9 surprising things you can do with a portable power station

Portable power stations are revolutionizing RV travel. They're crushing the old justifications for buying a generator, and eliminating the need to carry gas cans and observe restrictions on "generator hours" in campgrounds.

Why? Power stations can essentially give you an electric power pedestal everywhere you travel.

In addition, power stations can do some pretty interesting things that you may not have thought about. A number of these have surprised me, as I've tested our Sorein Power Station over the last few months. Let's run through 9 of my favorites:

1. Add battery power to your rig without costly custom work

Not very long ago, if you wanted to increase the battery power of your Airstream, you'd have to hire a custom shop to install a bunch of batteries inside the rig. They might go under a couch, bed, storage compartment or in a closet, and they'd need a lot of heavy cables to connect them all. The costs for labor, fabrication work, drilling, cables, batteries, and other miscellaneous parts could quickly run into the many thousands of dollars—and you'd lose some storage space.

But now, a power station of equivalent capacity will provide the same amount power for far less than a custom battery installation. Plus, you don't lose any storage space and you can leave the extra weight of the power station at home when you don't need it.

2. Turn a 15-amp outlet into a 30-amp outlet

Imagine that one day you're overnighting in a friend's driveway. It's hot and humid, and they don't have a 30-amp plug for you to use. Do you suffer in the heat with no air conditioning all night?

Nope. Plug your Sorein Power Station into the 15-amp wall outlet, and plug your Airstream into the TT30 outlet on the Extra Inverter (required for this situation). The Extra Inverter will ensure that your air conditioner gets the power it needs, by drawing from the batteries as needed.

And what's really great is that the Sorein Power Station will recharge from the wall outlet on your friend's wall–without tripping the circuit breaker. Yes, the Sorein Power Station can charge and discharge at the same time. With at least one Extra Battery, you should be able to get through the entire night in comfort. Genius!

3. Use it as an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for household backup

Maybe you've got a deep-freezer or a second fridge in your garage. Plug it into your power station, and plug the power station into a wall outlet. Now you've got an Uninterruptible Power Supply! The Sorein Power Station that we offer will keep that freezer running when the power goes off in a storm. And it will switch over to battery power in less than 20 milliseconds. 

4. Run your RV air conditioner

A really capable power station (like Sorein) can start and run your rooftop air. That's because it has a built-in "soft start" capability, a TT30 plug, and an inverter capable of outputting 2,200 watts of continuous demand (4,200 watts peak). 

Keep in mind that to do this for more than an hour or so, you'll need to add an Extra Battery or two. Even with extra batteries, air conditioning is a huge power consumer, so plan to use it sparingly. 

5. Use the full potential of your solar panels

Solar panels are highly efficient at charging batteries. If you find that the batteries on your RV are charging to full before the end of the day, and you have portable solar panels, you can take advantage of the extra sunshine by plugging the solar panels into your power station. In fact, most power stations have an XT60 input plug made for exactly this purpose.

To make it simple, you can plug your RV into the power station, and leave your solar panels connected to the power station–all day. The panels will charge the station, and the station will charge the RV. How cool is that?

6. Power your next tailgate or other outing

Don't forget that portable power stations are, well, "portable"! 

You can take your power station to outings, events, or on car trips so you've always got power for anything. It's perfect for tailgating, picnics, and any place where a generator would be too noisy.

Pro Tip: Toting around a heavy power station is a lot easier if the one you purchase on that can be easily lifted. That's why we recommend investing in a modular station that separates into lighter pieces that are easier to move.

7. Run power tools

Got a job to do? Bring your electric power tools, even a table saw, and run them from the outlets of your power station.

Make sure the power station has the "oomph" to start up and run power tools. The Sorein Power Station can easily handle any power tool that plugs into a standard wall outlet.

8. Charge everything, all at once 

A good power station has lots of outlets for all the electrical gizmos we love. The Sorein Power Station, for example, has 14 outlets:

• four 20-amp AC outlets
• one TT30 outlet (for the RV)
• two USB-A
• four USB-C
• 1 "cigarette lighter" outlet
• two DC5521 outlets (12 volt outlets used for charging small batteries)

You can use all of these at the same time, as long as the total power is 2,200 watts or less. This is perfect for power outages at home, where you need to have some lights and fridge power, while keeping all your phones and computers charged.

9. Light up the dark, always

Flashlight batteries always seem to be dead when you need them. Perhaps that's why the Sorein engineers thought to add a built-in flashlight to their power station. It's always charged, always ready in a power outage.  

If you're wondering where it is, it's the white bar just above the display on the front of the power station. Just slide your finger along the right edge, and the flashlight pops out. (It's held in place magnetically.) Now, that's brilliant!