Bluetti AC200P review | 2000W portable power station, 2000Wh LiFePO4 battery | 700W solar charging
The AC200P comes in a huge box weighing 37kg. A lot of care has been taken with the packaging with a strong outer box with reinforced edges. I found it easiest to open both the outer and inner box and lift the power station out of the inner box.
As well as the power station, there’s one one of the largest AC adapters I’ve come across and an assortment of charging cables including an XT90 to aviation plug, a car charging cable again with an XT90 connector on one end and an MC4 to XT90 solar charging cable. I’ll discuss all these accessories shortly. These cables can be stored in the supplied drawstring bag. It does the job but I would have expected something a little more premium for the price of this power station. There’s also a user manual and warranty card.
The power station is well built, made from a mixture of polycarbonate and flame retardant ABS. It feels tough but there’s no rubber bumper like on the smaller AC50S I reviewed a while back and it’ll be easy to scuff the shiny lighter grey trim. And like every power station I’ve reviewed so far there’s no weatherproof rating. But all the ports do have rubber flaps that will at least offer some protection.
The power station is portable but only just, weighing in at 26.9kg and the AC charger is an additional 1.4kg with its mains lead. You can see the dimensions of the power station and charger on screen. This is not something you’ll be wanting to move around too often. You can just about lift it with one hand, but generally it needs two hands.
This is the first power station I’ve tested which uses a Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePo4) battery. These batteries do weigh more than the usual Lithium Ion batteries I’m used to, but they offer several advantages that more than make up for the extra weight. Most importantly they last longer. Bluetti claims the unit will maintain 80% capacity after 3500 charge / discharge cycles. That’s around 5 times more than the typical 500 cycles of standard Lithium Ion batteries. They also use a more stable and therefore safer chemistry and they’re more environmentally friendly too since they don’t use Cobalt or Nickel.
The AC200P has a capacity of 2000Wh and has an impressive 2000W AC inverter which can surge to 4800W. Unfortunately the battery is not replaceable. On their website Bluetti provide some examples of what you could run off this power station and how long for but I’ll cover some real life examples shortly when I discuss its performance.
The left side of the power station has the two charging inputs – the left input with the aviation port is for charging from your car’s 12V output or solar panels. The right port has a 7.9mm DC jack for use with the included mains charger. Above the ports is a fan that sucks in cool air. This cool air passes over the batteries and electronics and there’s an exhaust fan on the right side of the unit to expel this warmed up air.
From the top left on the front of the unit there’s the aluminium power button – a short press turns the unit on and a long press turns it off. Then there’s a 12V 10A car cigarette outlet, the 10.8cm touch screen display, and two 230V 2000W pure-sine wave AC outlets. The US version has 6 110V AC outlets. Even with our oversized UK plugs it would have been nice to have had at least one or two extra outlets. And the rubber flaps can interfere with some larger plugs. This UK version is branded PowerOak for some reason – in the US it’s branded Bluetti.
Underneath the power button is a 12V 25A DC output which isn’t something I’ve seen before. But you need the optional aviation to XT60 cable to use it which I did purchase. Then there are two 12V 3A DC 5525 outputs, a 60W USB type-C power delivery output and 4 x 5V 3A USB ports. It’s disappointing not to see 100W power delivery output here for more power hungry devices and it also would have been nice if you could charge via this port too like you can with the Allpowers 500W unit I reviewed recently. The USB-A outputs are a little basic too – they don’t support any of the newer fast charging standards, only Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 at 5V.
Unlike nearly every power station I’ve reviewed, there’s no torch on this unit. I would have liked a floodlight like on the smaller AC50S and looking around the power station there appears to be plenty of space to include one. But there are 2 useful 15W Qi wireless charging pads on top of the unit.
The LCD touch screen can show a wealth of information. The home screen shows remaining battery charge in the middle graphically and as a percentage. The top row shows the date and time and below that the left field labelled PV for Photovoltaic / Car displays the input from solar panels or your car’s DC output. And the right field shows input from the mains charger.
The next row shows current DC and AC usage in Watts and the DC and AC icons at the bottom have to be tapped to turn on and off DC and AC outputs respectively. Most of the units I’ve tested recently show you how long you have left – either to charge the unit or discharge the unit based on the current input or output wattage. Unfortunately you don’t get that with the AC200P so you’ll have to do the maths yourself.
But if you tap on any of the input or output icons you do get detailed information, which is particularly useful when charging with solar panels which I’ll come back to.
Under Settings you can switch between 50Hz and 60Hz, change the DC input mode from solar to car, toggle Eco mode and change the display language. With Eco mode on the unit will shut off the AC power after 4 hours if the output is less than 50W. I’d recommend turning this off if you want to run anything low powered that you want to stay on, like a phone charger or a low powered fridge.
If you tap on next, you can switch the beeping off and configure the date and time. It’s useful to have this set correctly for the fault logging.
Under Data you can see the system temperature at the top. Product Info shows the system information and Inverter and Charger Info shows the same information you get tapping the respective icons on the home screen.
Then there’s information on the Battery Management System under BMS Maintenance and a fault log under Fault History.
Finally there’s the Faults tab which highlights orange if any faults have been triggered. This defines the 55 different fault codes – and will show any currently recorded faults with an orange check.
Unfortunately there’s no app to monitor or control the unit which would be particularly useful outdoors where the display is very hard to see – especially in bright sunlight. The small font used on the home screen doesn’t help matters
Charging
There are three main ways to charge the AC200P: using the supplied mains charger, using the supplied car charging cable off your car’s 12V cigarette lighter output or using solar panels which you’ll have to purchase separately.
If you have mains handy, the simplest and most likely quickest way to charge the AC200P is with the AC adapter. This adapter can charge the unit at up to 470W or 58.8V at 8A, so a full charge will take around 4-5 hours. The adapter uses a standard kettle lead and there’s a fan to keep it cool that runs continuously, even after the power station reaches full charge – and it’s quite noisy. The display did show just under 470W and if you tap on the Adapter icon you can see the operating voltage and current too.
The adapter uses the same 7909 7.9mm plug that Jackery uses but after checking with my bench power supply you need at least 55V output so I can’t use the Jackery 1000’s 180W 24V charger unfortunately.
The charging speed is decent but I would have preferred direct mains charging like you get on the EcoFlow River Max I reviewed recently which does away with the need for the AC adapter.
To charge using your car’s 12V outlet you need to change the DC input from PV for solar to Car under Settings. Under this input you can charge at up to 8.2A in the range 11.5V to 14.4V and 23V to 28.8V. You need to use the supplied aviation plug to XT90 adapter and then plug the car charging lead into this. I’ve not seen this aviation plug before and it is a secure and robust connection. But personally I’d have preferred a standard XT90 input built into the unit, which I’ve always found plenty secure enough and is far more common.
I got the full 8.2A off the car outlet on the EcoFlow River Max – which at 13.5V equates to around 110W. This would charge the unit from flat in around 14-18 hours.
I also tested this input with the bench power supply. With a 24V supply you can get just under 200W on this port again at 8.2A.
Switching back to PV mode I tested charging via solar. You must remember to switch back to this mode otherwise you’ll get an over voltage fault.
Using the AC200P as a solar generator is one its greatest strengths. It can support an input voltage from 35V all the way up to 150V with a maximum current of 12A and there’s a built-in MPPT controller for more efficient solar charging.
With enough solar panels and good enough conditions you can charge the unit at a maximum of 700W which is very impressive. That could make it possible to charge the unit off solar alone in 3-4 hours. Unfortunately the minimum input voltage of 35V means that in most cases you’ll need at least two solar panels connected in series, which increases the voltage whilst the current remains constant.
If your solar panels have MC4 connectors it’s easy connecting them in series. You plug the XT90 to MC4 cable into the aviation to XT90 adapter. Then for two panels you connect one solar panel’s red cable to this cable’s red cable and the other panel’s black cable to this cable’s black cable. Then the two loose red and black connectors to each other to complete the circuit. It’s hard to go wrong since the MC4 male and female connectors can only pair with each other. You can add further solar panels in exactly the same way, starting off with the two panels at the end of the array and then matching male and female connectors for the other panels.
Bluetti recommends a minimum of 3 of their 120W SP120 or 2 of their 200W SP200 solar panels but you can use whatever you have from any manufacturer. I’ve not tried them but this pair of panels on Amazon should work and are pretty cheap if you don’t need a portable solution. And they’re more weather proof than most portable panels.
Initially I connected together a Bluetti SP120 120W panel, an Allpowers AP-SP-027 100W panel and EcoFlow’s 160W panel.
On a day with sunny spells in April in the UK I got a maximum of just under 280W off this setup. If you tap on the PV icon you can see the voltage was around 60V and I was getting around 4.5 to 5A.
So if the conditions stayed the same that configuration would take around 8 hours to fully charge the power station from flat.
The Bluetti SP120 panel actually failed during this test – a crack suddenly appeared on one of the cells. I contacted their support who offered a replacement without any quibble, but couldn’t offer any explanation of what might have happened.
When this replacement arrived I used it together with 2 more SP120’s to see how three of these panels compared to my original setup. I got around 250W although with better conditions and more room to arrange the panels I’m sure I could get this higher. When the sun went behind the clouds this dropped to around 170W.
I briefly reviewed the SP120 panels in my video on the AC50S so please take a look at that if you want more information. I also plan to do a round up of all the solar panels I’ve accumulated – the AC200P will be useful to compare them. So look out for that video hopefully coming soon. I’ll add a link on screen and down below if it’s already out.
I did try just one panel and although you can see its voltage on the power station, you won’t get anything from it. Two panels provided around 40V and was enough to charge the unit.
I did try switching again to Car as the input source and connecting one panel via this input since its range appears to cover the output of one solar panel. But although it recognised its input with the voltage displayed, the power stations still didn’t charge. I tried this with the Bluetti SP120 and the Allpowers and Ecoflow panels. Again looking into this with my bench power supply it looks like this input needs 8A of current to charge the unit – so in bright enough conditions with the right single panel you might get this to work.
You can use both the Car/PV input and the mains input at the same time so with enough solar panels and using mains you could charge the AC200P from completely flat in under two hours at just under 1200W. You could also purchase a second mains adapter and a DC7909 to XT90 cable to use both inputs simultaneously off mains. Even using the 24V car charging input at 200W I was able to speed up charging considerably.
And although I don’t have a second mains charger, I did use my bench power supply to charge it together with the mains charger at just under 1000W.
Performance
I tested the 12V DC outputs with an electronic load tester from Kunkin – the KP184. I’ll have a link down below if you want to test your power station. All these ports are regulated so their output won’t decrease as the battery level depletes.
You need to turn on the DC subsystem by tapping on the DC icon on the home screen. Starting with the 12V 10A car standard car outlet I wound up the current to the full 10A without any issues – the output on the LCD was around 135W. As I went over 10A the voltage dropped and then the DC output shut off with a DC Output Short Circuit fault not the Over Current fault I would have expected.
As a more practical example I charged the EcoFlow River Max off this car outlet with just under 110W displayed.
Moving on to the 2 12V 3A DC5525 ports I was able to increase the current to its 3A limit – around 40W on the display. But anything over did result in an Over Current fault and the DC shut off. When the DC or AC shuts off you need to turn the unit off and on again with the power switch before it lets you turn on DC or AC.
I also tried plugging in a 12V LED light strip and a Smart battery charger which both worked fine.
The last 12V output is not something I’ve seen before. It can deliver up to 25A or around 300W but it has an aviation plug socket so you need a special cable to connect anything and this isn’t included. I didn’t find the cable easy to get hold of either and it took a while to arrive.
It has a female receptacle unlike the male receptacle on the charging port so you can’t just use that cable unfortunately. The cable I ordered has an XT60 connector on the other end and the first thing I tried was using it as a DC power supply for my Hota D6 RC car LiPo charger. This charger is able to draw up to 650W off DC and I could easily max out the 25A port charging two 4S LiPo batteries. It should be more efficient running DC devices directly off DC rather than converting to AC and then back again.
With the load tester it ran happily at the full 25A drawing over 320W according to the LCD display, although I did find the cable started to get a little warm.
I did keep increasing the current all the way to just over 28A when the unit shut off with an Over Current fault. But after around 26A the voltage started to drop anyway.
Moving on to the USB ports which are also operated under the DC subsystem, the USB-C 60W port supports USB Power Delivery at up to 20V and 3A and will power even decent sized laptops and lots of other tech. As I mentioned earlier I would have expected 100W like on the EcoFlow for more power hungry devices like the latest MacBook Pros, and I’d have preferred an extra USB-C port even if it sacrificed a couple of the standard USB ports.
But it’s still plenty for many devices like this Chromebook and I was able to draw the full 60W charging the Allpowers 500W power station.
The 4 USB-A ports are still useful and testing them with a load tester I was able to get over the spec’d 3A before the voltage started to drop.
The AC outlets are really what you purchase a unit like this for and with its built in 2000W inverter which will support a brief surge of 4800W, this is the most powerful unit I’ve tested to date.
I confirmed their pure sine wave output, which is important for sensitive electronics, with a graphical multimeter.
I needed to find some fairly hefty equipment to really put this inverter to the test. I started off mowing the lawn with this 1500W Flymo lawnmower which worked fine.
My Bosch 1800W sliding mitre saw cutting thick oak didn’t overload the power station either, despite peaking at just under 3000W.
I could also run a 1.1KW portable compressor but my larger workshop compressor was too much and triggered the Inverter Overload fault – which isn’t surprising since it trips its 13A fuse in cold weather. I had the same issue with other stationary woodworking machines in my workshop. My table saw, planer thicknesser and bandsaw all tripped the AC200P.
Even though they’re all 2KW or less they have induction motors which can draw over 5 times that when they start up which is more than the 4800W surge the AC200P is capable of. But it handled almost every handheld machine I tried including a powerful 2000W router.
In the house could run both a Nespresso coffee machine and frother simultaneously and I could run a 2KW heater.
I also tried running a 4 slot toaster which was at the limit of the power station drawing just over 2000W. The AC200P can deliver over 2000W and under 2500W for up to two minutes but will beep continuously to warn you and then does shut off when two minutes is up.
A kettle was a little too much for it, running at just over 2500W before overloading the power station, but a 1550W hairdryer ran fine and I couldn’t find many more household items that would overload the unit so it could prove very useful in a power cut.
Unlike the EcoFlow this AC200P doesn’t have a UPS function where it can run off mains directly and then switch to battery in the event of a power outage. But it does support pass-through charging so you could use it in a similar fashion to power essential items whilst plugged into the mains and then the fully charged battery would power these items if the power goes out. This wouldn’t be ideal longer term for battery health but I used it like this to plug in all my broadband and Wi-Fi equipment when we were having regular power cuts recently.
This may well depend on ambient temperatures but the unit is almost silent up to around 1000W when the fan kicks in. Measuring with a decibel meter 1 metre away I measured around 36dB background noise which jumped to around 42dB when the fans first turned on. When you get over around 1400W the fans increased in volume to a much more noticeable 52dB. You can hear how noisy the fans are in the accompanying video. But it’s good to know you could have it running lower powered devices overnight camping or in a campervan without hearing the power station. Although I couldn’t see any way of turning off the display or the green LED circling the power button when the unit is on, which could be distracting if you’re sleeping nearby. And with no accompanying app this is not a feature that can be simply added as a firmware update.
Finally I measured the capacity of the unit both using DC and AC. The claimed capacity is 2000Wh but the manual does state that the Depth Of Discharge is 10% – so the unit will power off with 10% of battery remaining to protect the battery. Also taking into account the efficiency of the unit which the manual specifies as 88% we should be able to get at least 2000 x 0.9 x 0.88 = 1584Wh of usable capacity.
First I ran the test off DC with the load tester set at 15A connected to the 12V 25A port. The capacity of the battery is displayed on the Kunkin load tester in Wh but the display resets back to zero at 1000Wh so you can see the final measured capacity is 1544Wh which is very close to the value we estimated.
I also measured the capacity with an AC load running a 2KW heater at half power at around 970W. I used an energy monitoring plug and measured 1904Wh. We should get less capacity under AC due to inverter losses so I imagine the monitoring plug is over estimating usage. I did try with another energy monitoring plug and this time got 1808W but this still seems high. These measurements are useful to compare to other portable power stations I’ve tested, but the electronic load tester provides the most accurate measurement so I’d consider 1544Wh the true capacity of the unit.
During both these tests I ran both the DC 25A and 2000W AC outlets at full power for 20 minutes to check if the power station was capable of running at its full rated DC and AC output continuously, which it was. I also checked the temperature of the unit under this heavy load with a Flir thermal imaging camera and the power station remained remarkably cool.
Conclusions
The AC200P is the most powerful power station I’ve tested so far. It will power most household items quite happily and it even ran some pretty heavy machinery in my workshop. It’s worth remembering though that at its maximum 2000W output the sizable 2000Wh battery will still only last just under an hour.
I’m pleased to finally test a power station with a Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePo4) battery which should last a lot longer than your standard Lithium Ion battery. I can’t confirm the battery’s longevity but in my capacity tests it fared well – at least in line with Bluetti’s claims. Although the battery isn’t replaceable and it does contribute to the weight of this power station. It is very heavy which is a real consideration if you need to move this around a lot.
The touch screen shows a wealth of technical information but it’s not particularly user friendly and there’s some basic information missing like an estimate of remaining usage time based on current output. There’s also no accompanying app which would have been particularly useful considering how difficult it is to read the screen outdoors.
The most impressive feature of the AC200P is its charging capabilities, particularly off solar. I didn’t have enough solar panels or sun to realise its 700W maximum input off solar, but being able to mix and match whatever solar panels you have makes it very flexible. You could start with 2 or 3 panels and add more panels over time. It’s just a shame that you’ll typically need at least 2 panels to satisfy the power station’s minimum voltage requirements.
Mains charging is reasonably quick, but it’d be faster and more convenient if you could charge directly off mains without an adapter like you can with EcoFlo’s range. And the included mains adapter is very large and noisy.
Overall I’d have no trouble recommending the AC200P. The only power station that I have that comes close in spec to the AC200P is the Jackery Explorer 1000. This has around half the output and capacity and has more modest features, but is far more portable at almost a third of the weight of the Bluetti. It really depends on what you need to run, what features you need and how much you can spend although none of these power stations are cheap.
Don’t forget to take a look at my YouTube video at the top of the page, and subscribe to my YouTube channel where I’m releasing videos every week on the latest technology and how to get the most out of it. If you tap the bell icon when you subscribe you’ll get a notification as soon as I release a video, and there’ll be a link to my site here for the written article. YouTube is also the best place to leave a comment. I read all of them and respond to as many as I can!
Bluetti EB55 Portable Power Station. 700 Watts
Wattage: 700 watts Inverter Type: Pure Sine Wave Surge Power: 1400 Watts USB-C Port: 1 x 100 Watts Max USB-A Port: 4 x 5V/3A 12V DC Outlets: 1 x 12V/10A. 2 x 12V/10A Wireless Charging Pad: 1 x 15W Max Battery Capacity: 537Wh Weight: 7.5kgs Dimensions: 27.8 x 20 x 19.8cms Warranty: 2 Years free-shipping: yes.-
DELIVERY COST ESTIMATE DELIVERY COST ESTIMATE.-
Secure Payments
- 700W AC Pure Sine Wave Inverter (1,400W Surge)
- 537Wh Capacity
- LiFePO4 Battery with 2,500 Life Cycles to 80%
- 11 Outputs For Multiple Devices
- 6 Ways to Recharge (AC/Solar/Car/Generator/ACSolar/Dual AC)
- 200W Max. Solar Input
- 400W Max. Fast Dual Charging (Solar AC Adapter Simultaneously)
- Eco-friendly/Gas free/Quiet/Cost-effective
Bluetti EB55 Grey Portable Power Station 537Wh, 2 Year Warranty. 537Wh Durable LiFePO4 Battery: With long-lasting LiFePO4 battery and the advanced Battery Management System (BMS), BLUETTI EB55 protect your devices from overload, overcurrent, short-circuit, over-temperature,etc. 2500 life cycles to 80% which is 3-5 times longer than average Li-ion battery.
AC / Solar / Car / Generator Charging:
- Wall Outlet / Generator: 200W AC Adapter, fully recharged within 3.2 hours. (1-100%)
- Solar Panel: 200W Max. input (solar panel not included), within 4.5 hours
- Car Outlet: 12V port, in 6 hours /24V port, in 3 hours (0-100%)
- Recharged by 1BLUETTI SP200 200W solar panel within 3 hours(0-80%).
- Durable life battery
- Powers 11 devices simultaneously
- Compacted and easy for transportation with handle
There are no reviews for this product yet. Please write a review here.
Specification:
- Wattage: 700 watts
- Inverter Type: Pure Sine Wave
- Surge Power: 1400 Watts
- USB-C Port: 1 x 100 Watts Max
- USB-A Port: 4 x 5V/3A
- 12V DC Outlets: 1 x 12V/10A. 2 x 12V/10A
- Wireless Charging Pad: 1 x 15W Max
- Battery Capacity: 537Wh
- Weight: 7.5kgs
- Dimensions: 27.8 x 20 x 19.8cms
- Warranty: 2 Years
- free-shipping: yes
Dawad GoWatts 700 portable power station review – perfectly portable power
REVIEW – The power in my house went out recently and fortunately (or unfortunately) I did not have to eat all my ice cream before it melted since it was restored in about six hours. That was about the time I started worrying though because I realized since I don’t have a generator I would have had 300 worth of wasted food on my hands. Enter the Dawad GoWatts 700 portable power station to ease my worry about another power outage.
What is it?
The Dawad GoWatts 700 is a 700 watt portable power station capable of charging multiple devices at once and can be recharged using solar panels, a wall outlet, or through the included vehicle charging cable.
Hardware specs
Design and features
The Dawad GoWatts 700 portable power station is smaller and lighter than I thought it would be at 12 lbs and about the size of my lunchbox. The handle on top feels solid and makes carrying the GoWatts 700 an easy affair and the built-in LED lights will come in handy when camping.
There isn’t anything of much interest on the top, sides, or bottom except for a few disclaimers and the data plate.
All the action is in the front of the Dawad GoWatts 700 portable power station.
The LCD screen is well lit and provides all the information you could want to keep track of your input, output, and status.
Performance:
The Dawad GoWatts 700 portable power station contains a battery management system as well as can provide a pure sine wave AC current. This is the type of current you get at home and is required for more sensitive electronics such as newer TV’s, appliances with AC motors such as refrigerators and microwaves, and medical equipment such as CPAP machines. Modified sine wave power stations do not provide smooth electricity delivery and could damage sensitive electronics. They are fine for water pumps and old tube type TVs.
The Dawad GoWatts 700 Portable Power Station arrived with 93% power already so plugged it in to top it off. The LCD display showed me it would take 48 mins to get to 100% and was drawing 90W from my wall outlet and the time ended up being spot on. After reaching 100% I decided to try it on my Fitbit. I plugged the USB cable in and then pushed the power button which turns the LCD screen on and the USB zone of plugs. Another press will turn that zone and LCD off. This is nice because you can leave things plugged in but turn the Gowatts off so there is no parasitic draw while not in use.
The Fitbit didn’t phase the Dawad GoWatts 700 portable power station at all. Available power remained at 100% and the draw wasn’t even enough to register any output. I decided to plug in my 24″ monitor and computer speakers and play YouTube videos.
I added a power strip and plugged in a fan as well which doubled the draw to 68w that would last 7.3 hours. I started my timer and after 2 and a half hours I returned and it showed 4.7 hours left which is almost spot on. It dropped from 98% to 64% power.
I then took it to my desk and used it to power two 24″ monitors, my laptop, and cell phone charger. I was surprised to see it was drawing between 108 and 130 watts at times. I turned my Viewsonic off and back on and found it draws 38 watts. My LG monitor was drawing 43 watts. than I thought they would so another useful feature is if you are curious you can see what certain electronics in your home are drawing. You can also charge the GoWatts while using it so it works as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) as well.
I then charged it all the way back to 100% and plugged my kitchen refrigerator in to see how long it will last. When the compressor wasn’t on my fridge was only drawing 10 or 25 watts but when the compressor kicked on it jumped to 119w which at that rate would last about 4 hours. The Dawad GoWatts 700 power station was exactly what I wanted in case of another power outage since it can handle my refrigerator and as long as I don’t open it too much to reduce the compressor kicking in the GoWatts 700 will at least give me a day or so peace of mind in the event of another power outage.
If you want more power then a 2000 watt power station like the Vanpowers Super Power Pro power station might be a better option. For me I wanted something compact and light enough for camping or doing some light construction projects away from a reliable electrical source to recharge power tool batteries and as a little backup in case of another power outage so the Dawad GoWatts 700 power station fits the bill nicely.
Final thoughts
The Dawad GoWatts 700 portable power station is the perfect solution for powering devices off the grid or as an emergency backup at home during a power outage. The 700 volt/ 1000 watt max output can handle most household appliances and sensitive electronics. When paired with solar panels the Dawad GoWatts 700 can give you a sustainable power source for quite a while when off grid. The Dawad GoWatts 700 gets two Gadgeteer thumbs up from me.
Price: 529.00 Where to buy: Dawad website Source: The sample for this review was provided by Dawad.
Review: BLUETTI EB55 Portable Power Station 700W/537Wh
Portable power stations are a niche category of portable power because even though power stations have tons of power to offer, they’re large, heavy, and on the higher price side; this is in comparison to a simple portable charger that is much smaller, lightweight and comes at a low price. Of course, as we said, potable power stations are capable of so many things that are great for owning for your needs, such as going camping, hiking, or going on a road trip, which could be incredibly beneficial.
This review looks at this Bluetti EB55 portable power station with a 537Wh power capacity and a 700W total output.
Power Capacity:
This Bluetti EB55 power station has a 537Wh power capacity. That’s a lot of power, as a power station is supposed to have. With a 537Wh capacity, you can charge smartphones, tablets, and laptops to full power many times; we’re talking about charging most phones over 20 times and charging tablets or laptops over ten times. This EB55 power station can last for many days or even weeks, depending on how you use it.
Most appliances can last for a few hours, but there is a 700W limit for the appliances you can use with this EB55 power station. The higher the wattage appliance you use, the fewer hours you get for the appliance as more battery power is used.
Output Charging:
Charging and powering from this Bluetti EB55 power station is excellent as there are so many options available to power appliances and charge your devices.
Depending on whether you’re using them, there are certain sections on the EB55 power station that you turn on and off. There are two DC Output sections, with one of the DC Output sections featuring one USB-C Power Delivery port and four USB-A ports, while the other DC Output section has two DC 5521 ports and a Cigarette Lighter port. The other output section is the AC Output on the power station which features four AC outlets, and there are two three-prong AC outlets and two standard AC outlets.
When it comes to the DC Output section with the USB ports, the single USB-C Power Delivery port has a 100W output. With a 100W Power Delivery charging speed, you can charge most USB-C devices with the USB-C port on this power station. In our test, we could easily charge a Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 at its max charging speed with the USB-C port. Each USB-A port has a 5V/3.0A charging rate, so none feature Quick Charge, but they can charge phones quickly. We charged a Samsung Galaxy Note 9, an LG G7, and a Galaxy A51 with the USB-A ports; none fast charged, but they did charge fast enough.
We didn’t have any devices to charge or power from the DC port section with the DC 5521 ports or the cigarette lighter port. However, if you own a laptop that charges from a DC port, you can use the DC 5521 port with the correct DC cable to charge your laptop with it.
When it comes to using the AC outlets, your options of powering appliances are just wide enough, but not entirely too large. We used the AC outlets to connect a light bug zapper that kills mosquitoes outdoors, a wall charger used to recharge an AC10 power bank, and a fan. So all of the devices connected to the EB55 fit under the 700W range and had no problems functioning as usual. You could also power mini-fridges, a CPAP machine, electric can openers, and any other appliance that falls under the 700W range.
We connected a Lasko heater rated at 1500W and turned it on to see what happens, and the EB55 turned off automatically after about five seconds. No damage was done to the EB55 unit, and the unit turned off simply because it couldn’t handle the wattage of the Lasko heater.
There is wireless charging at the top of the EB55 that features up to 15W fast wireless charging for compatible smartphones.
Input Charging:
When recharging a power station, you always want to make sure that you use the fastest recharging method. Thankfully, you can use a few options in the box to recharge the power station. In the box, you get an AC adapter power brick that you can use to connect directly into an outlet and recharge the power station at 200W. By far, AC outlet charging is the most convenient way to charge the EB55, with the AC charging being able to fully recharge the EB55 to full power within about 3 hours.
The other two options that you can use to recharge the EB55 power station are a Solar panel or the included car charging cable; included in the box is a solar charging cable connector that you would connect to a solar panel.
You can use AC and Solar recharging simultaneously to recharge the EB55 at 400W and get it back to full power within 2 hours.
Size and Weight:
This EB55 power station is large and quite heavy. The EB55 has a length of 10.9 inches and a width of 7.8 inches. The weight of the EB55 is 16.5 pounds. It’s not one of the largest power stations, but it’s large and heavy enough that you’re not going to want to carry it for too long. The size and weight are manageable, and you can easily take this for camping or beach trips as it doesn’t take up much space in your car.
Portability is made more accessible using a handle at the top of the unit.
Functional Components:
Even though the EB55 holds tons of power and has many charging and powering options, it’s easy to use. Nearly all of the functional parts are at the front of the EB55.
There’s a LED screen at the front of the unit that shows the Output and Input wattage for the power station, and there’s a battery meter that shows how much battery power is remaining.
Each charging/powering section of the EB55 has a power button that you have to press to activate; once a section is activated, a green light turns on to show that the section is powered and ready to use.
There is wireless charging at the top of the EB55 that is turned on via the USB section of the power station. At the back of the power station is a large LED flashlight that is also operated via its power button; the flashlight has three modes low power constant, higher power constant, and SOS mode.
Also, coming back to the front, the two input ports are under a covering labeled “Input.”
Structure and Material:
The build quality of the Bluetti EB55 is good, as it can be without adding more to size, weight, or price. The entire build is plastic, but it’s very sturdy and does not display any brittleness in its structure. The unit is not waterproof and not shock-resistant against falls. So please keep it away from water and don’t expect it to survive a tumble off a cliff.
Tech:
The EB55 power station has two fans on both sides that keep the unit cool. Also, the included AC charger has a fan that keeps it cool. As we said previously, we did plug in a Lasko heat that went over the 700W threshold of the power station. As a result, the power station automatically turned off.
Reliability
If you’re searching for an intermediate power station that can provide tons of power capacity and just enough to power plenty of appliances, this EB55 is an excellent choice. It won’t be able to power high wattage heaters, power tools, or blenders, but it does provide enough wattage to power lower wattage appliances.
Summary:
The charging and power that the EB55 has to offer are pretty great. It doesn’t sit at the apex of what power stations offer, but it still provides plenty of charging and powering options that can be incredibly useful.
The EB55 is large and heavy, but larger and heavier power stations are there. This power station isn’t something that you’re going to want to hold for very long, though, but portability is made easier with a large handle.
The build quality of EB55 is strong, and it has two powerful fans that keep the unit cool. However, the power station is not waterproof and not shock-resistant against long and heavy falls, so be careful with those two things.
There are plenty of ways to rely on this EB55 power station that range from charging a few laptops to powering a few appliances, and the best part is that you can do all those simultaneously with the EB55.
1BLUETTI PV200 (200W): fully recharge from 0-100% in 4-5 hours.
1BLUETTI PV120 (120W): fully recharge from 0-100% in 6-6.5 hours.
Conclusion:
The Bluetti EB55 portable power station strikes an excellent balance for powering quite a few appliances and charging most of the devices that you own. It all comes packaged in a relatively okay size and weight that makes adventuring with the power station possible in most situations.
- [Camping Game Changer]. With 537Wh LFP cells and a 700W inverter, the EB55 power station can run most of your outdoor essentials and home electronics such as phones, projectors, mini freezers, etc.
- [13 Versatile Outlets]. 100W PD for superfast charging, while the wireless charging pad, 700W AC, USB-A, car port, and DC 5521 make the portable power station perfect for the camper or overlander.
- [Dual Recharging]. Support dual recharging by 200W PV 200W AC or dual AC to achieve a max. input power of 400W, allowing this solar generator to be fully recharged in as little as 1.8 hours.
- [Small But Pack a Punch]. The lunch-box-size solar battery EB55 weighs 16.5lbs as much as 6-pack cold ones with a foldable handle on top, allowing you to travel light with sufficient power.
- [What You Get]. BLUETTI EB55 portable power station, AC adapter, solar charging cable, car charging cable, user manual, 24-month warranty, and friendly local / online customer service.