There’s no shortage of sunshine in Australia, and many campers can successfully turn to solar to keep their power on. If you’re looking for a power station that can harness sunlight and store it for you, the Souop Portable Power Station is the winner. Its built-in solar MPPT controller means you can effortlessly plug your solar panels directly into your power station. It can store excess electricity while powering whatever is plugged in.
It’s also a portable power station with a relatively small footprint – and easy to carry – perfect for camping.
Not only is it capable of running days of camping refrigerators, lights, small fans, etc. It can also charge devices like phones, laptops, speakers, tablets, and more. Its 2 fast-charging USB-A ports, USB-C port, and dual 12V ports are impressive for a device this size.
Note that this power station has a maximum output of 10 amps, so depending on your equipment, you may not be able to charge all of them at the same time. But on the other hand, with 2,500 life cycles, you’ll be using the product for years to come.
Advantage
- Great price
- Can accept direct solar charging
- Very light and portable
- Amazing power gives it versatility for many use cases
- Lots of output options
- Incredible charging rate
- Excellent design
- Amazing port array
- Durable
There are some key things to consider when choosing a power station. The most important thing is to know your electricity needs. What are you going to do with your power station? Think about the products you connect to your power station and find out their ampere draw. Then figure out how many you want to use at the same time. From there you can start calculating your likely consumption.
For many of you, this will be the case with a refrigerator running maybe around 3Ah. If you run it for 12 hours without a charge – say overnight – that will consume 36Ah. Maybe also charge the phone at 2Ah for a couple of hours, which could be 4Ah again. Running some LED lights at 1Ah for 6 hours…so you get the idea.
This gives you an idea of your general spending
But you also need to consider the wattage required by the device you will be running. Portable refrigerators, CPAP machines, LED lights, etc. don’t need a lot of watts. Laptops, fans and TVs may require more power. Things like heaters, kettles, and toasters require a lot of watts. Some devices require a surge of watts to start before cooling down to keep running on less continuous power.
Here are some other key things to consider:
- Is it heavy or easy to carry?
- What ports does it have?
- Where are the ports placed?
- Does it have a built-in solar MPPT controller?
- What cables are in the box?
- Is there an LCD screen?
- how much does it cost?
- How long does it take to charge?
- What is the expected lifetime (typically measured as an 80% drop in capacity)?
- Can power go through the port while charging?
- Is the power throughput regulated to prevent surges?
- What other battery protection features are at work?
- Is the shelf life good?