Got this in email from 4wdsupacentre.
Seems like a good deal for this powerpack, was $230-$240 from memory just last week.
Only one day sale.
Kings 24Ah Lithium 60W USB C LiFePO4 Portable Power Pack $199 + Delivery @ 4WD Supa Centre
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smartialarts on 16/04/2024 - 08:24 4wdsupacentre.com.au (753 clicks)
Last edited 16/04/2024 - 08:59 by 1 other user
Last edited 16/04/2024 - 08:59 by 1 other user
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Do tell! What's the story?
I had a 6 month wait for a warranty replacement on a product, that story isn't all that interesting. What was interesting was the amount of people dealing with the same sort of crap - I went searching and found a facebook group called 4wd supacentre reviews - I believe these guys own the kings brand or have exclusive rights to distribution, idk something along those lines. I also know that if you go looking for problems you'll eventually find them as no company is perfect. But my god some of the stories in that page, I have seen people waiting 12 months for a warranty replacement on a product they bought a week before, I have also seen lots of warranty denials because of improper care of the product even though there was adequate proof it was looked after.
I guess they are just one of those places that aren't a problem til they become one, if you've got a hit rate of 80% then the 20% of headaches are worth dealing with.. or something like that I am not sure. Ill happily take the punt on a dodgy product if I know returning said product will be easy if it ends up being crap, but I don't think I would ever risk it with kings stuff because of the way they handle their warranty jobs.
Each time I've made a warranty claim they've been great to me. I don't know if I'd buy the electrical stuff but the other gear they have has been great for me
@JumpingUnicorns: What did you claim on warranty? Maybe its the electrical stuff that is the core issue. Dunno, after the stories I have heard I don't think any amount of good stories will change my mind, you just gotta be that one unlucky soul they decide to play games with.. I don't have much interest doing business with a company that does that sort of stuff to their customers tbh.
@doobey1231: Yeah to be fair it was a fridge slide which ended up faulty twice (for $99 it's still the best on market) and I give it a hell of a run.
They came out to my van, saw it was faulty and swapped it on the spot.
Anything electrical is harder, personally I paid the extra to buy a more reputable brand.
Kings electrical reminds me of very entry electrical quality.
I did have their solar panels though. Couldn't fault them at all.
@JumpingUnicorns: Same here. Obviously just my experience but had an item where the clip had failed and they gave me store credit or offered a replacement on the spot - but I do think it depends on who you get and the value of the item as to how much of a fight you have to put up (like most retailers unfortunately)
I got one of the console fridges for my work ute, and whenever it was plugged in (not even needed to be turned on) my remote control range was cut down to about 1-2m from the car. Fridge must have been sending out some wild levels of RF interference. I took it back under warranty and got the whole, we've never seen this before, and blah blah blah but eventually they did give me a new one, and it did the same thing. I just gave up at that point and shelled out for a Dometic, no issues there.
@smartialarts: I was more worried about the quality of the power supply in it if it is doing that. The fridge had it's own battery so that it runs even with the car off so my food stays cold when I'm inside. I feel like there would be a bit of paperwork if I burn down a work car.
@AdosHouse: Better than myCoolman, who point blank refuse to do anything about their app not connecting to fridges after an udpate. Great fridge (exe), shyte app, even worse cs.
@smartialarts: The app - and its OS brother Truma Cooler - was fine while it worked (still does for some new fridges apparently). They updated it and it no longer connects for many users, including me. Even getting the old version back doesn't work for most. myCoolman have no solution and don't give a fig about finding one.
Bought a genny from them in 2019 just before I moved onto a off-grid property with nothing more than something to live in, a bunch of stuff to setup solar, the genny and some tools, the genny gets used during the wet season, the tank is leaking from both the cap and the gauge, contact them, they want it sent back … can't do without it and can't afford another, soon after the carby cracks where the studs go though, I manage to seal it up and ask them for a replacement carby, they no longer sold the model and would not help me track down aftermarket parts …. sooooo disappointed!
Back in the eary days their reputation wasn't good but anecdotally they seem to have lifted their game. Did get done by the ACCC a few years ago for false was/s price advertising.
Good deal, shame it doesn't support 100w pd.
Got one the other week for the same price and it's a decent unit. Biggest issue is the 45W charging limit via USB C so it takes about 8 hours to charge (not an issue for my use case but I can understand why it would be a problem for some).
Would this power one of their 15L Centre Console fridges for very long?
Look at the peak current. Estimate how often that will be consumed. Calculate the duration based on capacity. Profit.
24Ah
reduced by 85% likely discharge cut off
= 20.4Ah
divided by
15l console fridge ~ 3.5A per hour
= around 6 hours
Those console fridges were/are notoriously inefficient. Just found this which seems to confirm they still are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j_lLPNn4gQ&ab_channel=Geeky…
His test showed 3-3.5A/hr pre-cooled, and developed frost along the walls. Given cycling, I'd guess about 1.5-2A/hr average - at higher temps than his test AFTER it reaches fridge temp (<4 degrees for food, warmer for drinks if you wish).Like all 12V fridges, the key is to fill them with cold stuff, ie as little air as possible.
Plenty of more efficient, cheap 20-25l fridges with good compressors at around the $3-400 on special.
The other big factor is the temperature outside and inside the fridge. If you set the fridge at 0-5 deg you see a remarkable difference then if you set it below 0. Especially for fridges that have thinner insulation.
The other big issue is the air circulation around the fridge, if the area is poorly vented it will degrade the performance significantly.
Also if you are an ebay plus member you can go via ebay and get a further $10 off. You just have to say pickup and which store you want to pick it up from for a click and collect (So no shipping fee).
has anyone been using it by charging and discharging at the same time?
thinking of getting it connected in between the fridge and the car,
when car is running, charges the battery and runs the fridge
when car is stopped, battery runs the fridge.
is that something doable?Expensive option, but certainly do-able. This is how many RV systems are setup. Basically: car battery to DC-DCcharger to aux battery to load (fridge), with appropriate isolaters, fuses and wiring.
Presuming this powerpack allows simultaneous charge and discharge (it should), the simpler/cheap alternative is to charge the powerpack from your car cig/usb outlet while driving then unplug (if necessary) from the car electrics when you stop. Remember that some power outlets (esp car cig outlets) are/may not be not isolated from your ignition, ie they will still supply power wth the igniton off, hence draining your starting battery,
Planning on using it for a similar use case but your main issue is the fridge draw vs the 45W charging rate as it'll likely discharge the battery faster than it can be charged. What I'm planning on doing (for the handful of times we take a fridge and need battery power) is to simply unplug it from the car and into the battery pack (and swap it back when we start driving) - inconvenient but otherwise I'd have to splurge for a much better unit which can fast charge via 12V.
I purchased this battery for this exact purpose. We often take our Dometic CFX3 55 in any of our cars for day/weekend trips and dont want to have a dual battery setup in every vehicle. We used to just leave the fridge not running while we stopped for lunch etc but it did tend to loose some temp pretty quickly. We now use this battery and it has been fantastic. Its reasonably small so it doesnt take a lot of extra space to have this onboard plugged into the 12v socket and the fridge running from this. I did some testing and it ran our fridge for 30 hours with no charging, this will obviously depend on outside temp and how often it is opened/closed. We purchased a USB C 45W charger that fits tightly in the cigarette socket as the biggest issue we had was plugs coming loose and the battery stopped charging.
Anybody know the battery energy capacity in Wh (Ah and output W are useless)?
If this is the same with any power bank, the nominal voltage should be 3.7V, i.e. 88.8Wh
They publish it at 307Wh - 24A at 12.8V from memory
Click the link. Nominally 307Wh
Will this charge from a solar panel providing the solar panel has a USB C output?
Yes but you need what is called a 12v step down converter to convert what ever wattage your panel runs at to 12v costs about $8 from China there is a great youtube clip on it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0FrWSSp34A
Thanks. What if the panel outputs 12V, or less than 12V?
I've got a little panel that outputs 5V. Yes, I know that if it charges at all it will be slow.Not sure how youd go. But do know lithium wont charge properly at such a low rate ie it will be slower then slow think of a sponge soaking up water lithium is similar needs a high power input to start the process of soaking in the energy I think about 10% of capacity so 2.4 amps an hour anything less gets slower and slower even my setup at 2.2 amps an hour is questionable but does the job etc
Have one of these to run my fridge and other electronics on my boat on day trips awesome. Also charge it at the same time of a 40 watt solar panel that pushes in around 2 amps an hour using what is called a 12v step down converter. Meaning can use it for a couple of days to power everything in my boat from fridge to charge phones etc in sunny conditions. Saved me a small fortune on buying a complete lithium 12v solar battery setup.
Nicely done. Many work arounds that can get you by and somtimes even simplify or improve on what is standard or
regular practice. Do you remember the size barrel for 12 V input and imagine centre pin would be positive polarity?
Checked just today and the centre pin is positive. No idea re diam tho
Thanks. Ended up passing as spending up my budget already.
They have some great deals on stuff every now and then but I just can't overlook the horrifically bad customer service..