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In this In this interesting article we’re going to take a look at this portable power station from Yoshino. What makes this power station unique are the batteries inside. They are solid state batteries, which immediately gives it a few advantages over other lithium based power stations. Solid-state batteries are less likely to catch fire and don’t have all the problems that other lithium chemistries are prone to, so they’re safer to use. Secondly, they have a higher energy density, which means you can pack more power into less space. For example, this doesn’t look like a very big power station; it looks like a medium-sized power station, maybe 2,000 watts or something like that. But this B4000 model is actually rated at 4,000 watts continuous, so I’m looking forward to testing it to see if it delivers what it promises. We’ll push it to the limit and see how far it goes.
First impressions
The first thing I noticed about this powerhouse is that it just looks good. It looks like a nice piece of equipment that you could put in your house or on your kitchen table. It doesn’t look like a generator that you’d probably keep in your garage or in the back of your car. It has a very stylish and attractive look and it’s very slim and streamlined. The main box here in the middle is plastic. It’s grey and has that two-tone grey look with some sort of subtle branding here on the side. The front and back have a recessed matte green, just a muted green look. I also notice this aluminium band that goes all the way around for support and is actually part of the handles; it’s the way you carry it. It’s a nice green colour too; it looks like it’s powder coated or something, but it’s really nice. They’ve done a great job of making this an attractive powerhouse.
Ease of Use and Connectivity
Another thing you’ll notice is that the front of the unit isn’t very complicated. You still have access to the ports you’re likely to use for your everyday electronics, such as your USB ports and other things. The display here is what you access and see when you control the device. All the other stuff, like the thicker, heavy-duty power cables and the big ports for charging and discharging large items, are on the back. So you don’t necessarily see them if you’ve hidden it in a hole. I think that’s a plus, but it really depends on how you’re going to use it.
We have a cooling grille here on the front and you can see that there are a couple of fans in there. If we look at the other side, there are a couple of fans on that side as well, but it looks like they’re reversed so they’re pulling air through. What I’ve noticed so far when I’ve used it is that it’s really quiet and only really kicks up the cooling when it’s under heavy load. There’s also wireless charging on the top, which is available when you turn the device on. If you have it on the display, you can place your phone on it and if it’s set to wireless charging, it will start charging. It’s a nice feature.
Weight and portability
The weight of this unit is 53 pounds, which is not incredibly light. But the way they’ve incorporated this handle all the way around gives you two handles, one at each end. Instead of having a handle on the top, as some do, which makes it harder to carry a heavier battery, you have this handle on either side. It makes it feel a lot lighter because you can just carry it with both hands, like an ice chest or a cooler. Ergonomically, I think they’ve done a good job with this, and on the inside of each of these handles there’s this nice thick rubber. It feels rubbery, but it gives you a good grip on this powerhouse when you’re moving it around.
Yoshino B4000 Power Station controls, inputs and outputs
To turn the Power Station on, simply press and hold the power button for three seconds. When it comes on, the display shows the number of hours remaining, based on the amount of energy you’re drawing from the power station at any given time. This number will change quite a lot. Next to it is our charge level, which is the percentage of capacity left in the battery. The battery capacity here is about 2.6 kWh. I think they’re also going to be offering add-on expansion batteries, so you’re not really stuck with what you get with this powerhouse. It’s something that can be expanded to support different situations.
The screen times out quite quickly, about 30 seconds. To turn it back on, just press any button and the screen will come back on if you need to see something. As you’ll see when we start plugging different things into the power station on the back for inputs and outputs, the wattage and other ratings will show up here on the display. At the moment it’s blank because there’s nothing plugged in. There’s really minimal stuff on the front, so it’s not cluttered with a bunch of stuff. We’ve got a couple of USB ports here, including USB 2 and 1.2A, and a couple of USB-C ports. There’s a standard USB-C on the right and a 100W USB-C on the left for charging things like a laptop. There are two DC 12V outputs on the right. One thing you’ll probably notice is the lack of a cigarette lighter style 12V socket. They didn’t include it, but they did include a cable with a 12V socket that you can plug into the DC output.
To turn these sections on, you simply press the button above this small section and it activates the output. The same goes for the USB section. There’s also a light on the front that you can turn on, and it turns on a nice soft white light. It’s quite bright in the dark and would be useful if you had this mounted somewhere and needed some extra light. There’s also a Wi-Fi button for connecting the Power Station to Wi-Fi and controlling it remotely using the Yoshino mobile app.
AC and DC inputs and outputs
At the rear are our AC outputs and charging inputs. At the bottom are two 20-amp, standard domestic 120-volt sockets. These are activated by pressing the AC button. The power switch for these two is located in a small access box, separate from the 30-amp RV socket, which can be used to power a trailer or smaller RV. Above the 20 amp sockets is our AC charge input, where you can plug the cable into any wall socket to charge. This powerhouse charges really fast when using the AC input, up to 80% in 70 minutes.
Next to the AC charge input is a DC charge input with an XT60 connector that has a maximum current of 10 amps. The Power Station includes cables for this XT60 connection, including one for solar panels and another for car charging. The solar panel input can handle up to 60 volts, which we will test to verify.
The final input on the back is a Smart Link connector for adding expansion batteries. These additional batteries can increase the capacity of the system and this port connects them to the main power plant.
Battery management and safety
Inside the Power Plant is a Battery Management System (BMS) developed by Yoshino. This BMS optimises the fast charge capability and regulates the current output and input. The power supply is rated at 4,000 watts continuous. It is also UL listed with a UL 2743 certification, which ensures it is safe to use.
Mobile application and firmware upgrade
I installed the mobile app, connected it to the power station and upgraded the firmware to ensure I had the latest software before starting my tests.
Testing common use scenarios
Before getting into the extreme testing, I did some basic functional testing for common applications. When I first received the power station, it was about 50% discharged. I connected 600W solar panels and charged the generator to 100%. The solar charging worked fine. I then tested the pure sine wave inverter and made sure it was delivering a pure sine wave to the 120V AC single phase output.
Next I tested various tools, starting with a cut-off saw, a grinder and a table saw, all of which the generator handled without any problems. Then I set up my welding machine, which can be run on either 120V or 240V AC, and the generator worked fine on 120V. I also tested it with my motorhome, where it ran all the appliances at the same time, including an induction hob and a coffee pot. I also plugged in my e-bike to charge it while feeding solar power into the Power Station and it worked perfectly.
Testing the UPS mode / AC pass-through
The generator has an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) mode, which is useful for emergency power supply. When the mains is connected to the generator, it will continue to use the mains to supply power to the connected loads. If the mains supply is lost, it automatically switches to inverter and battery power and continues to supply power to the connected devices. The switch takes about 20 milliseconds. I tested this with a lamp and a heater and observed a brief flicker during the switchover, indicating that the UPS mode is working as expected.
Testing the solar charge limits
I tested how the power station handles overvoltage and overcurrent situations when charging from solar power. Using a variable power supply, I simulated solar cell input and increased the voltage and current to see how the power supply responded. When the voltage exceeded 60 volts, the power supply stopped charging to protect itself. Similarly, it stopped charging when the current exceeded 10 amps. The protections worked well.
Discharge and inverter testing
I carried out extensive tests on the inverter, checking its capacity of 4,000 watts continuous and 6,000 watts surge. I started with low loads and gradually increased to 1,000, 2,000 and then 4,000 watts continuous and the power plant handled it without any problems. I also tested surge loads with motors and found that the inverter maintained power without shutting down, confirming its 6,000 watt surge rating. I pushed the inverter to 7,000 watts and the power plant shut down, protecting itself from damage. The protection circuits were tested and the generator passed.
Temperature test
I tested the generator under load to see how it handled temperature. With high loads of up to 4,000 watts continuously, I monitored the temperatures of the battery cells, inverter and internal components. The cooling fans were activated and the power plant maintained safe operating temperatures without any problems.
In conclusion, the Yoshino B4000 is a solid choice for a portable power plant, especially with its solid-state battery technology that provides safety and higher energy density. The power station has many input and output options and the continuous output of 4,000 watts is impressive. It performed well in a range of tests including solar charging, inverter output and UPS mode. The battery management system and safety features worked as expected and the design and portability of the power station is remarkable. I would recommend the Yoshino B4000 to anyone who needs a reliable and powerful portable power solution.
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