App control over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi rounds out this great value battery.
Ugreen is a fairly well-known household name when it comes to chargers, cables, and USB hubs.
But, to my knowledge, they haven’t tackled power stations or solar before.
It’s always good to see some innovative competition in this space.
The solar panels are outstanding though, and have quickly become my favorite portable panels to take everywhere.
Most manufacturers name their gadget models after the capacity.
So, if you put 1200 in the name, I’d expect around 1200Wh of capacity.
Not so in this case, and it feels a little deceptive.
But that’s a useful feature where applicable.
Hopefully, you never get desperate enough to use that, but it’s peace of mind.
In terms of output, there are two AC sockets a 12V car socket and DC ports.
Typically, those will only go up to 18W, so that’s a bit of extra juice.
The DC button only controls the car output set over here.
However, theres no Qi wireless charger if thats important to you.
For instance, the Jackery Explorer Pro 1000 is exactly the same weight and ever so slightly larger.
Lithium-ion has a significantly reduced lifespanaround 500 full cycles compared to 3000 cycles of LFP before degradation.
The handle is fixed, which for stowing in your trunk can be a little annoying.
As for design, its pretty demure with no bold orange colors, just dark and light grey.
you’re free to find charge rates up to 2400W on other batteries, albeit bigger ones.
That may have been true of the last generation of portable batteries, but it’s nothing special now.
However, its not magic, of course.
While I managed to connect it over Wi-Fi, it seemed to have issues roaming between my access points.
But you’ll need the app if you want to enable U-Turbo mode.
I’ll explain more in a moment.
There’s a circle labeled in the center.
I set the panels up as I always do and found that I was a bit off.
So, even if you think you’re angling it right, this feature can be handy.
Another cool feature, which unfortunately may also be confusing for some, is that the cabling isnt built-in.
Instead, you’ll find an XT60 socket underneath a rubber cover on the rear.
So, somewhere along the line, 50W is mysteriously disappearing.
This is easy to explain if we look at the electrical specifications of the panels.
The solar input on the battery is rated at 12-48V, 15A maximum.
Each panel operates at 16V and around 9A at the time of this test.
And three times 16V gives us the missing 50W.
This overcurrent doesn’t break the charging circuit but ultimately limits the power we can use.
So, if you use the cable provided, you’re wasting potentially 50W or more.
Unfortunately, that still wouldn’t allow you to do this, as I’ll discuss later.
I should also mention that this issue of mysteriously disappearing power isn’t a unique problem to Ugreen.
I had the same issue with Jackery panels before.
While individually very efficient, collectively they don’t perform as well and tend to waste power.
It’s okay to exceed current; youll just be limited, but generally not voltage.
That’s more likely to cause damage.
Essentially, it stems from the fact that both the battery and the panels use an XT60 connector.
Unfortunately, the cable they provide with the panels have reversed polarity.
However, the cable provided is male for negative (black) and female for positive.
In the grand scheme of things, this isnt a huge deal.
Should You Buy the SC200 Panels and PowerRoam 1200 Battery?
It even has a smartphone app for some of the more complex configurations and remote monitoring.
It’s almost perfect, except for the lack of wireless charging pad.
And if you use the code05UG1200, you’ll get another $50 off.
That’s a fantastic deal for a midsize 1024Wh portable battery.
If this is Ugreen’s first entry, I look forward to seeing what’s next.
It’ll get you charged in four to eight hours, depending on conditions, of course.
At$450 per 200W panel, they align with similar offerings such as those from Bluetti.
But there are cheaper, unknown-brand portable panels out there for as low as $250.
As always, remember you pay a premium for portability when it comes to solar generation.
So, do consider if you need that portability.
They’re only really suitable for camping, or if you’re not permitted to modify your building structure.
