Using battery power to go off the City's power grid

@khbaur330162 Good to see another person take the plunge. I too wished I had seen this thread before I bought the Ecoflow and Bluetti. With the Ecoflow I was able to return and get a full refund but with the Bluetti I was not and I lost a good chunk of change selling it to a family member.

Make sure to get the Giandel asvertised as Pure Sine Wave and FCC Approved. The 5000W is indeed overkill. If I had to do it again, I would’ve gone with two 1500w or 2000w inverters and two conditioners. I would’ve put my digital components on one set of inverter/conditioner and my analog components on the other set. Perhaps next year I incorporate another inverter into the system to separate my digital and analog components.

I do highly recommend a conditioner to go with the Giandel. I compared plugging my DAC and amp into the inverter directly versus plugging into the Puritan PSM 136 conditioner fed by the inverter and I preferred the conditioner. It wasn’t close. Puritan PSM conditioners give a lot if bang for the buck and it’s what I would recommend if a conditioner of this caliber is desired.

Well, I finally wired up the Giandel inverter and AmpereTime battery, have yet to permanently install the charger on the M8 battery terminals, however I have charged the unit back up a couple times, it also doesn't seem to trip the overvoltage on the battery so the unit can be charged and used at the same time it would seem. I have not tried using the inverter when the battery is near max charge and also charging, so perhaps the voltage will trip the overvoltage at some point, but at this point in time, I doubt it.

 

Initial impressions:

1. Smooooooth.

2. (Extension of #1) Cuts down on sibilance, reduced glare/noise, more even tonal response (smidge darker) to my ears (less need for upper-mid EQ)

3. Sounds emanate from pure silence/blackness

4. Easier to pick apart track layers.

5. Bass remains clean yet also gains a bit of oomph in the breath region (analogue bass boost seems more effective) yet impact region seems perhaps slightly lower in respect to breath region compared to wall power with specific songs/sounds, so slight tradeoff yet on average there's overall more impact with Giandel imho.

6. Sounds more refined than Bluetti and EcoFlow somehow.

7. Low noise. I have to turn my amp up a little higher than Bluetti to hear any noise and noise heard is less comprehensive (simpler digital noise than Bluetti and lower in frequency).

8. Echoes travel further and are more apparent than wall.

9. Outer edges of audio image seem extended, less “tunnel vision effect”

10. Very organic texturing, not hyper-realistic like Bluetti, attack not overly etched out.

11. Treble “rings true”. Sounds very natural with impeccable tonal character and extension.

12. Sounds sweeter.

13. Easier to differentiate bass pitch.

14. Easier to differentiate background singers from one another.

 

While I do believe the Giandel is perhaps "more refined" than Bluetti EB120, I feel Bluetti may have been even MORE detailed at the expense of a little vibrancy/boldness of sound and bass impact. I would NOT say Giandel is in a completely different league than Bluetti, personally, I believe it's down to taste (and also DIY skills/your comfort level for DIY). Wiring one of these up seems super straight forward, but I would still like a professional to run through my DIY battery generator and point out any safety hazards and what not that they see. Hoping the electrician can come by sometime soon for me. 

 

I like the Giandel, but there are things I miss about the Bluetti. Perhaps with closer A/B comparisons I'd realize I'm romanticizing the Bluetti a little bit as it was the first time I was able to hook up my DAC to battery power, but I returned Bluetti so no A/B's are possible. The Giandel is very good, it cuts deeper into the tracks than wall power, is more bold/vibrant than the wall or Bluetti, has very nice attack (better than wall and not overly done as Bluetti could be sometimes), smooth upper-mids and nice bass slam (better than wall or Bluetti). It overall does "more better" than Bluetti, imo, but something about the overly analytical presentation of the Bluetti is/was alluring to me.

 

For the cost of an EB120 or even less you can build your own battery generator with much higher Wattage capabilities, same Wh capacity too, yet you might lose out on USB, Solar Charging, and 12V appliance functionalities. Also should be noted the EB120 is very portable in a nice heavy duty case with handle, you could take it to the cabin, or tailgating very easily and it would pair fairly nicely with most equipment you'd wanna run (I believe it had 600W inverter, so as long as it's not a refrigerator, microwave, or high Wattage space heater/hotplate I think you'll be okay). Then again, my DIY battery generator uses LiFePo4 automotive pouch cells as opposed to Bluetti's Lithium Ion 18650 cells, so # of full charge cycles is a bit different and DIY might get better longevity down the road. 

 

I believe the older Bluetti's such as EB120/EB150/EB240 have the potential to sound better than their newer generation generators given what I've read in this thread. You can get 240Ah with the EB240, 100% prebuilt with a charger for $999 direct from MaxOak on eBay with a warranty. Not a bad deal, and MaxOak seems like they have pretty decent customer service. But keep in mind you will have to build your own grounding adapter(s) to ground any three prong equipment you have... 

I read this whole thread, but I don't remember any talk about people swapping out fuses in their Giandel inverters for audiophile grade fuses. Anyone think this could have a positive benefit? 

@khbaur330162 How do you like it after some extended time?

For a short while I ran my power cables off the inverter/battery directly and I used very expensive noise reducing Shunyata power cables on the DAC and amp. The music sounded great but it wasn't as good as I knew it could be.  I had heard better from my system. I sold the very expensive Shunyata power cables and I went back to using a power conditioner with the inverter/battery.

Are you using a conditioner and aftermarket power cables?  I find them very beneficial even with an inverter/battery system. 

@sirnui It’s still good. I haven’t actually done much a/b comparisons, tbh, just letting the music flow lately, and honestly I’ve been using different headphones than what I’m used to for past week or so, so hard to tell. I did do a blind a/b test with my father, I let him hear A) wall power, then B) battery power, then a random power source A or B and he tried to discern which power source it was. Results were inconclusive, but he swore that wall power sounded more digital and battery power sounded more analogue, that was the basis of most of his statements.

One day recently my battery wasn’t used much so I didn’t charge it overnight, I left my DAC idling at about 20W all night and the next day I used the rig a bit. Well the battery died, I had to use wall power for the first time in a while and it sounded pretty good, but was a bit grungy sounding to me, like the signal was muddled with noise, less realistic. As soon as I got back to battery power it seemed more clear and bold with better attack.

The Giandel is good, it takes my rig to that next level where I’ve yet to feel the upgradeitis condition. Just sounds good.

I do NOT have any type of power conditioner after the inverter. I do have some aftermarket power cables, but they are DIY. Basically the build is AudioQuest Mistral bulk wire with Rhodium plated Viborg connectors for male and female. They made a small difference in the sound for me, more for ease of mind than anything else.