ACCESSORIES
Could a portable power supply and solar panel be useful for photographers? Richard Sibley finds out
● £798 ● bluettipower.co.uk
WHETHER for financial or environmental reasons, everyone is trying to be more careful with their energy consumption. Solar power is one way we can all harness some green energy, and the Bluetti EB3A Portable Power Station and PV200 Solar panel kit might be an option for photographers to capture and use some of that power.
The Power Station has an AC Pure Sine Wave 600W inverter. This means it can power equipment that runs at less than 600W, including sensitive electronic equipment such as computers. The battery has a capacity of 268 Watt hours; if you are powering something that consumes 268W, it will last for an hour. If you power something that consumes the maximum 600W output, it will last around 26 mins. Charging is via either a 12-24V 8.5A DC socket which is used with the solar panel, or a standard 3-pin mains ‘kettle lead’. Mains charging takes 80mins, or 72mins when combined with the solar panels for Dual Charging.
The PV200 solar panels measure 59x60cm when folded, extending to 59x226.5cm unfolded. Stands on the back angle them at 45 degrees to maximise light-gathering. It’s worth noting that the panels weigh 7.3kg, which, when added to the 4.6kg of the Power Station, may count as portable if you are driving, but not when hiking with photo gear. In practice, I found it difficult to get the potential 200W output of the panel, but I could easily get 100W in bright winter sunlight. With this input, the EB3A display said it would be around 2.7 hours until the unit was fully charged, which is entirely practical, especially given the potential for it to be even faster in the summer.
One interesting application was being able to power photo/video lighting. I tried a generic 100W LED video light and, running at 100% power, it consumed 183W, so I could run it for over an hour. This could be useful for shooting photos or videos, especially as a fill light on a bright day.
Verdict
The Bluetti EB3A and PV200 panels
