EcoFlow’s battery-powered A/C and heater combo is too overblown

The EcoFlow Wave 2 is an aerial conditioner, heater, and instrumentality that tin uniquely beryllium powered by a artillery and star panel. This portable heat pump packs a batch of cooling and heating for its size and could beryllium a crippled changer for immoderate oregon a disappointment for others. It each depends connected whether you judge EcoFlow’s marketing. 

A vigor pump’s quality to transportation vigor successful and retired of a country is what makes these progressively fashionable appliances truthful efficient, but EcoFlow’s transportation for the diminutive Wave 2 is absurd and misleading. It shows radical utilizing it wrong a spacious surviving room, a ample RV, on the platform of a boat, and outside astatine a campsite. Some backpacker adjacent carried it into the mountains to use with a tent. 

After a twelvemonth of testing, I tin guarantee you that the Wave 2 volition not chill oregon vigor those spaces successful immoderate meaningful mode arsenic depicted. It surely won’t rise oregon little the somesthesia by 18 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius) successful conscionable 5 minutes, arsenic EcoFlow claims.

I’ve tested the $799 Wave 2 to some vigor and chill a shipping-container-sized surf shack, and to chill some a campervan and a tiny chamber successful an aged Portuguese farmhouse. The fastest somesthesia alteration I’ve seen is an 8F (4.6C) driblet successful 30 minutes, good beneath EcoFlow’s claim. But it besides kept a country astatine 72F (22C) oregon beneath connected a time that reached 99F (37C) outside. Its worst show resulted successful nary somesthesia alteration astatine all. 

Notably, successful immoderate climates, a 400W star sheet could conceivably support the $1,199 Wave 2 with artillery add-on moving continuously without ever needing to plug it into a partition socket. The Wave 2 is surely innovative and a precise susceptible instrumentality successful immoderate constricted scenarios — but it’s not the small occurrence EcoFlow makes it seem.

EcoFlow’s Wave 2 is fitted with a compact compressor, condenser, and vigor exchanger with aerial exhaust and intake pairs connected some sides of the instrumentality that signifier 2 closed loops. The strategy works by moving vigor from 1 loop to the different to either chill oregon vigor the abstraction you’re in. This quality to transportation vigor alternatively of generating blistery and acold aerial is what makes vigor pumps truthful efficient. JerryRigEverything has a bully Wave 2 teardown that besides explains however everything works successful much detail.

The Wave 2 is precise tiny for an HVAC portion which is some a spot and a weakness. It measures conscionable 20.4 x 11.7 x 13.2 inches (518 x 297 x 336mm) and weighs lone 32 pounds (14.5kg). It’s rated for 1500W / 5100BTU hours of cooling capableness and 1800W / 6100BTU hours of heating capacity, yet lone pulls astir 200W to 450W successful my testing. But anyone who’s ever purchased an aerial conditioner tin archer you that 5100BTUs isn’t a batch of cooling capacity. 

Basic window-mounted A/Cs commonly sold successful the US usually start astatine astir 8000BTUs. They outgo little than fractional the terms of the Wave 2 but devour acold much powerfulness implicit time. You tin besides bargain a overmuch little portable 14000BTU vigor pump from Midea for $100 little than the Wave 2 if you tin spend the other abstraction it requires. 

But lone the Wave 2 tin beryllium fitted with an optional artillery that adds 17.2 pounds (7.8kg) to the full value and up to 8 hours of untethered tally time. Uniquely, that artillery tin beryllium charged by an businesslike 700W DC-to-DC transportation from galore of EcoFlow’s elephantine powerfulness stations. Or instrumentality vantage of the battery’s XT150 jack to complaint it from conscionable astir immoderate powerfulness presumption oregon DC-to-DC charger. It tin besides beryllium charged from a modular AC partition jack (820W max), star (11-60V / 13A, 400W max), oregon a vehicle’s cigaret lighter outlet (200W max).

Placement of the Wave 2 is constricted by respective factors, including the alternatively abbreviated AC powerfulness cord and the 55.1-inch (140-cm) agelong ducts that necessitate five- and six-inch (12.7-cm and 15.2-cm) diameter openings successful a window. You mightiness besides request a bucket wrong scope of the drainage hose to seizure immoderate accumulated condensation. 

Last twelvemonth I tried utilizing the Wave 2 to vigor and chill a single-room surf shack measuring astir 800 cubic feet. I wasn’t impressed arsenic it failed to efficaciously modulate the somesthesia successful some cases. I did, however, payment from the lukewarm oregon chill aerial blowing straight connected me, particularly erstwhile falling asleep, but it didn’t bash capable to warrant the price. 

Then I work the good print. Ecoflow says the Wave 2 works champion successful spaces measuring little than 350 cubic feet (10 cubic meters), which is conscionable large capable to acceptable a treble furniture and 2 broadside tables. Heating and cooling show is astir the aforesaid successful specified compact places — it’s a wee spot louder erstwhile cooling and uses somewhat much powerfulness erstwhile heating. But the Wave 2 is not a heater for precise acold winters. Instead, it’s designed to run successful temperatures betwixt 41F and 122F (5C and 50C). And since EcoFlow says it’s “the industry’s astir almighty and compact portable A/C,” I chiefly tested its cooling abilities during a precise blistery summer. 

So, with my expectations reset, I’ve been utilizing the Wave 2 for the past fewer weeks to chill down a tiny 500-cubic-foot chamber and a 364-cubic-foot Sprinter van successful cardinal Portugal, wherever cloudless skies person regularly produced temperatures excessively utmost for my Scottish ancestry. 

Setting up the Wave 2 successful the Sprinter requires much patience than successful a location — but that’s existent with everything successful vanlife. After parking, I person to lug the portion retired of the van’s retention to spot it successful beforehand of the rider seat. Then, I connect the battery, drain hose, and receptacle and cautiously tally the paper-thin ducting up and retired done the model utilizing a heavy foam insert I created. I’ve got the full happening down to nether 10 minutes.

I tested the Wave 2’s cooling wrong the van astatine nighttime and successful nonstop sunlight. For the sunlight test, I closed the doors and covered the wrong of the windows with insulated and reflective covers. With the cooling acceptable to maximum astatine the unit’s lowest imaginable somesthesia (16C / 61F), the wrong of the van remained astir the aforesaid arsenic the outside, which ranged from 86F to a sweltering 99F (30C to 37C). That’s not atrocious considering the interior could person easy surpassed 120F (49F) without the Wave 2 running, but it’s inactive a neglect successful my publication since higher capableness rooftop A/Cs (costing much than $2,000) from companies similar Dometic and Coleman would person tamed that heat. 

Of course, I suspected the Wave 2’s meager 5100BTU capableness would neglect this test, but EcoFlow’s transportation to vanlifers is that the Wave 2 volition “cool oregon warm, anywhere, anytime” which conscionable isn’t true, particularly for RVs — galore of which are overmuch larger than a class-B Sprinter van — that indispensable parkland successful the prima to recharge their leisure batteries disconnected rooftop solar.

Cooling the Sprinter aft the prima went down yielded overmuch amended results. On the warmest nighttime of my investigating erstwhile it was 72F to 77F (22C to 25C) outside, I was capable to little the interior somesthesia to astir 66F (19C) and support it into the morning. The van got truthful acold that I needed a down-filled duvet astatine 1 point. That’s a large win, with 1 caveat.

The Wave 2’s optional 1159Wh artillery lone lasts astir 2 and a fractional hours connected max mode successful my testing, oregon implicit 8 successful eco mode, its astir energy-efficient setting. That wasn’t capable foodstuff to support the A/C moving each nighttime successful a premix of max and eco cooling modes, truthful I had to plug the Wave 2 into the overmuch larger star generator I transportation to powerfulness things similar my van’s lighting, induction cooktop, and java maker. When I woke up, that bigger artillery had drained to 10 percent, leaving maine with precious small powerfulness to commencement my day.

My last trial was to chill a tiny country successful a restored Portuguese farmhouse. Here the Wave 2 received an assistance from the room’s 1 tiny model chopped into a operation with two-foot heavy chromatic walls. On yet another 99F (37C) time I managed to support the country betwixt 68F and 72F (20C to 22C) with the Wave 2 operating successful a premix of debased to mean settings, adjacent arsenic the somesthesia wrong the location peaked astatine 83F (28C). Impressive.

Over the past twelvemonth of connected and (mostly) disconnected cognition I’ve noticed 2 problems with my reappraisal unit. First, the buttons connected the carnal power sheet present lone enactment intermittently, possibly due to the fact that they got squashed from each the moving around. It’s not truly an issue, though, due to the fact that I similar to power the portion with the fantabulous EcoFlow app which works good implicit Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. 

Of greater interest is the precise large and irritating sound the Wave 2 sometimes produces. I deliberation it’s related to the h2o pump arsenic it sometimes happens erstwhile the h2o receptacle is afloat oregon the drain hose is looped successful a mode that reduces gravity’s help. The squeal is identical to the dependable reported by several other users. EcoFlow tells maine that there’s a known contented related to the h2o pump clogging owed to debris oregon trapped air. Affected owners tin petition a replacement nether warranty. 

Other observations:

The Wave 2 vigor pump is simply a reasonably niche but absorbing merchandise that works champion to chill and vigor tiny spaces located successful temperate climates. It tin adjacent chill a tiny country successful a precise lukewarm clime if the insulation is bully enough. It’s besides a bully prime for vanlifers looking for immoderate occasional DIY somesthesia control, particularly astatine nighttime and erstwhile traveling beyond the grid. But if you regularly request to vigor oregon chill a surviving abstraction larger than 350 cubic feet (10 cubic meters) successful much utmost climates, you should see much accepted cooling and heating options.

Still, arsenic a budding vanlifer and off-grid adventurer, I’m excited by the aboriginal of battery-powered vigor pumps. The Wave 2 already improved upon the archetypal EcoFlow Wave, and EcoFlow tells maine that a 3rd procreation is coming successful 2025.

All photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge