Portable power stations explained

There are batteries in almost everything we use these days

and battery tech has gotten so good that instead of using a gas power generator for power off-grid

you can use a high-capacity portable power station. These vary wildly in size and use cases

from powering your entire house in a disaster or simply charging your mobile devices on a camping trip

But the principle is the same, and we're gonna talk about how best to use one in today's video

First off, let's talk about charging. A lot of people will colloquially call these things

generators or solar generators because they can be charged via a solar panel

That's a bit of a misnomer because they don't actually generate electricity like traditional

generators do. Instead, they just have high capacity batteries that store power that you

can deploy later. But depending on your use case, they can function in basically the same way

I have here the Anker 521 portable power station, and I've used it for years

Our CNET Labs team has been testing a ton of power stations, so be sure to check out a link

in the description if you shopping for one This comes with a standard DC charging port that you can plug into a wall outlet This is by far the fastest way to charge it and it can even be charged through its USB port like with your laptop wall charger which is pretty cool But my favorite thing is that it charges via solar

Anker sells this in a package with a 100-watt solar panel that plugs right in, and you can use

the panel for other devices with the USB-out port. In order to charge it optimally, you will have to

make sure you're getting the right angle for the sun, and you might have to move it around throughout of the day. The 100-watt panel charges it fairly fast depending on the weather and the time of day

but you can charge it with any size solar panel as long as you have the right plug, and larger power stations like the EcoFlow Delta III I'm going to talk about in a second

get paired with larger solar panels like a 400-watt one. And it can still provide power while it's

charging, so you can essentially get a net neutral or even positive charge while it is in use, which

is really nice for camping trips. Now, this one is designed to be portable, and you might have a

tougher time transporting and charging a larger one. Speaking of larger ones we also have the EcoFloat Delta 3 which is obviously much larger and more appropriate for powering appliances for a long time It is much less portable but there are a lot of nice design details like wheels and a handle that make it more portable than you might think I use the portable Anker for camping trips a lot As you

can see, it spent a lot of time outside. I use it mostly for charging devices, but with a large

capacity model like the EcoFlow Delta 3, you can use it for more demanding tasks and even appliances

like a portable AC unit or an electric water pump. Like I said before, if your power goes out

you can run critical appliances at your house, like a refrigerator, a heater, or even your Wi-Fi, which is handy

Just out of curiosity, I wanted to see how long this thing says it could run my fridge

And according to the little info screen here, says it could do it for three and a half days

which would be pretty amazing if there was like a long-term power outage, my food would stay cold and unspoiled

for quite a long time, hopefully enough time for the power to come back on

And more importantly, if you have some kind of electrical dependent medical device, like a CPAP machine

something like this is even more valuable. Just make sure if you do want a power station to power a medical device in case of an emergency to get one with a UPS function This stands for uninterruptible power supply and it make sure you don lose any uptime and protect your devices from power spikes that could cause damage I fortunately don have any

medical devices yet, but I also use this for outdoor projects. My house is pretty old and

needs a lot of work. There is no outdoor power outlet to run cables to tools. I have run this

through the house before, but that's inconvenient and the extension cords can be bad for the door

seal if I shut the door, and if I leave the door open, my dogs will get out while I'm using power

tools, which is not very safe. I have some tools I can plug directly into the power station, and I

can also be charging batteries with it while I'm working. Outdoor projects are a niche use case for

sure, but I think almost everyone can get some use out of a portable power station, whether you want

a small one to take with you on camping trips, or you want to be prepared in case of an emergency

So that is the rundown on portable power stations in general. If you want individual reviews of

different models. If you're trying to decide which one is best for your use case, be sure to stay

tuned to all of our websites. But that is going to do it for me. This is Owen, and I will see you

in the next video