Xantrex Technologies 852-2071 Xpower AC/DC Powerpack Solar With 400 Watt Inverter, Two AC Outlets, USB Port, And Digital Display
- Runs 120-volt AC or 12-volt DC products anywhere
- Built-in 400-watt inverter
- Two 120-volt AC outlets, one 12-volt DC socket and one USB port
- Three-digit display for easy battery status monitoring
- AC charger included so you can charge from a standard wall outlet
The XPower Powerpack Solar is the first rechargeable power pack that incorporates solar energy in a compact, portable power source. The detachable 5 Watt solar panel has the ability to recharge the 10Ah battery and extend the run time by up to 25%. Operate devices like a blender or cooler simultaneously using two 120V AC outlets, one 12V DC socket and one USB port. Provides 400 Watts of convenient, portable household power. Watts: 400, Compatible With: Mobile Devices and Small Household Product
Rating: 
(out of 36 reviews)
List Price: $ 247.77
Price: $ 149.99
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Review by Scott for Xantrex Technologies 852-2071 Xpower AC/DC Powerpack Solar With 400 Watt Inverter, Two AC Outlets, USB Port, And Digital Display
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If the Xantrex Xpower Powerpack Solar lived up to its specifications, I would rate it 5 stars and consider it well worth the money. That’s why I bought it in the first place. Unfortunately, its performance falls short of the manufacturer’s claims.
The overall design of the product is very nice. I had considered building something similar based on a how-to article in Popular Science, but the Powerpack is so nicely packaged for only a couple dollars more, I chose to buy it.
The Powerpack disappoints in the amount of energy stored in its battery that is available to power other electronic devices. The battery is specified as 12 volts and 10 amp-hours. As such, I was expecting to get as much as 120 watt-hours from it, but I barely get half that.
As a test, I fully charged the battery using the included AC adapter. By “fully”, I mean the unit claimed to be charged. I then ran the built-in LED lights. The manual claims they should run for 48 hours. They ran 27.5 hours for me.
I assumed this performance reflected a bad unit and exchanged it. The new unit performs similarly. Either the battery in the unit performs poorly, or the electronics to monitor and control the battery state-of-charge are weak.
As another example of the poor performance, I charged the unit completely (again based on its built-in indicator that charging is done). It indicated 100 percent charge when I turned on the AC or DC output, but as soon as I plugged in any load, it almost immediately dropped to 70 or even 60 percent. Soon after the unit’s indicator dropped to 40 percent, the unit shut itself down.
So, on the one hand, this is a nice unit to carry around, and it does slowly-but-surely charge the internal battery using the included 5 watt solar panel. It does a fine job charging cell phones and iPods, and a barely acceptable job charging a notebook computer. Compared to its specifications, and for that matter my previous experience with the Xantrex Powerpack Mobile Mini, however, the product is a disappointment.
Review by J. Gabrielli for Xantrex Technologies 852-2071 Xpower AC/DC Powerpack Solar With 400 Watt Inverter, Two AC Outlets, USB Port, And Digital Display
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The product information should include these crucial tidbids, which you only find out AFTER buying (by reading the detailed owner’s manual): 1) you cannot use it while you are charging it, and 2)if you want to charge it using the sun, it takes 45 HOURS (YES — that’s HOURS). I used it at an outdoor festival to power a laptop, and — even thought the manual estimated it would last for up to 4 hours, it pooped out after 1.5 hours. After that, I unplugged and charged it in the sun for a while. It got a lot of interest from people at the festival, who thought it was cool. I think it’s cool too. I just wish it worked better.
Review by Snorkboy for Xantrex Technologies 852-2071 Xpower AC/DC Powerpack Solar With 400 Watt Inverter, Two AC Outlets, USB Port, And Digital Display
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Many Cons
- Battery not “user replaceable” (User manual recommends throwing the whole powerpack out when the battery can no longer take a charge)
- If you do take the unit apart to replace the battery, it is an uncommon type not available at battery specialists.
- Solar panel is too small to adequately charge the unit. Useful only as a top-up charger.
- My unit has locked up twice, where the buttons and display do not work and you need to take it apart to disconnect then reconnect the battery to reboot the internal microcontroller.
- Very difficult to take apart (to reboot the unit or change the battery).
- AC power adapter puts out too much voltage, causing the unit to complain about an overvoltage situation when it is left plugged in when fully charged.
- Loses its charge quickly when not plugged in.
- LED lights on both sides of the unit are wired to come on at the same time. No switch to disconnect one bank to double the runtime as a light source.
As a warning, if you do have one, do not leave it off its charger for longer than about 1 month or you can damage the battery.
Review by Hung Lin Hsu for Xantrex Technologies 852-2071 Xpower AC/DC Powerpack Solar With 400 Watt Inverter, Two AC Outlets, USB Port, And Digital Display
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You can use it to charge your laptop, PDA and your cell phone. But it’s not strong enough to even just power a 12″ fan.
Review by G. Robinson for Xantrex Technologies 852-2071 Xpower AC/DC Powerpack Solar With 400 Watt Inverter, Two AC Outlets, USB Port, And Digital Display
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This has garnered a lot of very negative reviews partly due to unrealistic expectations and mostly because of bad product description.
It seems that a lot of the reviewers really expected to get the equivalent off a Sunforce 50044 60-Watt Solar Charging Kit along with a Xantrex Technologies 802-1500 XPower Powerpack 1,500-Watt Portable Backup Power System. This is unrealistic to the point of silliness.
Unfortunately the product description is misleading to the point of bordering on fraud. There is no mention that the 10 AMP hour battery takes 45 to 50 hours to recharge at 5 watts and that the AC charger is only about 10W and disables all the outputs but takes 20+ hours to charge the battery. Because the system shuts of at 40% the 10AH battery is really about 6AH and that should be mentioned in the product description as should the rather unreasonable requirement to charge for 48 hours before initial use.
As a 5W solar unit with a battery and nice status readouts its OK but the low amperage AC charger is a big drawback particularly as it can’t be used with the outputs active. The AC power out is very dirty square wave and even the $40 inverter from Sam’s produces much better quality (at 1000 watts) although still dirty. Can only be used for Laptops or other devices that have a hearty AC/DC power supply or are very tolerant of dirty power. Not a bad buy but given the overall capacities should either allow simultaneous use of the AC charger, produce better quality AC power out or be considerably cheaper. It works OK for what I bought it for which is recharging a laptop which is rather a power hog and cell phones. But I don’t particularly recommend it.
BTW the packaging is nice you use a tab to release the top and once hats open the package splits into halves so you don’t have to lift it out.