AlphaESS BlackBee 1000 Review: Well-Rounded Back-Up and Emergency Power Station
AlphaESS BlackBee 1000 (AP1000)
The AlphaESS BlackBee 1000 supports a variety of ways to power your daily life. Whether preparing for an emergency or considering off-grid potential, you’ll find the many ports and general accessibility helpful. So if you’re looking for a portable backup source, the BlackBee 1000 offers more than enough for most, with a good balance of capacity to portability.
The AlphaESS BlackBee 1000 portable power station brings power on demand for most appliances. For those evaluating their need for an energy backup source, it provides an extensive array of outputs with the added benefit of wireless charging. Still, with any portable power station, reliability and ease of transport determine their usefulness. So does the BlackBee 1000 stand up to the challenge?
AlphaESS BlackBee 1000 Design
For the design of theAlphaESS AP1000(affectionately known as the BlackBee 1000), you’ll find a prominent black and yellow color scheme. The colors guide the user’s eye to the essential functions, buttons, output ports, or wireless charging pads. Both sides of the power station also offer a decorative AlphaESS logo, and the bottom is supported by four L-shaped rubber feet.
The BlackBee 1000 measures 13.5 x 10 x 10.5 inches (34.3 x 25.4 x 26.7 cm), and weighs around 25lbs (11.3kg) with a sturdy handle for transit. For everyday protection, the casing is also designed to be flame-resistant with some dust-proofing of its outlets. As with any portable battery station, the BlackBee 1000 isn’t waterproof. While it might withstand a little rain, and jets to the fan inlets or submersion will cause permanent damage
When operating any of the buttons at the front, a green LED will indicate when anything is active. Between the LEDs and the display indicating the current amount of watts going in and out, there’s a clear read on the energy flow of the battery.
Some warning lights will also display if you run into any problematic scenarios, such as temperature extremes. But in most cases, you’ll only be monitoring for battery life and energy usage.
AlphaESS BlackBee 1000 Technical Specifications
When first considering the Alpha BlackBee 1000 beyond its size, it’s important to note that it utilizes a lithium-ion battery with a 1036.8Wh battery capacity. It offers 1000W continuous output with 2000W peak surge power. Meanwhile, AlphaESS suggests around 1000 cycles of full charge and discharge conditions before it’s degraded to 80% of the original capacity. This is on the low side in comparison to batteries that use Lithium NMC cells, which are rated to around 3500 cycles. This won’t be an issue if you’re planning only occasional usage. For users with daily needs, it means the BlackBee 1000 will last only a few years before degrading.
Its twelve output options consist of three pure sine wave 110V AC outputs, a 12V car port, two DC 5525 Ports, one standard USB-C port, one USB-C PD port (100W) max, two USB-A ports, and two 10W wireless charging pads.
The wireless charging pads are turned on and off by double-tapping the main power button. On the back of the BlackBee 1000, you’ll find two LED light panels with their power button in the center, so there should be no accidental activation. These coo white LED lights pull around 3W at max brightness.
To help save power, the BlackBee 1000 will shut down automatically in twelve hours if the total output is less than 10W. While this doesn’t typically won’t matter, sustained charge of lower draw items might require manual intervention to reactivate the power output.
AlphaESS BlackBee 1000 Transportation
Once you have a rough idea of what a power station can offer, the next question is how portable it is for your needs. If you’re using it primarily as a backup source, the approximately 25-pound carry isn’t a major issue for short distances. As with most portable power stations, as the battery capacity and size increase, you won’t want to take it on an entire hike or carry it across longer distances.
The handle is resistant when you raise it, so a bit more finger force is required. As a trade-off for the initial effort, there’s no sign of wobble after. To provide some comfort and grip, there’s minimal rubber on the bottom of the plastic handle; it could benefit from a little more to pad its user’s fingers better.
If you are transporting this power station for work or business, I would suggest taking advantage of its packing box for even more protection beyond just the case. While the default handle works fine for short distances, it’s much easier to transport with more surface area to carry.
Overall, for a power station of its capacity and size, it’s a pretty smooth one to transport. Its size still perfectly fits in many spaces by itself. When boxed up, it’ll also travel comfortably behind a car seat or in the trunk.
Using the BlackBee 1000 for Portable Power
With power stations, there’s always a bit of math involved in figuring out how best to maximize the use case. While many common devices don’t pull as much power, these do add up if many of them are simultaneously running or being charged.
If venturing out with the BlackBee 1000, it also benefits from the built-in MPPT solar controller to provide optimal charge (though this is a standard feature of most portable power stations nowadays). The largest panel you can pair it with is 200W, which will provide a full charge in about a day of full sun (given that a 200W panel rarely produces the full amount).
Back-Up Power and Emergency Use for the AlphaESS BlackBee 1000
When considering an emergency case, a few immediate use cases come to mind with a power station. In a blackout situation, the low-watt draw LED lights support three brightness levels and the option for an SOS light. Outside of that, the BlackBee 1000 can be utilized to maintain any necessary appliance.
For those looking to justify this battery capacity range versus smaller power stations, consider an appliance with higher power draw. In the case of a space heater, smaller-capacity batteries may shut down immediately as a safety precaution. With the AlphaESS BlackBee 1000, a 1kW heater would run for around an hour.
To test another high-energy demand activity, I also attempted to also cook with the BlackBee 1000. While it won’t run a large family kettle, a travel-sized kettle or rice maker is fine. It’s also happy to handle the likes of a personal waffle maker or an induction cooktop. So if you’re storing something like shelf-stable goods, many of these can be cooked relatively quickly at around the 700-800W range.
Overall, as long as you pay heed to the continuous power that a device will pull, the AlphaESS BlackBee 1000 will support most typical use cases and help in an emergency.
Charging the AlphaESS BlackBee 1000
When it comes time to charge the AlphaESS, there are four ways to do that—via its AC adapter, solar panel, the 12V car adapter, or USB-C fast charge if you’re using a PD100W quick charge. Typically, my preference was always to take advantage of the fairly steady 180W charge via the AC adapter. But if you’re not wanting to bring a larger charger along with you, I was able to pull a steady 92W in when using my USB-C PD100W wall charger. You can also combine the AC charge with USB-C for the maximum charge rate, and be full in a few hours.
For testing outside, I used a single 100W solar panel to charge the AlphaESS; I wasn’t getting peak conditions for optimal charge there. Not the fault of the battery; if you’re using two solar panels or a 200W solar panel, you’d fare better, but of course, it’s still entirely dependant on weather conditions.
But even if you opt to keep the BlackBee 1000 indoors, you’ll typically get an estimated charge rate of around 7 to 8 hours with just the AC adapter. USB-C took slightly longer still; but it’s a nice alternative when you don’t want to bring along a separate power adapter.
Regardless of your choice, there are various ways to get your battery power back up to max.
Storing the AlphaESS BlackBee 1000 Safely
Now when storing the Alpha ESS, there’s the typical advisory that it’ll last up to six months after a full charge-up. Due to the loss of charge over time, it’s advised that you then recharge at least every three months. So with its lithium-ion battery, you’ll need to do some upkeep.
If storing it, the original box and its padding do a good job of protecting it. If you want quick access to all of its essential information, the box quickly provides all of its technical details.
Should You Buy the AlphaESS BlackBee 1000?
When deciding on the AlphaESS BlackBee, you really need to weigh your use cases and how portable it will be for you. Smaller appliances can still run off smaller power stations; this offers many port options and an overall reliable build. If you’re considering powering more devices or higher energy draws, it’s a good step-up device in an emergency.
The AlphaESS provides several useful features such as wireless charging to round out its overall package further. So if you want more ports and reliable power, it’s a welcome option.
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