Field Notes
The explainers we kept writing out by hand in emails. Motor surge, solar derate, cycle-life economics — the stuff that decides whether the thing you bought actually works when the power goes out.
Outage prep How long your fridge really stays cold — and the battery math that keeps it running
The USDA says four hours. Your fridge says otherwise. Here is what actually happens hour by hour, and the surprisingly small battery it takes to never find out.
July 14, 2026 · 7 min read
Why your 2,000W power station will not start an 800W well pump
Running watts are a marketing number. Starting watts are the number that decides whether your pump kicks on or your inverter trips. Here is the difference, in plain English.
July 10, 2026 · 6 min read
The federal battery tax credit is gone. Ten states did not get the memo.
25D expired December 31, 2025, and it took 30% off the table. What replaced it is not nothing — it is just scattered across state programs that most buyers never find.
July 8, 2026 · 8 min read
“6,000 cycles” sounds like marketing. Here is what it is actually worth in dollars.
Every LFP spec sheet leads with cycle life. Almost nobody converts it into the number that matters: what one usable kilowatt-hour costs you over the life of the box.
July 3, 2026 · 6 min read
Generator or battery in 2026? The honest breakdown, without the brand loyalty
Batteries won the marketing war. Generators still win specific, legitimate cases — and pretending otherwise is how people end up with the wrong machine.
June 27, 2026 · 7 min read
How long solar really takes to refill a power station (it is not the number on the box)
“400W of panels, 4 hours to full.” That claim assumes a laboratory. Here is the real-world derate stack, and how to size panels that actually keep up.
June 20, 2026 · 6 min readEvery article here points back to the same place: your actual load. Get yours in about thirty seconds.
⚡ Size my backup