DIY solar creator Will Prowse has launched Charged Reviews, a site intended to keep product reviews, recall flags, and certification records from disappearing when a battery brand vanishes or deletes a listing — a recurring problem for shoppers who spend serious money on solar gear.
Here's what to know
In a YouTube video, Prowse said buyers can review solar products as well as distributors, manufacturers, and installers, and product reviews are verified with a receipt and serial number.
He said the platform is designed to keep reviews online for the long term, even if a manufacturer removes a product page. "If you have a problem with a product, you don't have to worry about the manufacturer deleting the listing from Amazon," he said.
He said reviews can be updated and that manufacturers can respond to reviews, but "the original review will always be up."
Other features include per-product price tracking, a searchable product finder, and filters for shoppers trying to find the lowest-priced certified battery for a permitted, insurable home setup. One commenter summed up the appeal, writing, "This is sort of like a Consumer Reports for solar/power stations."
More background
The launch is on the paperwork and compliance side of solar shopping. Prowse said every product page will log certificates, data sheets, and instruction manuals and will publicly note when documents are revised or certifications are lost. That can affect whether equipment passes permitting or satisfies an insurer.
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Charged Reviews also has an "evidence score," which Prowse said checks whether claims made across data sheets, warranties, and supporting documentation match up.
He said manufacturers could improve their standing by sharing cycle-life data, identifying which battery cells they use, or updating warranties to spell out capacity retention. "Most batteries do not have a high score," he said.
One commenter said Prowse's recommendations helped them "almost" triple battery capacity in the same space "at 30% less" than they paid for their original house batteries. Another said a DIY setup inspired by his videos cut summer power bills in PG&E territory from $1,000-plus a month to $300, paying for the inverter, batteries, and used panels in one season.
What's being done?
Prowse said he and his best friend, Brandon, are building the site with locally run AI models to manage what he said were thousands of products.
Each product will have a standardized data sheet assembled from public information along with a scanner tool that can pull up manuals, certificates, and specs for batteries users already own.
The platform also adds a recall check and a replacement tool for older solar panels, letting users search by size to find a panel that fits an existing space. That could save homeowners from replacing an entire setup when only one aging panel fails.
Prowse said the biggest next step is community participation. He said verified user reviews could surface "things that these certificates will never cover," while his lab and YouTube channel can dig into urgent issues quickly.
The site is funded through affiliate links, which Prowse said are necessary to keep the project running. Prowse said the site is intended to improve accountability in a market wherein bad products can be costly and risky.
"I'm tired of shills, I'm tired of the manufacturers, I'm tired of lying," he said. "I'm also tired of low-quality products. So, this site is designed to fix all of that."
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