In this article we will be reviewing the new Ryobi 18V inverter, the Ryobi RYi150BG 18V 150 Watt Powered Inverter Generator. As a full disclosure, Ryobi was kind enough to send me a product sample of the Ryobi RYi150BG 18V 150 Watt Powered Inverter at no cost to me and as always I will provide my honest unbiased feedback. I am not paid or swayed in any way to give a positive review.
The Ryobi RYi150BG 18V 150 Watt Powered Inverter Generator isn’t a generator as it doesn’t use gas to produce electric power but as an inverter, it does offer the ability to turn your Ryobi 18 volt batteries into usable power to run small household appliances that run on AC power and also includes two USB ports to charge your electronic devices.
We’ve seen plenty of portable power sources before that offer you one or two USB ports and run on your power tool batteries, whatever brand that may be. And many of you already own these such devices but what makes this Ryobi inverter unique is that it offers a single 120V AC three prong port. Keep in mind that running only on an 18V battery, it gets a max 150W 1.25 amp output so don’t expect to run something like a fridge but 150W can actually power lots of things, particularly useful for camping or a small power outage.
Some of the things I was able to run on this little guy were: electric can opener, garage fluorescent lighting, garage LED lighting, Laptop charger, a 32″ LCD tv and even the same tv and a Nintendo Switch running at the same time (with extension cord of course)!
Other things it can be used for include small fans, radios and even CPAP machines. This product seems to be very popular for CPAP use although I can’t comment since I don’t use one.
Runtime was also tested with a 4.0 battery and it was surprisingly good at 1 hour and 37 minutes running the 32 inch tv by itself. I also tested the inverter runtime with the same tv and the Switch console both running at the same time and still got over an hour. I clocked it in at 1 hour and 4 minutes but keep in mind I ran this test for a few minutes before keeping track of time so it’s actually 1 hour 4 minutes plus a few minutes. One thing to keep in mind was that the unit got a bit warm/hot when running the tv and the Switch together. Luckily the internal fan kicked in to keep the unit from overheating.
The USB ports work just as intended and charged my cell phone with no issues. According to Ryobi, they say the USB ports offer a max 2.4a at 5V and if you use one port you can use the max 2.4a and if you use 2 ports, both are split into 1.2a each. I noticed that when charging my phone, it charged at a medium speed. It doesn’t offer fast charging as my phone is capable of that, so it would have been nice if Ryobi included the ability to fast charge mobile devices. Actually it would be nice if any power tool brand updated all their power sources to be able to fast charge via USB.
The Ryobi 18V inverter also offers a built in LED light which is perfect for camping or emergencies such as a power outage. Sure it isn’t very bright but good enough when it’s completely dark. Plus it doesn’t need to be that bright as you can always connect a more powerful light to the AC port when needed. It’s nice to have the added convenience of the built in LED light.
The top of the unit features the power button that becomes lit green when on and a smaller button next to it to turn the light on which is on the top front corner of the unit.
It’s currently priced at $59.97 as a baretool which is actually a priced drop from the original $79.97 when it first came out.
Overall I found it to be a great little product, perfect for camping or emergencies or even tailgating or just for fun! 150W may seem like a limitation but honestly I found it to be just enough power to be very useful for many of the stuff I use around the house that would be useful during a power outage or camping. I give it two thumbs up and if anyone needs more wattage, they can always opt for Ryobi’s larger and more powerful 300W and 1500W inverters powered by their 40V batteries. I’ll be reviewing the Ryobi 40V 300W inverter unit soon.
- Fits all Ryobi ONE+ 18-Volt batteries
- 150 Watt of continuous output
- 2 USB ports and one 120-Volt outlet
- Ideal for laptops, tablets, smart phones, and other small electronics
- External LED light
- 3-year warranty
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Good review. I’m looking forward to seeing what you think of the 40V, 300W one. Thanks!
Thanks! I’ll get the 300W reviewed as soon as I get a 40V battery.
I wish they could have made it more capable in terms of Amps out. Even use a dual battery system. Doesn’t support Type-C. Saw somebody open one up. It’s a brushless fan. Technically it’s a brushless tool. I… may… buy one eventually to run my network in a power cut. But the specs don’t make me want to rush out to get it. If they can drop it $20, that means they could have made something triple the performance for $20-$30 more.
On the off chance. Maybe they can make a dual 18V battery adapter for the 40V version.
Better output would definitely make it better however it’s still very useful in my opinion.
A dual 18V inverter would be nice, wonder if they’d make one?
or you could just buy the 40V inverter…
Are they actually even making that 1500w inverter anymore. What they seriously need to do is make something like the Supercharger that takes 6 batteries, but works as an inverter.
I thought it should have been out already but I’ll contact them and see what they say…
Cool, interested in hearing what you find!
Where did you see from Ryobi that when both USB-A ports are utilizing it splits from 2.4A to 1.2A? I didn’t see it in the manual.
How many times with a 4a ryobi battery charge an average smart phone with a 4000 mah battery?
I needed this power source for my lizard to keep warm. when my electricity went out. I maybe got 20 min. per 18v 4ah battery. I was expecting at least 3 hours out of one, I have 4 18v 4ah batteries running on a 150w inverter generator and didn’t get 2 hours out of the 4, I am very disappointed, and so is my lizard.
What was the wattage of the heat lamp? Most were 150w in my experience. which is the absolute limit on the output of this device.
runtime calculation : Approximate Runtime = (Total Battery Watt Hours [Volts x Amp Hours] / Device Watts) * .85
if you only got 20 min per battery, that is about 4 mins shy of possible expectation.