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When you are reading this article, you are probably an outdoor VLogger or influencer who constantly goes out and gathers content for your social media.
One of the biggest concerns when going outdoors is the issue of the battery, which could cause a delay in the shooting, accidentally shut down of the equipment, and so on. And that is not fun at all. I’m not going to say a portable power station can fix all the outdoor and off-grid problems, but it does serve as an important emergency power source to back you up when you need it.
So let’s go ahead and explore the benefits of using a portable power station outdoors.
First Thing First: Why Do I Need A Portable Power Station?
If you are an outdoor Vlogger/Influencer, you may encounter situations where the power goes away a lot faster than you expect, and you may not be able to find the outlet to recharge your gear right away. In this case, having a portable power station will be a game changer.
It comes with multiple charging/USB ports so that you can charge multiple devices at once from the camera to the microwave, depending on its rated watt and watt-hours. It is practical and useful gear for outdoor enthusiasts as well as for outdoor Vloggers and Influencers to use on the go.
Another frequent question will be: How can I recharge a portable power station? There are several ways to recharge it. You can charge it via an AC adapter, solar panels, car charger, and AC adapter plus solar panels. The best thing about recharging it via solar panels is that you can carry it on the go, and as long as there’s sunlight, you can set up the solar panel and charge, and it’s clean and eco-friendly.
How Powerful It Could Possibly Be?
Before jumping into the topic, it is very important to know that we can use the formula below to estimate the working time:
Working Time(hours)=PPS's capacity*0.85/powering devices' operating power.
(The reason we multiply by 0.85 is that the inverter that changes the 12V DC power to 120V AC power isn’t 100% efficient, but somewhere about 85%.)
We have an article about this topic, and if you want to learn more about it, CLICK here.
There are several gadgets and devices an outdoor vlogger or influencer should have while working outdoors, and it is very important to have their power on all the time.
Drone
A drone is considered one of the most popular devices for outdoor vloggers. This small but powerful device can capture a lot of amazing footage outdoors to enhance the quality of the videos.
However, a single piece of battery is only capable of powering a drone for only 30 to 40 minutes. That means you have to constantly recharge it and watch out for the battery all the time. And for those who own a drone, using a car charger to recharge is very slow and it may take about 2-3 hours (depending on the output of the car charger) to fully recharge a single piece. If you are outdoors shooting, you have to recharge the drone every 30 minutes unless you have multiple batteries prepared.
This is why having a portable power station will be a game changer! Let’s take the POWEREPUBLIC T306 Portable Power Station as an example, it has 300W/296Wh. A single battery of a drone is about 18Wh. 296Wh*0.85/18Wh=14, which means a POWEREPUBLIC T306 portable power station can recharge one single battery 14 times and in this case, you don’t have to stress about losing power again.
DSLR Camera
The DSLR camera is another common device for outdoor Vloggers and influencers. It allows you to capture high-resolution videos and photos, which can be used for social media later. These cameras depending on the setting can be very expensive.
Most DSLR cameras are using a lithium-ion battery and can last from 2 hours to 6 hours. Let’s take the Canon LP-E6N battery, which has a 14Wh capacity and it is compatible with EOS 80D, as an example. A POWEREPUBLUC T306 Portable Power Station has 296Wh capacity, thus 296Wh*0.85/14Wh=18, which means a T306 portable power station can recharge the battery 18 times. In this case, you don’t have to stress about the power day and night. Having a portable power station does make shooting a lot smoother than ever.
Lighting Gear
If you are shooting at night or in places with poor lighting conditions, having a good light source is very important to conduct high-quality content. Most lighting gear has a rechargeable battery that allows you to recharge it anytime. Having a Portable Power Station will not only allow you to recharge it anytime and anywhere without worrying about a power outage but also serve as an emergency power supply on set.
Smartphone
Everything is on a smartphone these days. It is the most important device for snapping short videos, live-on-cam, and communicating with your fans and followers. However, smartphone batteries are not very durable and very easy to run out, especially during cool weather conditions. When traveling outdoors, once your cellphone is dead, you lose the connection to the whole world. What’s worse? You don’t have the chance to save the contents before your cell phone goes blackout. In this case, having a portable power station will provide constant power to your cellphone wherever you go.
Let’s take the POWEREPUBLIC T306(300W/296Wh) Portable Power Station as an example, a smartphone usually has an input power of around 20W. Thus, we can use 296Wh*0.85/20W=12.5 hrs, which says T306 can recharge it for about 12.5 hrs. The logic here is: that the larger the Watt Hour of a portable power station, the longer it can recharge a cellphone.
Laptop
After a whole day of shooting and filming, you need a laptop, sometimes with extra screens, to edit your photos and footage for our social media. When you are just using normal software like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, the amount of CPU needed to run them is very low, and thus less battery is consumed. However, when editing videos or pictures, you may need software like Adobe Effect, Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and so on. This kind of software will take up a higher CPU of a laptop, which consumes a lot more battery.
In this case, having a portable power station can ensure you have enough power to keep your laptop running smoothly. The adapter power of a MacBook Pro 13 is around 67W, and a POWEREPUBLIC T306 Portable Power Station has 300W and 296Wh. We can use 296Wh*0.85/67W=3.8 hrs, which says T306 can recharge it for about 3.8 hrs. The logic here is: that the larger the Watt Hour of a portable power station, the longer it can recharge a laptop.
Wi-Fi Device/Starlink
Besides getting in touch with nature, as a Vlogger, you also have to stay connected to the online world because that’s where you share your outdoor adventure with your followers and go live. In some outdoor areas, you can use your data to go online. However, it could be very expensive and in some places, your phone may go out of service. In this case, having a Wi-Fi device like Starlink is very important to keep you online all the time. Not only that, you also need a portable power station to constantly power the Wi-Fi device.
Based on the input power of the Starlink, which could be 50-75W or 110-150W depending on the settings, let’s take POWEREPUBLIC T1200 (1200W/1110Wh) Portable Power Station as an example. For the setting of 50-75W, we can use 1110Wh*0.85/75W=12.5hrs, which says T1200 can recharge it for about 12.5 hrs. For the setting of 110-150W, we can use 1110Wh*0.85/150W=6.3 hrs, which says T1200 can recharge it for about 6.3 hrs. The logic here is: that the larger the Watt Hour of a portable power station, the longer it can recharge a WIFI device.
So After All That Info Above, What Aspects of A Portable Power Station Should I Consider?
There are so many models with different watt hours and specs on the market that it can be very challenging and confusing to figure out which one to purchase.
Here are some aspects for you to keep in mind while selecting a portable power station.
Portability
One of the most important features of a portable power station is its portability. If you go outdoors to do some filming, you may carry a lot of heavy gear. Thus you can choose one that is lightweight, and most importantly, the battery capacity matches your actual needs, such as POWEREPUBLIC T306 Portable Power Station. In this case, you can carry it easily along with your backpack wherever you go.
Multiple Power Outlets
Another important feature of a portable power station you should pay attention to is its AC/USB outlets. The more outlets available in a portable power station, the better and more convenient it will be for outdoor. For example, the POWEREPUBLIC T306 Portable Power Station has 2 AC outlets, 2 USB ports, 1 Type-C port, and 1 QC3.O port which allows you to charge multiple devices at once. Also, the POWEREPUBLIC T1200 Portable Power Station has 6 AC outlets, 1 USB port, 2 Type-C ports, and 1 QC3.O port which can power up to 10 devices all at once.
Battery Capacity
The battery capacity of a portable power station usually means watt-hour (Wh). The larger the battery capacity, the higher the price in the market. So it is very important to know what kinds of appliances you need to charge and power before purchasing.
If you just need to power small devices like a cellphone, camera, WIFI device, drone, laptop, and so forth, POWEREPUBLIC T306 with 300W/296Wh is capable enough to power them. If you are traveling for a few days and need to charge appliances like mini-fridge, coffee maker, blender, and so forth, POWEREPUBLIC T1200 with 1200W/1110Wh is capable enough to power them all. If you are going to power devices with input power greater than 800W, choose POWEREPUBLIC T2200 with 2000W/2240Wh and it won’t disappoint you.
Durability
It is imperative to check the durability of a portable power station. Here, what we mean by durability is BMS, which is a Battery Management System. It serves as the central system to monitor input/output power as well as the stability of the battery in a portable power station. If the BMS of a portable power station is nicely written, there won’t be any battery decay most of the time(usually 1-2%). If not, you will see a 5-10% decay of the capacity the other day, especially during winter time. Thus, it is very important to carefully investigate a portable power station before purchasing it.
Warranty
The warranty shows how well a brand is capable of handling customer service. Although the technology of Portable Power Stations is quite mature compared to a few years ago, there’s still a 0.5%-1% chance that something might go wrong. Thus, having at least a 2-year warranty is very important if any malfunction occurs.
Plan Your Next Venture
In a nutshell, if you are thinking of purchasing a portable power station to go outdoors, POWEREPUBLIC is worth the investment. We cover all the factors mentioned above and we offer a 2-year warranty on our T Series Portable Power Station. Get in touch with us to learn more about our brand and our dedication to making Portable Power stations safe, fun, and cool.
Learn More About POWEREPUBLIC Portable Power Station.
