A good portable power station can be the difference between keeping your devices charged and the lights on during a power outage or sitting in the dark. Larger portable power stations, like Anker’s new Solix F3800 Plus, are also pushing the definition of portability. More closely resembling a whole-home backup, the Solix F3800 Plus is a successor to the Solix F3800, which currently takes a spot on CNET’s list of the best tested portable power stations.
Anker sent an F3800 Plus power station review sample to my home and I put it to the test as my whole-home backup, seeing if it could replace not just other large portable power stations, but home backups like the Tesla Powerwall and EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultra. Here’s what I learned.
What you need to know about the Anker Solix F3800 Plus
The F3800 Plus can provide up to 6,000 watts of AC output, and if that’s not enough, you can hook up a second power station. It has a capacity of 3,800 watt-hours and has a ton of plugs for distributing power. There are six 20-amp AC outlets, one NEMA L14-30 outlet, one NEMA TT-30P outlet, three 100-watt USB-C ports, two 12-watt USB-A ports, and one 120-watt DC automotive power port. It can accept power from a gas generator (up to 6,000 watts), AC input (1,800 watts) or solar input (up to 3,200 watts).
Preorders begin Feb. 26 and the power station will be available starting March 12. The power station starts at $3,199, and those who preorder will receive a free 400-watt solar panel and protective cover. You can also snag a transfer switch for $99 and a Generator Input Adapter for $49.
Using the Solix F3800 Plus as a whole-home backup
This is not the first whole-home power station backup that I’ve tested. EcoFlow, set up a Delta Pro Ultra whole-home backup power supply and Smart Home Panel 2 in my home just over a year ago, and I’ve been using it ever since. That particular setup isn’t compatible with Anker’s power station, but there are a lot of similarities between the two.
First of all, they’re both incredibly heavy. The EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultra requires both a battery and an inverter, which taken together tip the scales at over 180 pounds. The Solix power station is a comparatively svelte 120 pounds, and the inverter is built in. They’re both expandable and have numerous outputs. The Delta Pro Ultra hides its outputs under covers — the Solix doesn’t bother with that.
Both whole-home backup solutions have smart home panels you can optionally purchase. If you intend to use the Solix F3800 Plus as a whole-home backup, I do recommend picking it up since it makes the takeover automatic when the power actually goes out.
Unfortunately, Anker did not send its smart panel solution for testing, which might be for the best since installing electrical panels is not trivial and generally requires permits and electricians. My currently installed EcoFlow Smart Home Panel 2 allows me to assign priorities to various circuits so when I lose power, I can choose which circuits switch to the battery. I imagine Anker’s smart panel works very similarly.
In my home, I have my kitchen, my office and one bathroom set to be powered continually on battery power. The rest of the house also stays on until the battery reaches a certain level (I have it set at 40%), and then they’ll power off. When I lose power, there’s generally a short, 1-second dropout, which automatically powers off my computer and turns off my smart lights. When the battery kicks in, all the lights come back on at full brightness (as they’re designed to do).
If you don’t go for a smart home panel, you can simply pick up a transfer switch that will allow you to switch back and forth between the battery and the power mains coming into your house. Both Anker Solix and EcoFlow offer those options, but in those cases, they’ll be manually controlled, rather than automatic.
How long will the Solix F3800 Plus station last?
During my time with the Anker Solix F3800 Plus, I tested a few appliances to see how long they would last if they were connected to the battery. I tested these devices individually (for the most part; more on that in a bit) to get a good idea how long this system could last.
I plugged various devices into the power station, including my refrigerator, TV, space heater, clothes dryer and office computer setup. Of those, the space heater ran down the battery fastest, draining the battery in just under 3 hours.
Next, I connected my clothes dryer to the power station for one cycle lasting about 1 hour and 20 minutes, which took the portable battery down from 100% to 88% — less than I expected. You can probably expect to get about eight cycles out of the portable power station — handy if you have a long power outage and need to dry clothes for your whole family.
It also tackled other appliances handily. The F3800 Plus powered my refrigerator for 12 hours, the longest time I got from my devices and appliances. This was followed by my Hisense 65-inch U8K TV, which the Solix F3800 Plus kept running for another 7 hours.
Then I connected all of my office devices to it for another eight hours. My office has a Lenovo Legion Tower 5i, three monitors (28-inch Lenovo, 24-inch Samsung and 32-inch Monoprice), a set of Logitech PC speakers, several clamp lights and various other devices (phones, charging stations, etc). The F3800 Plus kept all of these running for a full 8-hour shift finishing at 26% at the end of the workday, meaning I still had several hours of time to spare if I needed it.
The Solix F3800 Plus boosts solar input by 30% and now also supports integration with a gas generator. You can connect up to eight 400-watt solar panels to charge this power station. According to Anker, under “optimal conditions,” the power generator can recharge fully in 1.5 hours. That’s impressive because when connected to a normal 120-volt plug, my testing put charge time at just 5 minutes shy of 3 hours.
Basically, as long as you’re frugal with what you want to power and it’s not winter, this power station can easily backup your home for several hours. With the addition of solar panels and gas generators, it can keep you running off-grid indefinitely, which could be huge if you’re in a storm-prone area where your power might be knocked out for a week or more.
Pros and cons of a portable power station as a home backup
Pros
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Keep everything on: Using a portable power station to back up your entire home allows you to keep everything plugged in, ready for when the power goes out. There’s no hasty unplugging/replugging, and with the smart panel, you can configure what gets power and what doesn’t automatically.
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A home battery without the install: Power stations like this aren’t meant to be tossed into the back of a pickup and taken to your next camp out. They’re designed to power major appliances like refrigerators to keep your food fresh and cold during an extended outage. Yes, they can power your laptop, but that’s not their primary purpose.
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You can charge anything: Your home? Yep. Your electric car? Yes. Your electric
lawn mower
? Not sure why you’d want to, but sure. -
You might save money: The F3800 Plus, under certain circumstances, can pay for itself. Not only can you get a tax break in some areas for having an alternative power solution (check your local listings) but if you’re on a variable rate power plan, you can run off this battery during peak times and recharge it when electricity is cheaper. Using the 400-watt solar panels to recharge instead of using AC charging can also add to the potential savings.
Cons
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Cost: Saving money is true, but only after the initial investment. Remember, you’re not just buying the power station — if you want to use it for home backup also need to install a smart panel and transfer switch, which can involve permits and an electrician. That can all add up fast.
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Bigger homes may struggle: Some electricians recommend about 7,500 watts to power a 10-circuit power switch. This F3800 Plus has about half of that, so if you have lots of demanding appliances on a couple of circuits, you may need to pick and choose what you’re powering.
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This isn’t really portable: While the Solix F3800 Plus is smaller than a whole-home battery, it still weighs about 120 pounds and takes up a full square foot of floor space. Depending on how big your space is, that might not fit well, and forget about moving it around too often.
Anker Solix F3800 Plus vs. EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultra
If you want to use a portable power station as a whole-home backup, you’ll need to connect the battery to your electrical grid, which is where the transfer switch or smart panels come into play. The Anker Solix Home power panel retails for $1,238, while the EcoFlow Smart Panel sits at $1,599.
The F3800 Plus has a capacity of 3,800 Wh as opposed to the Delta Pro Ultra’s 6,144 Wh, which may make the Delta Pro Ultra more suitable for those with bigger houses with 10 or more circuits and a larger family. There is a substantial price difference, though, the Anker Solix F3800 Plus power station retails for $3,199, while the Delta Pro Ultra retails for $6,098 (though it’s currently on sale for $5,799).
Both of these power stations take up a fair amount of room, wherever you decide to park them. My Deltra Pro Ultra is in my garage near my electrical panel and it takes up a fair amount of space. The Solix is more compact, which is nice, but it still is not tiny.
On the plus side, both of these devices can keep your lights on if you lose power. In my neighborhood, where power lines are buried, we don’t lose power too often, but when we do, it’s never for more than an hour or two, and the Delta Pro Ultra is able to keep up with that demand.
EcoFlow also has a neat feature that keeps the battery charged at about 50% to extend longevity, but when bad weather is approaching my neighborhood, the battery proactively charges the Delta Pro Ultra to 100%, so it’s ready. The Smart Panel 2 can also switch your power to the battery during peak usage times if you are on a metered plan. Basically, you can switch to the battery during the morning and evening hours and recharge overnight when power is cheaper.
A few final thoughts
Having a whole-home backup battery is wonderful, especially for someone like me who works from home. Downtime can be very hard on your bottom line. It can also be stressful for my two teenagers, who grew up never knowing the joy of not having internet for a few hours. I love my power station.
If you want to try this out, the Anker Solix F3800 Plus is a great option. I like the fact that it’s all one unit, with built-in wheels and a retractable handle for moving it around. This gives it some ability to be relocated throughout your home, but it’s still way too heavy to consider it anything approaching “portable.” You will not take this thing camping with you, though it could be a valuable companion in a mobile home or trailer though.
So whether or not you should get one really depends on your use case. For some, a smaller, more portable unit will help keep your router and laptop running to wait out an outage, but you’ll also have to manually keep the power station charged and ready to go, plus you’ll have to move your devices over to the power station when the power goes. A whole-home backup, meanwhile, can keep everything where it is and powered on when you need it.
Can a portable power station be your UPS?
The Anker Solix F3800Plus can work as an uninterruptible power supply, but it’s gigantic. It’s also only one unit, so everything you want to keep running must be in one place. I could see someone using this as a UPS for something like my office setup with a desktop tower and multiple monitors, but you’ll want to ensure you have extra space for it in your office.
What’s the best portable power station for camping?
The Anker Solix F3800 Plus is too heavy to take camping, and it’s really overkill for anything involving a tent. However, you could use it to power a small camper or trailer.
To that end, we have a list of the best portable power stations you can choose from, with the unique Bluetti Handsfree 2 Backpower Power Station serving as our top choice for campers. For a more traditional form-factor, you’ll want to look at a midsize option like the Jackery Explorer 1000 Plus. The Anker Solix C800 Plus doesn’t feature on our winner’s list, but we’ve tested it and it’s also a great option for camping since it includes a built-in lamp.
How much capacity do I need in a whole home backup power station?
The more battery capacity you have, the more things you’ll be able to power for longer. As it stands, I would say the F3800 Plus’s 3,800 Wh is the bare minimum you’ll want if you want to back up your whole home. Some electricians suggest around 7,500 Wh to power all 10 circuits of a 10-circuit transfer switch. If you plan to power only a few circuits at a time, you can get away with less.
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