Stations, panels and batteries, read on their published figures
A power station has two numbers,
and only one of them is time.
Portable power stations, LiFePO4 and leisure batteries, folding and rigid solar panels, balcony kits, micro and hybrid inverters, MPPT controllers, DC-DC chargers, inverter generators and home backup — and the cable, connectors, fuses, busbars and meters bought the week after. Compared on the lines that decide what an installation can do: whether watt-hours are nominal or usable, how long a surge rating lasts, what a cycle count is measured to, and why a panel's peak watts belong to a laboratory. Priced on the Amazon store in your own country.
- Categories covered
- 61
- Products reviewed
- 170
- Accessories & spares
- 146
Every family, from the battery to the crimp
Pick the job you are doing
30 families that make, store or convert power, 31 that connect, protect and measure it. Each hub compares one family and opens with a direct answer to “which one should I buy?”, followed by the published specification most often misread when buying it.
- Portable power stations Watt-hours say how long, watts say what you can plug in
- Solar generator kits A kit is a station and a panel that agree on volts and amps
- Home battery storage Stored kilowatt-hours only pay back if the house uses them at night
- LiFePO4 batteries The BMS decides what the cells are allowed to do
- Leisure batteries Deep-cycle means a different plate, not a bigger number
- Motorhome batteries A van charges from three sources, and they rarely agree
- Folding solar panels Peak watts are measured at 25 °C and full sun, and neither lasts
- Rigid solar panels A fixed panel is chosen by its voltage as much as by its watts
- Balcony solar kits The feed-in limit is set by the country, not by the panel
- Solar bags A bag is a panel that has to survive being packed
- Micro-inverters One inverter per panel, and one shaded panel stops costing the others
- Hybrid inverters Solar, battery and grid in one box, with one set of priorities
- Pure sine wave inverters Modified sine is cheaper, and some appliances refuse it outright
- 12 V to 230 V converters The cable between battery and converter is part of the rating
- MPPT charge controllers MPPT converts surplus voltage into amps; PWM throws it away
- PWM charge controllers Simple, cheap, and honest about what it cannot recover
- Connected charge controllers An app is a specification when it is the only display
- DC-DC chargers A smart alternator will not fill a second battery on its own
- LiFePO4 chargers A lead-acid charger never finishes a lithium battery
- Inverter generators Rated power is what it holds; maximum power is what it shows
- Home backup supplies What matters is what stays on, and for how long
- Uninterruptible power supplies VA and watts are two ratings, and the smaller one is the real one
- Power banks Milliamp-hours describe the cell, watt-hours describe the flight
- Solar power banks The panel is an emergency, not a charging method
- USB-C power adapters A wattage is only reached on the profile the device asks for
- Compressor cool boxes A compressor cools below ambient; a thermoelectric box only below it a little
- Solar water pumps Flow and head are one curve, never two independent figures
- Solar lights Lumens fade with the battery, and the battery is the part that ages
- EV wallboxes The car, the cable and the supply each cap the charge speed
- Battery monitors Voltage guesses the state of charge; a shunt counts it
- MC4 connectors Two connectors that mate are not always two connectors that seal
- MC4 crimping tools A crimp is a cold weld, and the die size decides whether it is one
- Solar cable Sunlight destroys ordinary insulation, slowly and invisibly
- Solar extension cables Every metre added is a little voltage lost
- Battery cable Low voltage means high current, and high current needs copper
- Anderson connectors Genderless housings, and a contact that has to match the cable
- Battery terminals A loose terminal is a resistor, and a resistor is a heater
- Fuse holders The fuse protects the cable, not the appliance
- DC circuit breakers Polarity marked on the case is there for a reason
- Battery isolator switches Switching under load is what wears a switch out
- Busbars One bar instead of five terminals stacked on a post
- Battery shunts Everything negative goes through it, or the count is wrong
- DIN rail energy meters Direct or through a transformer, and the two are wired differently
- Plug-in energy meters Accurate at 2 000 W, and often not at 3
- USB power meters It shows which profile was actually negotiated
- DC clamp meters Only a Hall-effect clamp reads direct current
- Ferrule crimping tools A stranded wire under a screw terminal wants a ferrule
- Cable glands The seal is rated for a cable diameter range, not for a hole
- Earthing kits What earthing is required is decided by the rules, not by the kit
- Battery boxes A box that fits the battery and the locker, with somewhere for the cables
- Solar panel mounts Wind load is the specification, and it is rarely printed
- Balcony mounting kits A railing is not a structure, and the landlord has an opinion
- Solar panel cleaning Soft, soft water, and never a hot panel
- Type 2 charging cables The cable tells the car how much it may draw
- 12 V sockets Cigarette, DIN or USB-C, and each has its own current limit
- Solar trickle chargers A few watts on the dashboard, to replace what the car leaks
- Cable reels Coiled and loaded is the case the rating is written for
- Outdoor extension leads An IP rating is earned with the lids shut
- Generator accessories Covers, wheel kits, parallel leads and the right oil
- Fuel cans Approval marks decide where a can may legally be carried
- Power station cases A padded bag that still lets the fan breathe
How this site works
Three commitments, on every page here
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Arranged on what makers publish, never on what they pay
Commission has no say in where a machine ranks. When a smaller power station with a lower inverter is the sensible choice for a weekend away, the page says it plainly — and when a dearer battery earns its cost because the maker publishes its cycle count at a stated capacity and its low-temperature behaviour, the page explains exactly that.
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The figure that decides, in the maker’s own unit
Watt-hours kept apart from the watts an inverter can deliver; a surge rating quoted with the seconds it lasts; a cycle count read with the capacity percentage it is measured to; a panel’s peak watts written with the test conditions that produced them; milliamp-hours converted to watt-hours before any comparison. Each appears in the maker’s unit with its source named. A figure no maker published is marked as missing, never filled in.
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Sent to the Amazon store that serves your country
The button opens the same reference on the Amazon store for the country you browse from, priced in your currency. When a model has no offer there — and batteries, panels and generators are stocked very differently from one market to another — the page tells you, instead of sending you to a dead listing.