Anker’s massive backup battery can power your TV for nine hours

A standard power bank might be fine for refuelling your smartphone a few times, but its meagre output won’t be much use when the grid’s gone down and you need to microwave your dinner. Want a backup battery that can run your domestic tech? Anker’s PowerHouse is the answer.

A portable power station for your pad, Anker’s largest PowerHouse ships with a massive 1229Wh capacity. Don’t know your joules from your coulombs? That’s enough to run a microwave for more than an hour – plenty of time to ping your dinner. Alternatively, it can power a fridge for almost three hours, run a TV for nine or refill a laptop 16 times over.

A swift 20ms switchover time means it can provide continuous power to delicate electronics when the mains supply is interrupted. Running a solar setup? The PowerHouse can store energy generated during the day, allowing you to stay sustainable and self-sufficient through the night.

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Clad in a sturdy aluminium chassis, the PowerHouse is also happy to travel – handy for grilling foraged food on your electric BBQ. It’s not backpack-friendly at 19.9kg, but integrated handles should at least make it easier to heave into the back of your wagon.

And with an arsenal of ports on-board, you whole crew can get a share of the juice: besides a car port and four USB-A sockets, the PowerHouse is home to a pair of 100W USB-C ports and six AC outlets (for US plugs), with a total output of 1500W.

However you hook it up, Anker reckons the PowerHouse is good for more than 3000 charge cycles, which should be enough to see you through a few years in the wilderness. It’s also fast to refill, reaching 80% capacity in just an hour – and brimming the tank in 90 minutes. Useful if mains electricity is rationed after the apocalypse.

Keen to go off-grid – or at least be ready for blackouts? Anker’s PowerHouse 757 will be available from 9 May. The PowerHouse alone will cost $1399, while Anker’s solar bundle – including three panels and all the necessary cables – will set you back $2299.

Chris Rowlands Freelance contributor

About

For more than a decade, Chris has been finding and featuring the best kit you can carry. When he's not writing about his favourite things for Stuff, you'll find Chris field-testing the latest gear for TechRadar. From cameras to classic cars, he appreciates anything that gets better with age.

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Cameras, gear and travel tech