my brother texted me last week, just a link and “thoughts?” which is never good because this dude only texts me about three things: workout routines that make no sense, conspiracy theories about electric cars, or gear he wants to buy but needs someone else to validate.
this time it was a portable power station, the bluetti ac180.
found it here if you’re curious:
big black box with a handle. looks like if a toolbox went to business school. 1152 watt hours of battery, charges in an hour, runs your whole life apparently. i stared at it for like ten minutes trying to figure out why he needed this thing. he lives in a suburb. his biggest emergency last year was when his wifi went out.
the thing has 11 outlets. eleven. four regular ac outlets that can handle 1800 watts continuous, 2700 peak. usb ports everywhere. a car charger outlet. even solar input if you want to go full apocalypse prepper. there’s an app that lets you control it from your tent which is both incredibly lazy and exactly what i’d use it for.
what really got me was this review from a guy who set it up as an uninterrupted power supply for his home office. apparently it switches over in 20 milliseconds when the power cuts out. your computer doesn’t even notice. your router stays on. you just keep working while your neighbors are lighting candles like it’s 1847.
why this is messing with my head
i’ve never thought about power outages. like ever. when the power goes out, i light a candle, eat cold cereal, and wait. it’s fine. it’s always been fine. but now i’m sitting here thinking about all the times it wasn’t fine.
and it’s not even about emergencies really. people are using these things for camping. or working in their shed. one reviewer powers their whole home entertainment system with it during movie nights in the backyard. another guy runs power tools at job sites. it’s like having a wall outlet that follows you around.
the solar charging thing is what really breaks my brain though. 500 watts of solar input max. charges the whole thing in under three hours if you have good sun. so theoretically you could just… never plug it into the wall? just let the sun charge your backup power? that’s some next level stuff that makes me feel like i’ve been living wrong.
the rabbit hole gets deeper
i spent the next two hours reading about lifepo4 batteries. apparently they’re safer than regular lithium batteries and last for like 3500 charge cycles. that’s almost ten years if you drain it every single day.
then i started looking at what people actually run with these things. cpap machines for 2-3 nights. mini fridges for 15-20 hours. laptops for days. led lights for literally weeks. one person said they ran their starlink internet and worked remotely from their van for a week straight just charging with solar panels during the day.
and now i’m annoyed because i kind of want one but for no good reason. i work from home. i have reliable power. the last time we had an outage was six months ago and it lasted 45 minutes. but something about knowing i could run my coffee maker during the apocalypse is weirdly appealing.
my brother ended up buying one. sent me a picture of it sitting in his garage still in the box. “for emergencies” he said. right. emergencies like wanting to blend margaritas at the beach or run a projector for outdoor movie night. which honestly sounds pretty good.
because yeah, i get it. the world feels increasingly weird and having a big battery that can run your life for a day feels like something.
anyway. it’s probably the kind of thing that sits in your closet for three years until that one time you really need it and then you feel like a genius. or you become one of those people who brings it camping and everyone rolls their eyes until their phone dies and suddenly you’re the hero with the power station.
i’m not buying one. probably. maybe. i don’t know. ask me after the next power outage.
best deal i found: