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Practical power stories, starting with the devices you use.
12 stories
FeaturedAt IFA in September 2026, Jackery showed the Explorer 1000 Plus v2 and announced European sales from mid-October. The name sits very close to the existing Explorer 1000 v2, yet the two are built for different needs.
EcoFlow unveiled the RIVER 260 Gen4 and RIVER 520 Gen4 at IFA in Berlin on 4 September 2026, aimed at devices that draw under 100 W. That focus touches a problem many owners of small power stations notice: low loads often run out sooner than the label suggests.
Meshtastic lets small LoRa radios pass short text messages to each other without a mobile network or internet connection. On 21 September 2026 the project published a guide to measuring how much energy a solar-powered node really uses, and the answer starts with watt-hours rather than a single current reading.
Home Assistant 2026.9, released on 2 September 2026, reworked how the smart-home platform talks to devices over Modbus. For owners of some Fronius and Sofar solar inverters, that means more detail with less manual setup.
Anker's MagGo 2 Pro (model A110R) is a 10,000 mAh magnetic power bank with a built-in fan, shown on Anker's sites from September 2026. A fan sounds odd in something pocket-sized, but it targets the main weakness of fast wireless charging: heat.
BLUETTI unveiled the Pioneer 5000 E-Generator at IFA in Berlin on 4 September 2026, aimed at building sites, events and other mobile work. The term battery generator is catchy, but it hides an important difference: this machine stores energy rather than producing it.
If you only need to charge a phone or laptop during a power cut, an AC power station may be more than you need. Check the device’s input before comparing battery sizes.
No bunker, no shopping spree. Light, a charged phone and a way to stay informed: most of it is already somewhere in your home.
A power station next to the router sounds like the answer to a power cut. It helps, as long as you know which boxes need power and what happens outside your home.
The Mini fits in a backpack, which makes it tempting to just take it. Five minutes of power checking at home saves a lot of frustration at the campsite.
Friday afternoon, a field, no power points. How do you keep your laptop, lights and speaker going until Sunday without dragging half your house along?
You unfold the panel, the sun is out, and the display shows less than you hoped. Usually it is not the panel, but where and how it lies.