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As of right now I have DISH Network, but I'm thinking of going to DirecTV due to the sports packages--most notably the Big Ten Network and MLB Extra Innings--since my girlfriend and I are huge Red Sox fans and I love college football.
Regarding setup, this is for a five year old 20" SD television.
First question involves "moving." I currently get my Indianapolis locals through DISH thanks to a "move" I did earlier this year. I was wondering if I would have any trouble or if its possible to do a similar "move" with DirecTV.
My second question involves picture quality. I get mixed feelings from a lot of places as to where both the SD picture quality of D* and E* are with respect to each other. I really like the picture quality I get with E* although I can deal with the Comcast feed my girlfriend gets at her house in Boston. Worst case, if its true that D* pales in picture quality to E* as so many people say, should I even still consider going to DirecTV (probability for finally getting a HDTV soon is roughly 38%)?
Any questions or comments would be greatly appreciated.
/edit: I also remembered when I was first getting satellite TV service that DirecTV's DVR required a land line while DISH's DVR doesn't. Is it true that I will still need a land line for a DirecTV DVR? And if so, are there some tricks to get around that limitation?
/edit^2: After some Googling, its technically possible for me to "move" to an area with Indianapolis locals. But does anyone have any reports on doing a "move" with DirecTV?
/edit^3: "Some" questions, ha. What I'd like to know now is what satellites and transponders come with the single LNB dish (what I'll most likely get as a SD customer) in the Midwest region.
Regarding setup, this is for a five year old 20" SD television.
First question involves "moving." I currently get my Indianapolis locals through DISH thanks to a "move" I did earlier this year. I was wondering if I would have any trouble or if its possible to do a similar "move" with DirecTV.
My second question involves picture quality. I get mixed feelings from a lot of places as to where both the SD picture quality of D* and E* are with respect to each other. I really like the picture quality I get with E* although I can deal with the Comcast feed my girlfriend gets at her house in Boston. Worst case, if its true that D* pales in picture quality to E* as so many people say, should I even still consider going to DirecTV (probability for finally getting a HDTV soon is roughly 38%)?
Any questions or comments would be greatly appreciated.
/edit: I also remembered when I was first getting satellite TV service that DirecTV's DVR required a land line while DISH's DVR doesn't. Is it true that I will still need a land line for a DirecTV DVR? And if so, are there some tricks to get around that limitation?
/edit^2: After some Googling, its technically possible for me to "move" to an area with Indianapolis locals. But does anyone have any reports on doing a "move" with DirecTV?
/edit^3: "Some" questions, ha. What I'd like to know now is what satellites and transponders come with the single LNB dish (what I'll most likely get as a SD customer) in the Midwest region.
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5279 views
Since I've gone and ordered D* now, all I hope for is someone to tell me I didn't do something stupid and that I'll enjoy the service. 
D
Where did you get this idea from? Landline numbers are VERY portable now - you have heard of VOIP service, right? In most areas, you CAN port your current landline number over to a VOIP provider (Vonage, Packet 8, etc) & even over to a cell phone. Once you port over your landline to VOIP, you can literally take it ANYWHERE you have a broadband connection - so that kills that theory of "moving".
The ONLY reason why D* (& E*) use landlines, is because when DBS started, that was the ONLY practical way for the receivers to communicate back to headquarters, as well as that pretty much everyone has one in their house. Unfortunately, both DBS providers have their heads stuck up their a$$'s & haven't come to grips that the world is changing & landlines are going the way of black & white TV's.
And anyway, using your "regular" landline does NOT complicate moving anyway - I know many "moved" folks (& not just on this board) as well as myself, that moved & have kept using their same landline for years with no issues whatsoever. As long as the phone# on the account matches what the receiver(s) call in from, that's all that really matters.
Where did you get this idea from? Landline numbers are VERY portable now - you have heard of VOIP service, right? In most areas, you CAN port your current landline number over to a VOIP provider (Vonage, Packet 8, etc) & even over to a cell phone. Once you port over your landline to VOIP, you can literally take it ANYWHERE you have a broadband connection - so that kills that theory of "moving".
The ONLY reason why D* (& E*) use landlines, is because when DBS started, that was the ONLY practical way for the receivers to communicate back to headquarters, as well as that pretty much everyone has one in their house. Unfortunately, both DBS providers have their heads stuck up their a$$'s & haven't come to grips that the world is changing & landlines are going the way of black & white TV's.
And anyway, using your "regular" landline does NOT complicate moving anyway - I know many "moved" folks (& not just on this board) as well as myself, that moved & have kept using their same landline for years with no issues whatsoever. As long as the phone# on the account matches what the receiver(s) call in from, that's all that really matters.
I've also heard that many VOIP services don't support data modems. The issue is that a telephone number is typically assigned to a exchange and if you move out of that exchange, you have to surrender the number. Obviously, with VOIP, you can keep the number, but if it doesn't support a modem, what's the point?
Do you have a bulletproof recommendation for what they should be using in lieu of a land line to verify that your receiver is connected to your residence phone? As the E* prohibition on DNS illustrates, making sure that the subscriber gets only the programming that they're entitled to is critical.Unfortunately, both DBS providers have their heads stuck up their a$$'s & haven't come to grips that the world is changing & landlines are going the way of black & white TV's.
D
Go back on this board & do a search on this & you'll find many folks who HAVE made their receivers work on VOIP & you'll see my point...
Why/where DO you keep getting this idea the phone line allows/disallows entitled prog? The "entitled" prog is authorized over the sat & has absolutely NOTHING to do with a phone line. (hint: so are you telling me all of these customers that already DON'T have a landline are getting prog they shouldn't - or are NOT getting prog they SHOULD?) By using your logic, I should NOT be able to get OOM network prog from another DMA - as I've already told you, it's NOT been a problem for myself or other clients for years now. The DNS "mess" that E* created had NOTHING to do with phone lines, but the fact E* choose to sell DNS to unqualified customers.
As far as sports packages, again, while D* may say in it's brochures a phone is required, I can tell you that again, I have several clients w/out phone lines & they get ALL of their sports pkgs just fine, thank you.
The ONLY thing the phone line does is:
-allows remote control PPV ordering; many people including myself, could care less about this. Also, D* allows PPV ordering over the net at NO extra cost, while E* does, but charges an extra fee - so obviously, that problem is solved.
-prevent account stacking - VERY simple to fix; both providers need to start building circuitry in EVERY new box to allow intercommunication between all of the boxes on an account. (preferably through the coax, but could be done via an ethernet connection) This would NOT even require a phone line, as it can very easily be made so that if a receiver was NOT communicating back to the other units, (such as one of them moved to another house) it shuts down. This would actually be MORE reliable than using a phone connection, since it's also possible to spoof a phone # in multiple places.
As I said, the providers should have already started this years ago, but choose not to, although their have been reports they are starting to surface in newer boxes. Unfortunately, they are all vaporware right now...
Go back on this board & do a search on this & you'll find many folks who HAVE made their receivers work on VOIP & you'll see my point...
Why/where DO you keep getting this idea the phone line allows/disallows entitled prog? The "entitled" prog is authorized over the sat & has absolutely NOTHING to do with a phone line. (hint: so are you telling me all of these customers that already DON'T have a landline are getting prog they shouldn't - or are NOT getting prog they SHOULD?) By using your logic, I should NOT be able to get OOM network prog from another DMA - as I've already told you, it's NOT been a problem for myself or other clients for years now. The DNS "mess" that E* created had NOTHING to do with phone lines, but the fact E* choose to sell DNS to unqualified customers.
As far as sports packages, again, while D* may say in it's brochures a phone is required, I can tell you that again, I have several clients w/out phone lines & they get ALL of their sports pkgs just fine, thank you.
The ONLY thing the phone line does is:
-allows remote control PPV ordering; many people including myself, could care less about this. Also, D* allows PPV ordering over the net at NO extra cost, while E* does, but charges an extra fee - so obviously, that problem is solved.
-prevent account stacking - VERY simple to fix; both providers need to start building circuitry in EVERY new box to allow intercommunication between all of the boxes on an account. (preferably through the coax, but could be done via an ethernet connection) This would NOT even require a phone line, as it can very easily be made so that if a receiver was NOT communicating back to the other units, (such as one of them moved to another house) it shuts down. This would actually be MORE reliable than using a phone connection, since it's also possible to spoof a phone # in multiple places.
As I said, the providers should have already started this years ago, but choose not to, although their have been reports they are starting to surface in newer boxes. Unfortunately, they are all vaporware right now...
D
No, I listened VERY carefully to what YOU asked, which was:
And I answered your question like this:
And instead of answering my question, you just keep regurgitating "the landline is the best way to do it..."
And since your (still) not listening - please tell me exactly HOW (in technical terms) having a landline tells the carrier "my service is at a specific address" - as opposed to my friend's, neighbor's, parent's house, etc.? How DO they know WHERE my phone# is - they sure cannot ask the phone co! As I am going to repeat for the last time, a landline does NO such thing - PERIOD! Just because you keep saying it does, or your D* or E* trainer tells you it does, doesn't mean it's true. (you sound like a new DBS CSR that's reading out of their new training manual - don't believe everything that they tell you )
I've also already told you if you would do a search on this board, (being that you are a relative newbie here) you'll see MANY examples of folks such as me that have moved & continue to use our very SAME landline# with NO issues. There's a good reason why it works & I've just explained it to you. (again) You might actually learn something doing a search...
And please find ONE single requirement in either providers DNS requirements that you MUST have a landline for DNS service & post them here - even if you're a one receiver DNS customer. I've been doing satellite since the big dishes & have NEVER seen such a requirement. What does DNS have anything to do with landlines anyway???
(& yea, I know all about DNS - since I AM a dealer...)
How (prey tell) does having ALL my receivers at a place different from where the physical location is supposed to be making the carrier loose revenue? I would be paying EXACTLY the same amount whether I was in Chicago, St.Louis or Springfield - please make some sense here. Again, if you are talking about account stacking, then yes it will stop that, but otherwise it ain't gonna help stop movers - not to mention the fact movers are NOT loosing revenue for either E* or D*, but actually in most cases MAKE money for them, since most movers "move" to be able to get local nets AT ALL, since there are still many markets that do not have locals at all. (Hmm, is it sinking in why both providers "look the other way" when people move... )
And (again) for the last time - a phone connection is NOT going to solve the "location" problem even with DishComm - only that ALL receivers on an account are in the same loc.
I'm done with this, as you just don't want to accept reality - you can stay in fantasy land & the rest of us will get back to the OP's subject at hand, which BTW...
No, I listened VERY carefully to what YOU asked, which was:
And I answered your question like this:
And instead of answering my question, you just keep regurgitating "the landline is the best way to do it..."
And since your (still) not listening - please tell me exactly HOW (in technical terms) having a landline tells the carrier "my service is at a specific address" - as opposed to my friend's, neighbor's, parent's house, etc.? How DO they know WHERE my phone# is - they sure cannot ask the phone co! As I am going to repeat for the last time, a landline does NO such thing - PERIOD! Just because you keep saying it does, or your D* or E* trainer tells you it does, doesn't mean it's true. (you sound like a new DBS CSR that's reading out of their new training manual - don't believe everything that they tell you
) I've also already told you if you would do a search on this board, (being that you are a relative newbie here) you'll see MANY examples of folks such as me that have moved & continue to use our very SAME landline# with NO issues. There's a good reason why it works & I've just explained it to you. (again) You might actually learn something doing a search...
And please find ONE single requirement in either providers DNS requirements that you MUST have a landline for DNS service & post them here - even if you're a one receiver DNS customer. I've been doing satellite since the big dishes & have NEVER seen such a requirement. What does DNS have anything to do with landlines anyway???
(& yea, I know all about DNS - since I AM a dealer...) How (prey tell) does having ALL my receivers at a place different from where the physical location is supposed to be making the carrier loose revenue? I would be paying EXACTLY the same amount whether I was in Chicago, St.Louis or Springfield - please make some sense here. Again, if you are talking about account stacking, then yes it will stop that, but otherwise it ain't gonna help stop movers - not to mention the fact movers are NOT loosing revenue for either E* or D*, but actually in most cases MAKE money for them, since most movers "move" to be able to get local nets AT ALL, since there are still many markets that do not have locals at all. (Hmm, is it sinking in why both providers "look the other way" when people move...
) And (again) for the last time - a phone connection is NOT going to solve the "location" problem even with DishComm - only that ALL receivers on an account are in the same loc.
I'm done with this, as you just don't want to accept reality - you can stay in fantasy land & the rest of us will get back to the OP's subject at hand, which BTW...
D
OK, since (I don't believe) anyone answered your question at hand, don't worry about moving & using your existing landline. (contrary to what some people keep going on about) Just get it all installed, wait a couple days & then "move" your account to Indy, just like you did with DISH. (you've done it before & it's no different with D*) Just tell them your phone# will stay the same on your account - you should be off the phone with them in under 3 min...
Oh, & enjoy your new service...
Since I've gone and ordered D* now, all I hope for is someone to tell me I didn't do something stupid and that I'll enjoy the service.
OK, since (I don't believe) anyone answered your question at hand, don't worry about moving & using your existing landline. (contrary to what some people keep going on about) Just get it all installed, wait a couple days & then "move" your account to Indy, just like you did with DISH. (you've done it before & it's no different with D*) Just tell them your phone# will stay the same on your account - you should be off the phone with them in under 3 min...
Oh, & enjoy your new service...
My OTA is not working anymore. This started after the latest update. I have the OTA dongle with a OTA antenna that I've been using for years. My hopper does not recognize the dongle anymore and when I go to the OTA setting, it has a screen that says to plug a dongle into the USB. I tried unplugging and plugging back, in the same usb port and other ports. The Hopper does not recognize it. Anyone have same issue?
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Did you people having this issue contact Brittany yet? Shes trying to keep track of things and it would be good for you to contact her as maybe she can get this somewhere and get fixed.
Now while unofficial, I am hearing this issue wasn't caused by DISH's software team, but was caused by a chipset driver update that seemes to have hosed some older USB devices. If this is indeed the case I can see why DISH didn't know and why they are slow in fixing it as they need the chipset company to fix its drivers and release them to DISH so they can be pushed out to all.
DISH does not hate you guys nor do they want you to buy new USB dongles. I am rather sure they didn't even know this was an issue until they saw it posted.
Again contact Brittany if you are having this issue, so she has your info and hopefully she can do something for you to keep you happy.
Now while unofficial, I am hearing this issue wasn't caused by DISH's software team, but was caused by a chipset driver update that seemes to have hosed some older USB devices. If this is indeed the case I can see why DISH didn't know and why they are slow in fixing it as they need the chipset company to fix its drivers and release them to DISH so they can be pushed out to all.
DISH does not hate you guys nor do they want you to buy new USB dongles. I am rather sure they didn't even know this was an issue until they saw it posted.
Again contact Brittany if you are having this issue, so she has your info and hopefully she can do something for you to keep you happy.
Thanks, but until they do, can't Dish just revert to the old driver that worked? Then test the new driver when delivered,d before pushing it again.Did you people having this issue contact Brittany yet? Shes trying to keep track of things and it would be good for you to contact her as maybe she can get this somewhere and get fixed.
Now while unofficial, I am hearing this issue wasn't caused by DISH's software team, but was caused by a chipset driver update that seemes to have hosed some older USB devices. If this is indeed the case I can see why DISH didn't know and why they are slow in fixing it as they need the chipset company to fix its drivers and release them to DISH so they can be pushed out to all.
DISH does not hate you guys nor do they want you to buy new USB dongles. I am rather sure they didn't even know this was an issue until they saw it posted.
Again contact Brittany if you are having this issue, so she has your info and hopefully she can do something for you to keep you happy.
But then what does an old CIO know! I've only reamed quite a few buttholes from my people that didn't do that!
S
dish can't revert back to older drivers or updates. although just one reason not to buy the ota dongle!!!Thanks, but until they do, can't Dish just revert to the old driver that worked? Then test the new driver when delivered,d before pushing it again.
But then what does an old CIO know! I've only reamed quite a few buttholes from my people that didn't do that!
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He was 71 yrs old. One of my favorite songs is Seminole Wind....the violin is killer.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8sh9P3X33w
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8sh9P3X33w
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Why are ViP922s So rare? like its crazy how ebay has none, i checked everywhere, also, i got a ViP222k now, which is actually activated!
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LOL. It depends if the person saw it during the years when they were actually still available which is 1968 to 1983 meaning the person could be 43-58 years old or they can even be a few years old if they learned to read and write at a young age and actually saw a telephone with that label somewhere recently just like even here in San Francisco, payphone still exist physically in public places but whether they can be used or not is a different issue. It still looks like this even today:
I opened my Radio Shack in Sept 1984 and right about that time they did the whole deregulation thing with the phone companies. I bought TONS of those phones that had been refurbished with a new outer shell. You could throw one of those out of a 3 story high window and it would still work.
That was an interesting time in history. I would have older customers come in and ask about phones.....they were terrified that they were going to get into trouble hooking up a second phone without the phone company knowing about it. One of the funniest episodes of WKRP was the one where Johnny thought the cops were showing up because they had an unregistered phone. I guess younger folks can't conceive of a time when you were limited to the number of phones you could have in your house....and limited to the length of the cord
That was an interesting time in history. I would have older customers come in and ask about phones.....they were terrified that they were going to get into trouble hooking up a second phone without the phone company knowing about it. One of the funniest episodes of WKRP was the one where Johnny thought the cops were showing up because they had an unregistered phone. I guess younger folks can't conceive of a time when you were limited to the number of phones you could have in your house....and limited to the length of the cord
Interesting article about the work being done to develope an ATSC 3 converter box. Yes it does mention affordable.
www.tvtechnology.com
Pearl TV Issues Progress Report on Low-Cost 3.0 Converters in Advance of NAB Show New York
Group has secured lower pricing from key tech players to make less costly boxes available
www.tvtechnology.com
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It's dead, they just don't know it yet. They killed it by forcing DRM on it, and that TOTALLY botched implementing it.
There is absolutely NO compelling reason for anybody to switch to ATSC3.0. They only want it as a total and complete money grab.
TWiT Tech Podcast Network
Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bRMaZHVPGg
Direct YouTube Link - Club TWiT: Mikah's Crafting Corner
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bRMaZHVPGg
Direct YouTube Link - Club TWiT: Mikah's Crafting Corner
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
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4 views
TWiT Tech Podcast Network
Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHxdmb3SE2E
Direct YouTube Link - Security vs. Features: The Windows Update Problem
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHxdmb3SE2E
Direct YouTube Link - Security vs. Features: The Windows Update Problem
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
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Every time my Dish contract comes up I weigh the options of keeping Dish or switch to streaming. Right now I can watch/record the OTA channels vis my HDHomerun. I also can stream CBS and NBC via the Paramount+ and Peacock apps. What I would need to find is how to watch the Food Network, HGTV, Syfy, USA, Hallmark channels, Great American Family, Lifetime channels plus a few more with an app or two. My current Dish bill is $118, so I should be able to get a few apps for a lot less.
Any suggestions? I would want the best picture quality and audio quality I could get.
Any suggestions? I would want the best picture quality and audio quality I could get.
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132 views
USA and SyFy content is on Peacock, you can receive the rest of those channels via Philo, only $25 a month.
Philo - Stream Live and On-Demand TV
Why pay more for TV? Start your Philo free trial and enjoy live TV plus on-demand content starting at just $25/month. Stream hit shows, movies, and more.
www.philo.com
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I'm surprised Walmart hasn't banned this guy from all of their stores. He has been on their CASE the past few months.
View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/f3zr37ekgKM?feature=share
View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/f3zr37ekgKM?feature=share
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Cutting Edge
The TPN Map Excel Presents all DIRECTV Channels:
Understanding the TPN Map
Making Sense of the TPN Map Display Conventions
National (50-States or wide/NAT+PR beams)
Local (Local-Into-Local or narrow/Spot beams)
Local (Local-Into-Local or narrow/Spot beams)
Additional tabs provide:
OTA the (Over-The-Air) Database
VOD (Video On_Demand) Records
Offline Records
Engr Records
Net Decoder a graphic presentation of all satellites and transponders
VOD (Video On_Demand) Records
Offline Records
Engr Records
Net Decoder a graphic presentation of all satellites and transponders
Domestic Satellites
@99W...... D11, D14
@101W.... D16
@103W.... D12, D15
@110W.... D5
@119W.... D8
@99W...... D11, D14
@101W.... D16
@103W.... D12, D15
@110W.... D5
@119W.... D8
Understanding the TPN Map
Making Sense of the TPN Map Display Conventions
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I've been using APC UPS units to protect my computer and Home Theater equipment for many years, but now there are a number of companies producing "Glamping" power accessories that can provide hours of 120 VAC power for off-grid use at a camp site or a few hours of power when severe weather knock out the power. I had mentioned elsewhere that I picked up a Jackery HomePower 3000 to use instead of a gasoline generator to provide emergency power for our refrigerator. The 3.0 kWh of Lithium Iron Phosphate battery cells can supply power for over 24 hours and is "light" enough that I can move it into the kitchen to allow it to power the fridge. However, it's not an automatic operation, as I need to move it from its home in the closet to the kitchen, in addition to rolling the refrigerator out from its alcove so I can plug it in.
The Jackery wasn't my first LFP Power Bank; I had purchased an EcoFlow River 2 unit with 512 Wh of capacity. I had purchased this to use on our Home LAN to give it a longer run time than the three hours that I had with the APC UPS I had been using. This isn't an odd use case, EcoFlow advertises this capability on its website and a transfer time of 16 mS. I used this River 2 to supply power to a 16-port Cisco gigabit switch, the AT&T router, Printer Server, MoCA adapter, and surveillance camera NAS. All told, about 35 W of load. With the EcoFlow River 2, it reported approximately 12-13 hours of run time. So far, so good.
After it had been in use for a month or so, I was down in the basement and heard a whirling sound. Turns out the State of Charge was 24% and it appeared the River 2 was off-grid even though it was still plugged in. Well, turns out that the firmware had a big bug in it for people that were using it like I was. I communicated with EcoFlow and eventually they sent a newer firmware that fixed this problem. But before they fixed it, I decided that I had such a good experience with the Jackery, that I bought their Explorer 1000 (1,070 Wh capacity) which should run our home network for over a day. It worked great right out of the box, and even when it was charging, the cooling fan was practically silent.
After the River 2 was patched, I put it to work, replacing the APC UPS powering the bedroom TV with Dish 4K Joey and Apple TV. The LG OLED uses quite a lot more power than I expected, depending on the scene, it can have a 120 Watt power draw. With the River 2, that might limit power-out watching to 4-5 hours. Also, the River 2 still had the issue with its cooling fan, I find it disturbing the quiet bedroom environment.
EcoFlow had one of the Spring sales and have a new EcoFlow Delta 3 1000 Air which was on sale for $299. That's a 960 Wh capacity power bank with a 10 ms power switching, so this seemed like a perfect solution. Well, except for two things: 1) It has one grounded NEMA 5-15 receptacle; 2) even though EcoFlow claims "35 dB @ 1m" quietness, it was even louder that the River 2 was. Not optimal!
So, I ended up swapping the Jackery Explorer 1000 with the EcoFlow Delta 3 1000 Air since the power demands for the Home LAN are less, and the loud fan noise won't bother anyone. The bedroom TV setup says it should be good for approximately 7 hours:
I realize that at some point the amount of money spent on these individual long-term Power Backup solutions will be more expensive than if we just bought a whole-house power solution. Those are coming down in price, but we're still looking at $16,000 at a minimum for a LFP solution, and $10,000 or so for a home LP generator solution. (With the LP generator solution, we would need to also pay the Gas utility to increase the size of our gas line, so that tilts me towards a the battery solution.)
Finally, I tried an Amazon 12 VDC LFP battery that replaces the Lead Acid Gel Cell in a normal UPS with an equivalent set of LFP cells. The price was roughly the same as a 12 VDC battery from Batteries+, and it's been running for about a year now with no difficulty. But these APC UPS units won't run for long, and are really intended to allow the powered equipment to be shut down in an orderly manner.
So, am I weird to use these Camping power banks for Home emergency power solutions? I haven't even touched the idea of Solar panels to supplement the run time in an Outage.
After it had been in use for a month or so, I was down in the basement and heard a whirling sound. Turns out the State of Charge was 24% and it appeared the River 2 was off-grid even though it was still plugged in. Well, turns out that the firmware had a big bug in it for people that were using it like I was. I communicated with EcoFlow and eventually they sent a newer firmware that fixed this problem. But before they fixed it, I decided that I had such a good experience with the Jackery, that I bought their Explorer 1000 (1,070 Wh capacity) which should run our home network for over a day. It worked great right out of the box, and even when it was charging, the cooling fan was practically silent.
After the River 2 was patched, I put it to work, replacing the APC UPS powering the bedroom TV with Dish 4K Joey and Apple TV. The LG OLED uses quite a lot more power than I expected, depending on the scene, it can have a 120 Watt power draw. With the River 2, that might limit power-out watching to 4-5 hours. Also, the River 2 still had the issue with its cooling fan, I find it disturbing the quiet bedroom environment.
EcoFlow had one of the Spring sales and have a new EcoFlow Delta 3 1000 Air which was on sale for $299. That's a 960 Wh capacity power bank with a 10 ms power switching, so this seemed like a perfect solution. Well, except for two things: 1) It has one grounded NEMA 5-15 receptacle; 2) even though EcoFlow claims "35 dB @ 1m" quietness, it was even louder that the River 2 was. Not optimal!
So, I ended up swapping the Jackery Explorer 1000 with the EcoFlow Delta 3 1000 Air since the power demands for the Home LAN are less, and the loud fan noise won't bother anyone. The bedroom TV setup says it should be good for approximately 7 hours:
I realize that at some point the amount of money spent on these individual long-term Power Backup solutions will be more expensive than if we just bought a whole-house power solution. Those are coming down in price, but we're still looking at $16,000 at a minimum for a LFP solution, and $10,000 or so for a home LP generator solution. (With the LP generator solution, we would need to also pay the Gas utility to increase the size of our gas line, so that tilts me towards a the battery solution.)
Finally, I tried an Amazon 12 VDC LFP battery that replaces the Lead Acid Gel Cell in a normal UPS with an equivalent set of LFP cells. The price was roughly the same as a 12 VDC battery from Batteries+, and it's been running for about a year now with no difficulty. But these APC UPS units won't run for long, and are really intended to allow the powered equipment to be shut down in an orderly manner.
So, am I weird to use these Camping power banks for Home emergency power solutions? I haven't even touched the idea of Solar panels to supplement the run time in an Outage.
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I would not trust a UPS designed for lead acid to properly charge, discharge and maintain a LFP battery.
Sounds like it'd be cheaper to move where the power is more dependable. Like near me. Quite a few houses in this neighborhood go for less than $1M.
Are you weird? If you seriously consider moving for this - YES!
Sounds like it'd be cheaper to move where the power is more dependable. Like near me. Quite a few houses in this neighborhood go for less than $1M.
Are you weird? If you seriously consider moving for this - YES!