Use of large capacity portable power supply

Bring big backup power with you with these expert-recommended portable power stations, which can store enough power to charge electronics, appliances, and more.

With a great power-to-weight ratio, the latest version of the Bluetti Elite 200 V2 is a great portable power station for powering a camper or providing backup power for the essentials. With its tremendous capacity, the EcoFlow Delta Pro 3 is truly capable of providing a whole-home backup without gas or solar panels.

A power station's portability is directly related to its power capacity and output. Small power stations with around 300 watt hours of capacity and a max output of 300 watts, such as the Anker Solix C300 DC portable power station, typically weigh under 10 pounds. and are about the size of a lunch box.

Given those losses, you can expect to get about 85 percent of a power station's listed watt hours in usable power. So, a fully charged 2,000Wh power station will typically give you about 1,700 watt hours of usable power.

A portable power station's lifespan depends on the type of battery inside. Most new portable power stations, including all the models we recommend here, feature LiFePO4 battery technology, which lasts far longer than older lithium-ion technology. How much more? LiFePo4 power stations will last for more than 3,000 charge cycles, or about 10 years.

To use these power stations as a UPS, plug them into the wall, then plug whatever devices you want backed up into the station's AC output ports. When the power is on, those devices use energy from the grid. When there is a power outage, the power station instantly switches these devices to battery power.