This Power Station Offers an Impressive (but Expensive) Way to Keep Electricity on During a Blackout
These days, extreme weather events have become more extreme and more frequent. After a freak ice storm knocked out power to my home for several days earlier this year, I felt strangely vulnerable without being able to heat my home, so I decided to look into power backup options.
While a whole-house solution wasn’t in the budget, I knew I needed at least enough power to stay warm and power my phone, laptop, and modem (in case the internet went down too). While portable power stations and solar generators are an option, they are somewhat limited in how many volts/watts they can handle and for how long. To really achieve something that could last for a few days, I needed to go further – to the power plant. Luckily, Anker agreed to let me try out their new F3800 device , and it may be exactly what I was looking for, but it’s very expensive.
Serious unit
The first thing to know about the F3800 is that it’s only portable in the broadest definitions. UPS struggled to get the box to my door, I struggled to get it out of the box, and I actually had a hard time moving it from the front door to my energy panel. Sure, it has wheels and a handle, but it still weighs over 130 pounds. If you’re dreaming of moving something like this campsite, forget about it.
However, the device is tall and compact in size, so it can be neatly hidden and, for example, in a closet it will look right at home. It also didn’t require installation. Out of the box, you can simply plug it into an outlet and leave it charging. The kit also includes cables for daisy chain connection of additional batteries. In fact, the only thing you need to do is launch the Anker app and pair the device, although the device will work fine without that. The app simply adds some convenient features such as fine-tuning the device’s performance and monitoring it from a distance.
And at $4,000, the F3800 is no small investment, but it will grow with me. While you can simply plug the F3800 into the wall and wait for the power to go out, it can also be connected to your home’s solar panels, making it more attractive as a long-term option. The real advantage is that I can now or in the future install an additional panel on my electrical panel and connect the F3800 to it. This way, if the power goes out, my house will immediately start using the backup unit’s power.
I received two PS400 portable solar panels ($899 each) with the F3800, and while they didn’t weigh as much as the station, they were significant in size and weight. I waited until it was a sunny day and moved the station close enough to the patio so I could charge it via solar panels. Cloudless 70-degree days were unusually early, and the F3800 reached 80% charge after seven hours of sunlight. The rate at which the sun can charge something like this varies greatly and depends on factors such as placement and weather conditions. According to Anker, if you max out the number of solar panels this device can accommodate (2,400 watts total), it can charge in 1.5 hours.
The F3800’s power rating is 6000W, which is quite a lot, but you may need more. Anker says the system can be expanded to 53.8 kWh, which is impressive if you have the space and funds.
Impressive mix of outlets
To use a backup device, you need enough outlets to power all the devices you want to use. Luckily, the F3800 is well equipped with six 120V outlets. Of these 120V outlets, three are UPS outlets, meaning they have uninterruptible power. I mentioned earlier that I like a UPS as a way to keep my internet stable in unstable power conditions, and I’ll go even further and say that the F3800 could be a way to keep your entire smart home running smoothly and running through a short outage.
Additionally, there is a 240V NEMA 14-50 AC port and a L14-30R AC port that will allow you to run something larger like a clothes dryer, but this also leads to a second use for such a power station: supplying electricity where you are not there. This could be, for example, something like a workplace or just a garage workshop with a terrible power supply. Again, I don’t recommend taking this device around town, but I kept coming up with scenarios where the F3800 could be useful, such as powering an electric car or a garage freezer. There are also multiple USB ports for quickly charging your phone and accessories.
Overall, this is a solid plan B for downtime, if you can afford it.
There’s nothing to compare the F3800 to because there aren’t many power plants of this power available to the average buyer, but so far I’m impressed. (EcoFlow has a new Pro Ultra station with slightly more power than the F3800, at 7,200 watts. It’s also more expensive, at $5,199. I haven’t tested it, but it appears to be the same expandable system.)
While I was thinking about how to actually test the F3800 in the conditions it was designed for (real power outage), a hurricane came through and knocked out my power. Once it became clear that the outage was not momentary, I moved the F3800 into place. I connected it to a modem, a TV, a router, a laptop, a cell phone, a refrigerator, a heater, and—with one absurdly long power cord running through a doggy door—to the garage freezer. For the next two hours, the dog and I were happy, warm, and having fun.
By nightfall the power came back and I checked my power plant. I only used up 18% of my energy. If I had been a little more conservative with what I included, I could have kept this party going for eight hours or more. The biggest obstacle was actually the extension cords.