Portable power station for camping versus home backup: which one do you need

A portable power station is a battery with sockets that you plug appliances into, which suits camping and a few essentials in a power cut. Running a whole home is a different job, done by an installed battery system.

Two different jobs

A power station has a built-in inverter and sockets, so you plug devices straight in. It moves with you. A home battery is fixed and connected to your home's electrics by an electrician. For power cuts, an installed battery needs an emergency power supply feature with automatic changeover, which E.ON Next says usually needs extra wiring and sometimes an earth electrode. A power station does not do that.

See our power stations and home battery storage pages to see how the two categories differ.

What to look for if you camp

Camping puts weight, size and recharging first. Check how the unit recharges away from mains, for example from a car socket or solar panels, and whether the datasheet gives an operating and charging temperature range for cold nights. Look for protection against dust and water if it will be used outdoors, and check the datasheet rather than assuming.

Capacity is in watt-hours (Wh). As a rough guide, divide the Wh by the load in watts. A 500 Wh unit running a 50 W load would last about ten hours on paper, and less in practice because of conversion losses. That is an illustration, not a test result. The off-grid sizing basics on our capacity pages show the same arithmetic at larger sizes.

What it can do at home in a power cut

A power station can keep a router, phone charging, lights and perhaps a laptop going for a while. Check its continuous output against the total of what you plug in, and look at start-up surge for motors. Some models advertise a UPS or emergency mode with a switchover time quoted in milliseconds, which matters for a computer or network box. We have not tested any, so check the datasheet for that figure.

Do not wire a portable supply into your home circuits. The Northern Ireland Health and Safety Executive warns that connecting a generator to your home could cause a surge that injures or kills occupants. Use the sockets on the unit and extension leads, or ask an electrician about an installed backup system. Our guide to whole home battery backup explains that route.

Which one do you need?

Use our compare-for-yourself tool to line up the specifications of the models you are considering.

• You camp or work outdoors, and want something to carry: a power station.
• You want a few essentials during a power cut: a power station may be enough.
• You want to cover the whole house, or run on solar and a time-of-use tariff every day: an installed home battery. See how a home battery saves money.
• You want both: they are separate purchases. Read the warranty on a power station before using it for daily cycling, because products sold for portable use may be designed around occasional rather than daily use.

Common questions

Related guides

Keep reading, or check your own numbers:

• Power stations
• Home batteries
• Whole home battery backup: how does it work?
• Compare for yourself