, perhaps that’s it’s fundamental flaw
@caffeineguy That’s what I’m hoping. I figure if I can cycle it eventually once per week or once every other week which is probably too often, then when I actually need it for an outdoor event, it will still be operational. I bought a couple of battery backups at a discount store a few months ago. They were totally DOA and there were no returns. It was my mistake for not checking them out before purchase. However I can order new batteries online and install them, and I will still have made out better than full retail. Edit, I mentioned that because if this is just a bad battery, I should be able to replace it as well.
@jaybird I suspect the batteries are probably fine, unless there’s some sort of flaw in the assembly. More than likely an undersized transistor in the MPPT or BMS is failing, or the BMS has dropped into a deep sleep and battery needs to be manually charged
Worth noting that this does not appear to produce a pure sine wave AC source. There are other similar products that do.
@The_Tim When mine arrives, if I think about it, I’ll stick a load on it after charging and see what the scope shows for a waveform. I’d be mildly surprised if it was really pure sine.
@The_Tim @werehatrack I’d be equally surprised if it works at all 24 hrs after charging….
@pmarin @The_Tim We shall see!
I have to think that the majority of these are functional when shipped, or Meh wouldn’t still be pumping them out. The number of them that are problematic is likely the reason that they’re being remaindered out via this channel.
I guess I’m the odd man out after reading some of these comments. I ordered one of these the last go around a few months ago (?) we have used it twice at outdoor parties to keep phones and outdoor speakers charged and works great.
I have no idea what any of these guys are talking about but it scares me enough to avoid it. Especially since someone unloaded these to meh for a bargain because they were no longer worth either retail or discounted.
Kind of annoyed that I just bought one at side deal for $10 more…
This is not a Mehrathon item, it’s a pre-Mehrathon listing that remained available for purchase when the 'Thon began, but that does not make it part of the 'Thon.
@werehatrack it’ll inevitably come up again during this 'thon, probably at the same price, without the commentary, and then finally sell out.
@caffeineguy Let’s hope so. If it comes up for less, I won’t be the only one unhappy, at least.
@werehatrack I’m half tempted to buy one, knowing that I’ll need to abuse test it and cycle it the first week or two I’ve got it. Like any meh product, I suspect if it survives a few cycles, it’s probably going to be OK, but So many sketchy Meh products I’ve bought over the years, only to open them months later and realize they were probably DOA.
@caffeineguy A while back, I bought one of the earlier and smaller units like this, and it lasted exactly six charge/discharge cycles before it went wonky. Sadly, that was five months after purchase at that point. On arrival, I ran it through two cycles flawlessly.
I purchased one of these before we had a 4 day power outage recently. I was disappointed that it wouldn’t run my coffee maker, but it was great to change phones, iPads and my laptop. My neighbor used it to run his CPAP machine and considered it. a life saver
@mhilovsky Yes, coffee makers use quite a lot of power. Almost anything that produces heat does.
@betterways @mhilovsky Typical coffeemaker is 700 to 1200W for the full-carafe ones. Smaller single-cup units can be down around 550. Even those will severely tax a power supply of this size; the total output capacity is usually not expected to be drawn through a single outlet. YMMV.
@betterways @mhilovsky yeah, typically on the order of 1000-1500W; certainly likely to blow up the fragile inverters of these types of things. I was able to get a Jackery 1000 to run my popcorn cart (~1000W+ continuously for 10 min), but it sure felt dangerous, and kind of pointless. At such high power, the batteries/inverter everything is pretty hot and inefficient
The unit has arrived. Initial indications are not encouraging; it began “accepting a charge” from a 1% starting point at a rate of 7W, which then dropped to 5W. Those figures look like the power consumption of the charging circuitry itself. I very much doubt that the cells are actually accepting anything, but I could be wrong. I strongly suspect some fully-discharged and potentially unrecoverable parallel segments in the pack. If I unplug the charger, the display blanks and can’t be turned on. I’m going to leave it on charge and see what happens. If it takes any significant charge overnight, I have an opportunity to use-test it tomorrow at an event nearby. (I’ll still take my Jackery and my backups just in case.)
If it still acts like it’s battery-DOA after three days on the charger, I’ll consult with Support before entertaining any thoughts of exploratory surgery to seek possible cures.
@werehatrack Things quickly got more encouraging. It’s now accepting a charge at 94W, has progressed to 2%, and is now able to light the display when the charger is unplugged. The fact that it was at a “no charge” state on arrival speaks volumes to the length of time they were stored and/or the self-discharge issues that may be present.
@werehatrack After about 30 minutes on charge, the rate is up to 96W (good?) and the charge level is showing as 10% (likely an overestimate IMO.) It looks like this will get use-tested tomorrow, and Sunday as well if it doesn’t fail early. I’d be delighted to have it turn out to be a reliable unit.
@werehatrack that low power draw may have functioned as a trickle charge because the cell voltages were below some safe charging threshold. Once the voltages were back within “safe” levels after the trickle charge, it started to accept a normal charge. So yes, they were probably sitting in storage for a while and self-discharged to a critically low level.
@pyip23 And after about 6 hours, it was indicating 100%. It gets hot-tested on a low-drain laptop setup all day tomorrow (and if it does OK on Saturday, then Sunday as well); I’m cautiously hopeful.
Two hours into the hot test, under a light load, it’s at 94%. This is very similar to my Jackery’s results
@werehatrack Five and a half hours, 87%. The early result is good, but this will need more than one cycle.
@werehatrack curious what the output watt reading is. Keep an eye on it, mine will start at 99, drop to 98 after a couple hours, then die completely while still showing 98.
@jaybird Fluctuating between 8 and 28, running a laptop and charging three USB devices.
@jaybird Second field test, same smallish load as yesterday, 90% after 6 hours. So far, that’s within expectations.
Well, my tests are getting worse. Now it only lasts 4 hours under the same load as before. Not a good trend here.
@jaybird Please keep us apprised as results are obtained. The more real-user datapoints we can get, the easier it becomes to assess the real value here.
@werehatrack I’ve done probably 12 test cycles. I don’t have exact times for some as the battery expired when I wasn’t around. the first test was ~8 hours. test 2 was about 7 - 7 1/2. the last two tests were both about 4 1/2. I’ve concluded the display is 100% useless and the battery is probably operating at 50% or less. It has some value if it stays at this level, however it isn’t as advertised.
The 1* reviews on Amazon that display as a strike-through text and bland comments such as “ This item was fulfilled by Amazon, and we take responsibility for this fulfillment experience.” or “ The fulfillment issues associated with this order were not due to the seller” seem unusual.
Hmmm and why is this still up for sale? I thought after 6 am the next day you would get a “it’s too late”? Does it qualify for the mehrathon IRK if bought during the mehrathon time frame?
@datruandi no it doesn’t qualify for that unless they put it up for sale again during this thon. I know many items are available for sale a couple days after their actual sale date. I don’t know if that’s only for members and VMP or if that’s for everyone. These were for sale a couple days ago, so the clock hasn’t run out on them yet.
@datruandi if you were thinking this would be an easy purchase to get a dollar irk, you would be mistaken. There would potentially be regret in both boxes.
@jaybird it used to be a VMP only benefit to be able to buy a meh deal after midnight until the next morning… funky it seems to have changed
The charging brick that came with mine gets hotter than I like, so I will be swapping to a different one ASAP. This one was pretty obviously intended for rhe laptop market where a 100% duty cycle for long periods would not be common. I probably have an old Compaq or Toshiba that will work. The unit rechrged at a rate similar to its initial one, with the power brick maxed out at its rated 95W.
@werehatrack My wall charger got very very hat as well. Said 91w input while charging.
My next test will be with two 100W incandescent clamp lights for two and a half hours. If it doesn’t zero out under that load for several cycles, I’m willing to call mine good. Results will get posted at some point, but so far the only verified shortcoming is in the subpar charging brick.
Not so Meh! I have a similar model to this that routinely powers a small portable fridge/freezer while I travel. It allows me to leave it in the car and forget about it for overnight (about 10 hours) while the car is parked and turned off. During the day, it is charged by the car and the car powers the fridge, as well. This unit was priced at around half of what I paid, and I immediately saw the bargain. I hope it does as meh as the other one.
Rc’vd 9/25. Battery at 0. Charged up to 99% in about 6 hrs, then input watts slowly decrease to 0 over next 45 min or so and battery at 100%. Unit shuts off automatically after that(sleep mode). So far, so good. Wall charger does get very hot!! Hopefully lasts a while. Haven’t used it yet to charge anything.
@mbeachs Far more important is a load test (or three), and to see if that state-of-charge (SoC) indicator is even remotely useful. If you don’t have a load meter, put a true 60W bulb on it for and see how close to the rated ~9 hours; with any luck you should lose roughly 10% an hour.
@caffeineguy I was planning to go with a 200W resistive load, and see how close to 2 1/2 hours it would get before the voltage took a nosedive.
@caffeineguy Posted my 1hr findings. I don’t know if they are good news or bad. Anyway, they are in the thread.
I don’t know what this means, but load tester says 0.053 KWh at 1hour. voltage on load tester was 53w and on Puleida 52w. Puleida battery just dropped to 87% at the one hour mark. Load tester said I was drawing 0.477 A.
Light bulb said 60W. Load tester reads 112.1V at 50Hz.
Sooooo, with those numbers I don’t know if good or bad, but seems ok to me?
@mbeachs 53W for an hour ~53Whr, seems reasonable. 110V / 55W = half amp current. (Note: a 60W bulb at ‘only’ 112V would be a little less than 60W since it’s probably rated 60W@130V) ; All that said, you really have to run it for a deep cycle (~8-9 hours, or until it quits to determine the capacity of the unit) . I’m a little concerned it’s running at 50Hz though; that’s not going to be great for some US electronics
@caffeineguy Thanks. I switched it to 60 Hz. Only ran for three hours. 0.160 KWh with 62%battery remaining. I hear you about running it to 0 a few times, but for the price I think it will be fine for my needs. I did charge for awhile at 117 W input with both DC brick and USB-C. Decided no sense in abusing it, so just went back to 91W with wall charger only. Everything seems fine.
@mbeachs On the contrary-- ‘abusing’ it before the warranty ends is important for such a product. If is survives a few deep cycles in the first month, odds are it’ll be a useful product for many more months.
@caffeineguy @mbeachs I hadn’t run a test since the day after this last sale until today. Unfortunately now mine only lasts an hour using the same fan I was using before in my test. Looks like mine is shot.
@jaybird still inside 90 days, right? Head over to meh.com/support
@werehatrack thanks, yes already in the works. Funny though, they want it back. Guess it’ll end up in someone’s irk in the coming months. Maybe I should tape a note to it for the next person,
Finally picked up one of these things secondhand; It was in someone’s IRK and they mailed it to me for a very reasonable fee. It was completely discharged and had something concerning rattling around in it. I disassembled the bottom via 4 screws hidden behind the rubber feet (the only way in) and a chunk of plastic fell out.
I was worried it was a chunk of metal or a screw that was going to short out the inverter or battery. After examination, at worst it would have jammed up one of the two fans (not shown)
From this vantage point one can see the fairly small red/black wires in the EC5 connector that go to the inverter (maybe 10AWG?). The red/black wires on the left go to the outlets, the ones on the right with the choke go to the 12V socket, and the ~4 tiny black ones are likely enable lines for the inverter/dc out. In short, the bottom of the unit is all things that consume battery (inverter and 12V socket, perhaps DC to DC regulated), no BMS or charging electronics (those are up top). This is good news if someone has one that charges, but won’t do anything else, as the bottom electronics can be swapped fairly easy with someone that has a poorly managed/dead battery but working consumer electronics.
I couldn’t get to the battery itself without removing the top half, I didn’t have a super long/thin philips head screwdriver handy to get ‘down’ to the screws fastening the top on. I also forgot to disconnect that EC5 and measure what was likely the BMS output voltage.
Anyway, I plugged in the included charger and it started charging about 90W. I didn’t want it running overnight, so stopped it at ~50%, resuming the charge today when I can observe the charge profile, watch the temps, listen to fan, etc. The inverter seems to work, but only after some awkward holding of the AC button for > 2 seconds which I can see is probably frustrating and let to a lot of RTFM returns. Important to note this thing shut down the inverter as soon as I plugged in the 95W DC charging supply, so use as a UPS is not likely possible, but I’ll RTFM just be sure. The internal charger uses 90W, leaving little margin on the 95W brick, but perhaps it’s pretty efficient being pushed at 95% capacity?
FWIW, mine was running 50Hz and I had to hold the AC and DC button to switch it to 60Hz.