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Portable power stations are the best choice if you need to charge common personal electronics and small appliances when you are away from a household AC power outlet for long periods of time, or if you want to have a backup power source ready in case of an emergency.
These are basically large batteries in a protective case with a built-in AC power outlet and other ports. They are larger, heavier, more powerful and often more robust than the mobile power and portable laptop chargers we recommend. This gives them more versatility for things like camping with lots of electronics, working in remote corners of the home, showing movies in the backyard or taking landscape photos.
Portable Power Station
In an emergency, although not as powerful, they offer some major advantages over pneumatic portable generators. Portable power stations are quiet and emission-free, which means you can use them safely at home during a power outage. And because there's no engine, you don't have to carry petrol around with you, nor do you have to carry out oil changes or other minor maintenance required by internal combustion engines.
You can charge your portable power station overnight at a wall outlet (most of them take 12 to 24 hours to go from empty to full), pack it in a trunk with your other gear and take it with you - keeping your mobile phone, laptop, camera, projector, GPS unit, drone or other electronic devices that are powered for hours at a time. Electronic device that supplies power for several hours at a time. Portable power stations also typically offer more output options than AC and USB, such as 6mm DC ports and car power sockets, to support a wider range of devices.
Application of Portable Power Station
While high-powered portable power stations can be a good backup in an emergency, even the best stations have limitations when compared to gas generators. These units cannot power refrigerators or other large appliances, and anything that generates heat can overload them or drain the batteries too quickly for them to be used. High quality generators can safely power space heaters and hair dryers , but otherwise you can only plug them into indoor wall sockets.
Some people use portable power stations to run CPAP machines (for sleep apnoea) and other electronic medical equipment while camping. If this is your situation, we recommend you choose one of our high-capacity options to keep your device running smoothly for as long as possible.
If you plan to travel, please remember that in most cases, portable power stations must travel via ground. the FAA does not allow passengers to carry batteries rated over 160 Wh in carry-on or checked baggage, so you cannot fly with any of our options.
Portable Power Station
Indoor safety. Unlike gas generators, you can operate these power stations safely indoors. No fumes or other problems. Even if you have outdoor space to run the generator, a short power outage may not be worth the effort if you can plug in a few lights and have your unit charge the station.
Portable. the EB55 weighs about 16.5 lbs - even a small gas generator will be close to twice that. The unit has a carrying handle and can easily be taken from room to room as needed, or thrown into the car as you escape the anti-utopia your neighbours turn into when the lights go out. This also means they have a wider range of use cases than gas generators, as they can be taken along on non-emergency trips.
The Sun. The easiest and quickest way to charge your portable power station is to plug it into a wall socket, but if it runs out of power you can also connect it to a solar panel. the EB55 has an input capacity of 200W from the solar panel, so you can charge it in ideal conditions (bright sunlight) in about 3 hours via solar power. In cloudy conditions this will obviously take longer - but unlike a gas generator you can charge your charging station throughout the day and power it up again at night.
Smaller. As with electrical capacity, these stations vary in size, but they are usually much smaller than gas generators, so they are easy to store until you need to take them apart.
A portable power station is not a whole-house power solution, but it will make your next power outage more comfortable.
