best portable power station for wild camping? what’s worth buying?

[khairia74]

I am looking into portable power stations lately because i need a lightweight, solar-compatible backup for camping, car trips, and possible emergencies. i went through recent reviews from wirecutter, techradar, and tom’s guide, and two models kept coming up as the best:

BLUETTI Solar Generator Elite
https://www.amazon.com/dp/b0b6xtpk1j

jackery explorer 1000 plus
https://www.amazon.com/dp/b0c1ylr84j

i need something that’s powerful enough to run a mini fridge, charge phones/laptops, power a fan, and maybe a small rice cooker or cpap machine. solar charging is a must for me. i’m not sure which one gives better value and long-term reliability. has anyone here used these? or is there another one i should look at? any help or recommendations would be greatly appreciated

 

[molly 2]

I have a bluetti 180 p runs kettle 800 w watt toaster 900 w microwave 1400w etc

 

[Bear]

I am doing similar and its a nitemare in a good way with choices Afeiry and Vtoman are 2 others recommended by You tubers I follow

Good news is a lot are dropping in price due to too many produced some are saying.

 

[runnach]

It’s important to look at the recharge time, for example, bank is down to 20%, how to return to 100%, although much of the recharge time will be down sufficient sunshine if charging via solar, mains power if you have it, etc.

I know my Jackery 1000 explorer, can take an age recharging via the two solar panels.

 

[Moped]

Check out the Ecoflow 500w alternator charger. The leads are connected to the vehicle battery. It only works with Ecoflow Delta 2 and newer Ecoflow power stations and enables you to charge the power station whilst you are driving or your engine is running.

500w for a car and if you have a motorhome or a vehicle with a heavy duty alternator you can use the 800w version although you can throttle it down if need be. I'm only into the Ecoflow ecosystem so choices for me are simple!

As a suplement to solar charging the alternator charger is a very good unit to have as it offers fast charging unlike the 12v cigarette socket which only offers 100w maximum.

 

[wildebus]

One aspect I looked at was the Inverter output. Typically to get a higher Inverter output, you have to have a higher battery capacity, and vice-versa. Both useful, but you end up paying a higher price than you might want to.
Some people may want to get a Power Station primarily for the battery and not be interested in the Inverter use.
Others want the inverter and not need a large battery capacity. I fall into this group and have a VTOMan Power Station with a relatively small battery capacity but a fairly large 1500W Inverter. Useful for sporadic bursts of high power (primarily power tools in my case, but other uses could be to run an Air Fryer, Coffee Machine or Microwave - all fairly high power usages but only for short durations)

 

[Moped]

Check out the Ecoflow 500w alternator charger. The leads are connected to the vehicle battery. It only works with Ecoflow Delta 2 and newer Ecoflow power stations and enables you to charge the power station whilst you are driving or your engine is running.

500w for a car and if you have a motorhome or a vehicle with a heavy duty alternator you can use the 800w version although you can throttle it down if need be. I'm only into the Ecoflow ecosystem so choices for me are simple!

As a suplement to solar charging the alternator charger is a very good unit to have as it offers fast charging unlike the 12v cigarette socket which only offers 100w maximum.

Just to clarify the Ecoflow 500w alternator charger comes with an XT60 power station connection cable so can be used for any proprietory power station which has an XT60 input or with the use of an appropriate adaptor. You do have to update the Ecoflow unit to the latest software. If your power station cannot accept a full 500w through the XT60 connection you can lower the charge rate of the alternator charger. However most if not all modern 1000wh or greater power stations can accept a 500w charge rate.

It is the Ecoflow 800w alternator charger that uses the proprietory Ecoflow XT150 connection which is only suitable for Ecoflow Delta 2 and later or larger products. There is an Ecoflow XT150 to XT60 adaptor lead however it is out of stock right now.

As far as alternator charging goes the Ecoflow Alternator Charging unit is, in my view, a recommended buy for those who use a power station daily when touring, and who do regular driving most days, as it only needs 75mins to charge a Delta 2 or 3 unit from 0% to 100%. Especially on days when panels are not generating much solar.

 

[Moped]

A high 1800w inverter within a 1000wh size battery type power station is handy to have on those campsites and aires that only offer 6amp power or even less. You can use the power station inverter to power the high wattage AC stuff without the risk of triggering the hook up RCD and without having to juggle things switching the fridge off and other 12v low wattage items you might be running from the hook up.

And you can top up the power station when everything else other than the fridge is switched off. Setting the charge rate limit to below the maximum spare hook up capacity available. (As an aside to this I definitely WOULD NOT buy a power station that DOES NOT have an accompanying available app that you can link to with bluetooth. The ability to choke ànd limit the AC charging rate is a must have with any power station that offers rapid charging).

One aire in Spain we stop at charges €0.70 per kw for electric so generally everybody gets their portable solar panels and power stations out to bring hook up usuage down to zero! We run the fridge on gas in this particular aire and dont bother with hook up, whilst at the same time running our AC electrical gadgetry from the power station inverter.