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Nov 03, 2024

Anker SOLIX Solarbank 2 Pro test: The (almost) perfect AiO system

Balcony power plants are still very popular in 2024 and are becoming increasingly popular. The number of manufacturers of such systems is now correspondingly large. Anker has also already made a name

Balcony power plants are still very popular in 2024 and are becoming increasingly popular. The number of manufacturers of such systems is now correspondingly large. Anker has also already made a name for itself. In addition to the balcony power station in the form of the Anker Solix RS40P (Review), we were also able to take a closer look at the matching storage system called Anker Solix Solarbank (Review) in 2023. While we were almost completely convinced by the balcony power station, the storage solution had a few weaknesses here and there. Anker wants to have eliminated these with its new, polished version. Has the plan worked? We’ll tell you in the Anker SOLIX Solarbank 2 Pro test.

Balcony power plants are the compact counterparts to the large PV system on the roof. But that’s not all. The systems also want to be accessible, easy to install and self-explanatory to operate. In short, they should be the perfect energy solutions for the masses. It is therefore not surprising that there has been increasing talk of all-in-one systems in the balcony power plant sector in recent months.

The best example is the Zendure AiO 2400 memory (Review). Strictly speaking, however, this is not an all-in-one solution. After all, the inverter is not built into the device itself, but is connected separately. Anker goes a big step further with its SOLIX Solarbank 2 Pro and offers a combination of storage and matching micro inverter in one device.

Above all, this makes installation and commissioning much easier. Strictly speaking, all you have to do is find a suitable place for the all-in-one system. You don’t have to worry about the location of a separate microinverter, as this is located in the device itself. For the user, this means that the solar panels can be connected directly to the storage tank.

Thanks to its all-in-one design, the Anker Solix Solarbank 2 Pro is also a very attractive storage solution for your balcony power station. This is not only due to the fact that the micro inverter is hidden away to prevent ugly cable clutter. Anker also flexes its muscles again in terms of design and build quality. In particular, the high-quality aluminum look paired with the stylish LED strip must be emphasized.

You don’t really want to hide the system, which is protected against water and dust in accordance with the IP65 standard. Strictly speaking, you can actually leave it unprotected. Anker specifies a range between -20°C and 55°C for the possible charging temperature. However, I would not expose the system to direct sunlight. The first positive impression continues when plugging in the additional storage unit. The base module and additional storage unit click together wonderfully smoothly.

With its dimensions of 460 x 249 x 254 mm and a weight of almost 22 kg, the storage system is of course anything but small. Strictly speaking, it is even larger than its predecessor. However, the whole thing cannot be criticized. Instead, you have to give Anker credit for not making the system even bigger. After all, the predecessor did not have a microinverter inside the storage unit. And this is not the only technical enhancement that has been incorporated into the successor. More on the others later.

A major improvement compared to its predecessor is the number of MPPTs. While the Solarbank 1 only had one MPP tracker, Anker has no less than four in its successor. This is anything but usual and has decisive advantages in practice. You can connect the all-in-one system to four different solar panels without further ado.

The make and output do not have to be the same. What’s more, the panels can be controlled individually. This makes the storage system incredibly flexible. The corresponding connections of the micro inverter are located on the side of the device and are easily accessible. Anker includes a special tool for loosening the corresponding caps.

Installation of the Solarbank 2 Pro is quick and easy. Anker deserves the highest praise here. After all, even non-experts should only need a few minutes to get the system up and running. Not only can the panel connections be made quickly and easily via the MC4 connections. The additional batteries are also connected in a flash. No cables are used for this. Instead, all you have to do is attach the Solarbank 2 to the additional batteries.

The corresponding ports are arranged in such a way that a connection is established virtually wirelessly via a plug-in system. The system then automatically recognizes how many batteries are connected. If you opt for several additional batteries, you are forced to build a rather tall tower. To ensure safety, Anker supplies suitable brackets that make wall mounting possible. Now connect it to a household socket using the enclosed Schuko cable and the installation of the Solarbank 2 is complete.

The Solarbank 2 Pro is a modular system that can absorb a total of up to 2,400 watts via the connected panels. The all-in-one storage system has an ex-works capacity of 1.6 kWh. If you want more, you can buy up to five additional batteries. We received one of these from Anker for the test, which gave us a total capacity of a very good 3.2 kWh. In the maximum configuration, however, 9.6 kWh are possible – a considerable storage capacity, the capacity of which must first be filled with a maximum input power of 2400 W.

A lot helps a lot is certainly not the last word in wisdom here. Nevertheless, it is not easy to say how many batteries make sense. Rather, you have to consider individual factors when choosing the number of batteries. These include not only the power consumption in the household. The performance of the connected panels is also important. If you only use the majority of your electricity in the evening due to absence, you should also make sure you have a correspondingly large storage volume.

For our test, we used the Solarbank 2 with an additional battery. This gave us a total storage capacity of 3.2 kWh. This is a good solution for all those who cannot consume generated electricity immediately, as they are usually away from home during the day. As soon as the batteries are fully charged, the electricity is transferred to your household. If it is not used there, it ends up in the public power grid. Unfortunately, there is no money for this.

It is clear that Anker has also done a great job with its battery technology. The manufacturer relies on modern LiFePO4 cells, which experience has shown to offer safety and, above all, longevity. Anker guarantees that its Solarbank 2 Pro will last an impressive 6000 charging cycles. After that, the maximum battery capacity should still be at least 70 percent. The fact that the manufacturer believes in the longevity of its own product is also clear from the 10-year guarantee.

It is not only the cell technology that makes it clear that Anker is delivering a modern storage system. The batteries also offer protection against deep discharge. You can specify in the app that the battery level should remain at a minimum of five or ten percent. Another new feature compared to its predecessor is the integrated heating. This may be rather uninteresting in the current temperatures, but unfolds its full potential in winter. Finally, the Solarbank 2 Pro can heat its own batteries so that they can be adequately charged despite icy temperatures. Ingenious!

On closer inspection, it becomes clear that the Solarbank 2 Pro has a socket. You can use this to operate external electronic devices with an output of up to 1000 watts. This is useful in several scenarios. Firstly, you can use the socket as a replacement socket in the event of a power failure. On the other hand, Anker has obviously thought of balcony or patio owners who only have an outdoor socket available.

As this should normally be used to feed in the electricity, Solarbank 2 would always have to be unplugged when using the outdoor socket. This would inevitably mean that the electricity generated would no longer be fed into the grid. To avoid this problem, the socket on the solar bench 2 can easily be used as an outdoor socket. In this way, electricity can be obtained outside without disturbing the feed-in.

Conversely, it is unfortunately not possible to charge the storage system via the socket. What may sound absurd at first can make a lot of sense in practice. For example, users of an electricity tariff with variable prices could benefit from this. In this case, the energy storage unit could be filled with cheap electricity during periods when it is available. This feature would have been highly desirable.

Integration into the smart home is of course also commonplace for balcony power stations. It is therefore not surprising that the Solarbank 2 from Anker can be fully controlled and monitored via smartphone. However, the system is much more selective in this respect than a Zendure SolarFlow Hyper 2000 (Review), for example. Thanks to its compatibility with Shelly, it can also be used with non-brand devices and integrated into an existing smart home system.

The situation is different at Anker. Here, the company relies on a closed system that only allows cooperation with Anker’s own and optionally available smart meter (€ 84.00 * at Amazon). Of course, more compatibility would have been desirable here, but it is clear that the smart meter from Anker works really well in practice. However, the threshold for use is usually high. After all, non-professionals are not allowed to install the smart meter themselves. Instead, only an electronics specialist is permitted to do so.

Once installed in the electricity box, integration into the system is extremely quick. The app recognizes the Smart Meter straight away. Using the Solarbank 2 is even easier with the Smart Meter. This is because the practical gadget relieves you of manual settings. When energy-hungry consumers such as the kettle or hairdryer are switched on, the total consumption of the household naturally increases significantly. The smart meter used recognizes this and automatically increases the consumption from the Solarbank 2 Pro.

According to Anker, the smart meter updates its data approximately every three seconds. In this way, it always ensures automatic adjustment to individual electricity consumption. This is anything but a matter of course for a system that was specially developed for compact balcony power plants. This type of automation is actually only known from full-blown PV systems for roofs.

The smart meter is a cool thing that provides one thing above all – convenience. But of course you can also do without it in practice. Adjustments that the smart meter makes independently can also be made by the user. This is where Anker’s easy-to-use app comes into play, which can be used to set individual energy requirements, among other things. For example, before an upcoming TV evening with an energy-hungry OLED TV and powerful hi-fi system, you can adjust the demand upwards.

Anker has set a 200 W power supply as the standard factory setting. Of course, if you have a fairly regular daily routine, you don’t need to adjust the power supply every day. Instead, the app allows you to set a certain input power at predetermined times. In accordance with the legal framework, the maximum is 800 W.

But what happens if the weather conditions cannot cover the output? Then the Solarbank 2 offers a major improvement over its predecessor. The system then simply draws the missing power from the reserves previously stored in the battery. Another example of Anker’s exemplary response to user criticism. This is possible because the second generation of the system can now charge and discharge at the same time.

As a user, you can rely on this procedure until the minimum battery charge level is reached. This is either 5 or 10 percent and is intended to ensure the longevity of the battery cells. The minimum charge level can also be set in the app.

In addition to setting options, the Anker app also offers the option of monitoring the system. Important parameters such as battery charge and energy production can be viewed by day, week and month. Experts in this field might complain about the lack of detail here. In my opinion, however, the information is perfectly adequate for the general public.

With an RRP of €1,199.00, the Solarbank 2 offers good value for money in view of its good features. Nevertheless, this is a lot of money, which is why you rightly have to ask yourself whether the investment will pay off. As additional solar panels and batteries quickly add up to a lot more money, the price will of course not be amortized too quickly.

On its official product page, Anker gives an example of electricity savings of 902 euros per year. The manufacturer uses a system consisting of Solarbank 2 Pro, 4x 500 watt solar panels, 3x additional batteries and the use of the Smart Meter as a basis. According to the manufacturer, the system would then pay for itself in around four and a half years. However, this is likely to be a calculation that only applies under absolutely optimal conditions. In reality, things are likely to look a little different.

For some people, it can certainly take a good six or seven years before the expenditure pays off. However, as no one can look into a crystal ball to predict rising electricity prices in the coming years, such calculations are always somewhat questionable. Apart from that, a switch to systems such as a Solarbank 2 Pro should not only be made dependent on the possibility of saving electricity costs. You can also make a valuable active contribution to the energy transition – even without a roof with a large PV system.

The Anker SOLIX Solarbank 2 E1600 Pro impresses as a comprehensive all-in-one system for balcony power plants, which considerably simplifies installation and commissioning thanks to the integrated micro inverter and a practical plug-in system. Anker also sets aesthetic accents with an appealing design and high quality workmanship. The flexibility offered by four MPPTs, which allow different solar panels to be connected, and the long service life of the LiFePO4 batteries with a 10-year guarantee are particularly noteworthy.

Despite these strengths, there are also some minor weaknesses. The restriction of compatibility to the in-house smart meter and the lack of an option to charge the storage unit via the socket limit the functionality somewhat. Overall, however, the Anker SOLIX Solarbank 2 E1600 Pro offers a well thought-out and powerful solution for balcony power stations. Manufacturer Anker has listened to the criticism of its community and has created what is probably the best AiO storage system for balcony power plants currently available.

Thanks to its sophisticated all-in-one design, the Anker SOLIX Solarbank 2 Pro is currently the best storage system for balcony power stations.