Note (Original review for main unit at end - most recent (about expansion batteries) top).
6/3/24: Have had 0 problems with these batteries. Been using them almost every night to power my office from 4pm-9am. Excellent product - very happy with it. It's comforting knowing that I could power my place (fridge, internet, TV, computers) for at least 24 hours if we lose electricity again. Meanwhile, they function as power surge / protection and offload power to cheaper off hours (actually saving some money doing this - albeit very little but it's adding up every day). I bought some automated plugs that my phone turn on/off when it's 4pm-9am so I don't have to do anything to "offload" my power to cheaper times. LFP batteries are great - Anker is great. Hope y'all have a great 2024!
4/14: Finally - Firmware Update Fixes External Battery Issue
A few days ago Firmware 1.4.3 came out - looks like this has fixed the issue where when using the battery as an UPS and pull power for long periods of time then reconnect power - charging would refuse to happen unless one powered down/back up the external battery.
Been using my C1000 + external battery now for awhile to power my office from 4pm - 9am (averaging 70% of the external battery to 100% of external battery). Been working great (got in the habit of manually pressing the external battery button to power it down/back on every morning - so it would charge at 9am - looks like I don't have to do any anymore). :D
Very happy with these batteries! Got my power setup for years to come.
3/10: Latest Update
External battery still needs me to press the main button on/off for charging to happen almost every day (running on batteries all night, then smart switch turns power back on, the unit won't charge till I turn on/off the expansion battery via front button), which is a little frustrating but not a deal breaker since it's right next to me. I bought a set of 120mm silent fans to cool both units, they seem to keep the fans off for the most part while running on battery or UPS pass through power (internal fans always run when charging - but very low). Most of my usage is <200w even during gaming nights. We'll see how it does in summer when my room gains 10-15F+.
Been using this battery as an UPS offloading my entire office power from 4pm-9am with smart plugs. Very happy with it. Works well. Comforting knowing if we have another day or two power outage, I'll be able to keep everything running during then.
3/3: Notes on Expansion Battery. Still Happy With Unit!
Been using this device with a smart plug to automatically cut power at 4pm to 8am and for the most part it's been working flawlessly. Every few days it'll get in a weird super slow charging mode where it says remaining charge 4 days and never enter UPS mode (I use this as an UPS).
Usually restarting the expansion battery works for it to "reset" and charge then enter UPS mode. Only a small inconvenience with the Expansion Battery (using it as an UPS).
App is amazing. Batteries are amazing. Device works perfectly as a home office backup system. I plan on using this setup for a long time until a new battery technology comes out. Will report back if I ever get to use this thing in a long outage (powering the fridge, TV, other rooms).
2/24: Expansion Battery Quirks
Noticed some interesting behavior with the Expansion battery. If I plug the C1000 and the expansion battery into an outlet that fails to provide the power that the Anker C1000 is asking for, the entire thing goes into a weird passthrough mode and will refuse to charge (no matter how many times I plug/unplug from power) -- until I turn off the expansion battery and then turn it back on (lucky to figure this out). Initially I thought I broke it, but just turning off expansion battery (press holding expansion battery power button for a few seconds) and then back on returned charging to normal. I see how this has affected some other reviewers. Either removing the massive cable for a few seconds or pressing and holding the button on the front seems to fix this (until it happens again).
I'm very happy with this setup and have been using it to offload my office power from 4pm to 8/9am very successfully. I usually get the expansion battery down to 22% with this setup. If I want to exercise the main unit's battery, I'll just press and hold power for 3 seconds on the expansion battery (no removal needed) and use the main unit for a night. Very convenient! (Using this as an UPS for my office - see below).
2/22: Expansion Battery Arrives!
Absolutely loving this thing. I'm using it to offload my office usage during peak hours (4-9pm). I've had no quirks at all, no complaints. So happy with it, I got the expendable battery (today in the mail).
Cable for expendable battery is HUGE - almost doubles the width of the unit... It is not movable whatsoever, so consider that if you get it.
When initially plugged into the main unit the expendable battery would only charge at 300w despite being set to 1000w (default). After it warmed up from 55F (shipping?) it started charging at the full rate - so there's definitely some battery management going on. With this thing I should be able to run my entire office for more than 24 hours easily.
I bought a silent thin USB Desk fan (just for experimentation) - and this helps keep the unit 10-15F cooler and I never hear the fans, even if pulling close to 160w. We'll see how it does in the summer time.
I sent in a suggestion to Anker asking them to include an option to log wattage draws/pulls since I use this as an UPS primarily. Also suggested a way to cap the battery % at 80% for longevity. They agreed and said they'd send it to their developers. (Cool!).
Very happy with this unit. Glad I waited for LFP power generators.
2/12: Original Review on Main Unit Only
Initial review (2 days of usage):
This is my first battery power generator. I've been watching the market for a long time and didn't want to spend $1000. When we recently had a power outage (6+ hours), I noticed my 256whr Anker couldn't power our fridge due to the startup load. So, the SOLIX C1000 was the obvious choice for cost and power provided - was able to get it on sale for $650. Takes about a week to ship - UPS with almost no updates till it's at your front door.
I've played with this now for a few days... This thing is amazing. It powers everything and anything I throw at it. I can put my 1500w UPS on it and power my entire office without a problem ( the 256 wh Anker 521 instantly shuts off with same load despite ~100-49w constant draw ). I can control and see vital stats via my phone without having to bend over and check the screen. I have run my entire office off of this battery for hours and only used 10% of the battery capacity. I purchased some drop cords to be able to power the fridge/living room if we have another power outage. Will report back on experience when/if this is used.
The recharge rate is amazing, close to 800w and slows down to 600w as it gets closer to 100%. The UltraFast Charging is really nice but expect a lot of fan noise the moment this is turned on. Speaking of fan noise, I am currently using it as an UPS for my office - plugging my 1500w UPS into it and it powering 2 desks (monitors/devices/2 computers). The low fan only came on a few times while powering this setup for several hours (~87-90w constant draw (150w top)) - it's barely audible but considering my previous setup was 100% silent, this is going to probably be temporary as it is winter right now and I imagine the fan noise will be come more of an issue in the summer. I noticed the device was sitting around 83F during very light usage and 95+F during battery draw in a cold winter room <70F. Putting a desk fan on the device's vents instantly drops the internal temperature 10+F so it looks like it wants to sit around 80F in UPS mode. So I wouldn't put this in a closet or in a place that has closed ventilation.
Build Quality? It's plastic. But heavy duty plastic. But for $650 I wasn't expecting a metal chassis I guess. Low fan noise is barely audible and doesn't sound bad. The included cables are VERY short and very bulky. The unit does not creak when carrying it around and it feels like it could survive a good drop.
Note: When I first got the unit, no amount of pressing and holding the power button turned the device on. Was initially worried but once plugging it into the wall, everything started operating like normal.
Seriously considering the attachment battery as it would effectively double my ability to power the house in an outage (right now estimated at around 11-15 hours without conserving).
The Anker app is great - I just wish it had more features and ability to record power usage instead of having a few second stats view. But I can't complain, it does what it does well - have had no problems with it.
Will report back as I continue to use this device daily.
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