I tested this backup power station during an actual outage – don’t make my mistakes

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Highlights taken by ZDNET

• Blacks strike with zero warning, so plan ahead.
• Be aware that heat can depress your energy channel.
• Think about how to get power where you need it.

I have 11 kWh of battery power sitting in my house — enough to run a small home for days. It weighs about 300 pounds. I call it Tower of Power (Bluetti Apex 300 and three expansion batteries). And when the actual blackout hit, it wasn’t enough to stop me from wasting energy, cooking the battery while it’s hot, and losing my refrigerator.

So, what happened?

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Turns out I have three issues against me, plus the fact that I haven’t finished my build yet.

1. A power outage gives you no warning

They just happen. One minute, everything is enabled, the next it’s not working.

And there’s a lot going on. Just this month, nearly 400,000 DTE customers lost power due to the storms, some had to wait five days before power was restored, and PJM, the largest grid operator in the US, was forced to reduce electricity use due to generator outages, overloading of its lines, and a large increase in air conditioning use caused by the heat.

I tested and planned for this type of thing a lot, but the actual blackout highlighted some weaknesses in my planning.

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The first weakness was revealed by the fact that I happened to be away from home, so I wasn’t there to push buttons and pull levers to make things work. The problem was that the power outage also killed the internet. No, not my route, because that was connected to backup power, but because the temporary outage brought down the local infrastructure and the cellular infrastructure.

The infrastructure came back to life quickly, it seemed, but not before my router had some sort of brain freeze and decided it didn’t want to connect to the outside world.

This left me unable to manage anything on my network remotely. This meant that energy was wasted running things that might have been turned off (I didn’t need to charge the batteries of a power tool, for example) and other things didn’t get power (I wasn’t using my fridge and freezer, so when the power went out, the clock started ticking — four hours in the unopened fridge and 24 hours to A4 to USD).

It took me about eight hours to get back, and due to the heat wave and the fact that I probably need a new refrigerator, I ended up packing most of the contents because it was over 47°F/8°C.

The best solution I have for losing internet connection is to rely on it Starlink. It’s not the best solution, but satellites won’t fall out of the sky due to a power outage in the area.

Alternatively, a more robust router or cellular modem may be an option. I’m also thinking something like this iSocket Plug-n-Go with an internal SIM card. This will allow me to monitor and access the plug remotely without relying on local Wi-Fi.

The Bluetti app has an “Extreme Weather Alert” that will automatically drain the batteries before a storm, so the unit has extra power if the grid goes down, but none of that worked in this situation.

2. Heat is a problem

It’s easy to think that power outages are a winter thing.

No.

They happen in the summer too. Winter storms cause more outages in the raw, but a peer-reviewed study found that the longest, most dangerous outages occur in the summer (and blackouts are increasing across the board).

And it can exceed the operating temperature of your power station. Although the worst thing you can do to your power station is charge the unit when temperatures are below 32°F/0°C, heat is also a potential problem.

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Power stations have high temperature for charging and discharging. Mine Apex 300 it reaches 104°F/40°C for both charging and discharging — though as the table below shows, that’s a very conservative conclusion: Jackery’s again EcoFlow flagship units are rated 5°C/9°F higher.

Here in the UK, we have had outside temperatures close to this, but if you stick an active power station in an already hot room, the ambient temperature can exceed this limit, at which point the power station will reduce output or shut down.

It wasn’t until I was in the middle of the power outage that I realized that the room I had the Tower of Power in was overheating, and this was causing the power station to go on alert, cut off its output, and stop charging. I didn’t pass out, but it could have been a problem if the power outage — and the heat wave — had lasted longer.

I need to think about the placement of my Tower of Power.

If you’re looking for power stations, here are the temperature-related stats for a few different units on the market:

3. Finding strength where it is needed

The Tower of Power is an impressive kit in more ways than one. But it weighs about 300 pounds in total. Although I try to make sure I eat a hearty breakfast every day, it’s not the kind of weight I want to carry around. And that’s a problem when it comes to getting power where it’s needed.

Extension cords option, but regular readers will know I’m not a fan because they have negatives. There is a gap in the manufacturer’s documentation because I have never seen a manufacturer publish clear instructions on how to use their extension cords and units. It’s not that there’s anything about power stations in particular that makes extension cords unsafe; is that they present a weakness in the electrical system.

I’ve written a bit about safety issues around extension cords, so I’ll leave the link here.

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Important: It’s not something I want to leave around the place all the time because they simultaneously present trip hazards, fire, and electrical hazards. I’m happy to use extension cords for a while, but that means I have to be there to move them where they’re needed.

to have Bluetti Elite 400A power station with wheels and a suitcase-style handle is nice, but at 86 pounds, it’s also a bit bulky to get around.

Plug-in solar — a system where your solar and battery power goes into a microinverter and is plugged into an AC system via an outlet — could be the answer to this issue.