ITECH POWER STATIONS

Pradokakadudavid · Senior Member

ITECH POWER STATIONS

Oka374 · Veteran Member

They shouldn't really be called power stations as they aren't able to generate power themselves but must be recharged like any other battery.
What you are basically buying is usually a small battery in a fancy box priced at far more than the basic components.
You would be better off buying the best/largest battery you can afford and a suitable box with the connections required for your setup remembering of course that you still need to charge it.

Whenarewethere · Guru

I can't comment on the quality of the products. But agree with above comments.

An esky type dual fridge freezer will probably use about 50AH per 24 hours. It's the freezer part that that's going to be painful in relation to AH. If run as a fridge only, about 20AH per 24 hours. Less with extra insulation.

So one has spare battery capacity for a few days of inclement weather, plus everything else you need to power. You would need 200AH minimum.

There are far cheaper ways to set this up than buying a glossy box.

Not to forget how are you going to charge your batteries, more so running a freezer.

Kebbin · Guru

Didn't the Retreat come with Solar & Batteries? I agree Oka the so called Power Stations are underpowered and overpriced, but you discission your money.
I don't trust Resellers who won't give all tthe specs on products online or on the phone to both larger battery generator solar panel resellers, they are simply misleading in every contact or they hang up when you question their specs.

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Hi David,
I cannot comment on the battery power stations but I have one of iTechWorld's jump starters & it has fullfilled my use well - and another resident of the Canberra Caravan Park!
My son has just bought one as well before he heads off on a WA trip.

Fridges? Most of them look the same these days but I bet they won't come close to my 60L Trailblazer for good service. I have tried selling it but everyone seems to want the cheaper Chinese made stuff these days. I did use it during our last cyclone.
We bought a smaller & lighter Brass Monkey fridge - that's ok if you don't mind it running almost constantly (well it stops for 10mins every half hour). And to save my battery with the TB, I used to crank up the thermostat for the last hour with the engine running & turn it off at about 8pm & found it was still cold (& frozen in the bottom) at 8am next morning. We bought frozen King George whiting fillets at Ceduna one year - they were still frozen by the time we got home to Townsville!! The Brass Monkey's internal temp reaches the ambient temp within 3hrs with no power applied.

Pradokakadudavid · Senior Member

So if I buy a 120AH battery and place it into a battery box, you think this is the best way to achieve my aim of powering my 4x4 fridge when 4x4 not running (cheapest option).

itech have a bundle deal for $1300 for basic system i.e. 120AH lithium battery, battery box with 12v, anderson and USB connectors.

This includes DC DC charger and wiring but I think I will delete this and charge the battery when needed myself.

This more basic setup is $1200 with no DC DC charger or wiring which to me sounds like the cheapest option to achieve my aims.

All criticism and advice welcome as not bought it yet.

Cheers.

David

Jaahn · Guru

David the answers lie in the numbers as always. You do need to do some basic maths and work it out. Not rocket science.
This sort of statement off ITECH World site is only just truthful in some extremely favourable circumstances. "In real-world terms, this means you can plug your small 12v fridge directly into the iTECH1300P and run it for up to 100 hours before any recharge is required" Mate that fridge would be only able to cool one beer can IMHO, and draws only 1 amp/hr.

When you have a fridge plugged in 24/7 the battery needs charging regularly so it does not go flat and shut down. So having a couple of charging alternatives which work automatically is best instead of waiting for it to get down low and have to do something. Not what i would do if it was mine. Those Coleman fridges use 2.9A/hr in the specs. So a 120 Ahr battery would give ~40hrs to fully flat. That is less than two days and much less than the 100Hrs talked about above.

So out of the two options you listed I would spend the extra $100 and get the dc/dc charger so when needed you can just start the car for a bit and go for a drive or if you are driving most days it might always be charged. I would also get a solar panel and wire that in too. Say about 100W and even a cheap regulator might be OK. This might be what most people do for their fridge in the back of the ute.

Jaahn

PS note those battery boxes have a big Anderson plug fitted, 175A size(for inverters). You might like a smaller 50A size that is better for smaller loads, or just use a cigy socket.

-- Edited by Jaahn on Thursday 6th of June 2024 11:05:03 PM

Whenarewethere · Guru

Pradokakadudavid wrote:

Also interested in upgrading my old Waeco fridge, possibly with a MY COOLMAN dual fridge freezer

If running the fridge at fridge temperature, let's say 5°C. A 120AH battery will be enough.

If running it as a freezer at -18°C you really need 240AH battery. Running as freezer chews up a lot more energy. Probably about >50AH per 24 hours.

That is at the very least 42% of a 120AH battery gone in one day, probably more like 50%. Nothing spare for inclement weather. & not factoring in any other 12v loads like lighting.

My 28L Waeco running at -22°C continuously (100% cycling), uses 73AH per 24 hours. My gut feel is about 40AH per 24 hours running at -18°C with normal cycling for a freezer, about 50 to 60% cycling (compressor running) in 35°C ambient temperature.

So probably as said earlier about 50AH or a bit more per 24 hours for a 50L freezer in 35°C ambient temperature.

jab160 · Senior Member

2 wordsbeware itech.

More unhappy customers than happy. Somewheretheres a long thread on the perils of itech and products

boab · Senior Member

jab160 i find comments like yours rather meaningless unless you have had a bad experience yourself, i have not used there power station so cant offer any input for the op but i have bought several other products off them a 120 amp hour battery , a controller for that battery also a 7 amp hour battery all of which have performed as well as you would expect. I like being able to walk in off the street and buy direct from them as i live in wa there tech support is in my opinion first class as i have used them for a bit of advice on 2 occasions there are plenty of threads that bag all types of products from Toyota's to almost any thing the mind can imagine unless you have had personal experience i think its best to keep your opinions to yourself

Pradokakadudavid · Senior Member

At the end of the day, after considerable thought, procrastination, cost benefit analysis and plain apathy and laziness, I bought a Dune 75 litre fridge freezer with slide, a 120 AH itech lithium battery in a box with a DCDC40 charger. At the moment there are so many "end of financial year" specials that electrical stuff is so much cheaper than at other times of the year. Like everything you do, the cost blows out but eventually it will be a simple system that will do what I need. I don't go off road camping so only use the fridge battery power when it is not connected to home power or caravan 240v power. As I only use my 4 wheel drive to tow my caravan about one or two weeks in every month, every now and then when the battery power starts to wane, I charge it back up with a Victron Anderson plug type battery charger that does the job well. So now that I don't have much space left in my Y62 Patrol boot (was massive to start with) I am wondering was the expense all worth it! Oh well it looks good, was fun to install and keeps my cans cold. Wife loves it for storing cold produce when we buy things when on the road with the 4 wheel drive.