Professionals
Moveable
Lengthy Battery Life
A number of Energy Shops
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The Cobra Energy Station is a useful device to your storage, workshop, or workplace when you should cost or energy up your gadgets. It has the additional benefit of being moveable, so you’ll be able to stow it in your car for tenting journeys, tailgate events, or weekends on the lake. Likewise, the Energy Station could be handy should you stay in an space vulnerable to shedding energy on account of a thunderstorm or excessive winds.
We just lately examined the Cobra Energy Station on a enterprise journey driving from Detroit to Minneapolis, utilizing it to energy a laptop computer on the best way. We additionally used the Energy Station to cost a smartphone, handheld vacuum, and run a 12V moveable tire inflator.
Beneath we hit the excessive factors of the Cobra Energy Station and summarize our expertise with it. On the time of this writing, it’s obtainable via Cobra’s official web site for $280 and on Amazon for a similar worth.
Cobra Energy Station In-Depth: What It Presents
The Cobra Energy Station accommodates a 200W battery pack consisting of an array of LiFePO4 cells with excessive vitality density. The unit is designed with a “Pure Sine Wave” output, equivalent to the AC energy inside your own home. So long as you don’t exceed the 200W steady energy restrict, the AC retailers, USB ports, and 12V socket can run concurrently to cost and energy your gadgets.
Beneath is a quick take a look at the retailers on the entrance of the unit. Every set of retailers is split into its personal part, with its personal on/off button, which is an intuitive design. In different phrases, the Corba Energy Station isn’t “all the time on” every time you employ it. As an alternative, solely the person charging port getting used must be turned on. For instance, in case you are charging your cellphone through the USB-A port, you’ll be able to swap on simply that part of retailers and go away the others off. When powering a tool for an prolonged time frame, the inner fan will kick on to assist maintain the unit cool.
Two GFCI AC Shops
The 110V AC retailers are what we most often use to energy and cost laptops, tablets, and telephones when touring. Whereas working onsite at a convention or occasion, we now have used the AC retailers to run blenders for smoothies for a fast lunch and a few of our digicam and lighting gear. Throughout our yearly summer time outing to Warren Dunes State Park, we used the AC retailers to energy a self-inflating air mattress.
When the Cobra Energy Station is absolutely charged, the AC retailers will run a 90W TV for about 2.5 hours, cost a 100W drone to full capability twice, and cost the common laptop computer 5 instances.
12V DC Port
We have now used this outlet to energy a corded 12V tire inflator. We like this feature as a result of, with the Cobra Energy Station, we don’t have to plug the inflator’s 12V wire into the port inside our car and drape it out the window. We additionally don’t want to fret concerning the inflator’s wire being unable to succeed in the rear tires, which may very well be a difficulty should you drive a bigger and longer SUV. By proxy, the Cobra Energy Station makes any corded 12V gadgets, like a tire inflator, extra versatile and moveable.
When the unit is absolutely charged, the 12V port will run a small 60W fridge for about 4 hours, a 20W fan for about 12 hours, and a 50W CPAP machine for about 5 hours.
USB-A & USB-C Shops
The “quick charging financial institution” consists of two USB-A retailers and one USB-C outlet. These retailers are naturally appropriate for smartphones and different electronics but additionally for smaller energy instruments, like a handheld cordless screwdriver or drill. We have now additionally used the USB-A retailers to cost our small Jawbone Bluetooth speaker.
When the Cobra Energy Station has a full inside battery, it could cost the common smartphone to 100% 24 instances, a pill eight instances, and a pair of Bluetooth headphones almost 50 instances.
Show Display & Flashlight
The LCD show display is fundamental and simple, exhibiting the output worth of what you’re charging, the kind of outlet getting used, and the battery lifetime of the Energy Station itself.
Two built-in LED flashlights make the Energy Station useable at evening. The flashlight on the left aspect of the unit acts as a standard flashlight, full with a strobe and SOS setting. The “space mild” is simply above the LCD display and illuminates the fast space across the unit. Working with the realm mild additionally helps you to see the cost ports extra simply when it’s darkish.
Charging The Cobra Energy Station
There are just a few alternative ways to cost the Energy Station utilizing the “enter” port on the entrance of the unit. The best (and quickest) is through an AC wall outlet at house with the included charging cable, though you should use the included 12V adaptor to cost the unit when you drive. When you’ve got a generator or a appropriate photo voltaic panel, you should use both to recharge the Cobra Energy Station. The Energy Station is absolutely charged when the enter mild turns stable inexperienced.
In our expertise, the Cobra Energy Station does properly underneath heavy utilization and may present juice for any variety of events. Nevertheless, should you anticipate to make use of it for prolonged durations for any motive, the place the inner battery might drop to twenty % or under, permit time to recharge the unit. If the Cobra Energy Station has a low inside battery, it might take as much as 4.5 hours to recharge absolutely through an AC wall outlet. We advocate charging the unit in a single day if attainable so it’s prepared for the subsequent day.
Cobra Energy Station In Motion
We used our Cobra Energy Station to run a laptop computer whereas driving from Detroit to Minneapolis on a enterprise journey (roughly 700 miles over the course of about 12 hours). One in every of our workers members labored for almost half the journey with the laptop computer plugged into the Energy Station, which was charged to 100% earlier than we left. After about six hours of amassed utilization all through the day on the highway, the Cobra Energy Station nonetheless had an inside battery lifetime of 63 %, higher than any of us anticipated. As soon as we arrived at our vacation spot, we recharged it through an AC wall outlet, which took about three hours.
In our view, the Cobra Energy Station is well moveable and maneuverable, but it surely does weigh about 8 lbs. and does have some heft to it. On our highway journey, we moved it across the car, from the backseat to the ground, and had no points. In case you are contemplating buying the Cobra Energy Station, this shouldn’t be a difficulty, however simply remember to make room for it when packing to your subsequent outing. It’s moveable, which is one in all its finest options, but it surely’s not teeny tiny both.
Is The Cobra Energy Station Value The Cash?
The Cobra Energy Station is a kind of issues that you’d moderately have and never want than want and never have. Issues just like the Cobra Energy Station have a approach of coming in useful at a time you least anticipate. For instance, we now have since added our Cobra Energy Station to our winter emergency equipment, as snowstorms in Michigan could be intense. Other than the protection advantages are the comfort facets of the Cobra Energy Station, as it may be used for nearly something and every thing, each indoors and outside, and for enterprise or pleasure.
The 2 potential drawbacks we see, relying on the way you would possibly use the unit, are its weight and recharging time for the inner battery. Nevertheless, neither of these potential drawbacks has impacted our general expertise with the unit. On the time of this writing, the Energy Station is out there via Cobra’s official web site for $280 and on Amazon for a similar worth.
Carl Anthony is the Managing Editor of Automoblog and the host of AutoVision Information Radio and AutoSens Insights. As a revered automotive trade thought chief, Carl has appeared on quite a few podcasts and radio reveals, together with Wrench Nation, Automobiles Yeah, The Automobile Physician, and Brains Byte Again, along with showing as an everyday contributor on MotorMouth Radio on WHPC 90.3 FM. His work can be seen and heard 24/7 on the Automoblog YouTube channel.
Images: Alex Hartman.
