ECOFLOW River 3 Power Station - Full Test and Review

[@FamilyGeekery]

UPDATE! I stated in the video that the USB-C port is both an input and output. I swear I read that in EcoFlow's specs somewhere, but after testing I can confirm that my unit does NOT charge through the USB-C port. Sorry for any confusion!

[@billisnice]

Sad! I used my car iphone charger to charge my river 2 USB c .

[@nortonis3565]

Its a downgrade vs the nr 2. Smaller battery, plugs in the side so it will not fit in my shelf and not good looking with cable sticking out in the side, and no usb c charging.

[@TrinkaPolite]

Best explanation ❤ as a new camper, this was so helpful and I appreciate the details explaining the wattage which is the most confusing part for me. FYI this is currently on sale on the company's website with a 45 watt solar panel as a gift until December 27th I think.

[@mt-qc2qh]

When I set my River 3 up as a ups for my router, 2 Pi servers and 3 Blink camera hubs I thought to put the main Pi server on the usb-c. Big mistake. The passthrough AC charging would track the 25w on the AC, but not the 5w on the DC. When I set my charging range to 20-80% it would constantly cycle between the two limits because of the 5w DC discharge. I moved the Pi to the AC power strip and now the AC passthrough matches the AC consumption at 30w and all is well. Customer service responded that the UPS mode is indeed for the AC and the DC are intended for charging devices only. Lesson learned.

[@Solarsystemrdffdfyyhh]

I’m excited and I have the river 2. It’s a great setup and very reliable. Can’t wait for this one! Thanks for the review!

[@FamilyGeekery]

Thanks for watching!

[@nortonis3565]

You plan to exchange your R2 for the 3 ? Not much new to see here but 30% smaller size, rest is downgrade. I rather keep using the R2

[@Solarsystemrdffdfyyhh]

@@nortonis3565 actually I’m keeping the river 2. The usb can be used to charge it, which I’ve read the new river 3 does not. big difference why they downgraded is disappointing.

[@johnny555]

Yes! Do the test.

[@quack5108]

Are you still planning on doing the Side by Side test with the 100 and under wattage?

[@therealjetblack]

I need to confirm the gallium nitride feature works before pulling the trigger. If you can confirm for me/us - super duper.

[@ricardo_macedo]

Thanks, Could you please make a review on river 3 max or plus?

[@laatu1234]

I purchased one of those, the fan kept terrible noise from the beginning. I was about to send it back but then I took one barbeque (wooden) stick and a flashlight and checked through the fan hole what is going on. I saw there the power cable to the fan I inserted the wooden thin stick into the unit and moved the cable some towards the heat sink. After this the fan noise was gone. The noise was like something is trying the block the fan from turning, the fan was rotating though. There must have been some Quality control issue with my unit.

[@realDeSBU]

Can this work on a 250W home fridge??

[@FamilyGeekery]

Who's excited about the new River 3 Series?

[@joshreynolds7781]

He already corrected himself saying it does not charge via usb-C. FYI you are incorrectly using the term "pass through charging" this refers to its UPS capability. Outputting from usb-c is not pass through charging, because it does not run directly from the ac power. Pass through means that the power station will power ac devices through its ac ports directly from the ac input without running the inverter. Another major downgrade from the river 2 is they decreased the warranty from 5 years to 2 years on river 3.

[@FamilyGeekery]

Good catch. I didn’t even realize I used that term. My mistake. Thanks for keeping me honest, lol.

[@taoooyz5044]

I am very curious about the ups functionality

[@FamilyGeekery]

I meant to include a demo of it in the video. I’ll probably make a follow up video. But basically it will switch the ac power from a pass through to the batteries in about 20ms. Fast enough for most electronics, but may reboot your computer.

[@billisnice]

I wonder if you can charge using a USB-C to XT60 Adapter Cable?

[@FamilyGeekery]

Good question! I’ll test it out soon.

[@mwolrich]

I can’t adjust the “Backup Reserve” percentage, its defaulted at %50, if I try to change it to %80, it goes back to %50.. it’s not “saving” the adjustment, reported to ECOflow, and they don’t see any issue…. Think we have a language barrier Update: EcoFlow released new firmware which solved the issue

[@WillieCarpenter17]

Really hope you get a river3 Plus

[@FamilyGeekery]

Me too! I’m waiting on a release.

[@WillieCarpenter17]

@@FamilyGeekery same. I am in the market and river 3 looks good but I sure can use the extra ac ports for out in the field work. Hoping the price isn’t too much higher

[@FamilyGeekery]

@WillieCarpenter17 the River 2 Max and Pro are still great options in case the 3+ comes out with a crazy price because of its expandability.

[@HansKeesom]

xboost inot 600 watt. xboost lowers the voltage so it can continue the amps. Great for powertools that need that but watch out with devices that have electronics in them.

[@FamilyGeekery]

Good tip about the sensitive electronics. But Ecoflow clearly calls it “600 watts” on their page and all their marketing material. I’m just simply reporting their advertised specs. Thanks for the cautionary heads up!

[@HansKeesom]

​@@FamilyGeekery Ecoflow does that because it is simpler for the general public. But they are lying and you should not copy their lie... In their video they say "run up to 600 w appliances" which is already a bit better. It means that an up to 600 watt appliance might run but as I said on reduced voltage. Would not run a 500 watt computer on it.....

[@joshreynolds7781]

@@HansKeesomthis is correct. It never outputs over 300 watts, as he stated, it can power appliances that usually pull 600 watts. It lowers the voltage output to increase amperage. But still outputs 300 watt max.

[@DaMerk5]

Like the Anker Solix C300 more...only 1 usb-c on the River 3 is criminal...Anger has 3 and more energy storage to boot (288Wh vs 245Wh)

[@FamilyGeekery]

That’s a great option for sure. About 2 pounds heavier, but a little higher specs and more ports. But if you’re already in the Ecoflow ecosystem, I wanted this video to show some of the new features. Thanks for watching!

[@Mae-nr7wr]

i may get another river 2 since it does not charge with usb-c

[@FamilyGeekery]

Yeah, there’s definitely nothing wrong with the river 2 series. Still great stations! Thanks for watching!

[@dmitrybachinsky]

You could not charge it through usb-c port, right? River 2 has that option

[@FamilyGeekery]

It does charge through the USB-C port. I mentioned it but I might have forgotten to actually do it in the video, lol. Sorry

[@dmitrybachinsky]

@@FamilyGeekery Have u tried? Some bloggers say it does not

[@FamilyGeekery]

you're right! I swear I read somewhere on their site that it would charge in through the USB-C port, but after testing, I can confirm that mine does not. I will pin an update to the comments. Thanks for keeping me honest!

[@tuanito1]

I think you should be able to buy a usbc to xt60 adapter for 10 usd and still charge it with a usbc charger going through the xt60 entry.

[@FamilyGeekery]

@tuanito1 I tried that. It made my 65w power supply scream, but it worked. My lower powered supplies just cycled on and off. Since the XT60 port probably doesn’t negotiate with PD supplies, it might just be”ask” for 100w all the time. I’ll try again with a 140w supply and see if it’s happier. Otherwise, it didn’t seem safe.