Powerful and Pricey: AllPowers S1500 Solar Generator is a Niche Solution in Search of Its Market
AllPowers S1500 Solar Generator
The AllPowers S1500 has plenty of utility for folks looking for high-efficiency AC power generation, but the extra cost and lack of any possibility to expand the battery in the future do leave it feeling limited. Aside from some slight bugbears in the app connectivity and some poor use of screen real estate, there is certainly a market for this device. If you have specific needs or can find it at a reduced cost, then it’s worth picking up.
AllPowers.com store. This also applies to the200W solar panel.
Constructions and Features
The S1500 is a power station rated for up to 1500W of continuous power, double that for surge, and around 1095mAh of capacity. It’s nicely constructed with a premium finish and weighs in at a substantial 29 lbs (33kgs).
Along with the premium finish, a decent amount of thought has gone into the minutia of the station’s design, with a nice rubber finish on the handle to aid comfort, and convenient indentations on the top to support stacking more than one unit. There’s also a tiny screen on the front that provides essential information to the user, such as how much power you’re using and how much you have left.
The only real drawback with the screen is that it’s not quite large enough to display both incoming and outgoing power. As a result, the unit defaults to showing only your outgoing power. One workaround comes in the form of Bluetooth connectivity. With the AllPowers app downloaded, you can connect your phone to the unit and control various features, such as the LED lights, and see a full report of incoming and outgoing power.
It costs a bit of a premium though, with an MSRP of around $1,4000 (USD). Similar units such as the Bluetti EB70 + PV200 Solar Generator has an MSRP of under $1000. A large part of that extra cost is thanks to the special inverter used in power generation and a minor increase in capacity, but with the Bluetti product, your money nets you an expandable battery too.
Power Generation
The real killer feature of the unit is the Pure Sine Wave Inverter that it uses to generate AC power. A typical power station will generate AC power at around 85% efficiency, but this Pure Sine Wave inversion works somewhere between 90-95% efficiency.
So, if you’re planning on running lots of everyday AC devices instead of mostly DC-based power through USB ports or barrel connectors, then this power station is a great choice. You’ll also be safety rated for up to 1500W, which means you can run a decent number of different devices, though not everything.
A medium-sized pressure cooker or a single hotplate will run just fine, though most air fryers are a no-go unless it’s possible to find a particular low-energy one. Similarly, anything like a kettle with a powerful heating element is out of the question. It’s also worth remembering that even 1000W devices will only run for about an hour, so if you’re hoping to do all your cooking with this thing it’s probably not going to work out.
At the very least, running indoor appliances outdoors is eminently possible with the S1500. As well as accepting charge through a regular power outlet or even through the PD100W USB-C port, you can charge up to 300W via solar panels. Thanks to the one-two combo of the solar panel and the high-efficiency AC power, you can keep a huge variety of devices running indefinitely on a sunny day.
Solar? I Hardly Know Her
As the name Solar Generator might imply, the S1500 is bundled with one of several different solar panels made by AllPowers. The station supports up to 300W, but the test unit we were working with came with the latest 200W model.
This new panel design is easy to flip out, comes with various attachment options, and is deployable in less than a minute. You will look a bit silly trying to put it up on your own, though. The velcro-secured stands have a tendency to collapse as you move down the line of the panel. At the very least, the latest iteration of the panel seems to charge the power station pretty efficiently.
Even in the typical gray British weather, the panel produced up to 150W at times. During the occasional sunshine, it would hit 200W consistently as well, and the S1500 usually came back indoors full after a solid day of charging.
The manual claims a total charging time of around 3–4 hours, though obviously, that is expecting peak charging of 300W at all times. In reality, I found it took at least 8 hours to charge the station fully with my 200W panel, which is about on track with the claims in the manual once you account for fluctuations due to the weather.
App Support and Extra Features
If you’re expecting a lot of features from the app connectivity, you will be sorely disappointed. While connected in the AllPowers app, you can turn AC and DC power on or off, enable or disable the lights, and see your total power flow in and out as well as how much time you’ve got left.
The app works, but it’s a little janky and unpolished. Often the connecting and searching notifications would hang on the screen for too long, and more than once, the information being supplied by the device froze until I reconnected it.
One positive thing about the phone connectivity is that enabling Bluetooth on the station is simple and doesn’t draw too much extra power. The same goes for the lights, which are pretty darn bright and can be turned on or off easily via the app or thanks to the obvious buttons next to each one on the machine itself. Weirdly though, you can’t turn the lights on individually through the app for some reason.
How much use you’ll get out of the AllPowers S1500 depends heavily on what you want to use it for. It’s great as an aid to a road trip if you don’t think a power bank will cut it. You’ll get a few hundred charges for most phones off of the generator without putting extra power into it, though your results may vary depending on your phone. It’ll also charge laptops between 10-20 times, depending on the battery’s size.
The unit is a little too heavy and bulky to make it feasible to bring along in a backpack during a hike, especially if you want the solar panel along. Anyone living in a van or boat who heats and cooks with gas or another fuel source might find this power station was tailor-made for them.
With the AC power generation being so efficient, this unit is most suited to using multiple medium-power AC devices at once with occasional phone/laptop charging. Even so, the middling capacity might leave you feeling wanting more for your money, mostly due to that expensive and hefty Pure Sine Wave inverter it’s got inside.
It’s also worth noting that prolonged use can cause some slight quirks in the machine. Even with nothing plugged in, the S1500 can get quite warm if you leave the AC power activated. Similarly, if you leave DC turned on, you’ll eventually notice a very faint buzzing noise that is more than a little disconcerting.
Should You Buy the S1500 Solar Generator?
All-in-all, the AllPowers S1500 Solar Generator does a lot of things right. It’s solidly built, has many impressive details, and is easy to work with. The main issue it suffers from is a feeling of missing its audience. For many experienced power station users, it’ll feel bare bones for the price you’re paying, while a newcomer is liable to balk at the premium price compared to more budget-friendly options.
While the expensive inverter inside is excellent for the incredibly specific group of people that want to do insane things like take a GameCube and TV to their local park or folks who run a lot of outdoor events, anyone trying to live their life based around it is going to find it running out of battery even on good days. Meanwhile, anyone who wants an oversized power bank for their smart devices is going to find it too heavy and expensive to be a viable option.
AllPowers has made an excellent product for the people suited to it, and I’m sure all five of them will be delighted. The S1500 falls short in features for everyone else, and the low capacity won’t supply power long enough for the relatively high output rating. Combined with the inability to expand the battery later, it feels hard to recommend this product to most people in the market for a power station.
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