With daily temperatures rising faster than a teenager's hand in a pop quiz, power bills are predictably following suit. One ZDNet writer has been experimenting with offsetting their own electricity costs using solar power, and they've found a sustainable solution that works like a cross between a traditional gas generator, a permanent home battery backup, and a portable battery you'd rather not carry up a flight of stairs.
The Anker Solix F3800 Plus is an expandable battery with a 3.84kWh capacity. Despite its wheels, it's not designed for tent camping - unless you enjoy hauling 136 pounds of hardware to a campsite for the privilege of watching a movie on a laptop. Instead, it's a portable battery masquerading as a legitimate whole-home backup system, capable of running refrigerators, portable ACs, pumps, power tools, and even some central AC systems, assuming you don't mind the occasional brownout.
The writer set up the F3800 Plus with two 410W rigid solar panels, totaling 820W - though, as anyone who's ever looked at a cloud knows, solar panels rarely hit their rated output. Still, there are several ways to configure this as a home backup system, ranging from "plug it in and hope for the best" to "hire an electrician and spend a lot of money."
The simplest approach: plug appliances directly into the F3800 Plus. Power a full-size side-by-side fridge that uses 25-67kWh monthly with solar energy, and you can save up to $20 a month on utility costs. That translates to $240 annually - roughly the cost of a nice dinner out, or one month of Netflix and takeout. The writer notes this is "just for the fridge," leaving readers to calculate their own excitement levels.
A more practical solution involves connecting the F3800 Plus to a generator inlet and transfer switch, especially in homes where this setup already exists. This lets the battery act as a backup generator when the power goes out - cleaner and safer than a traditional gas generator, since it eliminates fumes and heat generation, though it won't give you that satisfying "I'm in a disaster movie" smell.
The most advanced option: connect the F3800 Plus to a smart home panel or whole-home backup system. Anker offers its own Smart Home Power Panel that automatically detects outages and switches to battery backup without intervention. This costs more and requires professional installation, but it works much like the Tesla Powerwall, EcoFlow Smart Home Panel, or Generac PWRcell. In other words, it's the same idea, just with a different logo.
With two 410W panels and decent sun exposure, the writer gets an average of 3.7kWh per day, potentially rising to 5kWh with better placement. The writer's husband bought brackets, casters, and wood to build a more efficient base for the panels - but that's still on his to-do list, because apparently even solar projects aren't immune to the universal law of unfinished home improvement.
If you keep your average daily energy consumption below your solar generation, you can theoretically live entirely off solar. But the average US home uses about 30kWh per day, making this a lofty goal for a backyard setup. However, a scalable system like the F3800 Plus can cover a large portion of background electricity needs - standby electronics like routers, refrigerators, TVs, chargers, and smart devices. The writer warns against leaving large loads like central AC units, electric dryers, ovens, space heaters, and electric water heaters continuously plugged in, as they'd drain the battery faster than a teenager drains a phone battery during a boring class.
The takeaway: Don't expect a backyard solar system to power your whole house from day one. Instead, aim to eliminate your essential baseline electricity. The Anker Solix F3800 Plus and rigid solar panels offer a scalable solution that doesn't require a huge upfront investment - just a tolerance for incremental savings and a husband who eventually gets around to building that base.