condor22 said:
Cut n paste from your referenced hyperlink article.
Now to cost. Okay, so this little box retails at around $1000. Sounds pretty steep, right? Except when you think about it this way a 100Ah lithium battery on its own is around the $2000 mark. So, youre getting just under half the amp hour rating,
Not strictly correct, I bought my 100AH LiFePo4 Pylontech a month ago for $985 not $2,000. Most I Googled in Oz range from $600 to $1,300, I'd hazard a guess at varying quality. As I mentioned in another post mine is in the upper range of quality and reliability. What is the average cost of a 100AH lithium in the U.K.
Not knocking the PLB40 in anyway, in fact seriously considering one, lol
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It's a very easily used device for portable power and definitely has its place in a suite of portable power.
As an aside, Unsealed 4x4 is Pat Callinan's baby, his organisation has many 4x4 and camping equipment sponsors that provide a lot of gear to test...... draw your own conclusions
![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
i.e. for several years he drove and praised the Amoroks he had. He now drives Ranger and Everest and now praises them. I watch his shows and subscribe to Unsealed, so no criticism on my part, just observation lol.
My thoughts for its use, apart from fridge use, is that as a battery bank it would be great for charging my detector batteries as both the GPX & SDC have 12V charging. Then there's the SP01, mobiles, tabs and wireless phones all on USB. As I am mostly off grid anyway. It's compact size and weight make it an ideal 12VDC source when needed.
Yeah well looking at the pictures I see the Reviewer was using your BM Fridge So ' 36 hours he used 58% which means he used 1.611111% per hour X 0,4 = 0.64444444444Ah per hour, If you use it down to the 80% mark DOD / by 1.611111111111 which means it will run your BM for= 49.6551724138 Hours, So just over 2 days and in the colder months it will run your BM for around 3 or 4 days, Hooked up to a 120w Panel it will only drop by around 5 to 15% over night and it will charge back up in around 50 minutes because the PLB charges at arounf 17.5 to 17.7% per hour. So with a panel hooked up during the day it will never go below 100%.
Today I desided to weigh some of my Gear baring in mind I have an excess of 700 to 750+kgs to play with.
The PLB 40Ah = 7.5kg+/- Or if I use 2 = 15kgs but 1 PLB is equal to the 80Ah based on One Charge each.
My 80Ah AGM = 22.9kg
My 115Ah Deep cycle batteries weigh 23.4kgs each = 46.8kg
1 PLB vs 1 x 80Ah AGM =15.4 Kgs
2 PLB's vs 1 x 80Ah AGM = 7.9kgs
1 PLB vs 1 x 115Ah =15.9kgs
2 PLB's vs 1 x 115Ah = 8.5kgs
1 PLB vs 2 x 115Ah = 39.5kgs
2 PLB's vs 2 x 115Ah = 31.8kgs.
Then there is the Charge times @ 80% DOD the PLB will fully charge in 4.571 hours regardless of whether it is by the Ciggy Socket or a 120w Panel or the AC Adapter, where as the 80Ah AGM at about 45% DOD takes between 12 to 14 hours and to fully charge one of the 115Ah Deep cycle batteries can take between 14 to 18 hours unless you blast the daylights out of it,
seeing as the PLB is a premium brand/grade I think the reviewer was quoting a premium grade Lithium battery, Sure there are cheaper versions of the PLB as well as Lithium Batteries, and when you add to the fact that the PLB already has a DC to DC and MPPT charge controller already built in makes it well worth having, because Zero wiring is required and it can be taken from the house to the 4b or the Wifes Car or the Boat or the Camper or tent.
I'm not saying that the PLB is a replacement for a system like yours where you are running every thing in a Camper Trailer from a battery bank but the PLB can handle most of our needs and being a 100% portable puts it in the same "Must Have" bracket as having a fridge.
Like you I have been sceptic about the PLB but after 2 years I just can't believe it does what it can do. The Only other model on the market that is worth buying is the PowerOak/Bluetti 700/1000 models avoiding the 1500-2400 models because you can't charge them from the Cars 12v Socket and they can take over 18 hours to charge due to their size.
My Van having all Live 12v sockets allows me to power the PLB or a fridge 24/7, When I first got the Van I left the PLB plugged in to the Cigar socket with the Little Dometic plugged in to the PLB and it was still at 100% after 4 days, These Porta Packs really are Game changers and the choice to take it where ever you need power really breaks all the rules, IE the Power company cut through the power lines out side and I was without power Or should I say my neighbours were for about 11 hours, But I had lighting and TV and the food in my Fridges was safe and sound. I just never run out of power and since I have owned them I have even drained out my brand new 2Kva Petrol generator and put it back in the Box. :Y:
Even with your Future Lithium setup One of the cheaper portable packs would make life easy.
As for the reviewer His results match mine and every word is true baring in mind I bought 2 PLB's and most of the time I only use One of them unless it was when the power company knocked the Power Out, And the fact that the reviewer actually tested it in Australia using your fridge and not here makes it even more applicable. :Y:
![Stick Out Tongue :p :p](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
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