As we all know, the risk of power outages is growing. Our demand for electricity is increasing but our national grid is ageing. One of the most common solutions that comes to mind is a gas generator. These big, heavy machines offer a ton of power, but they also have some drawbacks. They need gas and can’t be operated inside your house. So it is a problematic solution for people who living in apartments or townhouses with no outdoor space. More importantly, you should run generators at least 20 feet away from any structures. Therefore they are only suitable for those who have a lot of outdoor space.
That’s why everyone should have a what’s called portable power station. These are basically huge batteries that can store electricity and power a variety of devices and appliances in the event of a power outage. If you can’t run a gas generator or want a power more portable than those 100-pound behemoths, a portable power station is the way to go.
Portable power stations benefits
Why a Portable Power Station? Let’s take the iMyPower LP1000Q as an example: while portable power stations vary in cost, features and capacity, in many ways this is a very typical portable power station.
It has a capacity of 999 Wh (with a maximum output of 1000 W), which means it can run a variety of devices. The math on this is simple: 999 Wh means it can deliver 999 watts for an hour or a watt for 999 hours. What does this mean? A common TV requires about 100 watts, so you can run it for about 9.5 hours on the LP1000Q. A 20-watt LED bulb can last over 50 hours. And these two appliances draw about 120 watts, so you can run them together for over 8 hours. The more watts you draw, the shorter the power duration.
It offers 8 outputs including 1 USB 5V3A port, 1 USB Type-C 65W port and 1USB QC3.0 port that can handle fast-charging, 2 standard AC plugs, a car DC adapter and a wireless charging pad on top.
It has multiple charging options, including wall charging, solar and car connectivity, and the ability to combine them for faster charging.
The way it works is actually quite simple: You fully charge the power station and wait until you need it. When the lights are off, 1000W is enough power to charge mobile phones and laptops several times as well as turn on lights or small appliances – as long as the power consumption is under 1000W, the power station can handle it. So there are a lot of benefits to having one or two of portable power stations in your house:
Safe indoors
Unlike a gas generator, you can run portable power stations indoors safely. There are no fumes or other worries. Even if you have the outdoor space to run a generator, short power outages might not warrant the effort if you can just connect in a few lights and keep your devices charged with a power station.
Portable
The LP1000Q weighs about 12 kgs—even a small gas generator will will weigh nearly twice that. The unit has a carrying handle that makes it easy to carry from room to room as needed, or toss into the car for camping fun anywhere. It also means they have a wider range of use cases than gas generators since they can be carried around on non-emergency journeys.
portable power stations
Solar Recharge
The most convenient and quickest way to charge a portable power station is to plug it into a wall outlet, but you can also connect it to a solar panel if the power’s out. The LP1000Q has a 300W input capacity from a solar panel, so you can fully charge it in about 3 hours. In cloudy conditions, it will obviously take longer to charge the power station with solar panels – but unlike gas generators, you can recharge your station throughout the day and power it up again at night.
Small Size
Like power capacity, these power stations vary in size but they are generally much smaller than gas generators, so they are easy to store until you need to take them apart.
