Hello, Bob here. Thought I would post a long term review of the Ecoflow River Pro solar generator which we have had for about a year and a half. We ordered it through Lowe's, which didn't have it at our local store, but was able to get it shipped to the store in about a week. We bought it with our own money based on what we read about various types of generators, including gas and propane versions. We'll get into the reasons we went with a solar generator later in this post.
Why the need for a generator?
Since we moved here to the family farm about ten years ago, one of the things
that quickly became a nuisance was frequent power outages. Living in the Appalachian
foothills, the hilly terrain and lots of trees made for a bad combination resulting in
downed power lines. This was mostly evident in the warmer months when thunderstorms seem to be a constant occurrence. Sometimes there were glitches that were just for a split second, no real issue other than resetting the clocks.
However, if there were more than a couple glitches, that usually was followed by the power being off for a while, like hours. Sometimes just a few hours, but in some instances, over 8 hours. Even more inconvenient was if the outage occurred at night, which seemed to be to case more often than not. So, we would like something that could power some lights, our internet modem, small TV, and a CPAP machine. But, if the outage was really long, we also wanted to be able power some refrigerators or freezers to keep our food from thawing out and going to waste.
While we obviously can't run all our frigs, freezers, and other appliances at the same time because of the power limits of the generator, we had to spread the use of the generator around because these items weren't all in the same location. We have another house down the hill from us that has a separate frig and our meat freezer. The latter is important to keep going because food, especially meats, are getting more and more expensive.
The Ecoflow River Pro only weighs about 17 pounds, so it is very portable, and easy to carry down the hill. If the sun is shining, the generator can run for many hours as a solar panel hooked up to it will keep it charged. We bought a separate 200W solar panel for this purpose. The units output power rating is 600W, and its lithium-ion battery has a 720 watt-hour capability. In case of higher surge currents, it has the ability to reduce the output voltage in order to handle the higher surges to get a device going. A refrigerator or freezer compressor is an example of a high surge device. While a frig may only use about 100W while it is running, the surge can sometimes be as high as 5 times the running power.
Other uses of the Ecoflow River Pro included it was used to power a 12V cordless air compressor that I used to air up tires on our riding mower that is in the barn, about 200 feet from our house. It was used to power a trickle battery charger to charge our tractor batteries in the barn. Plus, as it has USB ports, we could charge various devices like cell phones and tablets.
While we have never used it in such a scenario, the Ecoflow River Pro can be used as an Uninterruptible Power Supply, or UPS as they are also known. This would mean keeping a power sensitive device like a computer or CPAP machine hooked up to it. When the grid is up, the Ecoflow would simply pass through the grid power to the device. But, if there was a power outage, the Ecoflow generator would kick in, and provide continuous power. These are just a few examples of its uses and versatility.
What are the benefits of a solar generator compared to a gas/propane generator?
OK, I wanted to give the top reasons we picked a solar generator over a gas/propane unit:
This Ecoflow River Pro weighs only 17 pounds, making much more easier to move compared to a gas/propane unit, which can weigh over 100 pounds.
Solar generators are very quiet, usually the only noise you hear is the cooling fans. This is very tolerable compared to a gas/propane unit, which can be excessively loud.
Solar generators can be used indoors as they emit no exhaust or fumes like a gas/propane unit, obviously a safety concern.
Along that same line, since you can use solar unit indoors, you don't have to deal with the inconvenience of going outside in inclement weather to drag out the gas generator, get it started, and run power cords into the house through either a window or door.
This Ecoflow River Pro can be charged by solar panels in as little as 4 hours. It can also be charged by grid power in less than 2 hours, or via a 12V car battery, although that might take several hours. A gas generator uses gasoline or propane which eventually will run out, or in the case of gasoline, will degrade over time if not used promptly. Old gas could have a detrimental effect to any engine, whether if it's a generator, mower, chainsaw, weed-eater, etc.
Solar generators generally have a cleaner AC power output compared to their gas counterparts. While this may not matter with things like power tools, items like a TV, computer, refrigerators and freezers use sensitive electronics which don't like dirty AC power. Most gas generators produce a modified sine wave which can be detrimental to such devices.
So, these are the main reasons we decided to go with a solar generator, and especially the Ecoflow River Pro. We have not had any problems with the unit since we bought it over a year and a half ago. It has show itself to be very versatile and dependable.
Here are some pictures of the unit.
