Quite often, you'll get what you pay for. Here, you're paying for another round of quality assurance between the factory and the retail shelf. Not everyone is willing to pay that premium, and that's fine. Those who are willing to drop the extra dough will find that their ACDC 150W power station gives fewer problems. Ours certainly showed no signs of any issues during the review. At all. Long term... we'll let you know.
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Price
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Ease of use
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Battery
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Practicality
Portable battery packs are everywhere these days. With all the competition in the market, the ACDC 150W Portable Power Station — supplied by a local company called ACDC Dynamics — is a bit of an anomaly. For starters, it’s priced a little high. That’s Stuff‘s most obvious complaint about it but it could well be a benefit if you’re willing to take the right view of things. More on that in a second, though.
First, there’s the price you can expect to pay for this 150W power pack. It’s available online for around R4,700, though you can get it for about a thousand bucks cheaper by buying it directly from ACDC Dynamics. The Gizzu 242Wh battery, which is similar in (physical) size to this one, features a larger battery and, at launch, it also featured a similar price but you can pick these up now for about R2,700. You’d think that would make ACDC’s option a non-starter, even at its current R3,770 best price. But you’d be wrong. Why? Quality control.
Nobody’s perfect
The opposite side is where the DC outputs, USB-A, and charge socket are located, along with the most comprehensive list of dos and don’ts we’ve ever seen on a battery. We’re not complaining, it just seems a little… wasted. Truly stupid people aren’t going to read the instructions. Still, if Legal demands it… The remaining two sides handle the main AC sockets (there are two) and then the thermal vent on the opposite end.
The price is right?
You’ll notice that the plug sockets aren’t compatible with South African plugs. That’s, unfortunately, an issue you’ve got to take care of. Adaptors that will convert this thing to an SA Type D are everywhere but there isn’t one included in the box. In order to use the ACDC 150W properly, you’ve got to buy an accessory. Unless you’re just using it to power your WiFi, in which case the included two-sided DC connector will work just fine. Running something larger, like a laptop or a lamp, calls for the extra purchase, however.
So why the (slightly) high price? It’s not because of the features. In fact, you’re paying a little extra for the remarkable feature on the box. That would be a tiny little sticker signifying that this unit has been individually unboxed and checked by one of ACDC’s technicians. As anyone into telescopes could tell you, the reason Orion scopes cost more despite coming from the same factory as Celestron and Meade’s is that Orion has a guy manually checking each unit before it goes on sale. It takes a little longer and mistakes might still slip through, but by and large, you’re getting what you pay for. And what you’re paying for here is fewer electrical problems. South Africa has enough of those.
On a go-slow
But while it’s operating, it’ll do what you want with absolutely no argument. We suspect that the battery itself, thanks to that slower charging speed, will outlast faster-charging companions in terms of lifespan but that’s something only a long-term test will properly determine. The unit itself makes almost no noise while in operation. When the fans do kick in, they’re subtle enough that it took us a few minutes to realise what it was we were hearing. It’s almost eerie to have that muted noise be the only thing audible during load shedding.
Finally, there’s the option to charge it via solar or a car socket, making it a handy camping companion. It would probably stand up to the odd night-time telescope trip too, since it comes with the required sockets to let you connect a 12V plug via one of the DC outputs. Just saying, you could probably put that Celestron Powertank aside.
ACDC 150W Portable Power Station verdict
