Customer Reviews

Duracell 852-1807 1,800 Watt Five Outlet Rechargeable Power Source

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Bought this recently from Amazon for $180.00 I will say its worth about that. I tried a few high wattage things in it like a hair dryer, Iron, coffee maker, just to see how long I could use it. These are things I could never think of using in a standard 1500VA UPS, (Which I have for comp and such) All of the devices ran well, the hair dryer probably sucked it down the fastest, (Set high 1500watts), lasted aout 7 minutes before the warning started going off. The unit ran about 5 more minutes on medium setting before the battery dropped to 20 percent. The battery did recover to 50% after turning off dryer, so high wattage appliances I think are a bit much for the batteries to output continuously.

The unit is heavy, about 60 pounds. For the money, I would buy again. I figure I should get about 6 hours on a computer with a flat panel attached. For most short power outages, this will get you by for a few necessities. Anything longer you will have to go generator.

The description reads as though you can use it for a fridge and other high wattage appliances, which I guess is true, but misleading as I would imagine a fridge would kill it in about 10 minutes or less.

All in all glad, I was able to purchase for the $180.00. If nothing else you can dry your hair when the power is out, and make coffee, without having to hook up the generator.

UPDATE:

So I wanted to update this review. The unit gave out after about 18-24 months. Cant tell exactly when it lost its capacity but it would last maybe 5 minutes on light load. I took the time to tear it apart and found three 12 volt 17ah SLA batteries wired in parallel. They were pretty much useless. Tried to bring them back but as most here know once an SLA battery gets near end of life it is almost impossible to get them back from the dead even with a good quality desulfator. I got lucky and found 3 new Panasonic replacements for $25ea on EBAY and installed those. (A good quality SLA battery in this range is usually about $70 bucks each). Unit is back up and running like new. I would assume most people would not attempt this nor probably should they. High risk of shock even with the unit unplugged. And many parts to disassemble/reassemble. If you do attempt, take lots of pictures as you break down and be carefull of wires. Doesnt matter how long or how many times you have handled electricity, only takes once.

This item is a piece of junk. Mine gave up after a month, and it is not even used much, just lying in a corner being charged. What is worse, their customer service is more than a piece of junk too. They diagnosed the problem as a battery failure. Since this unit is heavy and I would have to spend over $50 to ship it, I requested that they just send me a new battery and I return the old one to them. But, no! they want the whole unit back. What happened to the customer is always right? And this item is not even worth $100, much less the stated price. For one, it wont hold a charge long, and it breaks easily. A small electric generator is a much, much better value. My advice to you, do not patronize anymore Duracell or Xantrex, their products are junk and their customer service a joke.

UPDATE: After a few months sitting in the corner being charged, I tried it out today. Apparently there's at least one bad cell; a 600w load exhausts the batteries in about 45 seconds. So I revise my rating to ``piece of junk,'' niche or no niche. It needs a much better quality control on the batteries.

ORIGINAL Post:

Pros : about three times the run times of a comparable capacity UPS, based on battery capacity (3 x 17AH, vs typical 2 x 9AH in a 1500VA UPS). Maybe nice to have around to switch to when a regular UPS runs down in a long power outage. I got mine for $180, which would be a good deal in the UPS market. The current $380 would be too high for me.

Cons : a lot of cons. It's hyped as if it's going to help out in the gas generator alternative market, but has nowhere near the capacity you'd need in terms or runtimes. It could run a sump pump for an hour maybe (one cycle of my 1/2hp sump pump runs it down to 80% of charge, so 5 cycles would run it out completely), which isn't going to help much. For all this stuff, like refrigerator and so forth, you just need a gas generator.

The transfer time (80ms) is too slow for a computer when the power goes out. A UPS is ten times faster. No power conditioning.

Really heavy. A woman is not going to like dealing with it. Handles are convenient for the weight though. A Honda EU2000i 2000w gas generator weighs the same.

There's no powered-off charge-the-battery-anyway mode, and it consumes 10w when plugged in. Can only be powered off when not plugged in, so you'd have to establish a routine to keep the battery charged if it's not in regular use.

So perhaps its niche is as a backup UPS when the power has been off too long for the regular UPS. Plug the computer into this, then. When the power comes back, charge it back up and put it back in the closet.

It's a nice product, just one with no obvious use.

Get a gas generator for the sump pump and the refrigerator.

I purchased the Duracell 852-1807 to provide generator free backup power for the sporadic power outages we have in the Northwest. The product provides a steady 1400 Watts of power (surging to 1800 Watts) which is enough to keep the refrigerator going for 10-12 hours.

We are using the Duracell 852-1807 to provide lighting. When the power goes out where we live it is often out for days. In these cases we replace the bulbs in the living room with CFL which helps to keep the overall watt usage down while providing sufficient lighting.

You can generalize how long the product will work for you by totaling all of at the values on the wattage sticker each device you want to run. For example, we use run four 20W CFLs when the power goes out. 4 x 20 = 80W. 1800W available / 80W = 22.5 hours theoretical run time. Since batteries don't discharge in a linear fashion I calculate the run time at 80% which in this case is 18 hours. By my reckoning that gives me 4.5 evenings of light available (assuming you only run the lights at after sunset).

It is important to remember that the deeper you discharge a product like this the longer the recharge takes.

What is really great about this product is that it switches to backup automatically and recharges when power is restored.

I bought this as a backup for my sump pump. There were no power outages until after the 1 year warranty period, and when the power went out then, so did the Duracell 1800. I called the seller, the manufacturer, and the repair shop to which the manufacturer directed me. I got several opinions as to why the Duracell 1800 went dead when the electrical current to it went out, from a fried motherboard to a need for replacement batteries for the unit. The repair shop to which I was referred does not service this item. Several sellers offered to sell me a new unit at a discount. That's ridiculous! Why would I want to buy another product that failed me in my time of need and for which there are no repairs available? I paid around $500 for a very bad piece of equipment.

i agree with the "piece of junk guy"-bougth this item for mom to operate her chair so she can stand up if power goes out. it worked fine for about 8 months [ i tested it once a month] then it failed with trouble code E03. customer service from both zantrex and amazon is worthless. this item was supposed to have a 1 year warranty! what a joke. would NEVER by another product from this manufacturer and it makes me wonder about amazon also.

REVIEW NOVEMBER 11/11/2011: PERFORMANCE & BATTERY LIFE OF THE DURACELL POWERSOURCE 1800

I have had this Xantrex (Duracell) Powersource 1800 since October of 2009. I bought it as a Duracell branded Powersource 1800, and there has been no failures with the unit for two years... until now. It was a great unit, but a transformer failed, and now the whole unit is non-repairable. The batteries are fine, but the transformer design is specific to the unit, and Xantrex will not repair it. They will give you a new unit at a substantial discount. However, for my application, it really worked reliably for two years.

Application: The unit powers an M-53 Zoeller cast iron 1/3 HP submersible sump pump, which is used as a secondary back-up pump to the primary M-53 Zoeller pump. I It pumps water through a vertical pipe 10 feet upward and 6 feet horizontally out of the house to an exterior drain pipe, at 2100 Gal/hour - 35 Gal/min. I have two units for two houses... both perform in a similar manner. However, one of the units failed, and is the subject of this review after two years of service.

I have had frequent power failures in heavy rain storms, and the unit has functioned reliably with more than expected back-up battery time. I test it once a week to keep it fresh, and typically, the main pump runs 7 seconds under normal situations, and back-up sump pump runs 8 seconds during a back-up duty cycle to clear out the water in the sump pit. At that rate, here are the documented duty cycles for my home sump pump application:

Back-up Duty Cycle #1: Low Demand Situation Winter: In a no-rain storm situation, the back-up pump runs 8 seconds every 30 minutes. I have a lot of water seepage from surrounding farm land. At this duty cycle, the battery has been tested to last 24 hours running the back-up pump. See note about charge indication vs. actual usable power during the pump run.

Back-up Duty Cycle #2: Normal Light Demand Situation Summer: Without any extensive rainfall, the typical demand would be to run 8 seconds every 20 minutes. This is the normal base condition at my home most of the time. At this cycle, the battery lasted 18 hours.

Back-up Duty Cycle #3: Medium Demand Situation Summer-Fall: In a medium rain storm, the main sump pump runs 8 seconds every 15 minutes. The battery was tested to run more than 14 hours at that cycle.

Back-up Duty Cycle #4: High demand, heavy rainstorm Spring/Fall Rains Situation: The back-up pump runs 8 seconds every 5 minutes, and the battery was tested to run 6 hours.

Back-up Duty Cycle #5: Extreme Demand, heavy rain situation any season: The back-up pump will run 8 seconds every 2 minutes. At this cycle, the battery lasted 4 hours to its unusable power level.

Notes on charge capacity: Even though the Duracell (Xantrex) 1800 charge capacity read out will indicate a certain % of charge that is left in the battery discharge between cycles, you have to allow that there is less actual usable battery power present to handle the initial current surge and amount of power consumed during the pump start-up and run period. For example, if the indicator reads that there is a 50% battery capacity while the pump is not running, when the pump calls for power to run, the actual discharge rate will dip to 40% and then to 30% as the pump continues to run. When the pump stops, the charge indication will read 40%, and then resume to 50% after one minute.

As the battery becomes weaker, this same charge vs. actual usable power span will be repeated at lesser charge levels. The battery may not be reliably usable at the 30%-25% charge indication level... it may start the pump running, but may shut it down as the initial power surge demand and load continues during the first 2 seconds.

FAILURE INFORMATION: November, 2011
After running for two problem free years, the unit suddenly failed during a routine weekly test. One of the four transformers in the inverter failed, and it is not replaceable. The three 17 amp batteries are fine, and the unit will pass through AC power to the pump and charge the batteries. But the unit will no longer auto switches to supply back-up power, and flashes a E03 error code (can't meet power demand). This unit is now useless... as it can't be repaired since the transformer and support electronics are of a special design for this unit, and are not available from any electronics supplier. Xantrex will not repair the unit.

However, they will send you a new unit a discounted price. It appears that over time, the initial surge of the sump pump weakens the support electronics, specifically the transformers, even though the pump surge and power wattage demand are well within the 1400 watt (3600 watt surge) continuous specification of the Powersource 1800. It would appear that this unit might last a long time with lesser-demand applications, but a sump pump application challenges the design of the Powersource 1800 in some way, and is not one that will grant long life to this unit.

However, I still recommend this unit. This may be an unnusual failure, but for two years in this heavy-duty situation, it gave me piece of mind that my basement would not flood while I was away on a business trip. In a non-sump pump application, this unit should be rock-steady reliable as a main UPS for small appliances, refrigerators, and small electronics.

REMEMBER: When you get the unit, you must charge if for 48 hours before using it, even if the read-out says FUL battery charge. This will properly condition your batteries for years of service. I have noted that in recent specifications of the Powersource 1800, a sump pump application is no longer listed as it was two years ago.

OTHER BACK-UP SUMP PUMP SOLUTIONS: The only other 120 volt sump pump solution is to buy a Tripp-Lite UT2010UL (Heavy duty truck application) Inverter-Charger, connected to two 110 amp hour marine duty deep discharge batteries. This is a solution costing over $1400 with all parts included. There are other solutions like this at a similar cost. From personal experience, the 12 volt "marine bilge pump" type back-up pumps do not have the capacity to lift and pump out water in a 10 ft. vertical column at a high rate, and will work only in a low pumping demand situation.

I only used this product a few times. I had for about 1.5 years. During Hurricane Irene a really needed it to work. It said it had a full charge, but when the power went out it beeped and displayed an E03 fault code. I cannot reset it. It is no longer usable. I wasted my money. This was a poor investment.

TO spend $500.00 on a product that will last maybe 2yrs in not worth it. 1st customer service in no help at all. I was told that my batteries went bad after less than 2yrs because I did not exercise them, meaning using it on and off to power down and back up. Three diffrent Customer reps told me this. With a Lead Acid battery this is not correct per asking several battery experts. Also the battery's are very difficult to remove and the instructions themselves say that after battery life is used up it's basically a toss away. The cheepest you can get 3 batteries for this unit to make it work is around $200.00. If your mother board goes no one can fix for under $400.00. Great idea but very very bad quality, bad customer service andno one can fix or repair. Too expensive for its short life.

Product worked for about 18 months then battery went dead. Pretty expensive investment for something that is unrealiable. It's Junk