The Little 2kWh Battery That Could

Living fully or even partially off the grid feels a lot more achievable now than it did five years ago. Part of that is because Anker, EcoFlow, Jackery, DJI, and others have been cranking out high-capacity, high-performance, portable batteries that can power most or all of the tech and appliances we need.

The Anker Solix S2000, which I’ve been testing over the last few weeks, is a nice example of such a battery. It is compact, has a decent selection of USB and AC power ports, and, as Anker likes to point out, enough capacity to run your refrigerator for up to 35 hours.

Is it the best in its category? That depends on what you’re after, but it’s an especially convenient option for those seeking a lightweight chassis and compact size, which give it a portability advantage over some of the higher-powered options out there today.

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The little battery that could

The Solix S2000 is packed with 2,010Wh of energy and features five three-prong AC outlets—three on the front, two on the back. It also has two USB-C ports (one 100W, the other 15W) and a single 12W USB-A that shares its total output wattage with the 15W USB-C outlet next to it. A large display on the front gives you glanceable details like current charge and input or output wattage.

The Solix S2000’s form factor is a bit unique, and I like it. Many backup batteries have their ports and display on the broad side, but Anker put them on one end instead, which turned out to be a bigger deal than I’d expected. That, plus its dimensions—it weighs just 36 pounds and stands 12.7 inches tall, 8.2 inches wide, and 11.1 inches long—made it more usable in some places than the larger, heavier DJI Power 2000 I reviewed last year. About the size and shape of a fat PC desktop case, it’s easy to place in spots such as the area under my desk if I need an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or on my kitchen counter if I really want to back up my fridge during bad weather. The only thing I’m not crazy about is the top lip it has instead of actual handles like those on the Power 2000; it would be nice to be able to grip the Solix S2000 with one hand while scooting it around or holding it.

Performance-wise, the Solix S2000 isn’t quite as versatile as some portable batteries, but that may not matter if you’re not powering heavy-duty appliances. It steadily outputs 1,500 watts, which is half of the Power 2000’s stable 3,000 watts, and you can recharge it at up to 1,600 watts. But like the Power 2000, the Solix uses LiFePO4 battery chemistry, which is known for its safety and longevity. Anker says the Solix S2000 can go for 10,000 charge cycles, which is much higher than the 4,000 cycles of DJI’s battery.

The Solix S2000 is nice for powering devices around the house or while on a trip. I wish that it had one more high-power USB-C port instead of the 15-watt secondary option, but 100 watts is still plenty for, say, fast-charging a laptop, and I suppose you could always bring a small plug-in, multi-port power brick (of which Anker sells many).

Much of Anker’s marketing centers around the claim that this thing can power a refrigerator for 35 hours. The company even hosted a livestream proving that. I didn’t watch it, but Anker said afterward that the fridge ran for almost 39 hours on battery alone. I tried my own test using the Solix S2000, and it actually worked even better, keeping my refrigerator going for 42 hours before the battery dropped to 5% and I lost my nerve. I probably only open my fridge three or four times a day, so adjust your expectations accordingly if you have more than one or two people living in your home.

This could be a legitimate use for Anker’s battery. The Solix S2000’s two rear AC ports let me hide the fridge’s plug while keeping the S2000’s display facing forward, making it easy to check its status. I’m sure the DJI Power 2000 could run my refrigerator just as long, or longer, but its size, weight, and the fact that all the ports, including the charging one, are on the broad side would make it more of a pain in the ass to place.

See S2000 Portable Power Station at Amazon

See S2000 Portable Power Station at Anker Solix

Curious about the Solix S2000’s limits, I asked Anker via email whether the device could safely power my Haier 10,000 BTU window air conditioner, which typically draws 600 watts to 700 watts in cooling mode. Air conditioners require a power surge to start their compressors, and I wanted to be sure my scheme wouldn’t damage the battery or my window unit. Anker representative Sean Tan said that the surge would trigger the Solix S2000’s overload protection, so nothing bad would happen. I tried anyway (because I guess I hate my AC compressor and want to murder it), and when the unit went into cooling mode, I didn’t hear the usual deep thud that accompanies the switchover, which I took as a sign that the compressor’s motor hadn’t started. I turned off the window unit, hoping I hadn’t done too much damage.

The DJI Power 2000, on the other hand, proved more than capable of running that window unit. The familiar thud of the compressor motor was audible, and the device blew super cold air. A 2kWh battery like the Power 2000 can’t run an AC at full blast for more than a few hours, of course, but having a big battery around to get you through the hottest part of a day could be nice.

Anker says the Solix S2000 can output up to 3,000W at its peak. But its cruising wattage, if you will, is 1,500W, so it won’t last long at higher levels. As a test, I decided to try recharging the DJI Power 2000, which can pull more than 1,800W in fast-charging mode, from the Solix S2000’s battery. It was a nice, semi-controlled experiment in which I could actually watch both devices’ screens as the power—into DJI’s battery and out of Anker’s—climbed to 1,800W and hung there for a few seconds before the Solix S2000 emitted a quiet bzzrt! sound. The S2000’s output dropped to zero and then climbed back to 1,800 watts. I let that play out four or five times before switching the DJI battery back to standard charging, which hummed at a steady 1,150W. The Solix S2000 handled that fine, bringing the Power 2000 from 40% to 100% within a couple of hours and emerging from the task with 15% of its own energy remaining.

Quiet and featureful

Because of the older wiring in my walls, I was wary of recharging the Solix S2000 at its full 1,600W, which can get it from empty to full in less than two hours. Thankfully, the Anker app lets you drop its power draw as low as 100 watts. It takes much longer to refill at that rate, so it’s best for charging overnight.

I used the Solix S2000 in a few other contexts outside of those big tests. It was nice to have it as a portable laptop charger around my apartment, like sitting in a chair next to me that’s not near an outlet or at my dining room table. Its 100W USB-C port was more than enough for the 67W max draw of my M2 MacBook Air. It was also handy right after I moved, like for powering a lamp for which I otherwise needed an extension cable to help it reach a too-distant outlet. The battery powered that lamp for several days without issue before I finally got around to buying a long cable to plug it into.

Throughout that kind of use, the Solix S2000 made no noise at all, most of the time, but it could get pretty whiny when pushed. While it was recharging the Power 2000, its fan ran constantly, blowing hot air out of the upper vents on the front and back. The noise was quiet enough to allow conversation nearby but could be a bit obnoxious if you’re trying to watch a movie or something.

Anker’s app gives you a lot of control over how the Solix S2000 operates. There are a few modes, including the default, in which it acts as a UPS; a time-of-use mode, in which it powers your devices based on a schedule you provide; and self-consumption, in which it outputs based on available solar power, assuming you have solar panels connected. An XT60i DC input port lets the Solix S2000 detect whether it’s connected to a solar panel or a car’s power output and adjust its behavior accordingly.

I didn’t have a solar panel to test Self-Consumption Mode, but as mentioned above, I did try the UPS and ToU modes. Given how long the S2000 runs my fridge, I could see this being a nice way to save a bit of money on a ToU electric plan, which charges you less for energy you use at night and more for what you use during a stretch of daytime hours.

There’s also Storm Guard mode, which recharges the battery when a thunderstorm is imminent, so it’s ready in case of a power outage. Unfortunately, I didn’t experience any storms during my testing, but I did while reviewing the Solix E10 whole-home battery backup system, and Anker’s Storm Guard worked well enough that I wasn’t even aware of brief power outages. I’d expect the same here.

Other things you can do in the app include setting upper and lower limits for the battery’s charge, scheduling time periods where it runs more quietly by recharging at a lower power, limiting the time it will output from its AC ports, and setting how long it stays on without outputting power before shutting itself off. It’s also Wi-Fi-enabled, so you can adjust all of these settings remotely.

Good, if space is at a premium

The Anker Solix S2000’s biggest drawback is its limited power output compared to similar batteries. The DJI Power 2000, to which I’ve repeatedly compared it in this review, can output at higher wattages, and that makes it far more versatile, at least if you need to power large, electrically needy appliances in the event of an outage.

And yet, I really liked using the Solix S2000. Although I’ve had the Power 2000 around since I reviewed it, I’ve only used it when absolutely necessary, because it’s just too big and heavy to haul around. Anker’s smaller, lighter battery crosses a fuzzy usability threshold for me: it’s just easier to cart around my apartment, plop onto a countertop, or bring with me when I need portable power elsewhere.

However, whether the Solix S2000 is worth buying will ultimately depend on your needs and when you buy it. Anker originally listed its street price at $1,199, but it has only cost $680 since its early-June launch. That’s more or less half the cost of similar, more capable options like the Power 2000 or Jackery’s Explorer 2000 v2. For $680, if you don’t need all the power those other options offer, the compact Solix S2000 is hard to beat.

See S2000 Portable Power Station at Amazon

See S2000 Portable Power Station at Anker Solix