These days a lot of us carry power banks in our pockets and backpacks so that our battery hungry devices make it through the day. But what about a power bank for your house?
Wouldn’t it be great during a blackout to still keep the fridge running, or do a load of washing, or even just be able to charge the kids devices so that they stop nagging you about when the power will come back on.
The EcoFlow DELTA Max Power Station can do just that! It’s basically a big fat power bank that can keep some of your household appliances running for an amazingly long time.
Not be confused with a UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) which are used extensively in IT situations, this is an EPS (Emergency Power Supply).
What’s the difference, well it’s in the bloody name. A UPS will seamlessly keep servers etc on line with no interruption to power supply. Whereas an EPS will have a little down time between switching from mains power to the unit itself generating power. But how long is that down time???
On the EcoFlow DELTA Max it’s 30 milliseconds! 30 milliseconds!!! There is only one thing on the planet that is noticeably quicker than 30 milliseconds… just ask my wife.
The idea is that you keep this unit in line with the things you’re wanting to power. For instance if it’s a fridge the DELTA Max is plugged in to mains and the fridge into the Delta Max. Then if there was to be a blackout the unit would switch over to it’s internal battery in 30 milliseconds.
I have pet turtles and their tank needs constant filtering, heating, UV lights and aeration. In fact the good bacteria in the filter media will start to die in 3 hours if the water isn’t flowing. So a unit like this in line would ensure during any blackout or electrical work that the environment in the tank would stay consistent and live.
Just this week Ausgrid were replacing a power pole in my street and the power was off for most of the day. I used a small petrol generator to keep the tank going. His highness Trevor Long actually dropped off the Delta Max for this review about 30 mins AFTER the power came back on. He’s got the timing of a jazz drummer.
So today I pretended there was no mains power and plugged in the filter, UV lights, water heater and air pump into the DELTA Max. With a full battery the unit was estimating it could run all the bits and bobs for 11 hours straight based off the current draw when I turned them all on.
That is very impressive!
I ran the tank for 4 hours then instead of using the mains outlets I used all the USB and USB-C ports on the unit to power a Macbook Air, Switch, Pwerbank, Ipad and headtorch. With all these items charging at once with their current draw the DELTA MAX could run for a further 24 hours!
This is such a simple elegant solution to back up power for the home, camping, picnics or even the worksite.
The unit can be controlled and monitored from a simple and clear app.
I really like this!
Nerdy Stuff
The DELTA Max is a 2KW unit but can be expanded to 6KW with the additional batteries sold separately. It can also be charged by an ECOFLOW solar panel allowing up to 800W of charging speeds.
You can power devices up to 3400W which will cover most domestic appliances, including a washing machine.
- Capacity: 2016Wh
- AC Outlets: 4
- USB Outlets: 4 (Two of these are fast charge)
- USB-C Outelts: 2
- Battery: Lithium
- Life Cycle: 800 charges bringing battery health to 80%
- Weight: 21.7kg
Another amazing feature is that it will charge to 85% capacity in just over an hour!
One thing worth noting is that the DELTA Max is quite noisy when it’s charging and if the current draw is high. It will self regulate by increasing and decreasing it’s fans.
Also the unit is not waterproof although a cover can be purchased separately for outdoor use.
RRP $3,599
ECOFLOW are listing it as sold out direct but it seems to be available at ‘Clean Portable Power’ who also sell the extra batteries and solar charging kit.
