Hello, I’ve picked this item up specifically because I wanted a huge battery bank for my regular electronics. It was not my intention to end up with a portable power station so to speak. It’s a Tzumi Vault with 50,400 MaH. There is an AC inverter, 2 12v outputs, and 3 USB ports which are exactly what I needed. I’m also suspecting that I only need this much capacity to easily several days at a minimum (unless I play my PS4 off the inverter quite a bit). I grabbed it for only $65. I was originally going to get one of the better Anker 20k MaH simple battery battery that cost like $70. So purely as a battery bank, The vault is already perfect for me. So far I’ve only spent $90 total on this (picked up some 12v adapters for this) so I’m looking forward to seeing if maybe I can rig up some solar panels to top it off when I’m finally fully nomadic (living in a camper fulltime). I do intend to build a proper DIY solar power system down the road but I’m currently tight budget wise and this is helping me out a good bit. Once I’m at that point much later this year, I can reuse the solar panels on the new system and relegate this tzumi vault into purely as a backup battery. (Hoping to have a proper solar power system and diesel heater fully installed before winter this year)
Anyway, it only have one DC input that’s based off an AC adapter that came with it. There are NO traditional solar panel inputs. That’s a first for me Regarding power stations like this. I’m hoping to see whether or not it’s possible to rig up a small solar controller or something to convert the regular solar panels inputs into 16v 2a output so I can charge the power station with it. I’m not entirely sure if that is all the information one would need to be able to charge the station?
Thanks for any info!
I bought this up from Wal*Mart during 2021 Christmas and wanted to update this question for this "particular" model -- as for solar charging.
When I bought this from Wal*Mart, something had me under the impression you just plugged in a panel and recharged. Or plugged them into a car and recharged. The Tzumi folks however seem to not include any accessories and even state somewhere (Wal*Mart question section) -- that these are not valid charging options for this model.
Now that I have sat down long enough -- I have found
ahem "exact" models on Amazon -- bearing different name brands. They have some fancy mock-ups of the guts of these products -- that some people may be interested in looking at.
NECESPOW Portable Power Station,161Wh/50400mAh Solar Generator,Lifepo4
When I run across this item, several weeks ago, the seller was in between updating models to include PD charging capabilities.
It now shows a GREEN colored model as of 03/06/2022, however if you read the reviews, you will find reviews for the ORANGE model. So I am not sure what literature I read -- that was true or not -- but there was mention of a built in MPPT charge controller in the sellers statements and some buyer comments/questions about which solar setups to buy (foldable panels). This seller is aware of the product capabilities -- apparently -- and recommends up to 100 watt panels to charge.
There I seen a review that left me speechless. I seen someone picture an ORANGE model with a panel plugged into the DC port used for AC adaptor charging.
Since I felt robbed of paying $99 for a 12ah battery and/or overgrown phone charger OR BOTH -- lol -- I decided to cobble together a temporary pigtail -- while awaiting a simple gender changer needed -- for the solar wiring options I have.
DC output size is 5.5*2.1mm,, DC input size is 3.5*1.35mm -- as listed by the seller of the similar model on Amazon -- NECESPOW-US.
Harbor Freight's kit come with a DC barrel/SAE cable -- to use to connect the charge controller to the 100 watt panel. So I was almost their with my panels, both coming with SAE connectors and having it converted to a stubby DC barrel -- I just needed the described barrel size to plug the panel into the Vault.
As stated -- the DC barrel provided with the HF kit is stubby -- but works with normal DC jacks -- so I ordered a
(5.5*2.1mm female) to (3.5*1.35mm male) converter (actually a 5 pack) -- to take care of the barrel size needed to plug into the Vault.
Those barrel size converters seem better than what I hacked together -- but by having a few spare cables and pigtails laying around -- I decided to hack them together with my Nature Power 110w Mono panel -- and can report -- it was a SUCCESS!
It was claiming at the time of testing to be 50% charged and was showing a full charge between 1 - 1.5 hours (I wasn't timing it, just keeping an eye on it). I will have to now run it down to zero and put it in full sun over the next few days and see if we get a 1.5 - 2.5 hour charge time or what -- from that panel. I am sure it will be half of the time of AC adaptor as least -- in full sun.
I am sure the extra 10 watts is not killing anything BUT only advise what is stated by others and use up to 100 watt panels . My HF panel is 100 watts, but not put together at the moment -- so I decided to give it a shot with my mono panel -- as with the whole attempt in general -- just do it!
Now the trickier part -- is do I believe this has an MPPT controller inside? Uhm, no, but maybe. Just like the fancy inverter board they crammed in there -- it is possible. I already figured it has to have some kind of charge controller anyway -- using an AC to DC 16v 2a adaptor to charge a 12 amp hour battery -- the "long charge" time that some complain about for this model -- adds up -- and is in line with Tzumi's up to 6.5 hour charging specs.
You may get lucky and find a pre-made pigtail -- but in my case I wanted to keep the cables/converters that are chained together -- as short as possible. That's why I chose to go ahead and order the inline DC barrel size/gender changer. I also see lately when browsing online -- where you can get some foldable panels that are claiming to come with several options to charge multiple things -- as well as some coming with tips for powering different sized DC barrels products.
Sad it seems it had the ability all along -- and Tzumi did not decide to pursue it by selling accessories??? Or mention it -- so we could take on pursuit. Fly-by-night or not -- this was not a zero star product -- and I would not expect them to be around in 3 - 5 or 10 years anyway to honor any longevity claims (LifePO4 or solar panels).
I would just hope they understood -- what they were selling. It was obvious they did not -- as listing the amp hours as -- 50400 mAh -- and a misleading for many. At least they did say it was 3.2v, so anyone could do the math -- to come up with the 12ah rating on the battery pack in the product.
Good luck and happy solar charging now!!! -- 12v 100watt max panel -- straight into the -- Vault. Just like it was the AC adaptor that come with it.
ret