How I used this portable power station to bring electricity to a caveman

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I've spent a lot of time testing power stations and exploring their capacity, power output, and safety features. Over the past year, I've tried out dozens of them and learned a lot along the way. However, testing how long these devices last is a bit trickier. I can only use so much power in my daily life. So spending months -- or even a year -- on a single unit isn't practical for me.

Testing a power station's longevity poses a unique challenge. Unlike checking how much power a unit can output or its capacity -- which can be done quickly in controlled settings -- figuring out longevity means you need to use the unit over a longer period under various conditions. Like any electronic device, a power station can experience wear and tear, which might not show up in short-term tests. 

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Longevity is critical because it tells us how well a power station can handle continuous use and different environmental conditions. Power stations are used in all sorts of places, from homes to outdoor adventures, so they need to be dependable. Plus, portable power stations can be quite pricey, so customers want to know they're making a smart investment.

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While I can share insights into their immediate performance, understanding how long they last requires a different approach. It means testing them in real-world settings over extended periods to see how they truly perform. That's why working with others who can test these units in different environments is so valuable -- it provides a fuller picture of what they can handle.

And guess what? I know just the right person to tackle this challenge.

Meet Will Lord, an expert in ancient technologies from the Paleolithic and Bronze Ages. He's got an incredible knack for skills like flint knapping, bow making, and bronze sword casting. He's also a good friend. During a visit to his place last year, I noticed that managing power was a bit of a challenge for him. He had a small Jackery unit, which was perfect for charging phones and running smaller devices, but it just couldn't handle larger tasks like power tools and water heaters.

What this caveman needed was a big power station.

This power station would have its work cut out for it. Instead of sitting comfortably in an air-conditioned room and only being used during power outages, this unit would brave an earth lodge through all seasons. It would be unceremoniously dragged outdoors as needed, find itself powering high-demand devices for long periods, and occasionally be tossed into a van for a trip back to civilization for recharging.

This can take a toll on any system.

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Last year I dropped off a Jackery Explorer Kit 4000, complete with an expansion battery and a couple of solar panels. This massive unit that can hold 4,000Wh of energy held in a bank of LiFePO4 batteries, and it can push out up to 3,000W AC power continuously (6,000W surge). There's not much it can't handle.

The Jackery has now sat in the earth lodge for a cycle of the seasons, exposed to dirt, dust, and smoke; it's been dragged around the camp as needed to power a multitude of devices, been left out in the freezing cold and burning sun, and had a few trips to a handy AC outlet for charging -- trips that involve miles of bad road.

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The entire unit – the main power station and the expansion battery – weighs in at just over 100 pounds, but it's kitted out with big chunky wheels and a telescoping handle for ease of moving, which has proved useful for moving power around camp to where it's needed.

Also: Why you should stop using your solar-powered power bank (and try this alternative instead)

This unit has now seen a year of hard, and mostly trouble-free use and it's still going strong. This is a testament to the built quality of these units.

Long-term use also uncovers things that can be improved.

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For example, Will told me that sometimes the Jackery's expansion battery shows the incorrect battery level and will go dead with an alleged 20 percent left in the tank, which is annoying.

He also pointed out that operating a power station in pitch darkness is hard as it's almost impossible to find the buttons and ports.

Also: How we test portable power stations at ZDNET

"You'd think they'd put some dim LED lights around the ports and buttons, you know, so you can see where they are in the dark," Will said as we sat in the earth lodge.

Sitting there with just a flickering for illumination, I could see his point.

To back up the Jackery, when I was on site the other day, I dropped off a Bluetti EP500 Pro unit to see how this power station puts up with this level of usage. The EP500 Pro is another monster of a unit, with 5,100Wh energy capacity and the same formidable power output. Again, there's not much that this system couldn't power.

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Coming in what Bluetti call an "elegant white" – a color it won't be for long – this behemoth weighs in at over 180 pounds, which makes it a bit of a workout to get it in and out of a van. The unit is equipped with wheels, but they're more suited to indoor use than the rugged outdoors. 

That said, I did manage to move the unit about the place.

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The EP500 Pro is different from the Jackery system in that this is a single unit with no expansion battery. The upside is that everything is self-contained in one package, but the downside is that 180 pounds of gravity needs moving about.

Extreme outdoor life is a hard test for any power station, but it seems that at least some of these modern units are robust enough to withstand this sort of treatment. As IP65-rated portable power stations built to be dust and water resistant become more commonplace, we'll see them becoming even better suited to outdoor life. 

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Will plans to put up a more permanent array of solar panels to augment the portable Jackery SolarSaga 200 panels, which means the power stations will need fewer trips to an AC outlet for charging. 

I'll return next year -- perhaps sooner --  to see how that's working out and how the power stations are getting on.