Acenergy S1200 Portable Power Station review

REVIEW – We’ve reviewed many power stations here at the Gadgeteer, partly because they’re so versatile. You can use them for emergency backup power for computers, tablets, phones, or pretty much any other device. Paired with a good solar panel (or two) you can create an off-grid energy solution for camping, RV’s, and many other scenarios. The Acenergy S1200 Portable Power Station looks like a solid option for any of these use cases, so I’ve agreed to test it out.

The Acenergy S1200 Portable Power Station is a power station – a large battery that can provide up to 1200 watts of power to AC, USB, or DC devices. It has a much faster-than-average charging time and good storage for the price, along with longer-lasting battery chemistry and a host of safety features.

All of the ports on the Acenergy S1200 Portable Power Station are on the front, except for the AC charging input and solar input, which are around back. The top of the front has an on/off switch, control for AC/DC/USB outputs, an LCD information screen, and a 12V car outlet. Below that is a DC input port (for solar or the car charger), and the USB cluster. There’s one 65 watt USB-C port, an 18 Watt USB-A Quick Charge 3.0 port, and then two each USB-A and USB-C ports supporting the standard 5V 2.4A output.

Below that is a pair of AC plugs, which are pure-sine for devices that need clean AC power. Up to 1200 watts of continuous output is supported combined between the two ports.

Around the back is the emergency light (on/off/SOS modes), an AC input (up to 1000 watts), a DC input (up to 500 watts, 12-36 V supported), and a reset button.

Up top is the rubbery carry handle. This feels secure and is comfortable to carry short distances, but I wish it was recessed when not in use so you could stack things on top of the power station. Also lacking here is wireless charging for phones and other devices, this has become pretty common on most units.

A sticker on the side relays important connection information.

The above shot of the back shows the built-in fan as well which can get as loud as a louder laptop when under full load.

The above side profile shot shows the shape of the Acenergy S1200 Portable Power Station.

Setup is as simple as plugging in your input cable (AC or DC) and watching this thing fill up rapidly. It was hovering around 850 watts of input while charging, which is quite a lot for this size of the power station. Again, no time-to-full is shown, but knowing the battery is roughly 1000 Wh tells me it’s roughly 90 minutes to charge from empty to full (probably a bit faster). It arrived at around 35% charge, and charging from there to full was done in under an hour. Solar input can be up to 500 watts, but I didn’t have any panels with the correct adaptor to test right now.

I applied my usual load test for the Acenergy S1200 Portable Power Station: running a portable projector while charging multiple devices like tablets/phones/laptops, and simultaneously running a gaming benchmark on my gaming laptop. I pushed peak wattage to about 500 watts with this test, and the battery drain matched what I expected, about 40% lost in an hour with an average of 400 watts pulled.

One other thing I really like is the inclusion of UPS technology (uninterruptible power supply), where you can use this unit plugged into a wall, then run devices from it, and in case of power outage it will automatically switch from wall power to battery power. With most cheaper units, you’re often warned not to keep them always plugged in, and even without that warning the other power stations I’ve tried this with are constantly draining and recharging the battery, which wears the battery cells out on those units.

The Acenergy S1200 Portable Power Station has earned a spot as our core internet infrastructure UPS – if the power goes out I have our router, modem, media server, and NAS all connected to it and it will immediately switch from wall AC power to battery power and should run 8+ hours before I need to connect a generator. The fairly portable size and weight will be good for future camping trips, and if you’re looking for something around this capacity and power output for an RV or something similar, I think you’ll be pleased with it!

Price: $699.00Where to buy: Acenergy (10% discount with code: THEG10 expires 8/10/2023)Source: The sample of this product was provided by Acenergy