The BioLite BaseCharge 1500 portable power station is a powerful green alternative to traditional generators.
What is the BioLite BaseCharge 1500 Portable Power Station?
BioLite is a company whose goal is to empower people and protect the planet through renewable energy. They boast an impressive vision of providing 20 million people access to clean energy by 2025.
The BioLite BaseCharge 1500 is a portable power station with a 1521-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-ion battery. You can think of it just like any standard outlet.
It has a wireless charging dock on top, 12V DC carport output, and two 12V DC barrel ports. Two each USB-A and USB-Cs, and three 110V AC 2400W outlets with surge rating to accommodate devices with an internal engine requiring an initial surge to start up before continuing to pull energy at a lower wattage.
The LCD display contains helpful information, including the time required to fully charge, how long you can expect the power bank to last with the current devices plugged in, and an energy odometer.
What is the BioLite BaseCharge 1500 Good For?
The BaseCharge 1500 is an excellent resource whenever you need an on-demand energy solution. Use it to enhance your outdoor experiences, such as fishing, camping trips, or even tailgating at the game. Keep drinks cold in a refrigerated cooler, power up a stove for some gourmet outdoor cooking, or charge lighting to illuminate those nighttime fishing or hunting trip chores.
In addition to enhancing outdoor recreation, the BaseCharge is quiet, fumeless, and safe for indoor use. It can save the food in your refrigerator during a storm outage and has a long lifespan, making it the perfect portable emergency backup power source. There is great potential to use the power bank in an off-grid home, especially if you can harness energy from the sun and charge it through the solar panel option.
Product Review
Unboxing
Everything you need to start using your BaseCharge is in the box. You’ll receive the portable bank, a charging cable to connect to a regular outlet, and a prompt to register your device and charge it up before using it. Ours showed up 99% charged, and we barely had to wait at all. If you have any trouble, there’s a quick and helpful video you can access showing you all the available features.
Setup
Setup is simple! Your BaseCharge will likely come with some power banked already. However, it’s advised that you charge it to full before initial use. Fortunately, the display tells you exactly how long you can expect to wait until it’s fully charged. Besides the initial charging, your device is ready to use.
Charging
The BaseCharge can accept a charge from a regular wall outlet, solar panels, your car’s 12V port, or USB-C power delivery. You can combine your solar panel or outlet charging with another method to increase charging speed.
Another cool feature is that you may keep your other devices plugged in, and the BaseCharge will do the math for you and let you know how long it will take for the battery to fill even while you’re withdrawing energy.
Solar charging
While we didn’t think to obtain BioLite’s solar panel to charge our BaseCharge 1500, as we had other plans for it, we wish we had.
Weareexplorers.co had this to say about it. “On the display, you can see in real-time how angling the panel at the sun affects how much power you can draw from sunlight. Using the integrated sundial to point the panel directly at the sun, you can watch the number of input watts rise. The SolarPanel has integrated Velcro kickstand legs to aid in positioning the panel to get maximum wattage. With the BaseCharge 1500, you can chain up to four SolarPanel 100s together for 400 watts of power from the sun.”
Outlet charging
Charging your power bank with a wall outlet is likely the fastest way to fill it. An overnight charge will bring it to full capacity with a steady electricity input.
12v Car Charging
Charging your BaseCharge with your 12-volt car charger is another possibility, perfect for a long road trip or frequent driving from place to place. Due to the lower voltage, it will take about two days of driving to fully charge it using your car’s 12V port, but with the high capacity of the bank, topping it off as you drive might be perfect.
Using your BaseCharge
All you need to do is plug in whatever you’d like to charge or operate to the correlated port and press the activation button above it to ensure activation of the outlet. A solid green light indicates power is going to your device. The dashboard will helpfully display the output wattage pulled by the device(s) and how many hours of usage remain in the power bank with the current devices plugged in.
Our Tests
Our tester ran a series of tests simulating likely ways you might use the BaseCharge—for outdoor recreation, off-grid construction or DIY projects, and emergency scenarios. She was thoroughly impressed.
Will a portable power station run a TV?
Our product tester was elated, answering, “Yes! I was able to watch a movie by plugging in my television and DVD player without any trouble. According to the dashboard, I can watch about ten movies this way before having to recharge! This means road trip passengers can be entertained all day, and you can unwind with your favorite show before bed on your camping trip.”
What can a portable power station run?
The power station can run nearly anything you can plug into a typical 15A circuit. We tested it with a bright shop light, a saw, a speaker, and a sander, all while the tester’s phone charged on top, and we had no trouble powering and using any of the devices.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- The pros vastly outweigh the cons Holds a lot of power and lasts a long time
- Convenient display is easy to read
- Helpful energy odometer feature is useful when thinking about how to pare down energy usage and for future planning.
- Simultaneous use – being able to charge the bank in multiple ways while simultaneously using power if needed
Cons
- The 26.5-pound weight means you probably won’t want to take this far into the backcountry without a vehicle.
- If you plan to use it to construct your off-grid home, you may need to supplement it with additional power besides solar panels before your structure is complete. After which, it may be perfect for your needs!
BioLite vs. Portable Generator
The BioLite is preferable over a portable generator for many reasons. Once the BioLite is charged up, you know exactly how much power you have. You don’t need any external fuel and can charge it with cleaner energy, including solar panels.
That also means the BaseCharge produces no fumes, so you can use it in your home, vehicle, or even your tent. We’re really excited about RVing applications too. It is also extremely quiet—often producing no discernible sound at all, and just a soft whirr when it’s working a little harder.
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What we Learned
What size power station do you need?
Determining what size power station you should purchase depends on your intended use, energy consumption, and which charging method and frequency you plan to use with your power station.
Is it worth it?
If you find yourself wishing you had power to enhance your outdoor activities or would like peace of mind during power outages, the power station is definitely worth it.
Can you leave a portable power station plugged in all the time?
While you probably could always leave the power station plugged in, it’s recommended that you store your bank unplugged in a cool dry place.
The on-demand power station will maintain its charge well over time. Topping it off every few months will suffice if you primarily use it as a backup power source for peace of mind during unexpected power outages or emergencies.
