The days of desperately searching for an electrical outlet to plug your phone into are over. The reality is that batteries of all shapes and sizes have never been more powerful, available, and cheap. In fact, the entire consumer electronics industry has evolved around ensuring you always have a backup battery no matter what, and there's even a way to power it off the grid. Brands such as Jackery, EcoFlow and SOLIX offer a number of battery backup solutions in a wide range of price ranges. However, the terminology surrounding it can be overwhelming and difficult to understand: What is the difference between a solar generator and a portable power station? Is whole home backup any different? How do you decide how much backup power you need?
Understand battery capacity and output
Before discussing specific devices, there are two measurements to understand. The first is how much energy the battery can output at one time. If the maximum output is 1,000 watts and your device requires 1,500 watts to operate, the battery will not be able to power the device, no matter how much energy it stores. The second is how much power is stored, usually expressed in watt-hours. If you use less than the maximum output, those watt hours will last longer. If you use maximum output, their lifespan will be shortened. To understand your needs, you must consider which devices you want to power, find out what kind of power they require, and find a battery with enough output to power the device. Next, you need to consider how long you might need to power it. Your hair dryer or microwave only needs to be used for a short period of time, but your refrigerator needs continuous power and your CPAP may need to be used for eight hours. To help you calculate how long a specific power bank will power your devices, you can use a calculator.
Mobile power and power station
All power stations are also power banks in that they are simply a battery that "stores" energy that can then be used to power devices. However, when people mention power banks, they are usually talking about very small portable batteries. They are designed only to power mobile devices such as phones and tablets, and can easily fit in a purse or briefcase. Mobile power supplies generally have USB interfaces. When capacity increases, you also need to scale. While power stations are still "portable," you can't just throw them in your wallet. Their size and weight vary depending on the energy they store, so a small 240wH power station will be quite light, while a 2,000wH power station will be quite light. However, most power stations are designed to be portable as people want to use them for camping and off-grid, And in most cases, these power stations also come with USB ports in addition to A/C ports. In some cases, some of these ports can be used as UPS or uninterruptible power supplies, which simply means that you can use the power station as a gap between the device and the wall power supply to keep the battery powered. However, if you lose wall power, meaning a power outage or even a power surge, the power station will continue to provide steady power until the battery is depleted.
Mobile power supplies should be considered:
Anker Portable Charger, 20,000mAh Power Bank, $31.99
Jackery Solar Power Bank, 42800mAh, $29.99
Solar generators and portable power stations
Most companies that sell power stations also sell "solar generators," which might lead you to believe they are different products. Instead, these are usually power stations that are also equipped with solar panels. Solar panels are a way to generate electricity for humans. power stations, but these usually also have power inputs from standard AC power and a car charger, so if you don't have access to solar, each power station can accept a different number of solar panels. One input, so charging speed depends on how many solar panels you use, as well as how clear the sky is and the panel's line of sight to the sun.
Power stations worth buying:
Goal Zero Yeti 1000 Core Portable Power Station, $649.00
ECOFLOW Portable Power Station DELTA 2,629.00 USD
Power station with whole home backup
While portable power stations vary in output and capacity, the only consistency is portability. Of course, carrying a thirty pound battery is difficult, but still doable. Of course, you can use these backups at home during a power outage, but you'll need to plug each item into a power station. This may mean you have extension cords snaking all over your home and having to choose which home devices get power first, since you probably have a ton of devices plugged into the walls and only so many sockets on your power station. The whole home battery backup is a high capacity battery designed to stay in place that you can connect directly to the electrical panel. When the power goes out, the entire home switches to backup power via the electrical panel, meaning you don't have to unplug anything - it just gets power from the battery, not the power company. These systems can be connected to a solar panel system or not, and are often expandable, meaning you can add additional battery units depending on how much power your home needs. These backup devices can come in different shapes, such as the SOLIX f3800 (which, while quite heavy, can be moved around the house) or a wall-mounted battery mounted on the side of the house.
As the grid becomes less stable and we experience more weather events that cause blackouts, whether fire or freeze, battery backup becomes increasingly important. If you have medical equipment that requires power, or if the weather is critical and you need air conditioning or heating, these backups can save lives. Having a variety of devices, including power banks, charging stations, and/or whole-home backup, plus solar panels, allows for self-sufficiency and security in the event of a power outage.
