ECOFLOW Portable Power Station RIVER 2, 256Wh LiFeP04 Battery/ 1 Hour Fast Charging, Up To 600W Output, Solar Generator (Panel Not Inc.) for Outdoor Camping/RVs

Product Information

The RIVER 2’s maximum solar input is 110W. While using a solar panel with higher-rated power might not damage the PPS, you won’t generate any additional electricity — you’ll end up wasting any solar energy captured that exceeds the 110W solar input cutoff point. Significantly, LiFePO4 batteries require no cobalt — one of the primary materials used in traditional Li-ion batteries. 70% of the world’s cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where both mining and processing are carried out under extremely cruel labor conditions by children as young as six years old. Can You Keep RIVER 2 Outdoors? However, EcoFlow portable power stations don’t support 0ms switching. For most electronics, a 30-ms interruption in power is negligible. You may not even notice it. However, there IS an interruption — unlike with a UPS. You can pair EcoFlow products over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth with the EcoFlow mobile app (available on iPhone & Android). It does everything straight from the palm of your hand. You can also upgrade to the latest firmware to enjoy the latest performance upgrades. The EcoFlow RIVER 2 Max will give you the freedom to enjoy power outlets everywhere in the home, or on your outdoorsy adventures. Charge Smarter with Clean and Renewable Energy The device works great for its intended use which is to run my work-from-home setup during loadshedding. It can run my laptop, monitor and a network switch for just under 4 hours (about 25 - 30 watt load). Gaming is also possible with this unit but it depends on your hardware... Xbox Series S and a monitor requires around 80-90 watts during gameplay. A larger console or gaming PC will reduce this time because they use a lot more power.

You could even use a 220W bifacial portable solar panel to help ensure you regularly achieve the maximum solar input capacity of the RIVER 2 PPS.

Safe, for up to 10 years of use.

The rated power of the 110W portable solar panel is perfectly matched to the solar input capacity of the RIVER 2. But, due to the factors outlined above, you won’t achieve 110W of electricity generation consistently. However, you also won’t pay for electricity generation capacity that doesn’t get used. Remember that even if you attach a 160W solar panel, the maximum electricity it can generate when connected to RIVER 2 remains 110W. It’s crucial to understand that solar panels (from any manufacturer) rarely reach their total rated power output due to environmental conditions like temperature and other factors. It would take about four to five hours to reach total electricity storage capacity when charging using a USB-C input. The USB-C input/output is 5/9/12/15/20V, 3A, and 60W Max.

Any EcoFlow PPS can serve as an emergency power source (EPS) with a 30-millisecond switch time when using power from an AC wall outlet. Once connected, the WiFi indicator will pop up on the screen as well and the app is fairly straightforward in allowing status indicators at a glance, in addition to controlling the various outputs and inputs. Not pictured in the GIF above is a time chart for charging and discharging power levels, which shows how long the various charging inputs have been on for and how efficiently at that—quite handy for solar charging should you need to see whether to move portable solar panels around to better face the sun. The connection is over WiFi, so you can theoretically monitor the power station from a good distance away, which is handily paired with pre-set alarms that will pop up as notifications. The settings menu has plenty of other options, some of which are shown here. In particular, I appreciated the ability to set the maximum charge level, which can be useful even on this LiFePO4-based battery unit that is good for 80%+ capacity after 3000 cycles compared to the Li-ion RIVER Pro, which only had this 80% rating for the first 800 cycles. As such, you can be rest assured about using the RIVER 2 daily for years at a time, and this is also why EcoFlow has increased the warranty period to five years on the RIVER 2 lineup from the two years previously offered. You can also select the maximum charging levels in each mode, limit the output as deemed necessary, and have firmware updates done to the unit that can add more features or resolve any bugs typically seen early in the product life cycle. This app removes the need for an onboard menu with touch screen or navigation buttons, keeping the unit physically smaller and providing more customization, control, and monitoring—a very useful selling point in itself. If you don’t have a large budget OR if you think you will only be charging your phone, tablet or laptop multiple times over say a weekend of camping then the River 2 will be perfect for you. The River 2 delivers the power it stores without fuss: I could use it to run and charge laptops, phones, cameras, and small appliances like a fan. My phone charged at a decent rate of 14 Watts, while my laptop got the maximum 60 Watts that the USB-C port on the front of the River 2 could output. Heavy items will require the recipient to make arrangements to take delivery of the goods and may require the recipient to help the courier unload the item. For items that are delivered on a pallet the courier will leave the pallet as close to your door as possible.

Small size. Big power.

Since the RIVER 2’s capacity is 256Wh, you’d divide that by the max watts of the USB-C input/output: 256Wh / 60W = 4.3 hrs. Does it always follow that ‘Big Is Better’? Well, in the world of lithium power stations, the answer is not as straightforward as you might think. The price of a power station rises almost directly proportionally with the amount of battery storage capacity on board, and as a result, it is very difficult to get a bargain price wise. If you want a high power capability and lots of storage, you’re going to have to pay for it….