Warmounts CN-1000W - a powerhouse in a box
With a capacity of 270 mAh, some phones can be charged.
contents show
Watch my short unboxing video!
Introductory
Large-scale energy storage devices broke into the market last year, maybe because of the shock caused by the war, maybe just because the price became affordable, I don't know. For my part, I bought a smaller pack with a solar panel so that I could take it with me when we go camping, and it's no secret that I also had in mind that I could use it to manage the operation of the gas boiler in the winter, if there were to be a power outage of several hours.
So, I was guided by two goals, the convenience of always being able to carry a XNUMX socket outlet with me, and the safety of being able to manage the operation of the home heating (because the circus doesn't work without electricity, right) if there is a slightly longer power outage.
Essentially nothing has changed since last year, maybe it's just that people have gotten used to the conditions. For a war to rage in our neighborhood, for no one to know whether there will be enough gas and oil. Somehow, uncertainty has become embedded in our lives, and fewer and fewer of us stress about it.
Nothing has really changed since last year, but the interest in external batteries has greatly decreased.
Although they are not bad now either, prices are essentially constantly falling, or rather, we are getting more and more capacity for the same price, they give more performance for the same money. In today's test, I will present you a fairly large (of course, there are much larger) power sources. Something that can still be carried, but even a smaller heater can be operated from it.
Accessories and exterior
The Warmounts device is a strange product in that this box can be found under several brand names, and there are also ones with one and a half times the capacity compared to the one in the test, and they are completely identical from the outside.
The name of the product, Warmounts, may not sound so good in the current war period, but of course, it may be that this is what the distributor built it for. Who knows, even bad advertising is advertising if people remember the name. Of course, the point is not the name, but what is behind it, and the CN-1000W structure looks pretty good.
It doesn't have many accessories. There is nothing else except a cable with crocodile clips and an adapter suitable for plug-in charging. Also a description, and of course the power supply itself, but that's really all. I have a critical comment here, because a DC cable could have been placed among the accessories. Let's say it's not a big deal, but you can't get it everywhere. Of course, it can be purchased online, but it could have gone with a product in such a price category.
The structure itself is convincing even at first glance. The plastic covering elements are quite thick, the orange inserts look good, they give the structure an industrial look. The box itself, however, is not plastic, but rather thick aluminum, so it can withstand some knocks and slightly larger physical impacts.
Of course, if you drop it, it's not the aluminum tooth that breaks, but the plastic one, but don't throw it anyway, because it weighs 10 kilos and it also has a large battery pack, so throwing it won't do you any good either.
In terms of shape, we don't find anything crazy interesting. Double-sided fan behind the grills, a phone holder above, and switches and connectors in front. The latter are protected by rubber covers. This is another point that I did not like very much. The rubber is quite thick, but it doesn't sit very tightly in place, so it constantly turns out if I touch it wrongly. They could have come up with a more striking solution.
Let's see the connectors and more. At the top of the front panel is the light, not one, but two. Its light is strong, it can also flash and light continuously. Obviously, it consumes almost nothing, if it is full of stored energy, it can be used as a "battery lamp" for a long time.
Under the lamp is the large display. The necessary information is on it, that is, we see the number of watts going in when we charge the box and we see the watts flowing out when we use it from the box and charge other devices. Of course, it is also visible which output or input is currently working.
To the right of the display are the inputs, below these are the two XNUMX-bit outputs, and below the display are the DC and USB outputs. There are two buttons. The one on the left is used to turn on the light, and the one on the right can be used to turn the AC outputs on and off.
One thing is left out, and this is the cover, on which we can put a phone, which, if it has wireless charging, will also charge.
Paper form
The dimensions of the box are 319 x 270 x 207 millimeters, the weight, as I wrote, is 10 - that is, exactly 10,5 kilograms.
You can charge it with the included adapter, it can charge 5 amps (25,5 volts, i.e. ~ 130 watt charging), but if we can get one with an 8 amp output, it's even better, in fact, we can theoretically use fast charging with 15 amps.
If you want to charge it with a solar cell, there is also a way to do that, there is a built-in inverter. According to the factory data, it can absorb a maximum of 150 watts via the solar connector. In the case of charging with a normal socket, the full charge takes 8,5 hours, in the case of the solar cell, slightly less, of course only on paper.
Among the outputs, we have a standard color-capable AC port, 220 volts, unfortunately not with an EU plug, but I will write about this later. We also have a DC output, as well as USB A and USB C outputs. The latter can also be used to charge notebooks, as it can charge 65 watts. In the case of the former, QC3.0 fast charging and 18 watts come out through the "tube".
The wireless charging, which is on the top of the device, is capable of 15 watts.
These charging methods are served by a battery pack with a capacity of 270 mAh. There is no information about what kind of cells it is made of, but I managed to find out that the 000 watt unit available in the same box contains CATL cells. I'm just writing this for information, I'm not at all sure about this as well.
The mini power plant can deliver 1000 watts and the peak is 2000 watts according to the paper form. It is also important that the manufacturer provides 999 Wh, which also means that we get 1000 watts for one hour, and of course it also means that with such a power output, it only lasts for one hour from a full charge.
The manufacturer also describes that only the DC outputs can be used during charging, and that, if possible, the maximum power (1000 watts) should not be exceeded, because the device will shut down. It is also important that there is naturally a BMS system that takes care of the integrity of the battery, there is protection against overcharging, overcurrent, short circuit and all kinds of things.
Experiences
Let's start with the exterior. It really looks good, the aluminum housing is also reassuring. At the same time, the plastics are quite knocking, they seem rigid, which means that I think they will break if a little more force is applied. So I recommend that you don't drop or hit the plastic parts.
Anyway, the installation is absolutely correct, it is properly screwed together, the aluminum frame is durable, so I would say 10 points out of 8 for the construction. Or let it be 8,5.
I had no particular problems with the use. I tried it with the factory charger and also tried it with a solar panel. In the case of the former, I got 130-135 watts, but in the case of the latter, interestingly, I did not manage to go above 35 watts. On paper, this was achieved with a 100-watt, 18-volt, monocell solar cell, with which I could charge another unit at over 60 watts.
The sunshine was undisturbed, so I don't know what's causing it, but it's certain that you won't fully charge this pack in a day with a 100 watt solar cell, even in bright sunshine. The factory data gives a maximum of 150 watts for the solar panel, so with a board bigger than mine, in theory, it can be fully charged within a day.
It is interesting that although the manufacturer says that the AC output does not work during charging, this is not true, because it worked with solar charging, and I charged my scooter through it. Let's say I didn't try it while charging with a socket, maybe it really doesn't work there.
If already AC charging. When I turn on the AC mode, the fans spin at maximum for 1-2 seconds, then they die down. I tried the battery with a heater, it went off for about 10 minutes, while it consumed 900 watts, the fans still did not switch to high speed. So there is a good chance that no one will complain that the cooling is too loud.
It is also important that the manufacturer says that we get a normal sine wave at the AC output. We can check this with, say, an asynchronous motor, because if the battery pack does not give a real sine but a square signal, then the motor either does not start at all or operates with an ugly humming sound. The fan was also perfect for this test, it worked properly.
The manufacturer says that the maximum power (peak power) is 2000 watts. This sounds good, but don't count on it, because it can only (not always) be enough to e.g. if an engine takes up more power for 1-2 seconds at start-up, it can serve it. In the case of the heat radiator tested in the test, the 900 watts of the first stage were still served, but the electronics immediately switched off when the 1800 watts of the second stage were used.
Of course, I also tried USB charging. In the case of a phone, it delivered 15 watts on the USB A port, while it charged my notebook at 60 watts with PD charging on the USB C port. The nominal value is 65 watts, so the values were fine here and everything.
Evaluation
Everything is okay, we can say, since the structure brought the factory-specified values. If I have to object to something, I can relate to the following things:
Why is there no DC cable in the package? Why was the efficiency of solar charging low? Why can't the battery pack be used as an uninterrupted power source?
I have no answer to the first two questions. Actually, not even for the third one. I'm not saying that at this price level, uninterrupted mode is mandatory, in fact, this capability is more typical of premium products, but I would like it here as well. As with phones for wireless charging. I also don't understand why they can't finally install the extra hardware for a few forints in every phone. Ok, I know the reason, but it would still be nice.
In relation to solar charging, it occurred to me afterwards that perhaps it would have been worthwhile to discharge the unit, because when charging, the performance is largely determined by how charged the battery pack is. So there is plenty in the deck that the charging slows down so much in the last 10 percent, so at this point I think we can let the problem go.
Other than that, the Warmounts CN-1000W is a perfect piece. It's just the right size, just the right weight to carry around comfortably, and it doesn't take up much space in the trunk of the car either. The base's large capacity and 1000-watt power, and the 220-volt output make it suitable for operating a radiator, but it can also take a cooler if that's the case.
I mentioned above that I will return to non-EU standard AC ports. Well, it will be now. Basically, it would be much better if it had an EU standard socket, but actually you can plug in all EU plugs into this Chinese one. We could say that it's okay, but what about the grounded plugs! Well, nothing really, because it's a battery pack in a plastic box, there's no grounding on it anyway, so we don't lose anything.
At the end is the price. Small, 200-watt units with a modest capacity are available for less than HUF 50. the next step, the 300-400 watt and ~80 mAh clock, is more like a HUF 000-100 thousand item. The 120 watt ones typically start somewhere around HUF 500, while the 160 Wh hours start at around HUF 900.
The Warmounts CN-1000W fit nicely into this line in terms of performance and capacity with its price of HUF 280 without a coupon, but this price was at the bottom of the price range of similar devices. In other words, 1000 watts or 1000 Wh starts somewhere here. This price is of course lower than the domestic prices, I found this power in a discounted product at a domestic distributor for 350 forints (70 forints extra), but power plants with this capacity also fall into the 380-400 category.
But now comes the point!
The fact is that for this article, the distributor added a campaign in which the basic price was reduced to HUF 180, plus a coupon code, so the BGXIFD725 using the code, the price of the Warmounts CN-1000W drops from HUF 180 to HUF 163, which is an impossibly low price. In practice, this means that even at Chinese prices, only the 800-watt devices are good for the money, and the 500-watt ones at domestic prices. So HUF 300 for a 163-watt package is a gift, to put it mildly.
If you would like to use this option, then use the BGXIFD725 coupon code at the link below. The delivery takes place from the Polish warehouse, so you do not have to pay additional VAT, customs clearance or customs, the distributor has already taken care of these for you:
