I am pretty enamored with Dewalt’s Portable Power Station. It offers a way to lend battery power to many different kinds of corded tools, and can power other types of stuff. At Dewalt’s media event, it was on a table with a power strip and some phone chargers attached.
I admittedly don’t use my test unit very frequently, but it still sees occasional use. And when I do use it, there aren’t any clear substitutes or alternatives.
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Take the solar eclipse, for example. I devised a last-minute plan to take some photos. We didn’t see totality here, but it still seemed like a nice opportunity to take some photographs.
I have a small photography and videography HDMI display. And… it wasn’t working properly on the day of the eclipse. Actually, the moon had already started to pass over the sun when I realized this.
What to do?!
I ran inside, pulled out a computer monitor and an adapted floor stand, the Dewalt Portable Power Station, and got to work.
The Portable Power Station wasn’t fully charged, but it had enough to me through most of the rest of the eclipse.
[Start Digression – sorry!]
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It worked so well I grabbed the neighbors to see the eclipse on the large display. The large display made it easier to focus too.
If anyone’s interested, I can post the eclipse images at some point. I have some more editing to do, but here’s one that I posted to Instagram:
That’s not the color that came out of the camera.
The raw images are almost grayscale. I’m still working on achieving a more natural-looking false coloration.
[End Digression]
No, the Portable Power Station isn’t perfect. Ben and I noticed that it doesn’t quite provide “corded” power, although it comes close. Ben gathered some data, and I’ve been slow on my end to analyze things.
I have portable oscilloscope on loan from Fluke (thank you!! I promise to have it back soon) and a tachometer that’s been sitting on my bench waiting for some more use.
Basically, motor speeds seem to be slightly lower when a corded tool is plugged into the Portable Power Station vs. plugged into the wall. The different isn’t dramatic, but it’s noticeable. You can hear a difference, and Ben measured a difference. I’ve been very slow in setting up controllable testing on my end.
Overall, it’s a fantastic product, and I feel just as enthusiastic about it as I did last year.
Wait a second, I just checked, and it dropped in price! The portable power station is now $299 at Acme, and less on Amazon – $249 via Toolup as a 3rd party seller, and $268 via Amazon directly.
At this price, compared to the original price of $399, I might need to buy one for personal use.
The kit is $499, discounted from $599.
20V Max 6.0Ah battery packs look to be a good price (currently $145 for 2), and a FlexVolt 6.0Ah 2-pack is a little more at $179. 9.0Ah packs are a bit more – $269 for 2. Remember, you need (4) batteries, high capacity 20V Max or FlexVolt or a combination, to make use of the Portable Power Station.
Price-wise, the 20V Max 6.0Ah battery packs, although a little larger and heavier than 4.0Ah and 5.0Ah battery packs, seem to have a better price to charge capacity ratio.
Buy Now(Bare Power Station via Amazon)
Buy Now(Bare Tool via Acme)
Buy Now(Power Station Kit via Amazon)
Buy Now(Kit Bundle via Acme)
Although my most recent usage example involved powering a computer monitor outside and away from an AC power source, there are lots of practical tool-related applications.
Let’s say a job calls for a tool you don’t have a cordless version of yet, such as an angle grinder. You can pull out your corded tool, or pick one up at the store for cheap, and plug it right in.
There are some tools and products that the Portable Power Station cannot power, due to its modified sine wave, but I personally haven’t come across any yet.
I love this tool, and really wish that other brands come out with something similar.
Thank you to Dewalt for providing the review sample!
Fm2176
I was considering the bare unit at $299 (didn’t see the lower price at Amazon, thanks for sharing it!) but will probably pick up the kit this weekend at Home Depot. If the military discount works that will cost $450 plus tax and net a few more 4Ah batteries plus my first Flexvolt battery.
Thanks for the update! I’m sure one of these will come in handy for various professional and personal needs.
Adam
Glad the power station came up again. I’ve been looking at knee lately, and still haven’t come across any material giving run time based on different battery capacities given at a set load. Now, I really don’t expect anyone to do that, but thought someone might. Anyway… Here is a question I have after looking at the FlexVolt batteries. Is the 6ah FlexVolt the same as the 6ah standard battery, but has the ability to work at 60v? From the diagram showing how the batteries are setup in both, the 60v to 20v both appear to be the same, aside from the ability to change to 60v.
I guess an easier way to ask, will a 6ah FlexVolt battery have the same run time as a 6ah 20v only battery, running the same load?
alex
I’m an EE. Here’s how it works.
Energy is usually measured in Wh. Energy basically represents the amount of work a battery can provide (it’s a bit more complicated than that but let keep things simple). 1 Wh is the ability to run a 1 W load for one hour.
A 6ah battery has the same total energy whether it it used as a 60V battery or a 20V battery. It doesn’t matter. You can find the total energy in a given battery by a very simple calculation. You take its voltage and multiply it by its ampere hour rating at that voltage. So in the case of a flexvolt 6 ah battery, this means 20V*6ah = 60V*2ah = 120Wh
So a flexvolt 6ah battery has the capacity to support a 120W load for one hour (be careful though 20V is a max voltage not a nominal one so the actual capacity is lower than that and there are some energy lost in the voltage conversion as well).
So if you put together 4 6ah batteries, you end up with a total energy amount of
4*120 Wh = 480 Wh. So it means that you can support a load of 480 W for one hour or a load of 960Wh for thirty minutes, …
Stuart
In theory, the 20V Max 6.0Ah battery and the FlexVolt 6.0Ah battery will offer identical runtime when powering a 20V Max tool.
In practice, one might have an advantage over the other. Drawing the same power from more cells (FlexVolt) might allow for cooler running and longer runtime, but the 20V Max 6.0Ah battery has larger capacity cells that can be higher performing.
So… I don’t know. But in theory, 6.0Ah = 6.0Ah.
The 20V Max battery is smaller and I believe lighter. The FlexVolt battery can be used in FlexVolt tools.
If you only plan on using them with 20V Max tools, or this power station, the 20V Max batteries look to be the better buy based on the smaller size and lower pricing.
Adam
So I was right in thinking they were essentially the same, aside from potential cooling/energy loss potential. The original question actually came about looking at batteries on ebay, and I almost bought the FV 6ah, and began question the marketing of the package. Stamping FlexVolt & 6ah on the packaging made me wonder.
I am going to plunge on one, do to the price drop. If anyone wants it even cheaper (<$200, ToolsUp sells through ebay, & this weekend, you can save another 20% on Tools w. coupon code P20LABORDAY
you can save more with ebates (5%). I have link to that on my GJ post on getting free batteries at Lowes w/ your Dewalt Tools purchase & another $25 off. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=367700
Adam
poop. i lied, well not purposefully. apparently only certain re-sellers are eligible for the coupon. “fine print” quite dissapointed myself
Joren
Thank you. I ended up getting one for $250 from Amazon, and had a virtual VISA gift card I could not easily use all of… Shipped to my door for $180. Looking forward to it. Thanks!
Stuart
They’re not the same, though.
One has 10 cells of larger form factor, the other has 15 cells of the traditional form factor and can be used in parallel or serial configurations.
Consider your usage. If FlexVolt tools will be used at all, you need FlexVolt batteries.
fred
I can see the appeal but $500 for an item that mostly sits on the shelf gathering dust is a pretty big investment that’s hard to justify unless its saves you bacon in some mission-critical application. If you need the extra batteries the cost/benefit calculation might look better. if you already have other options – like the small Honda Generators we had and a Miller diesel welder/generator – then that makes the calculation a bit harder. The ideal applications would seem to be indoors or for places where even something like the relatively quiet Honda is still too noisy or not applicable because of gasoline/emissions. How does it work with a batch of mismatched, differently rated or charged batteries?
Stuart
Performance is based on the lowest capacity cells.
The yeti
I agree Fred. It’s a lot of money . Especially when a gen set can do all the same jobs .
fred
Its a hard call on some items to decide if they are worth the cost or even the space they take up in the shop. We often wrestled with what to do with seldom used tools. For many of us – disposing of a little used tool is an anathema. We might buy something like this to meet a particular but rare need – or worse yet in anticipation of some future need. Then, often as not, the thing would gather dust in a back storage room. If I had been clever enough, we would have had an inventory system that alerted us to the fact that the last use of a tool was X years ago – so maybe time to sell it and get what we could. For tools costing over $500 – we had a depreciation schedule – so at least for these we’d get a reminder at the end of the fiscal year.
Nathan
If you want to compare it to another power alternative I believe ANKER or one of the other power bank makers makes a major LIPo piles box that has 120V plug in and an Car Cig plug hole – and a few other things. I think it might have usb too and again the 120V is modified sine wave.
I think they run something in the order of 600 dollars but that battery pile isn’t replaceable or rather it isn’t easily swappable.
Doesn’t the power station also recharge the batteries or is that a pipe dream of mine.?
Nate
Yes, it will recharge them.
jtr165
Like said, it does…just wanted to add it charges all 4 at once I believe, albeit at a lower rate than the normal wall chargers (especially the fan cooled ‘fast’ charger)
Nathan
to be fair that still works great for me.
Michaelhammer
I don’t get it. If you already own DeWalt batteries and DeWalt cordless tools , take the 300 bucks for this and go buy more cordless tools. BTW 20 V max is 18V
Nathan
it’s not just about tools though. Sure this can run a shopvac that I already own instead of buying another cordless shopvac for whatever dollars the Dewalt one is.
But it can also run a minifridge if I read the ratings right.
it’ll run a TV – for when I tail gate tomorrow in the grove where I’m not allowed a generator and I don’t have to park within _____ feet of a power outlet.
etc etc. Hell I sort of wish they’d make a 8 battery job with more capacity or the like. might be useful as all hell.
Mr. Gerbik
The run time is really pathetic when compared to a generator. If you check out tools in action, they have a video that gives you the run time for a very small compressor. I’m pretty sure that it said 9 minutes. Who’s going to waste 4 batteries to run a compressor for 9 minutes & then have to wait for the batteries to charge so they can get 9 more minutes? IMO this thing is a money pit for the village idiot who thinks that it’s smarter to spend $1,000+ on batteries when they could’ve gotten a generator for the same price as the power station. In fact I just bought a new ryobi 4600 watt for $300 and not only is it easily portable, but $10, 15 keeps it running all day for a week. Sometimes longer. Most corded power tools draw 10-15a to run efficiently from a 120v receptacle. The max output is 15a from this thing when all the batteries are full. The second you start using a tool plugged in the station , the voltage drops. Which means the performance of your tools gets worse & ultimately effects the quality of your work. If you only have 4 batteries in all that are different voltage and amphours and the weakest one dies, you’re SOL. The station will not work unless it has 4 batteries. It also takes 3 to 4 times longer to charge a battery using the station than if you were to use a single charger and battery. But you can’t use a corded tool and have your batteries charging simultaneously. If you think about it, it would take more than a dozen batteries to keep this thing going in order to efficiently use anything other than a light. I bet if you put a three way on it and tried to use a grinder, circ saw, and a recip saw it would be dead within minutes. Even if you were to put 4 60v batteries on it, it wouldn’t remotely equal anything close to the consistent output of a 120v receptacle. There’s a reason why generators are made to be used on a site that has no power. This is nowhere near a viable option. There’s a reason why everything that requires a lot of power output is ran by A/C instead of D/C. This is a prime example of how D/C will never measure up to the output of A/C. This thing was made with the intention of getting people to buy more Dewalt batteries. If your unable to pick up what they are putting down, then keep wasting your time and money. Hopefully you’ll catch on before you buy a dozen or so batteries. I really hope that no one else makes something like this.
Nathan
yeah run a tool made with an AC power motor on power derived from DC and it’s not going to be as effectual. because of how the motor is designed – not because of the power supplied. like running your can on ethanol – when it’s not built/tuned for it.
eventually you will see more and more newer tools coming to you with brushless DC and converted from ac in the controler. I see a few high capacity items going this route now because they run cooler and provide more control. (smooth start, rpm variance, faster brake, vibration control and monitoring).
and it becomes the same motor in the corded and cordless tool so for the makers it gets cheaper.
Nathan
some of y’all don’t realise there are places where a generator doesn’t make sense to use and you might not need all that power. Also for a first run at a new idea I think it’s a pretty decent one.
KL
This. You’re essentially paying a premium to not have a gas small engine, but there are times it’ll be useful. And the technology is new. I applaud the innovation.
RX9
I like the idea of a big battery to serve as a sort of backup power bank, but often times the prices are too prohibitive. Hopefully, the $249 figure is economically sustainable and not a clearance (loss) price for a poorly selling product.
glenn
Bit disappointing to see that its just modified sine wave. At this price point I think one could fairly expect it to be pure sine wave.
Joren
Wish it was pure sine as well, but I’ll work with this until they come out with one.
Nathan
it takes significant systems to make pure sine wave at power. That’s the bigger issue is the at power. or rather at 15 amps or more. I don’t know of an inverter that will actually do pure sine wave at 15 Amps. I know there are a few out there in the 1000W and 1500 watt range that have peak surge capabilities but they are all over 200 dollars and connect to a 12V battery. For boat or car use and will pull down a battery quick.
that’s all they do though for 200+ dollars. Tack on removable battery powered – battery charging capable – 250 is a steal
JoeM
DeWALT needs adaptors for this and the new compressor, so they mount to a Tough System cart or wall system. Instead of Rails, some kind of hooks/clamps on top that attach just like the standard rails do, but hang this or the small compressor to the Tough System racks.
Personally… I’m just kinda glad this isn’t yet another Radio. It serves as a nice “First Stage” device. Before you truck in the bigger generators and such, you truck in this and/or the little compressor to get started clearing stuff up and setting up the work area. THEN you bring in the big guns for generation and air supply, and keep the little ones for keeping batteries charged, and compressed air for clearing dust and debris.
I have doubts that this would be needed from job-start to the last coat of paint sort of thing. Or, at least not in the same role from job-start to the last coat of paint. I’m glad it at least stands up to the Stuart standard of approval.
Stuart
This has the necessary connectors for it to sit on top of a ToughSystem tool box. =)
Look at the second image here: https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/dewalt-portable-power-station-review-dcb1800/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Randall
Base unit currently at CPO for $229.
Bonzai lyte
I’m jealous I want one. I will say pro tip: ideal setup would be to have all the batteries the same Amp hour rating otherwise you may be limiting yourself to the lowest amp battery connected. Like if you had 3x 6.0 ah and one 4.0ah it would only output as much as the 4.0ah could handle and limit your runtime.
Much like lipo cells that when you have different amp hour cells the pack gets stuck at the lowest amp hour cell. So like if you had 4x4000mah cells and 1x3000mah cell in a 5s battery pack the pack as a whole would suffer and be only able to discharge as low as a 3000mah cell will let it. It always “defaults” to the lowest cell available when run in series or parallel. Hopefully that makes sense somewhat? 🙂