Professional Builder’s Tibby Singh is full of energy thanks to the Festool SYS-PowerStation.
It’s not often I get to say, ‘world first’, but this is, and I’m also privileged to be one of the first to have a play around with Festool’s NEW SYS-PowerStation to see if it really is out of this world. Festool decided to take the lead to make a power station that requires no leads. You can take it anywhere in the world and have power at your hands.
Festool’s SYS-PowerStation looks like a Systainer but it’s blue in colour, instead of its usual grey colour. Also, a warning to expect it to have some weight before you pick it up thinking it’s a storage Systainer. It weighs 16kg which is still lighter than a 110V transformer.
It has one 230V electrical outlet, which literally makes it plug and play. Even if you have 110V tools, you’d just need a converter and you’d be good to go. I’m working on a site where the electrical work is currently taking place, so there’s moments where there’s no power on site – until I rock up with Festool’s SYS-PowerStation.
A lot of people may be thinking that cordless tools are the future, so this is a waste of space. However, there’s always some tools that require power, such as routers and chop saws. I believe some manufacturers are trying to produce cordless versions of these but, if you’re using these all day, would you really want to be waiting for the batteries to charge? Also, extractors will most likely always need power for the foreseeable future meaning you can create a dust free zone anywhere you go. Many people currently have a mixture of corded and cordless tools, so this single unit quite literally turns all your corded tools into cordless, instead of physically replacing all your corded equipment to cordless variants. Finally, even if you don’t require any corded tools, you’d still need to charge the batteries of your cordless ones somewhere, and in some situations this could be the solution.
It sounded too good to be true, and I didn’t know if it really would supply the power I would need for my corded tools – and whether it would last my full working day – which can be the hours of two days into one on occasions. I can confirm it still had plenty of energy at the end of the day – unlike myself.
You may ask what watts does it supply? It provides a constant 2,990 watts permanent power and up to 11,000 watts short-term power, meaning it operates all mains-powered tools continuously with no losses of performance. From experience, I can tell you it has enough power for more than a day’s work, but this would also depend on the number and type of power tools you’re running and the duration of their use.
It does have an LED capacity indicator, which tells you how much juice is left in the tank. It is obviously rechargeable but I didn’t expect the charge time to be as little as approximately 3.5 hours, which is impressive. Even if it’s half full, it has no effect on the power. You can store the charging cable inside as it opens like a normal Systainer. This is ideal as you know that you won’t be misplacing the cable. There’s also a residual current personal protection adapter included. This is a safety device that switches off electricity automatically if there is a fault. Another great detail is the inclusion of a USB-C interface for the quick charging of phones and tablets.
More recently I’ve been away filming for the TV programme Changing Rooms, and this eliminated the worry of where I’d get a power supply from, through the various locations across the country. In addition, it completely eliminates any noise you’d get from a generator, which is the last thing you’d want when filming on set.
Finally, they say you shouldn’t mix work and pleasure, but this can go everywhere with you, from a building site to a camp site and more. It’s been a pleasure testing out this powerhouse and by far one of the best inventions I’ve seen in my 15-year career in the trade. So, it’s safe to say I can’t fault the game changing new Festool SYS-PowerStation.
For further information on the Festool SYS-PowerStation visit https://www.festool.co.uk/products/mobile-power-supply/sys-powerstation/205722—sys-pst-1500-li-hp-gb240
Tibby Singh – www.TibbySingh.com
