Buying Guides

Which part to actually buy, and why, for the decisions where the specification that matters is the one hardest to find.

These guides compare published specifications, not prices. Every figure is read from the manufacturer's own datasheet rather than from a retail listing, because retail listings routinely omit the number that decides the choice. The Blue Sea fuse block whose entire reason for existing is its interrupt rating has one feature bullet on Amazon, and it reads "Blue Sea Systems".

Some links here earn a commission. None of them change what gets recommended, and more than one product has been researched and then rejected on the page instead. The disclosure explains the arrangement in full.

• Best Off-Grid and RV Battery: The Four Specs That Decide

  How to choose a deep cycle battery for an off-grid cabin, a van or an RV by comparing published specifications rather than prices: charge temperature range, BMS current limit, cycle life at depth of discharge, and series and parallel limits.

• Choosing an Off-Grid Inverter: The Specs That Decide

  How to choose an off-grid inverter on the specifications that decide it: low-frequency against high-frequency, whether you need an inverter/charger, and the surge duration that decides whether motors start.

• Choosing Solar Panels: The Specs That Decide

  A buying guide for off-grid solar panels that compares published specifications rather than prices: open circuit voltage and what it does to your charge controller, module versus cell efficiency, and temperature coefficient.

• Hand Pump for a Well: Deep Well Kits by Depth and Casing

  How to choose a hand pump for a well by the two measurements that decide it: the casing diameter that sets what fits, and the static water level each deep well kit is rated to reach.

• Home Battery Backup Without Solar: How Long It Lasts

  A home battery charged from the grid instead of from panels: how long a given size actually runs your house, what it will not start, and what stacking more capacity locks you into.

• Portable Power Stations: The Specs That Decide

  How to choose a portable power station or solar generator by the specifications that decide it: cell chemistry and cycle life, usable against rated watt-hours, continuous against surge watts, and the solar input voltage window that most makers leave out of the table.

• What We Don't Recommend, and Why

  Products and brands researched for this site and then rejected, with the published specification or the reason behind each decision, including one recommendation that was published wrong and corrected.