$1,099 at Anker
Anker 757 PowerHouse
Finest transportable energy station for backup
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As digital gadgets turn out to be ever extra built-in into our day by day lives, the necessity to maintain these gadgets powered and on-line will increase. However we will not carry the ability grid with us wherever we go. Transportable energy stations are the proper answer to maintain us… effectively, portably powered. There are sufficient bells and whistles lately to justify including certainly one of these to your usually powered life as effectively.
In the event you’re trying to juice up your gadgets, your choices are now not restricted to cumbersome, easy energy banks with primary shops. Main enhancements have been made to transportable energy stations since we first began reviewing them right here at CNET. Because the {industry} has matured, it is introduced much more transportable energy station choices. Many of those embrace options like USB ports, photo voltaic panel inputs and wi-fi charging. You possibly can even daisy-chain some fashions for much more energy, or join them to your house’s electrical system, providing you with backup energy in an emergency or energy outage.
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Gasoline-powered turbines had been your predominant possibility for “off-grid” energy the place electrical energy is required, particularly in additional short-term conditions like tenting if you did not have an RV or one other energy provide on your campsite.
I put every energy station via its paces and thought of components comparable to battery life, energy output and enter charging choices in addition to output choices for juicing up my gear. (Energy stations that solely sport AC shops and forcing you to make use of adapters are now not viable.) Every is extra than simply an on-the-go cellphone battery charger or glamping must-have. These energy financial institution performers have wide-ranging makes use of from constructing and building to staying related with the workplace or household to gaining access to emergency lighting and energy wherever you roam or name residence.
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This was the hardest class to select. The Jackery Explorer 240 and Bluetti EB3A had been additionally high contenders, and so they each price lower than the Togo mannequin. Nifty options and an additional 40%-plus battery capability give the slightest edge to Togo.
There have been two predominant options that made the distinction for me. All three items have an AC plug, 12-volt socket and USB-A connections for gadgets. However Jackery does not provide a USB-C connection. Moreover, Togo was one of many few items total to supply wi-fi charging. (The Bluetti EB3A additionally has this.)
Togo additionally confirmed us the most important measured capability share in comparison with its said capability at 346 watt-hours at 98.95%. This unit is not significantly quick to cost, nonetheless, taking 4 hours, 17 minutes to totally cost from empty.
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The Bluetti 50S is available in because the second lowest “worth per watt-hour” metric I’ve examined so far. When trying on the characteristic checklist, that is sufficient to get you “greatest worth” on this product house.
As effectively, the 50S additionally captures our greatest midsize transportable energy station title. The midsize transportable energy station class is a crowded house and there are a number of practically equal alternate options to the 50S just like the Ecoflow River Max or the Oupes and BioLite fashions.
You are getting all of the input-output charging choices you possibly can ask for, together with what appears to be the brand new {industry} customary of compatibility with photo voltaic panels for charging. This one does take a bit longer to cost than a few of its siblings. Seven hours to full in comparison with just below 5 hours for the Bluetti AC200P which affords 4 instances the battery capability, or the equally sized Bluetti EB55 (537Wh in comparison with 500Wh from the 50S) which may obtain 0-100% cost in about three hours.
Bluetti does are likely to put wi-fi charging into most of their gadgets, and that is a private favourite characteristic of mine. The 50S has one, in addition to one other must-have characteristic for me — a USB-C port. I would like for it to have greater than the one port, however contemplating many items nonetheless are restricted to USB-A, I am going to take what I can get.
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The earlier title-holder (Bluetti AC200P) weighed in at simply over 60 kilos, and was not for the faint of coronary heart or weak of arm. The Anker PowerHouse 767 is even heaver (7.4 kilos extra!) with a serious distinction that makes that weight a bit extra bearable — actually. The 767 is constructed on wheels and even has a suitcase-style retractable towing deal with. You may nonetheless must carry it on or into autos our counter tops, however whenever you’re shifting from place to position, this makes the duty way more accessible. The 767 physique can be reportedly impact-resistant, shock-proof, anti-UV and flame retardant. Might be enjoyable to check — however I am going to take their phrase on it. For now.
It sports activities a LiFePO4 battery for over 3,000 cost cycles. Cost it with as much as 1,000 watts of solar energy. Tons of output choices (three USB-C ports!) and the one one lacking in my view is a wi-fi charging base. I suppose there are sufficient different choices to attach a wi-fi charging pad if you happen to actually needed.
One other typically missed facet of transportable energy stations is the output wattage and energy ranking. That is totally different from the continual energy ranking (in watts) for every unit. For instance, the 767 boasts a most 2,400-watt output energy ranking. Which means, if you happen to needed to attach a number of LED lights that had been every rated at 200-watt energy output, you possibly can count on to have the ability to run twelve of these concurrently. When LED lights are turned on, typically, they do not require any “further” energy to get going.
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The Powerhouse 757 is a stable, sturdy machine (our second heaviest one at practically 44 kilos). It is an excellent decide among the many over-1,000Wh decisions, and actually solely missed out on successful the massive energy station class resulting from some further bells and whistles different items in that class have. However there are a few notable options Anker’s put into this unit that give it the fuel to dominate this class.
For starters, the battery itself is the newer LiFePO4 make-up, in comparison with the extra widespread Li-ion batteries. This newer battery kind could be safer to make use of and might final 5 to 6 instances longer than the Li-ion ones. Which means in comparison with the present customary of a 500-cycle lifespan, LiFePO4-donned items might run 3,000 cycles or extra. This provides Anker the chance to supply a five-year guarantee in comparison with the two-year guarantee of many competing items.
Subsequent, lots of the current-gen energy stations are coming with a “UPS Mode” to supply backup energy to important items of apparatus throughout energy failures. You plug the ability station into your wall outlet and the gear in query into your energy station. With UPS mode enabled, the ability station will kick in and energy no matter is plugged into it from its inner battery. However earlier than you run out and change your present UPS items with certainly one of these, you need to know that it’s virtually the identical as a UPS. However not totally.
A devoted UPS might have a switch time (the period of time it takes for its battery to take over one the grid energy has failed) of wherever from 0 milliseconds to 12ms, and most of them attempt to keep at 8ms or quicker. Anker states a switch time of “lower than 20ms.” That is nice so far as transportable energy stations go. However as a devoted UPS that you may want defending a core piece of tech or essential medical gadget, you would possibly think about a unique answer. However by all means, your TVs, laptops, fridges and different gadgets shall be effectively sorted.
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By tenting, I do not imply “glamping.” I am not making an attempt to energy your PS5, beer fridge and jacuzzi. Since photo voltaic panels are extra widespread now, and most each transportable energy station affords an choice to cost with them, we do not have to be fairly as involved about total battery capability or our skill to get to grid energy to recharge.
Even when it does carry a hefty price ticket (although it is typically on sale for lower than its regular retail worth of $999), I really feel like this mannequin hits a candy spot of primary performance, capability and worth. Despite the fact that you’ve the choice of charging through photo voltaic panels, you possibly can in all probability survive a weekend journey with a full cost — clearly relying on what you are powering. And that helps whenever you’re in sub-prime situations for photo voltaic charging comparable to overcast or wet days.
You have got loads of output choices, plenty of AC ports and at just below 24 kilos, this unit is not too heavy to cart round or move-as-needed throughout your outing.
In the event you occur to be a solo flier, or in any other case have very minimal electrical wants whenever you camp, take a look at the Jackery Explorer 240. It affords all the essential wants, dependable building and in addition occurs to be the most cost effective energy station on our checklist.
It is also value mentioning that although the GoSun PowerBank 1100 did not end within the high of our testing, GoSun affords an entire suite of tenting and solar-friendly gear, together with a nifty folding photo voltaic desk that I am hoping so as to add to an upcoming photo voltaic panel greatest checklist.
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I just like the Jackery line of transportable energy stations. I might nonetheless prefer to see wi-fi charging in a Jackery battery, however in any other case, the Jackery Explorer 2000 Professional checks quite a lot of packing containers, not least of which is cost time.
We run all of our transportable energy station cost exams utilizing AC energy, and based mostly on these outcomes, this Jackery is blazing quick in relation to cost time. Jackery claims 2,160Wh for this unit, and our exams present that it may possibly go from utterly useless to 100% in 117 minutes. There are solely a handful of items we have examined total that may cost quicker than that, and most of these boast half the capability.
The nice factor is, if you happen to’re actually in a pinch, you possibly can connect your six Jackery SolarSaga 200 photo voltaic panels for 1,200 further photo voltaic charging watts and practically minimize that point in half (the 2000 Professional affords a max of 1,400 enter watts for photo voltaic charging — additionally the most important we have examined so far).
In the event you plan on draining your capability tremendous quick, and also you’d prefer to recharge ASAP through AC, photo voltaic or each, (even whilst you’re draining it) the Jackery Explorer 2000 Professional must be your first alternative.
Different transportable energy stations we have examined
Energizer PPS700 (626Wh): OK efficiency and options total, however one of many lowest examined capacities, making the usable capability nearer to 477Wh.
EcoFlow River Max (576Wh): Blazing quick charging and a low price per watt-hour make this an inexpensive decide, nonetheless this unit did take a look at lowest in measured vs anticipated capability, placing it at 425 usable watt-hours. The place’d these further 151 watt-hours go?
Speedwatt (298Wh): Simply type of OK. Capability is nice, however we examined two separate items and each appeared to have some disconnect between the precise efficiency of the unit and the knowledge displayed on the person display. At the moment listed as unavailable.
GoSun PowerBank 1100 (1,100Wh): I actually needed to love this unit extra, partially due to GoSun’s prolonged choices of solar-friendly gadgets, and so far as capability goes, this runs in the midst of the pack, however man is it sluggish to cost. It took practically 12 hours — over six instances so long as our largest energy station (Jackery Explorer 2000 Professional) that gives practically twice the capability. At $1,299, I would prefer to see a quicker charging possibility and possibly extra outputs or a minimum of wi-fi charging.
Bluetti EB55 (537Wh): We have preferred most each unit from Bluetti, and three of them took titles on this greatest checklist, however this unit simply obtained overshadowed by its siblings. Simply nearly as good or higher choices at higher costs maintain the EB55 out of the winner’s circle.
Fanttik Evo 300 (299Wh): It is a stable decide within the small energy station class. And this unit sports activities my favourite show — further massive and straightforward to learn. Common performances on our charging and capability exams.
BigBlue Cellpowa 500 (537.6Wh): It is a better-than-average performing unit at better-than-average pricing. Nothing excellent to talk of.
Jackery Explorer 240 (240Wh): We have been followers of all of the Jackery items we have ever examined previously, and that does not change right here. Simply lacking the very best small energy station title, this unit nonetheless boasts the second greatest capability ranking of all those we examined. Somewhat sluggish to cost, however an excellent worth.
Generark HomePower One (1,002Wh): This unit was the second slowest total to cost, however did effectively on its usable capability ranking at 91%. Its show is small, however affords all the usual enter and output options you’d need.
Oupes 600W (595Wh): Not a nasty little unit — not an excellent one, however positively not unhealthy. I like that it has the LiFePO4 battery. It carried out about common (possibly a hair beneath par) and I really feel prefer it might be cheaper. Additionally, how do you pronounce that identify? “Oops” is the present greatest guess.
Aim Zero Yeti 200X:: The Aim Zero merchandise are fairly solidly made, however we did get the bottom rating in our ‘usable capability’ exams from this unit — about 65% in comparison with the industry-accepted norm of 85%. There are higher merchandise within the small transportable energy station class.
Rockpals 300W: This unit additionally got here in beneath the road in usable capability. Given the {industry} customary of 85%, Rockpals’ 78% is a bit missing. When it comes to cost pace, this unit is without doubt one of the quicker small transportable energy stations. Respectable options — type of seems like a handheld radio.
BioLite BaseCharge 600 (622Wh): Here is a unit that is completely happy with a completely okay worth. 87% usable capability, Li-ion battery, common options, possibly slightly sluggish on the cost time. However hey — it does have wi-fi charging!
Jackery Explorer 1000 Professional (1,002Wh): The 1000 Professional falls into our massive transportable energy station (begins at 1,000Wh — this Jackery weighs in at 1,002Wh), similar as its large brother the 2000 Professional. I just like the 2000 for a number of causes greater than the 1000, so the 1000 by no means actually had a shot at taking the ‘massive’ class. However nonetheless, good efficiency, good options and fairly superb cost instances. Cannot go flawed.
Anker 555 PowerHouse (1024Wh): An increasing number of transportable energy stations are delivery with LiFePO4 batteries and I like that. The 555 is slower to cost than most of its rivals, however sports activities a 94% usable capability and a sexy worth level vs variety of watt-hours. All the higher to energy these six AC shops!
EcoFlow Delta 2 (1024Wh): The EcoFlow Delta 2 is similar to the Anker 555 PowerHouse throughout the board — options, pricing, and so on. The primary variations you possibly can see from our exams are the usable capability percentages: Anker with 94% versus EcoFlow with about 70% and charging charges — each being rated at 1,024Wh. The EcoFlow Delta 2 charged to full in solely 86 minutes, 275 minutes quicker than the Anker mannequin. One other cool level for EF with having the aptitude to wire in a secondary battery module, taking the capability from 1,024Wh to 2,048Wh. Count on to pay a further $800 for that battery enlargement.
Geneverse HomePower One Professional (1,210Wh): That is the grownup model of the Geneverse HomePower One. The characteristic specs are about the identical, however at $500 extra, you are solely getting about 200 further watt-hours. As effectively, the usual One mannequin is available in at 91% usable capability versus the Professional mannequin’s 73%. That offers you 912.6 usable watt-hours with the usual and solely 886.7Wh on the Professional. The Professional did nonetheless cost in virtually 1 / 4 the time it took the usual model.
BioLite BaseCharge 1500 (1,521Wh): Having examined each the 600 and 1500 fashions of the BioLite BaseCharge, I can let you know that this firm is pretty constant in relation to their product manufacturing. The BaseCharge is about 2.5 instances the capability of the 600. And that 2.5 modifier carries throughout the board pretty precisely from worth to capability, cost instances, every little thing. So, if you happen to just like the 600 however you would like you had two-and-a-half of them, save your self the trouble and simply purchase the 1500.
Renogy Phoenix 200 (189Wh): Slower to cost, however a whopping 96% usable battery capability paired with the bottom worth of any unit we have examined, makes this an excellent possibility for smaller use instances or typically for individuals keen on trying out transportable energy stations with out breaking the financial institution.
Zendure SuperBase Professional 2000 (2,096Wh): The primary unit we have examined with the Li-NMC battery composition. This unit additionally simply missed the very best massive transportable energy station title. It does have a weight-to-capacity ratio possible because of the NMC composition, and boasts our highest photo voltaic charging capability so far at 2,400 watts. It is telescoping deal with and wheels do make it simpler to handle, however the kind makes it slightly extra appropriate navigating paved walkways versus ‘off-road’ terrain.
Runhood Rallye 600 (648Wh): There are a few a lot of these items in the marketplace now, and I have been ready for his or her arrival. This Runhood unit is the primary modular type transportable energy station I have been capable of get my fingers on, and I like what it means for the {industry}. Efficiency-wise this factor was about common, however it might give you extra in flexibility and comfort than many different items. The batteries are swappable, so you possibly can decide up further ones in addition to stand alone AC and USB modules that may use these further batteries with out being plugged into the principle energy station unit. Might be a recreation changer for journeys the place each member of the household is off in a unique space draining some digital gadget. I stay up for including a “greatest modular energy station” class quickly.
Jackery Explorer 1500 Professional (1,512Wh): The most recent in Jackery’s flagship line of energy stations. In the event you’re already conversant in the Explorer Professional line, you will not discover many surprises right here. Some design enhancements, however total person expertise stays unchanged. That’s to say, it is a nice strong energy station that may ship as promised.
Transportable energy station FAQs
What number of years do transportable energy stations final?
What number of years a transportable energy station will final relies on three key components — how effectively the product is maintained, how typically it is used and the battery kind.
We have now researched and spoken with a number of producers and most items boast a 500-cycle lifespan. In some instances, such because the Anker 757, a unit might use LiFePO4 batteries in comparison with the extra widespread li-ion battery and provide as much as 3,000 cycles or past.
One cycle means utilizing the product from totally charged to zero cost (or a minimum of 80% in some instances). Due to this fact, if you happen to use your transportable energy station a number of instances every week, it’d solely final a 12 months or two. However if you happen to use it much less regularly, it might final for for much longer.
What are you able to run on a transportable energy station?
Transportable energy stations are typically designed to energy smaller digital gadgets and home equipment, from telephones and desk followers to heavy-duty work lights and CPAP machines. Take note of the estimated watt-hours every model gives in its specs to find out which mannequin makes essentially the most sense for what you’d prefer to energy.
If an organization says its transportable energy station has 200 watt-hours, it ought to have the ability energy a tool with a 1-watt output for about 200 hours. I am going into extra element on this within the “How we take a look at” part beneath, however think about the wattage of the gadget or gadgets you need to energy after which the variety of watt-hours your transportable energy station would want to have.
Can an influence station run a fridge?
Presumably, relying on the fridge and the transportable energy station.
For instance, this customary LG fridge has an estimated annual power consumption of 608 kilowatt-hours. That works out to 1.67 kilowatt-hours per day, or 1,670 watt-hours per day.
1,670 watt-hours per day works out to simply beneath 70 watt-hours per hour. When you’ve got a short-term energy outage and solely must energy your fridge, a 200-watt-hour energy station might maintain it working for practically three hours. You’d want an influence station with greater estimated watt-hours to run your fridge for longer. A mini fridge would final for much longer than a bigger mannequin.
At all times verify {the electrical} necessities on your particular fridge and transportable energy station earlier than making an attempt this, particularly your fridge’s peak and startup watts.
How lengthy are you able to run a transportable energy station?
You will get near the reply with some primary math. When you’ve got an influence station that’s rated at 1,000 watt-hours, and also you plug in a tool, for instance a TV, rated at 100 watts, then you possibly can divide that 1,000 by 100 and say that it’ll run for 10 hours.
Nevertheless, this is not normally the case. The {industry} “customary” is to say that you need to take 85% of the whole capability for that math. In that case, 850 watt-hours divided by 100 watts for the TV can be 8.5 hours.
The fact is that you need to count on someplace between 8.5 and 10 hours on this instance.
How is a transportable energy station totally different from a generator?
A transportable energy station is basically an enormous rechargeable battery that you just carry round. Deplete it and it is ineffective till you possibly can recharge.
A generator, by definition is a tool which truly will convert some kind of power to usable electrical energy in no matter circuitry you’ve it related to. Examples of this is able to be fuel turbines — generally used as energy sources for distant areas or as whole-home backups, electrical turbines — not quite common, however they convert some kind of mechanical motion to electrical energy and photo voltaic turbines which may use photo voltaic panels to energy gadgets or houses, typically utilizing a battery to briefly retailer the electrical energy. These batteries are sometimes transportable energy stations themselves.
How we take a look at
Each firm that sells transportable energy stations gives the anticipated variety of watt-hours its merchandise are presupposed to final. For the Jackery Explorer 240, that is 240 watt-hours; for the Ecoflow River Max, it is 576 watt-hours. Bluetti AC200P claims 2,000 watt-hours.
Which means if you happen to run a tool with a 1-watt output on the Jackery Explorer 240, it ought to final for about 240 hours. You’d get 576 hours from the Ecoflow mannequin and a whopping 2,000 hours utilizing the Bluetti generator. That might final you virtually three months! For reference, a USB-C iPhone charger attracts as much as 18 watts, a 3-quart Immediate Pot attracts 700 watts and a regular microwave attracts round 600 to 1,200 watts, relying on the mannequin.
At the moment, we take a look at two predominant efficiency metrics for the transportable energy stations: cost time and discharge capability. An influence station’s capability must be a no brainer. It’s best to be capable of take a look at a tool’s rated watt-hours and buy accordingly based mostly in your wants. And, typically, you are able to do that. I’ve discovered that you just usually will not see the whole capability ranking as usable energy, nonetheless.
There are many components that may have an effect on this, and most of them heart on how the producer chooses to construct their items’ internals to handle their charged capability. There’s some (normally negligible) quantity of energy that goes to gasoline the assorted indicator lights and readable led panels on the items. A number of the bigger items even have their very own working programs, so it is virtually like powering a further mini-pc on the within. Different items can have power-saving options the place they cut back outgoing bulk energy as they close to depleting their cost.
To run our capability exams, we join some variety of 10,000 lumen LED work lights rated at 110 watts to every unit (the variety of work lights is predicated on the general watt-hour ranking of the unit beneath take a look at or UUT). We report the outgoing voltage and wattage utilizing exterior measurement devices or the UUT’s personal measurements if obtainable. As soon as now we have this information, we will math our approach right into a dizzying array of details about the UUT’s efficiency. However the principle piece of data we take a look at right here is the noticed capability, based mostly on our measurements, in comparison with the UUT’s said capability.
Usable battery capability comparisons for all examined transportable energy stations.
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In each case, that share finally ends up at lower than 100%. (Most producers say you need to calculate anticipated utilization at 85% of said capability.) Two of our smaller items each clocked 98% capability — the Jackery Explorer 240 and the Togo 350. Typically talking, the midsize items did not fare effectively. The most important items did higher, with the Bluetti AC200P scoring highest at virtually 96%. Now, if you happen to blindly settle for each a unit’s said capability and our work gentle wattage ranking of 110 watts, the numbers look very totally different.
For instance, we are going to take the GoSun PowerBank 1100 (to make the mathematics simpler) and fasten 4 of the 110-watt lights. That load ranking is now 440 watts and the GoSun’s capability of 1,100 divided by 440 is 2.5. We might count on to see 2.5 hours of utilization. The precise run time for this unit was 2 hours, 50 minutes — 113% capability. Nice! Proper? Properly, we’re lacking some key components. With out going into a protracted(er) clarification of the right way to extra precisely measure energy, the truth that this unit has an output of 110 volts AC (in comparison with 120VAC) and the precise output wattage to the 4 lights is 352 watts, our actual anticipated run time is 3 hours, 8 minutes, which drops the capability ranking to 90%.
Right here is the calculated capability information for the examined items. One observe for these numbers — the Oupes information is perhaps barely off. The unit turned off the lights at 9%. It could enable me to begin the lights once more, however would flip them off once more after a while. I repeated this course of a minimum of 20 instances earlier than the unit would not energy the lights for greater than a few seconds at a time.
Charging efficiency could be practically as essential as realizing your precise capability stats. It helps to understand how lengthy your gadget will take to cost, particularly if you happen to’re crunched for time or want to have the ability to cost shortly for no matter cause. Will it take an hour? Two? Ten? Twelve (that is an precise quantity from our exams!)?
We report three information factors for charging efficiency. Every unit is plugged in for AC charging and we report how lengthy it takes to achieve 50%, 80% and 100% cost. Half-full might be the least quantity of energy you are going to need, particularly from the smaller items. 80% is the “magic quantity” for a lot of rechargeable batteries.
Maintaining it simple-ish, think about a swimming pool with room for 100 individuals, every particular person representing 1% of the whole house. Once you first begin charging, and that first particular person dives in, you do not actually have a lot to fret about. You are not going to run into anybody else, so dive, splash round, no matter you need. Now, as we add individuals, it will get a bit extra crowded, and sophisticated. You have obtained much less room for individuals. After getting 80 individuals within the pool, that subsequent particular person goes to take a number of further seconds to extra fastidiously select their entry in order to not trigger any points by simply leaping and hoping nobody is in the best way.
Every producer offers with this purposeful slow-down in their very own approach, so you will not see the very same efficiency modifications from one producer to the subsequent. And sometimes true to the analogy, particular person quantity 100 into the pool can generally be very sluggish, taking a number of instances longer to get in than any of his predecessors.
Check out the charging information. Cost instances in minutes are listed, with a bonus “watt-hours-per-minute” metric that nobody requested for aside from myself. Usually, you may see how the cost price is pretty fixed between 0 and 50% and from 50 to 80%, then slows from 80 to 100%.
Cost instances for all examined transportable energy stations from zero to 50, 80 and 100%.
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