Guides
Guides
Work out how much battery your devices need, whether a fridge will start, and when a generator makes more sense. Start with your largest load and the hours you need; the most expensive unit may add weight without solving your problem.
What will you power?
- Home backupSized for an outage: a full-size refrigerator for a day, a router, phone charging and lights, with the compressor surge checked.
- CPAPSized for one 8-hour night with the heated humidifier on, which is the draw that decides everything.
- CampingTwo nights: a 12 V compressor cooler, camp lights, phone charging, a laptop and a fan.
- RVA day of the loads an RV runs off shore power: the 12 V fridge, lights, water pump, TV, coffee maker, phones and laptop.
- Van lifeA day working from the van: laptop, phone, Starlink or a router, the fridge, lights and a fan, then how much solar input the unit needs to replace that day by evening.
Buying guides
- Sizing a power station for a refrigeratorThe average-watts trick, the compressor surge check that decides more than capacity, and the units that clear one, two and three days.
- Power station or gas generator?Where a battery replaces a generator, where it cannot, and what each costs to run for a day.
- LiFePO4 vs NMCWhat the chemistry decides in years and in pounds, how to read a cycle claim, and how to store a unit you rarely use.
- Solar generatorsWhat the panel adds, the input limit that caps recharge speed, and the hours of sun every unit needs.
- How many watt-hours do I need?The calculator, the four steps worked by hand, amp-hours to watt-hours, and the device draws it uses.
- What a portable power station isCapacity, output and surge, chemistry, charging and the four size classes, explained with the current units.
Comparisons
- Jackery vs EcoFlowThe two most-searched brands, class by class.
- Bluetti vs EcoFlowTwo brands on the same shelf at every size.
- Jackery vs BluettiExplorer and HomePower against AC and Elite.
- Anker SOLIX vs EcoFlowPrice per Wh and expandability against charging speed.
- EcoFlow DELTA 3 vs Jackery Explorer 1000 v2The two most-searched 1 kWh units, field by field.
- Anker SOLIX F3800 vs EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3The two whole-home flagships.
- EcoFlow DELTA 3 Ultra vs Bluetti Elite 300Two 3 kWh units for home backup.
- Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2 vs EcoFlow DELTA 3Two 1,024 Wh units at different prices.
- 4Patriots vs the mainstream unitsThe price per watt-hour beside the units it competes with.