Banking on a power outage

Hey folks! A couple housekeeping items:

This week’s Advisorator column is written by Dwight Silverman, a longtime Houston Chronicle tech editor, friend of the newsletter, and occasional guest poster.
Next week’s newsletter will arrive on Wednesday, August 13, as I return from one last little break before the kids go back to school.

\This column is adapted from a piece that Dwight originally wrote for the Houston Chronicle. Take it away, Dwight!

Dwight buys a power station

By Dwight Silverman

When Hurricane Beryl tore through the Houston area in July 2024, it knocked out electricity to nearly 85% of the local electrical distribution company’s customers. And just a few weeks earlier, a derecho had struck central Houston with hurricane force winds, also knocking for nearly a million people in the region. Between the two events, nearly 90% of area residents suffered power outages, according to a recent Rice University study.

For those of us living in this sprawling Texas city on the Gulf Coast, it almost feels like par for the course. But increasingly, we are not alone. Across the country, power outages – some of them lasting days and even weeks – have become more commonplace as climate change drives extreme weather. In 2023, the last year for which data is available, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that the average U.S. electrical system customer experience 336 hours of power outages, factoring in major weather events, down from a nearly 476-hour peak in 2021, largely due to the big deep freeze of that year.

Owners of standalone homes can turn to fuel- or propane-powered home generators as a power backup. That’s often not possible for those of us who live in condos or apartments, which often ban such generators, but advancements in the same batteries that power smartphones, laptops and electric vehicles now provide options for those who live in multifamily buildings.

These oversized batteries, called portable power stations, can run lights, TVs, internet gateways, fans and even key appliances for hours. They’re also pricey, but when the electricity goes out, they’re worth it. After all, replacing a refrigerator full of spoiled food is also expensive.

My wife and I live in a condo complex in central Houston. Shortly after Beryl — and with the days-long failure of the Texas power grid from the 2021 deep freeze still fresh in our minds — we did way too much research and bought Anker’s Solix F2000 Power Station. We haven’t needed it yet, but it sits — fully charged and ready — under my desk.

Hurricane season is, after all, a long way from being over.

What to look for in a power station

Power stations are the overgrown siblings to power banks, those portable, external batteries used to recharge mobile devices on the run. While a decent power bank can charge most smartphones a few times — larger ones have enough juice to charge multiple laptops — a power station can provide both AC and DC power to multiple items at once when the power grid is unavailable. They’re also useful for powering small appliances and electronics when camping, tailgating or on the road. While some power stations use the same lithium-ion batteries as power banks, others use a lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) material that’s less prone to catching fire and longer-lasting.

When we began the shopping process, we looked at a handful of criteria:

Price. These devices are not cheap but are often discounted significantly. For example, the model we chose has a $2,000 list price but we paid about $1,300 (and it currently sells on Anker’s site for $1,200). There are power stations with more capacity and features that go for much more—and smaller models that cost a lot less—but this seemed like a sweet spot for value.

Capacity and expandability. You can buy a power station that has the ability to run a central air system, and the one we chose would do that, but not for very long before needing to be recharged. We wanted one that would run our refrigerator, some lights and fans and our internet access for a day, which involved digging into the power requirements for the items we prioritized. For some devices, it’s on a label, but others will require finding a manual online. You can also use this handy Electric Appliance Calculator. And if we discovered the need for more capacity, we wanted the option for additional external battery modules. (These, also, are not cheap.)

Pay attention to two key numbers. Capacity is expressed in watt-hours, or how much energy the power station can store and then output when needed. There’s also Inverter Power, the amount of juice the station can output at once. The Solix F2000 has a 2,048-Wh capacity and can put out up to 2,400 watts at once.

Fast recharge. Because it’s a battery, the power station itself must be recharged, and in an event such as Hurricane Beryl, in which finding electricity for charging could be a challenge, we wanted it to charge quickly. The model we chose can charge from zero to 80% in about an hour and 20 minutes, but charging slows down as you approach 100%. Allow two hours to fully recharge.

Solar support. You can also recharge some power stations with optional solar panels, but these are typically large, expensive and require full sunlight to charge the station at a reasonable speed. Anker advertises that the F2000 can accept 1,000 watts of solar charging power, but that’s for a set of five panels that output 200 watts each. A 400-watt panel for the F2000 lists for $900. Because we don’t have direct sunlight on our condo unit, we skipped this for now.

Connectivity. The Anker station can connect up to 12 devices on its ports. There are four traditional AC power outlets; two USB-A and three USB-C ports; two car-style outlets; and one TTR-30R outlet, which can be used to provide electricity to an RV or, with an adapter, plug directly into the wiring of a home. It has an LED display showing how much juice is left in the station and how much power connected devices are consuming. It also has a long, horizontal light that can illuminate a decent-sized room.

We eventually honed in on three choices: the Anker station, as well as the EcoFlow Delta 2 Max and the Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus. We chose the Anker because of the price, its five-year warranty and the experiences we’ve had with Anker’s customer service. The EcoFlow would have been our second choice.

What to expect from a power station

The F2000 weighs in at 67 pounds and looks like a small cooler on wheels with an extendable handle. Because we live on a second floor and may have to take it some place for charging, we bought a hand truck designed to move heavy objects down stairs.

How long the power station lasts on a charge depends on what you plug into it. Anker says the F2000 can keep a fridge going for 10 hours. I plugged a Shark vacuum cleaner into it and spent about 20 minutes cleaning our floors, which dropped the fully charged F2000 down to 69%.

The F2000 is set up and configured via Anker’s smartphone app which connects via Bluetooth to the station. The app lets you see how much power is being pulled via the various output ports, and while charging, it shows you the battery status. It also lets you invoke power saving mode, which can turn off ports when a connected device is fully charged, and control the brightness of the built-in LED lamp.

When it’s not being used the F2000 is low maintenance. You don’t have to leave it plugged in to charge all the time, though like many lithium-based batteries, it will slowly discharge over time. For example, I last fully charged it about two months ago, and when I checked it just now, it was down to 97%. Not bad.

If our power were to go out and we knew it might be days, I’d likely ration the charge from the power station, focusing on fans and the fridge. It takes about two hours to charge it fully, so I’d try to find a place where I could plug it in for that time, then bring it back for another round.

Here’s hoping we never have to find out if that’s the right strategy. But if the time comes, we’re ready.

Thanks again to Dwight Silverman for this week’s column! You can follow Dwight on Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon, or even Advisorator’s “Tech Buds” forum where he’s been known to chime in.

Banking on a power outage

Dwight buys a power station

What to look for in a power station

What to expect from a power station

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