I bought an EB70S to power a chest freezer that I plan on using to keep my beef cold as I move across the country. The plan was to charge it via the cigarette lighter plug while Im driving. The freezer is 1 amp at 115v. It was my understanding that it should be able to handle this. I just got the EB70 today and plugged the freezer into it. The wattage indicator showed that it was using a few hundred watts at first and then went down to zero. It didnt show that it was overloaded. I unplugged and plugged it back in and all it says is zero watts. No matter what I do I cant get it to show anything other than zero. Ive tested it with other things such as a coffee grinder toaster small blender. All those work fine. Is there anything that Im not understanding here? Did I get a faulty unit? Any help is appreciated. Thanks
Hi Jtkman,
Sorry for the inconvenience.
It seems like your freezer surpasses the surge power of the EB70S. May I know the power and current of your freezer?
The freezer says 1 amp at 115 volts. Wouldnt I get an overload error if it surpassed the surge power?
Could you please provide a video showing the problem? and please also provide the link to your freezer?
https://www.hisense-usa.com/support/models/FC72D6BWE_7-2-cu-ft-energy-star-freezer
Here is a link to the freezer
Freezer is difficult to be describe accurately. Although the indicator didn’t show, it is possible that the surge power would be 4 -7 times than rated power.
So you think this can power my freezer? The freezer is full of beef and already at zero degrees. I guess maybe I should just return this.
Sounds like the EB70 is fine if it works with your other items. How long does your freezer go between the on and off cycles when plugged into the wall? I know when running an older fridge freezer with my EB70 it will show zero watts for quite a while between the on/off cycles. I would imagine a well insulated freezer might be the same.
The more powerful unit is better for your freezer.
Thanks that makes me feel better. I’m not sure, it’s in the garage and I don’t pay that much attention to it. All I know is when it is plugged into the wall the light is on showing the freezer is being powered. When it’s plugged into the eb70 the light is never on. I’m not sure how to make sure this will actually work when I need it to.
Doing the math this unit should be fine for my needs. I just need it to keep the freezer cold while I’m driving and charging via the cigarette lighter.
If you want to change into another one, EB150 can easily control of your freezer.
So I tried the same thing this morning. I unplugged from the wall and plugged into the eb70. The wattage went up to 880 and then immediately dropped to zero. The fan shut off and it went to zero and didn’t show any error code. Is this normal behavior? Do you think I should return this and get a different one?
This same freezer came up in the past as not being able to start due to a short term start up high current demand. (which is typical of some fridge / freezers). If you let the freezer sit off for about 15 minutes and try again, most likely it will start up and run since the refrigerant pressure in the lines has had time to bleed back down. In real use, the freezer compressor will run a short amount of time, cycle off and then restart 10 minutes or more later. This normal cycling allows time for the refrigerant gas pressure to be reduced when starting which also requires less wattage to start.
You may find that in normal use your freezer will work if you wait the 15 minutes after the freezer has been running before attempting to start it again.
Ok thanks for the info. I’m tempted to return this. I want to be confident the beef will stay frozen in the freezer as in driving across the country. Any recommendations of what I should be looking for? I’m interested in the eb150 but it doesn’t have a lifepo battery correct?
I personally would not feel right about returning an item that i used that is performing at the specs it should be.
Yeah I bought it at Walmart and used it for about half an hour. The only reason I bought it was for this freezer. I’m going to return it to Walmart and probably buy the AC 200p. You don’t think that one will cause me any issues do you?
You would be better off with the 2400 or the 1500. The AC200 will not power your freezer as long since the larger inverter is has consumes more power when turned on with no load. By g the he way, you bought through Bluetti, Walmart just handled the initial consumer transaction. Bluetti still has to dispose of the unit you are returning since it cannot be resold as new
Okay thanks for all that info. Another alternative I could do is buy a different freezer that the EB70 will be able to power. If you have any suggestions for that? I need something around 7 ft³ like I have now. I appreciate you taking the time
There might be nothing wrong at all. I have the same behaviour with my full sized freezer on a 1500w (surge up to 3000w inverter). The freezer would consume 3-5x at its rated wattage at start up for a few seconds, and if the compressor is loaded in a certain way, even more. But it would let the pressure drain and restart in a normal way a few minutes later. Note that the freezer is not always on, so it would sit at zero or near zero for many minutes, and then spike up to 5x above rated for a few seconds and then run at rated for a bunch more minutes. So it may be perfectly normal for it to sit at zero for a while.
The EB70S can handle 800w and a bit more surge, so your 120w or so freezer should be an issue.
To test it, put a jug of water in there and let it site overnight to see if it freezes. If it does, then everything is good. Be sure to keep charging your EB70S or the battery will drain.