By Randy Wakeman

Over the last few years, portable power stations have improved substantially and at the same time, they have dropped in price significantly as well. This Ampace Andes 1500 is the sweet spot for portable power, for it can run most anything in your kitchen, your campsite, or out in the field on AC or DC. At 36.8 pounds, you can easily take it from room to room, all around your campsite, or pop it into your car or truck without much drama. You can find it on Amazon here, https://amzn.to/44NbsFw . I paid $499 for mine which I consider a screaming good deal, which is why I bought it. That includes the $100 off coupon currently on Amazon.

It will power most anything that runs at 2400 watts, which includes everything from coffee makers, hair dryers, blenders, portable refrigerators, lights, pumps, heaters, and so forth with the ability to surge to 3600 watts for high draw initial start up tools and appliances. It has a whopping 13 outlets, four of which are up to 2400 watt AC. As supplied, it was 33% charged. On my unit, for whatever reason, the “A-Boost” quick charging (billed as 55 minutes) was enabled which allows around a 1480 watt draw. That quickly tripped a 20 amp breaker, so I disabled the A-Boost which slowed the charging to 820 watts with no further issues.

For one of the initial tests, I decided to brew a pot of coffee with a Ninja 12 cup coffee maker. The initial power draw was 1108 watts, settling to 1096 watts, and then dropping to zero after brewing with just the hot plate on. Ninja claims this coffee brewer is 1100 watts: it pulled very close to its rating. Anyway, as a fairly high-drain appliance, it consumed close to 15% of the Andes 1500 capacity. After you and your friends guzzle six large pots of coffee, you'll be ready to recharge. Certainly running fans, lights, a flat screen TV, or an electric blanket will keep you cool, warm, or entertained for many hours. An electric blanket is only about 100 watts, a small fan is 40 watts, a car refrigerator uses 30-60 watts when the compressor is running. Ampace claims the Andes 1500 can run a portable fridge for 27.5 hours.

You can charge this unit via solar panels or with your vehicles DC power, both of which are comparatively slow with this unit or most any unit for that matter. Car charging (cable supplied) is a turtle-slow 96 watt max. Although the solar input is 600 watt, solar panels generally produce nowhere near what they are rated for, as many have learned. The manual calls solar charging time at about 3-5 hours, car charging time at about 16 hours. Using a conventional wall socket at the regular charging speed makes the most sense to me.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are several little $220 300w, 288Wh units out there. While handy, they struggle to power anything substantial and the tiny capacity batteries naturally do not last very long at all. Even a small toaster can draw 850 watts, so the small units are limited as far as any significant back-up power.

For those of you familiar with 40v 4Ah battery powered weed whippers and leaf blowers, those battery packs translate to 160Wh. This Andes 1500 has 9.1375 times the capacity of a 40v 4Ah lithium-ion battery. After 400 to 500 cycles, your lithium ion batteries are likely trash.  In the case of the Andes 1500, the battery chemistry is Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) offering 6000 cycles while retaining over 80% of its rating-- in the area of twelve times the cycle life of lithium ion.

The Ampace Andes 1500 has more than enough capability run your kitchen appliances at home in the event of a power outage, and can certainly run a campsite for the whole crew, while being both affordable and portable. It comes with a 5 year warranty and has a claimed 10 year / 6000 charge cycle lifespan. It is well built and quiet. As long as the 1462Wh battery, 36.8 pound weight, and 2400 watt output meets your needs, the Andes 1500 easily rates a very strong buy.