In this Allpowers solar generator review, we’re going to test Allpowers S2000 to the limit, and determine whether or not this unit is appropriate for your typical car camping outing.
If it can really output 2000W, that means you can run just about any standard AC appliance off of it – get the coffee pot and waffle maker ready, and let’s dive into the Allpowers S2000 solar generator review!
What Makes an Ideal Solar Generator for Car Camping?
Solar power stations in the 500Wh-1500Wh range are ideal for car camping scenarios, and the Allpowers comes in at the upper end of this range at 1500Wh.
These solar generators are too big to bring backpacking, and often too small to reliably run a full RV (and most don’t have a 30A plug – though some can generate enough power and use a 15A-30A converter).
When considering a solar generator setup (power station + solar panel) for car camping, these are your main factors to consider:
- Battery Capacity: The larger the battery, the longer you can go between charges.
- Power Output: Choose a solar generator with enough output to meet these needs.
- Charging Speed: This one is sneaky. If you won’t have access to AC power very often, you want to be able to charge this thing FAST! For example, going to town to eat at a restaurant mid-week? Ask kindly and they might let you plug in. What if you could go 0-100% in an hour – that would be amazing.
- Outputs: Make sure the generator has enough output ports to accommodate your devices, such as USB, 12V DC, and standard AC outlets.
- Solar Panel Environmental Rating – You’re not going to find a waterproof power station, so you’ll be keeping it in the tent or car. But the solar panel itself – you want to be able to keep that outside… but not all solar panels are waterproof. (seriously!)
- Power Station – Operating Temp Range: Whether we’re talking about winter camping or a hot day in the desert, a wide operating temperature range is critical when using your power station outdoors.
- Price and warranty: Finally, consider your budget and the manufacturer’s warranty. A longer warranty can provide added peace of mind, and investing in a quality generator can save you money in the long run by avoiding frequent replacements or repairs.
What Doesn’t Matter?
Battery Lifespan – This may be controversial, but I think lifespan is irrelevant among modern solar generator options. If you get 1000 or 5000 cycles, does that really matter? Maybe if you’re lucky to camp every day of your life – but that’s it.
Portability – If you’re car camping, it doesn’t matter if the power station weighs 20 or 40 pounds. Actually, the solar panel will rival the power station for weight – and is typically more awkward to carry.
Specifications
Allpowers S2000 Power Station Key Specifications
Let’s focus on the key specifications that are important for car camping:
- Battery Capacity: 1500Wh
- AC Output Power: 2000W continuous, 4000W Surge
- Input (Charge) Power: 400W AC, 500W Solar
- Operating Temp: -4 to 113 °F (highly skeptical)
- Street Price: $720
- Price/Capacity: $0.53/Wh
Outputs:
- # AC Outlets: 4
- # USB A: 4
- DC Car/Cigarette/Aux Output: Yes
Allpowers SP037 Solar Panel Specifications
- Max Power Output: 400W
- Weather Resistance: IP67 (waterproof)
- Connectors: MC4 (industry standard)
- Weight: 48 lbs.
First Impressions
Let’s start with the price because this thing is going to be easy on your wallet at $720 (Allpowers S2000 without solar panel). Price and capacity typically go hand-in-hand and at $0.48/Wh, this unit is about as inexpensive as you’ll find on the market. So what does Allpowers give up to get to this price point? Keep reading to find out…
Once I got my hands on the Allpowers S2000, there were a few things that were immediately apparent.
I expected it to be heavier. At only 32 pounds, it was easy to carry with the fold-up handle.
I was hoping to find a flashlight on this unit like many other power stations have. However, this unit does not have a built-in flashlight. You can never have too many available flashlights when camping!
The display only includes one power display; that is, it displays one number and toggles an indicator to let you know if it’s displaying power in or power out. I prefer to see separate displays for power in and power out, it’s just simpler and easier to understand the current status of your solar generator.
The S2000 has a specified Operating Temperature of -4 to 113 °F. When I asked Allpowers about this, they stood behind the claim. I would have liked to see a more nuanced specification here. While you can likely discharge the S2000 over this range, I really hope you can’t charge it over this range. Li-Ion cells should not be charged below freezing and the BMS should protect against that.
I played with the app, and it was great for testing, but I’m not sure I’d ever use it when camping; I could just look at the display on the unit instead.
The Allpowers SP037 solar panel is enormous! At 48 pounds, it’s very heavy, and it just kept unfolding and unfolding and unfolding. But this is the tradeoff for a serious solar panel like this. 400W of solar power is no joke!
Testing the Allpowers S2000 and SP037
AC Discharge
The Allpowers S2000 outputs 113-115VAC, which is lower than your standard 120VAC US household power. This means that some appliances won’t get as much power out of this unit, in fact they’ll get about 10% less power (power is proportional to voltage squared).
When connected to a 300W AC load, the Allpowers ran for 210 minutes and put out 1090Wh of AC power. This translates to a 1090/1500 = 73% efficiency which is quite low. The unit shut off at 5% capacity remaining (even though the manual says it shuts off at 10% when connected to AC).
These are disappointing results. I would have liked to see 120V AC output and an AC inverter efficiency closer to 80%.
AC Charge
When connected to AC power, the S2000 took 2 hours and 45 minutes to get from 5% to 80%. It took 3 hours and 43 minutes to get from 5% to 100%. This beats the specified charge time of four hours, so no surprises here.
AC Output Power
The Allpowers S2000 has a pure sine wave output that was able to run two halogen lights, a heat gun, and a large air compressor pulling 1950W for 6 minutes without issue. Very impressive!
When taking the S2000 above 2000 Watts continuously, it turned itself off as it should.
I’m happy to see a 20A outlet configuration on the S2000, allowing the user to plug in higher-power appliances if necessary.
DC Discharge
The DC performance of the S2000 was very good. With a 9.9A load on the auto/aux plug, we got 1275 Wh out of the unit, for an efficiency of 85%.
In this case, the device shut off at 10% even though the manual says it will shut off at 5% on DC.
USB Outputs
The USB outputs were a bit finicky; one the USB1+USB3 pair, when a second device is plugged in, the other output turns off and then back on – a bit of a glitch. That said, once the second device is plugged in and the outputs are both on again they seem to work fine.
The USB ports are specified as shown in the following picture. I found it difficult to understand and when I asked Allpowers I got this explanation: “USB1/USB3 refers to there are many options for charging alone, USB1+USB3 refers to charging together is the rated power, which is limited.” So it sounds like the USB1 and USB3 pair are connected together somehow, and that limits the amount of power they can output. It probably also explains why they glitch together too!
The USB-C worked well in 100W power delivery mode.
Solar
The 400W SP037 panel was really impressive. I was able to get about 360W (10.4A @ 35V) out of the panel on a sunny day in late April in Minnesota at about 11:30 AM.
I love that this panel is waterproof and includes industry standard MC4 connectors!
The panel was difficult to set up by myself however. At almost 50 pounds, and with five different sections, I found myself wrestling it a bit. After studying it a bit more, I realized that I should have unfolded one section of the panel at a time and that would have made set up easier. (I unfolded the whole thing, then tried to pull out the kickstands while propping it up at the same time.
This panel was awesome, but given its size and weight, I think I’d prefer to have two 200W panels in parallel (use a Y branch parallel adapter.). It would just be easier to manage, setup, and tear down.
Where to Buy
Allpowers S2000 Power Station: Direct from Allpowers or check price on Amazon.
Allpowers SP037 Solar Panel: Direct from Allpowers or check price on Amazon.
Allpowers S2000 + SP037 Solar Generator Package: Direct from Allpowers.
Conclusion
In this Allpowers solar generator review, we analyzed the performance, efficiency, and value of the Allpowers S2000. Is this ultra-low cost solar generator worth it? Maybe.
You can get a lot of AC power out of it at 2000W, and its DC performance was fantastic.
However, the inverter is quite inefficient, and it was disappointing to only get 1090Wh out of this 1500Wh unit on AC power.
Additionally, you’re going to spend 4+ hours charging it from AC, and I really want to be able to charge FAST from AC when camping. But with the economical 400W solar panel, this becomes way less of an issue because I can reliably charge the unit every day, and even get some decent charging on a cloudy day.
The USB reset issue is odd but frankly doesn’t seem that it will affect usage in any practical way.
I would like to believe the operating temperature claim of -4 to 113 °F – that would be amazing – however, I just don’t, and I don’t have the time or facilities to test it.
Bottom line… The Allpowers S2000 is an ultra-low-cost power station with incredible power output, but it is inefficient and you can’t charge from AC very fast. The huge SP037 solar panel remedies much of this when you’re camping by getting you a full charge every day.
If you’re looking for a low-cost entry-level solar generator that can power just about anything, this Allpowers solar generator review suggests that the S2000 may be the unit for you. Make sure to send in your warranty!