Ecoflow River Pro Review…..how long will it run my CPAP?
I do not receive any compensation for the products listed in this blog post. I bought these products with my own money and am providing you honest feedback about them.
About 12 years ago I purchased hunting property in NE Michigan. It was 40 acres that had two cabins on it. When I say cabins, they were basically a 14’ x 20’ shell, that each had a concrete slab for a floor, no power, and no interior finishes. Just stud walls, rafter roof, and concrete floor to create a shell. They were built in the 40’s, and were the next step up from a tent basically. I chose the better of the two cabins to be where we would lay our head when staying at the property. We cleaned it it up, insulated, added a newer wood stove and some tounge and groove paneling. This property was for hunting, so thats really all we needed. We hauled our water in, and I setup a 12 volt RV pump to utilze the water for doing dishes, washing your hands, etc. It was primitive, but it worked.
My biggest struggle that I had, and still have, is that I have severe sleep apnea and needed to use a cpap at night. I didn’t want to run a generator all night, as thats not very cost effective, and kind of ruins the experience of being in the middle of the woods and away from the noise of the city.
So after some research, the option I decided to go with was a deep cycle 12 volt battery and a small inverter. All these things you can buy at your local auto parts store, Amazon, etc. I ran this setup for many years, but it was far from perfect. When the battery was at full charge, I could only get about 1.5-2 nights out of a full charge. I carried a battery charger with me, and would run the generator each evening to try and charge the battery up. If the battery was below 80%, which it usually was, it really needed 4-8 hours to charge. One night of use would usually take me to 50%, so recharging the next evening would usually get me back up to 80%, and by the next morning I would be down to 30% and so on. Its not good to run a normal lead acid battery below 50%, as it shortens the life. After a few days, I needed to run the generator all day to fully charge up the battery. It was a pain in the you know what, but it worked. Additionally the fan on the inverter would turn on and off all night which was distracting. At home I sleep with a fan on, and prefer that white noise, but when its on and off and on and off all night, it becomes a sleep disrupter. So I wold plug in a 12 volt fan into the USB plug of the inverter for additional constant white noise, which would draw the battery down even further.
Every Christmas, I would look at these self contained power generators that had a lithium battery, inverter, and all the ports and charging options you could dream of. Brands like Jackery, EcoFlow, and Anker were out there, but weren’t in my price range at the time and some of the reviews were bad. Over the years though, the reviews got better, the prices came down, and the battery capacity went up. Solar charging options also became available for the boondockers and off-griders.
So a couple years ago, I bit the bullet and made the decision to buy an EcoFlow River Pro. I chose that model for a few reasons:
Ability to charge to 80% in 1 hour, and to 100% in 90 minutes.
Inverter is built in.
Relatively small, lightweight, and easy to transport.
The plethora of charging ports
Good reviews
EcoFlow cost at time of blog post: $579
I also did some reading on how to get the most out of these units, and found the more you could run on 12 volts, and less on 120 volts the better. The reason is the energy needed by the inverter to convert the 12 volts to 120 volts. So I started looking into whether they made a 12 volt plug for my cpap, and I found one! Its the round cigarette lighter type and plugs right into the cigarette lighter port on the EcoFlow. Wouldn’t you know it, I can get 3 nights of sleep (avg 8 hours per night) without having to recharge. This includes plugging my phone in each night to charge as well. The beauty of it, is when we fire up the generator in the evening, the unit will charge to 100% in 90 minutes or less. It truly is an amazing piece of equipment. For reference, I have an ResMed Airsense 10 and I do not use the humidifier. So take note that the three days of use I get out of the EcoFlow is without using the humidifer.
Here is an example of the type of plug I bought. This one costs about $30.
So I used the EcoFlow for a couple years, and decided I needed a bag to put it in while traveling. Something that could carry my different cords and give the EcoFlow a little padding around it during transport.
After some research, I ended up purchasing a medium sized Trunab Double Layer Carrying Case off Amazon. The reason I chose this product was:
Price
Waterproof bottom
Fit the EcoFlow River Pro really well
Padded sides
Two organizational pockets
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09BV9GZPK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&th=1
ITS THE MEDIUM SIZE
To summarize, I typically go up north to my property, which is off grid, for 2-4 days at a time. I charge the EcoFlow unit up before I go, and if I am there 3 days or less, I don’t need to charge it until I get home. If I do need to charge it while at camp, I fire up the generator for an hour to get it to 80% and that usually covers the rest of my trip. I typically run my CPAP Air Sense 10, without the humidifier on, for 3 days while also charging my phone each of those days. Its been a game change for me, and I would recommend to anyone in a similar situation. The EcoFlow also has a solar charging port and you can buy portable solar panels to charge the unit up that way. I have not done that, but as I understand it, it takes longer to charge up when using solar panels. There is also an add on battery to this unit that looks to be the same size, but doubles the battery capacity. So read up on the EcoFlow site to get more information about the product options and specs.
https://www.ecoflow.com/us/river-pro-portable-power-station
Thanks for reading!
