(Last Updated On: February 21, 2019)

When it comes to charging electronic brands, of course, most of them focus on the necessary types of chargers, such as power banks, cables, and wall chargers. However, if there’s one product that not too many focus on, it would have to be power stations.

Portable power stations are definitely a niche type of a product though, as they’re large appliances that are meant for more than just charging.

Anker first released their original PowerHouse 120,000 power station that was and still is a big hit. Now, about two years later, they have their next portable power station, the PowerHouse 200.

A smaller, lower capacity power station that’s meant for lighter use and a definite need if you don’t want to pay up for the decked out original one.

Power

Power Capacity:

The power capacity of any portable power station is almost always going to be higher than a power bank. Much higher.

That’s definitely the case with this PowerHouse 200 as the power station features a 57,600mAh power capacity. This much power can be highly useful for charging both smartphone and larger devices such as tablets and laptops to their full power, multiple times over.

For smartphones, you can get about 10 full charges for most phones on the market, or even more. This true for the iPhone XS with its 2,658mAh battery capacity, which the Powerhouse can charge to full power 15 times or more.

When it comes to charging high battery capacity phones, such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, then you’re gonna fair about 10 full charges. Note 9 features a whopping 4,000mAh battery.

Charging tablets will yield less full charges as most have 7,000mAh batteries or higher, and the same is true for laptops. Either way, charging tablets and laptops with this power bank will provide more full charges than most power banks are able to deliver. You’ll be good for about 3-5 full charges while you’re away from an outlet.

Output Charging:

There are a total of three ways to use the Powerhouse 200. There’s a 12Volt car outlet, USB charging port section and finally, there’s an AC outlet.

12Volt Outlet

The 12Volt outlet on this power station is just like the one that you have in your car, you can plug in appliances that use a 12Volt outlet and power it from there.

That said, if you don’t really have any appliances to use with the car outlet, we’ve found that using a car charger and having more ports to charge from can prove to be quite useful.

USB Ports & Power Delivery

The more interesting part of this Anker Powerhouse is the USB charging section. That’s because of the three charging ports, one of them is a USB-C Power Delivery port. The Power Delivery port has a 30W charging rate, so it’s highly useful for charging PD compatible smartphones and also for laptops, too.

With Power Delivery charging growing at an alarming rate, a power station absolutely needs to have it and it’s great that Anker made use of it.

The other two ports are USB-A ports that each share a 15W charging rate. The usual standard of standard ports is 12W, so these are a little more powerful than most regular ones.

AC Outlet

Finally, there’s the Two prong AC outlet, we know that it looks like three-prong AC outlet, but the bottom portion of AC outlet is meant for Solar recharging the power station.

That said, the AC outlet is still quite powerful as it has a 100W output of power, and therefore you can power things like a fan, CPAP machine, lamps, mini-fridges, and any other appliances that fit in the 100Watt range.

If you’re wondering how long the power station will last when you use a 100W appliance, then that would be 1 hour. If you’re using an appliance that uses less than 100W of power, then you can fair an even longer duration of use for the power station.

Input Charging:

You can recharge the PowerHouse three ways.

There’s the USB-C Power Delivery port that can be used to recharge it, and it would be best to use a 30W USB-C Power Delivery wall charger to recharge it with, that would be the fastest way through the USB-C port.

Quite possibly the most accessible way to recharge the Powerhouse 200 would be to use the DC port that’s on the back. It’s the most accessible and fastest way to recharge the power station because the Powerhouse 200 actually comes with an AC adapter that can be used right out of the box.

One other way to recharge it is by using a Solar panel charger, that can be connected to the bottom outlet under the AC outlet.

Design

Size and Weight:

The Powerhouse is quite large, just as we expect it to be with its high power capacity and powering/charging options.

It has a length of 12 inches, and a depth of 10 inches. The weight of the power bank is 5 pounds. Even though it is quite large, it’s capable of taking anywhere you want. It even has a handle at the top that makes it very easy to take anywhere that you want, and one of the main reasons that make portability with it easier.

Functional Components:

On the functional side, the powerhouse is also quite easy to use. With each of the power sources at the front having a button to activate each of them. By pressing the power switch to each section is turns on it on.

How do you know whether or not the 12Volt outlet, charging ports or AC outlet have been turned on?

There’s an LCD display at the top of the power bank that turns on for each section that turns on. Also, the display shows remaining power capacity that’s available to use in a percentage manner and also a battery logo, too.

Build

Structure and Material:

The Powerhouse is made pretty well, even though it’s made of plastic. There are large screws at the sides of it and holds very even when you’re holding the Powerhouse for a long duration.

When it comes to using the charging and powering components, everything holds well. The charging ports hold strong to the cables that you place them into and it feels great to use the AC outlet.

Tech:

On the tech side, you would probably be worried about it overheating, but thankfully, even when you’re using the Powerhouse 200 as its limit of 130W, it only gets a little warm. If you do go over the power capabilities of the Powerhouse 200, then it automatically turns off to prevent any damage to itself or to your devices.

Reliability

The reliability of this Powerhouse 200 is quite vast, depending on what you want to use it for. For charging smartphones, tablets, and laptops to their full power, this portable power station can be highly reliable.

When it comes to using the AC outlet, it’s useful for low powered appliances, but most of all, if you have a laptop that either requires the use of DC charging or needs a higher output of 30W for Power Delivery, the AC outlet can be highly useful.

Overall, it’s best for small appliances and devices to use with this Powerhouse 200 and not expect to power a blender with it.

Summary:

Power:

Charging power is diverse, and the AC outlet can be highly useful for powering small appliances and can prove to be even more helpful with charging laptops, too.

Design:

The Anker Powerhouse 200 is large and quite heavy at 5 pounds, but it’s cumbersome as most might think. It has an easy to carry handle that makes it a whole lot easier to take anywhere that you want.

Build:

The build of the power station is what you can expect from Anker, which would be a solidly built product that has clearly gone through R&D, and it shows with the quality and feels when you actually use it.

Reliability:

It’s great for taking long-lasting power wherever you want to charge smartphones, tablets, and laptops to their full power multiple times over.

Specs of the Anker PowerHouse 200 Portable Power Station:

• Power Capacity: 50,000mAh
• Output:

12Volt Outlet: 12V=5A

USB-A Ports: 15W

USB-C Power Delivery Port: 30W

AC Outlet: 110V, 0.9A, 60Hz, 100W | Pure Sine Wave

Max Output: 130W

• Input: AC/Power Delivery
• LED Power Indicator: LCD Display
• Size: 12 x 12 x 10 inches
• Weight: 5 Pounds

Conclusion:

Anker’s newly released Powerhouse 200 portable power station is a smaller brother to the original Powerhouse, but it’s still capable of quite a bit. The use of USB-C Power Delivery charging is a great touch to a world that’s making more use of it.