Can ONE Portable Power Station Replace TWO Systems?

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]Good day. I'm Khan and I like making DIY portable power systems as much as anyone else. In fact, one I made back in 2022 I'm still pretty proud of and it looks a little something like this. Now, these days there are many more off-the-shelf power station solutions, but I see two main arguments against them. Number one, they're not as much fun, which might be true. Building something DIY is fun if you have the skills and knowhow. and number two that they don't offer good value or that they're too expensive upfront. And I'm not sure about that because you might be able to make something that works similar to this for less, but it's going to take a lot of time. You're going to have to put in a lot of effort and it's never going to be as lightweight or compact as a unit like this. And it's not going to have the same features, the same functionality, or the same connectivity because this has the equivalent of 240 amp hours of lithiumion phosphate batteries, a 1200 W MPPPT solar regulator, a 2,400 W inverter, and a 2,300 W AC charger.

[00:01:05]That's the same as six of those chargers. Plus, then you've got the battery monitor and screen, the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, the fact you can connect it to an app, and of course, all the wiring that would go into something like this. Then you'd have to try and fit all of that into a box. So, let's meet the challenger who's fighting on behalf of the offthe-shelf power stations. This is the Bluei Elite 300. And I think it's interesting for people who want one solution that can do both, both camping and home backup, because most portable power stations fit into one of two categories. They're either small and portable, which is great for camping, or they're so massive and heavy that you never actually want to take them camping. They end up just sitting at home. Now, straight up, Bluetti is sponsoring this video. They sent me out this Elite 300 for review.

[00:01:52]But they have no control over what I say and they have no control over how I choose to test particular parts of this or in what conditions. And that's good because I intend to put this through its paces to see if it is genuinely good for both. Is it good for camping and road tripping? And does it work if you live in an apartment or a house and you want to use this for power backup? And importantly, I want to find out if there are any compromises by trying to make a system that can apparently do both.

[00:02:23]First impressions, let's talk about the size and weight. This is just over 3,000 W hours of capacity, which is the equivalent of two 120 A 12V lithium batteries. So, considering this weighs about 26 kilos and two of those batteries weigh around 24 kilos, it's pretty light for what you're getting.

[00:02:42]It's still heavy. You're not going to be lugging this long distances across the campsite. It's probably going to stay in your vehicle or on your caravan slide if you're using it. The other thing is it's not too big. It's about the same size as some of the other 2 kWh power stations I've seen on the market. So, if you're looking for something that's compact with plenty of capacity, this might be a good option. But I will mention one thing. Some power stations run on 48 volt nominal, some run on 12vt nominal.

[00:03:11]This particular one runs at 9.6 volt nominal. So, it's essentially three lithium ion phosphate cells in series.

[00:03:18]That means that when you're running at high power at the full 2,400 W of output, there's going to be a lot of current flowing from those cells through the electronics, through the wiring and connectors inside this. But what it does mean is that they can make it much more compact. So, realistically, the fact you've got all those components inside, 3,000 W hours of battery capacity, and it's only this big is pretty impressive.

[00:03:43]And for the type of user that I think they're targeting, I think it makes sense. You kind of get the best of both worlds. Big capacity, which is great whether you're camping or at home for power backup, while also being much smaller, more compact, lightweight, and more portable than what you'd expect for a 3000Wh power station.

[00:04:05]I reckon the sweet spot is someone who's renting or living in an apartment, a unit, or a small house who also enjoys camping, caravanning, or road trips because instead of having to have separate systems for everything, this can kind of do both. And there's some pretty interesting ways you can use this at home. For example, you could use it during a blackout for backup power to keep your appliances running. But you can also run it as a UPS or uninterrupted power supply with a 10 millisecond change over time, which means you can keep things like computers, networks, or security systems running even if the power goes out. Or, and this is one of the more interesting ones, you could charge this overnight when the electricity rates are off peak.

[00:04:48]Then use that stored energy to run power hungry appliances when the electricity rates are higher. Things like kitchen appliances, your washing machine, or even your dryer. And depending on your electricity prices, this is actually one of the ways that a power station like this could help pay for itself over time.

[00:05:09]But then once you throw it in the car to take on a trip, it becomes a completely different thing. And this is where it gets interesting for me because it works as a standalone system in its own right.

[00:05:19]But if you already have a setup, then this can add a whole lot of extra capacity. So, if you're throwing this in your vehicle, it has more than enough power output and capacity to run just about anything you'd want while camping.

[00:05:31]But if you're putting it in a caravan, you might already have a setup with batteries and an inverter. So, this isn't starting from zero. It's more about making your setup even better. And with the full 2,400 W output, that's the same as a power point at home. So, basically, anything you plug in at home, you could power while you're camping or in a caravan. things like kettles, induction cooktops, air fryers, anything you plug in at home, this will power.

[00:05:57]And with over 3,000 watt hours of storage, this would comfortably run a typical camping fridge for over a week.

[00:06:04]Of course, you've got your typical 12vt 10 amp sig socket style outlet that you could use to run your portable camping fridge. But I like that they've also included a higher current output. This one is 12vt nominal 30 amp. Now, it is in parallel with the SIG socket, so you can only use a combined 30 amp across these two connectors. But I think this is handy if you wanted to expand your DC outputs because if you had a control box, a portable power hub, or a custom 12vt setup in a vehicle, you could connect this up really easily and give yourself many more options for 12vt outlets, accessories, and outputs.

[00:06:43]Now, rather than just talk about the specs, I actually want to stress test this in the real world. The caravan behind me has about 400 amp hours of lithium, a 2,000 watt inverter, and about 700 W of solar on the roof. But after a couple of days of weather like this, the batteries are already running low. So, I'm going to connect this up and see if I can power one of the most power hungry appliances you'd expect to run while camping, which is the Caravan Aircon. And at the same time, it'll be charging the batteries in the van through the built-in charger. So, we'll see how long it lasts. All right. So, it's just about 1:30 in the afternoon.

[00:07:17]It's about 17° in here. So, instead of using the air con, I'm going to use it as a reverse cycle air con and heat up the inside of the caravan about 21° C.

[00:07:26]And it's already charging the batteries to the tune of about 400 W. So, we'll turn this on.

[00:07:34]I've set it there to 21° as a heater. Give that a second to fire up and then we'll see how long it lasts.

[00:07:43]So, this is probably the worst case scenario trying to run a high power appliance for a long period of time. So, it's going to give us a really good idea of where this thing sits and it'll help compare to a petrol generator in terms of backup. So, it's now just after 5:00 and this has now been running for 4 and 1/2 hours. both running the caravan air con, which obviously cycles on and off to maintain temperature and charging the batteries in the van as well. So, at the moment, it's outputting about 500 W into those batteries. And it's done a pretty good job. It's put about 25% of the total capacity back in. So, about 100 amp hours. So, it would have lasted even longer if it wasn't for also charging the batteries at the same time.

[00:08:26]Of course, as always, I need to check that this can actually output what it says that it can. So, I've got my AC watt meter, my power board, and my trusty H hallogen globes to really load this up.

[00:08:39]So, that's now 2,320 W or so. So, I'm also going to connect a 65 W charger and charge this up at the same time.

[00:08:51]So, that is now 2,390 W. And I'm going to leave that for 10 20 minutes and see how it goes. But I will move these lights back because this is already warming up and I want to see how this actually performs.

[00:09:11]So it's down to around 70% remaining and that was a bit over 15 minutes. I'll check the exact time. But now I want to try what they call powerlifting mode.

[00:09:21]So, in the app, you can obviously control the outputs. So, I can turn the AC back on, then I can turn it back off.

[00:09:29]But there are also some interesting other settings you can adjust. So, there's one down here called power lifting.

[00:09:36]Basically, if you're running purely resistive loads like these H hallogen lights or things like toasters or kettles, it apparently allows you to run higher output up to 4,800 W off this 2,400 W inverter. Now, reading the manual, it suggests it does this by dropping the output voltage. So, naturally, I had to try it. So, at the moment, it's reading 230 volts. But I'm going to turn half of these lights back on because I'm interested to know whether this adjusts the voltage based on the load. And at the moment, it's still reading 230 vol.

[00:10:16]So, I've got one more thing to add. This is a 2,200 W kettle. So, currently reading off the app, 1231 W, 230 volts.

[00:10:27]I've got half the lights on. I'm going to turn the kettle on.

[00:10:36]I'm reading 168 volts.

[00:10:41]And now the rest of the lights.

[00:10:44]There you go. So, as you can see, everything is super dim. And on the app at least, I'm reading 168 volts while it was running. It's now reading 115 volts.

[00:10:54]Let's turn everything off and give that another go. So, 1,850 watts. I disconnected one of the 500 W hall H hallogens. Now, I want to turn on this kettle again.

[00:11:05]As you can see, everything dims and the voltage has dropped to 130 volts. I'm not exactly sure why you'd need this.

[00:11:12]Perhaps if you wanted to boil your kettle at the same time you're cooking toast, but it also means that the kettle is getting less power overall, so it will take longer to boil. So, in my opinion, boil your cup of tea, make your cup of tea while the toaster is in the toaster, and then eat and drink at the same time, and I think you'll be right.

[00:11:33]There could be a use for this that I'm missing. So, please drop a comment down below if you can think of anything. The fact that it works at all means that if you slightly overload this with the power lifting on, it should drop that voltage and you won't see a complete drop out of power. However, as I said, this will only work with resistive loads. So, no electric motors, no inductive loads. Pretty interesting.

[00:11:55]We'll move on to the next test.

[00:12:00]Now, in terms of charging, it comes with a standard AC charging cord that will plug right into the unit here. And then you can choose one of three different charging speeds or charging power levels. Quiet mode is 800 W and doesn't require the fans to keep cool. Standard mode is 1,200 W. And then turbo mode is up to 2300 W depending where you live in the world. If you're lucky enough to be in Australia, the EU, or the UK, it's 2,300 W. I think Japan was 1500 watts and the US is 1,800 W. So charging time may vary, but Blueetti say that in Australia at least, this can charge from 0 to 80% in about 78 minutes. Now, I did my own test. I charged it from about 3 or 4% up to 100% and it took just over 90 minutes which is still very impressive for a battery of this capacity. The fact you can charge it in an hour and a half is awesome. Then of course you can also combine solar and AC charging for a total of 2400 W and that's true in every region. So you can charge it slightly faster again if you want to supplement it with solar charging. Now, one thing worth mentioning is that it doesn't come with an in-car charger. Not a SIG plug charger that will charge at 120 watts and definitely not a DC toDC style charger that can charge at up to 12,200 W if you plug it into the solar input.

[00:13:21]But they are available separately. So, if you were running this in your vehicle permanently or semi-permanmanently, that might be a good option to keep it topped up or to charge it up fast after testing it at home. and in the caravan while camping. I think that's where the Elite 300 really shines. It's not a replacement for an off-grid system, and it's not a replacement for a permanent setup in your vehicle or caravan, at least not without adding a couple of extra things like the incar DC/DC charger, and perhaps a control box or a remote power hub for more outlets.

[00:13:59]In that case, this could probably do it all. But for people who want one portable system that can genuinely do both, I think Blue Edi have positioned this really well. The fact that these sockets have the same output rating as your typical power points at home makes this super useful when you're camping things like coffee machines, kettles, air fryers, induction cooktops, and while you're at home. And with some solar panels, whether you're at your campsite or at home with panels set up in your backyard or on the balcony, you can essentially charge this for free and then use all that stored energy. Now, if you're keen to get your hands on a Bluei Elite 300, they're having an end of financial year sale. So, I believe you can get one of these for under 2500 bucks. I also believe that I get a discount code, so there should be a link in the description that should make that price even better. So, if you're interested, please check that one out.

[00:14:52]Otherwise, if you've got any questions, thoughts, suggestions, please drop a comment down below and I'll get back to you. And until next time, cheers.