Zendure Superbase Pro 1500 Warning | Issues I've Been Having and Still Having
I backed the #zendure Base Pro 1500 and have been using it for several months. Unfortunately the firmware is still very unstable, and because of that I cannot recommend this battery for anything but casual use with access to the grid for now.
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Update: I've been asked to ship it in for them to look at. I've just been busy and I don't have the original box anymore. Will update after to see what Zendure says. Edit: Now dropped off with Fedex on its way to SoCal, 3/6/2023. I have received the unit back, April 17th, 2023. I would have got it back sooner but I was traveling, so it was delayed a few days. So far in testing, things are working. (Except for the apple Zendure app connection, but once through Android it works).
Thanks, Mike. I'm looking forward to hearing how this is resolved.
Please keep us updated Mike. Looking forward to seeing how this all gets resolved.
I hope the best for your Mike. You have more patience than I. I am returning mine for a refund, I already got my EcoFlow Delta 2 with extra battery to replace the SBP1500. It works great and was worth the money.
@@technologyjunkie01 thank you Jon. I was a backer on Indiegogo so it feels like a sunk cost. I’m glad you found a good battery to use (I would have went with EcoFlow as well as they feel way ahead of the competition at this point).
Was wondering if they fixed your complaints? I was looking at this but found your video so kind of turned me away from it frankly..
Thank you so much for that very important information!!!!
Hi Mike! Thanks for the great video! I experienced the same thing as you with the charging issues! Take care and God bless!
Good to know, been waiting for some real consumer reviews on Zendure generators, thanks for something real and not just promotions.
You're welcome. :)
Thanks for this honest review, I have a EcoFlow but was about to buy the SBP 2000 as a primary battery. Most of the reviews I have seen say that SBP 2000 is the best around but I will hold off buying it until they have worked the bugs out.
Thanks for the honest review. I was considering this unit. Most of your issues seem to be with the app and interface. That is precisely why I'm trying to avoid anything that is at all associated with my phone. It's an option you like but to me it's just something more that can malfunction in an emergency situation. Too many bells and whistles. Sometimes less is more. I have a Renogy solar system and thanks to your review I think I will stick with the Renogy 1000 portable power station. Nice review.
Nice review! Thanks for pointing issues you are facing. The unit still needs tweaking as any product. Same thing happens to the some of the ecoflow products. They also have some issues. No product is perfectly made
No, I get that. Let's just say I'm dissapointed, and continue to be.
Thank you Mike! I seem to remember being told NOT to buy the first iteration of a product, when I was a young kid……but that was some 50+ years ago…….so probably not applicable today🙄😎
Still good advice today. ;)
Hey Mike. Thanks a lot for this video. Saving-money video :).
I hope ZENDURE fixed their issues because I rock with an iPhone 15 and I've been for a few days now been looking at their ZENDURE Superbase V4600, which is a 4638 Wh 130 lb self mobility unit, that HomeDepot has it for under $3,000. I', also weighing in the EcoFlow Delta Pro, and the ANKER Solix F 3800.
I concur with this review, I am an user for the past 10months . In my use case , I encountered multiple issues such as UPS, Charge Control , Unstable WiFi and few more which are not so prudent for my usage. The UPS is big failure in my opinion. I use this for my refrigerator as load shifting, Unfortunately I am unable to trust the switchover capability, It randomly fails to switchover & I have to manually Turn ON the A/C switch , The product doesn't have load shifting option, I simulate power ON/Off using WiFi Switch. Just 3 days ago my Unit failed and NOW it is saying 0% battery , i reached out to support and waiting for their response, Hope i can hear from them. In this USE case this product is not reliable unsure about other use-cases ?
I see they’ve got a sale going on, I wonder if they fixed these issues or I should stay away totally?
Haven't been able to charge my Zendure SuperBase Pro 2000 Power Station via AC wall outlet for over a month. Back and forth with Zendure support has resulted in apologies and no resolution. Wished I had not purchased this. Support people seem clueless.
Have you found a solution already? Or how did the last 7 months go? Curious since i wanna buy this product. Thanks in advance🤞🏼
I recieved my SuperBase Pro 1500 a little over a week ago and I have a lot of problems. In fact, I would say that the SBP1500 is not ready to be sold as a stable unit. Here is a short list of issues: USB C PD port 1 has protocol compatibility issue with Apple MacBook Pro's and does not work. There is a battery cooling issue. Battery temperature's are directly related to the charging speed. If you set it to 1800W and your battery is over 92 degrees, you already have slower charging wattage. Once over 100 degrees, the wattage in my case drops below 150W. If your batteries are cool, they will charge with 1700+ watts until the batteries get hot from charging, then they throttle WAY down as the batteries get too hot from charging. If you put a 1C load on the unit, the batteries get way too hot. It takes well over an hour, better two to get the batteries cooled down to get higher charging wattage. But then charging at higher wattage gets the batteries too hot again and they lower the charging wattage again. Vicious cycle of slow charging. There is a power leak when plugged into AC. If you charge the unit, after 100% charge the unit continues to draw 20+ watts indefinitely. I tested this for over 24 hours logging the draw. It never dropped below 20W. BIG waste of energy. The SBP1500 display never shows the correct draw. My watt meter shows and logged 20+ watts, while the SBP1500 display shows a draw of 15W to 100W bouncing all the time. So much for the ZenForest ratings!!! My unit also arrived with serious scratches on the bottom, and the wheels had obvious use. I am to assume that my unit was more than likely a refurb. There are more issues, but long story short, it is going back for a loss of 2.6%. I am more than happy with that as this thing is not ready for sale.
I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I wish more people were vocal about the issues people face. Another brand I'd stay away from for now is... Bluetti... twitter.com/mikemu/status/1636165210313732096?s=20
@@MikeMu I recieved a return label and it is going back, however, I will take a 2.6% loss due to the credit card use. Glad it is over, and Mike, I hope the best and that you finally get what Zendure promised you, and all of us.
Wow! Sorry about your experience with this product. Has the company offered an exchange or return? I realize you'd rather have it working properly, but I almost purchased one based on your original upload, but decided to wait. I'm in no hurry anyway, but I'm sure glad I did. Saw this review and you priar updates. I'm sorry. Anyway thank you! I'll keep checking back. Good luck!
Hey Paul, I'm still emailing technical support. It's a back and forth. They say I have the latest firmware. I still have these issues. Will see what this last round of replys say.
@@MikeMu Okay Mike, thanks for getting back to me. I went another product that I'm very happy with. I'll still follow you to see how things go. You had faith in them. I would have like to have seen them treat you better! A least offer a refund. I wish you the best.
@@stronggeek Hi Paul, thank. . What did you go with?
@@MikeMu Hello Mike! I went with the EcoFlow Delta 2 and a 220W Portable Solar panel deal for 1250.00 directly from EcoFlow. I was waiting to see how your situation would go, but this deal was too good to pass up! So far I'm very happy with the product and the app.
My experience is that this company does not offer exchanges or returns. They don’t seem to support their products outside the main, larger markets they are involved in. If I knew this I wouldn’t have touched this product with a barge pole.
Hi, what do you think about the new Kodiak X2 of Inergy?
Salute from Libya
I just ordered one today from Amazon for $599 CAD. To be used for camping off grid on weekends. Hope they fixed the main issues, cuz that's a crazy deal.
Wow. That’s a really good deal. I hope it’s not third party. Test it well before you rely on it.
It says it ships from zendure??? I will test it fully within the return window, to make sure it will do what I need.
I've had a similar experience. I have a unit that has both stopped charging and powering anything except off DC ports. It looks like it's frozen. Have tried everything including checking firmware and hard resetting. I hear no fans active on the device now and am convinced that it has to do these fans not switching on and for some reason disabling the unit. In any case, I'm curious to know if anyone has had this. There is zero documentation anywhere and Zendure support is terribly slow
Have had a couple of Power Stations (new out of the box) that the battery had to be used down close to zero and back to 100% for the BMS to accurately display and make available the ' P O W E R ' ! ! ! Have tried without success to load the wifi/bluetooth app into my Samsung tablet, and have set that aside for a couple of months now . . . . BUT I shall return to the Zendure with Zest at some point when other distractions no longer hold my attention . . . . . . thanks for your video, rh
PS - recommend ditching the plastic rain cover . . . . . it's meant to be kept dry . . . . so that plastic cover should only be on it if you are carrying it through a blowing hurricane from one dry location to another . . . . . . just saying . . . . .
I leave it on as it is raining, and I am transporting it more frequently now.
There is a not really well documented thing where you’re supposed to charge it to 100% till it trickle charges, then run it down to 0%, then plug it back in to 100% till it trickle charges to get this to start off on the right foot. But… as I stated, I’m still having trust issues with my unit.
@@MikeMu - Yup . . . . if it's raining & you need to carry it through a blowing storm I agree . . . ! But then one of those outlawed plastic grocery bags can do the same. (I look for less cumbersome alternatives sometimes)
@@MikeMu - I have a Bluetti AC 200 P which (when new) was going from 70% indicated charge down to 30% or even 0% when turned off and later back on. When recharging it from that low indicated level it would suddenly go from maybe 40% to 100% indicated charge. SO I contacted Bluetti asking, " What gives, Mr. Powerstation Expert ? ? ? " They replied that running it down near empty and charge back to full lets the BMS know it's capable use range. So, I tried that running it down to about 15% (had heard that discharging to 0% is not good for battery) and then recharging to 100% . . . . . AND it suddenly began to work properly ! ! Have several power - stations now & have found that most of them reacted in a similar manner . . . . . . ? ? Apparently computers have a learning curve ? ( ha - ha ) take care, rh
Im glad i saw this. Im going with an Ecoflow instead
That’s my preference as well.
Hi. I have the Superbase Pro 2000 version and have the same issue from today. Battery goes from 60% to 0% directly yesterday. I have charge full then today, down from 95% to 0% right away. I’m still waiting about Support. My firmware are : AC firmware : v2018 (2022-08-24) DC firmware : v19 (2022-11-07) I only use iOS app version. I.m quite disappointed and upset. I bought it $1982 in October 2022. Only 4 months and I can’t use it. Update: Reset SPB2000 (Power button + AC button + DC button all together during 5 sec) It seem to work. My SPB2000 is actually charging. Let see what going on if it charge to 100%. Update2 : issue is fixed. SPB2000 work again perfectly.
Same here. Zendure support seems clueless
I have the 2000 version and it has problems. Firmware is v3004 and v19. The single most important problem is that it won’t hold a charge! I don’t know if the IoT never fully turns off or what, but it will drain to zero in six months. All of the displays are wrong just as you showed. It will turn on and show 100% charge and then pump in 2000 kWh. The app never shows any output, but does seem to track input (Android). Since it won’t hold a charge I’m using it as a UPS in front of my heater (gas heater with electric fan), with a timer in front of it to remove AC power when our rates are high. This use case seems to work for me. I figure I might as well use this thing up since the number one purpose of holding a charge doesn’t work. Major bummer.
Batteries do tend to self drain, in general. The only way to ensure a full shutdown is to do a full reset of the unit, on the latest firmware, then use settings and choose 'shutdown". (Assuming you have everything 'working' properly, you can just do settings, shutdown in the future). You'll get a warning that pops up, just accept it. I have not found this unit to be reliable enough without some more testing that I figured... why bother? I'll just use my other batteries when I want reliable. Yes... it is a bummer.
@@MikeMu The full shutdown is in the app! How silly of me to think the power button would do it. Thanks!
@DrStephenCW I thought so too. But I don’t trust it. Probably something where you press down for several seconds. Better to use the app.
Android user here and I can say I have the same problems. Time left versus usage is way off. I use a consistent load and say it says it has 53 minutes left but it will not last that long. One time it said it had 25% left then a minute later it shut off. The app and display do not show the same charge. Yes, logging does not appear useful and I also did not get the full 12 months of IoT connectivity. $120 is ridiculous for its usefulness. $3 or $4 per month max. There has only been one update so far and that was to DC. For me it did fix inconsistent turning fan and/or light off but nothing else noticeable. As far as charging by solar when it reached 0% charge, it does charge and wake-up from my 2 BougeRV 180W in parallel and did wake up the device with as low as 10-20 watts. In retrospect I wish I went for the 2000wh battery instead. I also can’t tell how long this battery should last. It does run large electric appliances with no problem though from coffee pot to miter saw to a room heater. At the time, I couldn't pass up the deal of $1136 + tax during a Christmas sale on Amazon. Do you remember the wattage of your heater? Mine was using 800 watts so I was expecting almost a couple hours instead of a little over an hour or if I used around 1500watts then I would get an hour. I didn't do official tests so maybe I'm off on the time but yeah, kind of regretting not waiting. Really hope the calibration is worked out.
My heater was 1200 watts. I did get roughly an hour on it, so I know the battery is there and working. Just normal day to day use it is so unreliable that I cannot take it on the road or outdoors for fear it just becomes a big paperweight. Re-calibration did not help. All the issues I spoke about remain today, and I have verified with support that I have the absolute latest firmware. Maybe a completely new unit will fix it, but for now its email back and forth.
@@MikeMu That is disappointing to hear. Please update us to the resolution of this issue, for better or worse. I need to know if Zendure will be a company that stands behind their products or chooses to ignore the design flaws. I was considering the Superbase V at some time in the next 1-3 years but after purchasing this product, I may be looking at Ecoflow or Bluetti for a whole house solution.
@@MikeMu Interesting development since I got a different phone. I can no longer find the Zendure app in the Play store. It still shows for Apple. Hopefully, this is a good sign to fix some issues. /fingers crossed
Same reason why I stay away from new and unknown power stations as they have a lot of issues and problems just like this one.
Very wise Dale. I'm an early adopter and this is definitely a big con to that.
the cost savings offered by becoming a kickstart funder is VERY significant when you late see what full retail price ends up being. Their SBV4600 and SBV6400 are crazy expensive but if you bought them early on in the kickstarter they were actually a decent deal in terms of $$ per kwh. Units are just now shipping out so we will see how their latest power station does. Zendure has been....not very forthcoming during this products rollout and people are getting fed up that deliveries have been pushed back 3 months currently, likely going to be longer. (Keep in mind they put it for sale, retail, on their website in December I believe and they still haven't shipped but a few early kickstart funders)
It does look like that the Superbase Pro 1500 has a lot of issues. Aside from the unstable firmware.
Yes… but it’s just about all firmware and software based. Hardware wise it has proven to be as advertised. They will eventually get it all sorted out. Just not yet…
So without the 4G how would one do any firmware updates?
App connection via phone. I have only been able to do this via an Android device.
I need a registration code how do I get it... I just spent 1799.00 on one because of your review. Now I'm upset.
Hi Rebecca. I think you are referring to app registration? You should get it via email or text message. I'm upset as well. 1. Don't use UPS setting. 2. Bring a backup battery, don't rely on just this one. 3. Update the firmware when you can as they are still sorting out bugs. At least other than that, it works - just don't trust it if you really need to rely on it. Yes, I'm disapointed so far as well.
$1799??? I see $1599 for SBP 2000 and $1399 for SBP 1500 right now on Zendure's site. If I were to guess you got the Superbase Pro 2000 and from the reviews I've seen, it does NOT have the same problems as the 1500. Hobotech reviewed that model twice and there were not the issues we see in this video iirc.
@@savagefist1029 oh that would be interesting. (If it is just the 1500 having issues.).
@@savagefist1029 Oh yes there are. This unit is prone to "freezing". Can't charge it and no AC output. Zendure online support is slow and atrocious. On top of it, they refuse to replace the unit. I now own a very expensive brick.
@@carlosferraz1923 Ugh, great. Guess that is what I get for buying a first generation of a product. Sad to hear their support is non-responsive to the issues.
so ye the calibration doesnt work at all. shame that isnt done from the factory already. and the cooler is soooo loud even on 200w!
Has anybody heard of Yoshino Power Stations? They Use Solid State Batteries and they will be released soon!
Yes, I saw them at CES. Hmmm, maybe I'll dig out that video and post it.
@@MikeMu Yeah if you have something to show Ill be interested in watching
the lvl % is so wrong. it always drops from 19% to 0 in 1min and shuts off all my pc etc.
I am disappointed that it never disables fans in ups mode, even is fully charged
Same. I like that the fans are good, just wish there were quiet-er options or fans completely off options. For that I have to use a different battery pack with less power.
When is your phone at 0% you can't turn it on also..
You missed the part that others can be powered back on by plugging in solar. This, you can’t. That’s a problem.