Anker SOLIX F3800 Portable Power Station with 400W Solar Panel, 3840Wh LiFePO4 Battery, 6000W AC output with 120V/240V, Solar Generator for Home Use, RV, Emergencies, Power Outages, Outdoor CampingClimatePartner certified

I purchased an Anker Solix F3800 in March of 2024 with the intention of using it as I develop my property in Idaho. It has proven to be an invaluable tool, and as I've used it in various scenarios, I've learned a lot about its quirks and undocumented "features".I use the F3800 to power my tools and recharge batteries, to provide light where I'm working, run my well pump and more recently to provide power to my 40ft. Class A diesel pusher motorhome. It's been quite reliable, but it does have a few issues.First, should you purchase one, be sure to hook it up to wifi and update the firmware. Prior to doing that, I was unable to use AC power (from my RV Generator) along with solar to recharge it. I'm currently running firmware 2.1.5, which does allow simultaneous AC and DC charging.Second, the MPPT controllers built in for solar are optimized for Anker's proprietary solar solutions, which are relatively expensive. Pay close attention to how you configure your solar panel wiring to optimize charging. Assuming you can find the right combination of serial/parallel connections, you can charge the F3800 with up to 2400 watts of solar power, but it's not easy to get to that number.Third, the built-in BMS limits charging current when the batteries are colder than 10c/50f. I've discovered that you won't be able to put more than about 710 watts DC or 685 watts AC into the F3800 if the battery temp reads below these figures. (Quick tip - put a heavy AC load on it to get those electrons flowing and warm up the batteries in the morning!)IF the batteries are above 10c, it will charge quickly with solar or AC input. I manage to push about 1500 - 1600 watts into it at peak sunlight with my two strings of panels, and at that rate it only takes a few hours. If you're charging a warm unit with AC power, it will charge completely in under two hours, assuming you have not limited the AC power for charging via the app.Overall I'm very pleased. the phone app (I use IOS) is good, but could be improved by adding input and output power over time. It has graphs, but since those numbers are constantly changing, there's no way to track usage.Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase. Anker support is responsive, although it took almost a week of emails back and forth to find out that my "charging problem" was because the batteries were cold and current was being limited by the BMS. For those of us who understand solar, batteries, BMS, etc. 50 degrees F is a pretty high threshold under which to limit current. Hopefully Anker will reduce that to a more reasonable level in a future firmware update. With such a high temp. hurdle the usefulness of this device will be less than desired as the cold weather approaches.For those wondering, it *does* allow you to use a plug-in EV charger to charge your EV. I've tried it on my Rivian R1T, although the capacity of the Anker is a drop in the bucket for an EV with a 131kW battery!Highly recommended due to typical Anker quality, flexibility of use and expansion capabilities. It offers a reasonable value proposition when purchased on sale or in bundles.

I have a 13kw generator but with this last hurricane, I could not get outside to set it up for over 4 hours. We had to throw out some food in the refrigerator. I decided to bite the bullet and try a battery backup system. I liked the Anker Solix because it provided a 50amp and a 30amp 240v outlets, where others you had to combine 2 units to get 30amp 240v. I received this two weeks ago but finally got to run a test on this unit today, which is the F3800 plus one battery pack. I have a 30amp receptacle wired into the panel, which is what I used to plug my generator into. Mine is a manual switchover whee I have to turn the main breaker off first, connect the generator and then turn the 30amp breaker on to provide power to the home. Instead of plugging in the generator, I plugged in the Anker F3800 using the 30amp outlet. My home is 1800sf, gas heat and cooktop and a 3 ton A/C unit. It ran all of this fine except for a little light flicker when the A/C kicked on. Will probably order a softstart to reduce the initial amp draw. I am thinking of installing an automatic transfer switch and leaving the Anker F3800 plugged into it so I can have immediate power without having to go through the manual process of switching power.I tested the unit for a little over 3 hours, letting the A/C start and stop multiple times. I started out with a total of about 10 hours of run time with just the lights, TV and refrigerator on, pulling between 650-700 watts of power. When the A/C kicked on, it showed about 2 1/2 hours of run time as it was pulling about 3900w. Once the A/C turned off, it adjusted back to 9 hours. After 3 1/2 hours of testing, it showed I still had 8 hours of run time with just the lights, TV and refrigerator running.I know this will not carry me through a hurricane where we lose power for days or weeks but when the battery power is used up, I can start my generator, run the house and recharge this unit. May look at solar panels in the future. Over all, even though it is expensive, it is doing what I want it to do.For those reviews that said the fans are extremely noisy, I did not experience that so they may have fixed it with a software upgrade.

After extensive consideration I ordered the Anker Solix F3800 and excitedly watched the progress of the package. Unfortunately FedEx first lost (the massive, 140lbs, box), then found it several days later and resumed its trek to me. When it arrived the box was a bit rough, and the driver (signature required) just interested in getting it off his truck smirking when I mentioned it looked like it'd been dropped. I hoped for the best, but the F3800 was damaged with pieces of the plastic frame loose, the bezel around the display no longer flush with the display, and the USB ports resulting non-functional. Note: the packaging is substantial, to be damaged as the unit was it took a pretty good hit, I think this is unusual.I contacted Anker support who acknowledged the issue and instructed me to drop it off at FedEx and a replacement would be sent. After visiting multiple FedEx depots, calling FedEx, and discussing with Anker we realized FedEx will absolutely refuse to accept your dropping a lithium battery of this capacity at any location (HAZMAT or not). So Anker Support arranged to have FedEx pick it up the next day which went without issue, and a few days later the new one arrived. This time no shenanigans with the shipment, box fine, and the unit is in perfect shape. It's now a day-to-day backup for office equipment while on standby to pickup duties for fridges / freezers when called on.Count on Anker support, pray to interact with FedEx as little as possible, and you'll be happy!