2026 test14 productsJump Starters & Car Power
Which Solar Car Battery Chargers Brand Wins?
We compared 14 solar car battery chargers options head to head. FlexSolar came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
Winner
FlexSolar
Price shown in test: $80
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Runner-up
Grecell
Price shown in test: $50
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Budget pick
Grecell
Price shown in test: $50
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Weight | Panel size | Rated wattage claim | Overcast, flat / 28 deg angle | Hot sunny conditions | Float charge test | Reverse polarity test | Scratch resistance (Mohs pick) | Impact resistance (4 ft drop test) | Average overcast production | Efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1SHASUXTING$18 | 154 g | 5 x 12 in, 65 sq in, the smallest of all 14 panels | 30 W (the highest claimed rating of any brand tested) | 0.8 W at 19.47 V flat; 0.76 W at 28 degrees | 2.22 W | SAFETY ISSUE: began charging a near-dead battery at under 1 V, but never stopped charging even after the battery reached 15.5 V (overcharged); no functioning cutout observed | passed; only a tiny spark, no damage | damaged easily at pick #5 | not durable, quite a bit of visible damage | not tested | not tested |
| 2Hoysicy$28 | 1,598 g / 3.52 lb | not tested | 20 W | 6.09 W at 22.13 V (charge controller read 22.5 V) flat; 6.47 W at 28 degrees | 16.49 W, about 3.5 W short of its 20 W rating (3rd place in this test) | SAFETY ISSUE: began charging at under 1 V, but its factory float charge is supposed to cut out around 14 V or less; the battery reached 16.2 V and it was still overcharging | not tested | damaged at pick #8 | held up just fine | not tested | not tested |
| 3Newpowa$30 | 746 g / 1.64 lb | not tested | 20 W | 3.35 W at 18.97 V flat; 2.68 W at 28 degrees (worse than the Hoysicy) | just over 14 W, notably impacted by the heat | SAFETY ISSUE: began charging at under 1 V, but never stopped charging even after the battery reached well over 15 V | not tested | damaged at pick #6 | soft panel, left a pretty big dent | not tested | not tested |
| 4VOLT HERO$30 | 1,510 g / 3.32 lb | not tested | 20 W | 4.13 W at around 20 V flat (2nd place behind Hoysicy at that point); 4.11 W at 28 degrees | 15.55 W, handling the heat better than Newpowa (2nd place at that point in testing) | cut-in voltage 13.1 V, cutout voltage 14.1 V; functioning cutout observed | not tested | damaged at pick #9 per the main test narration ('performed the best yet'), though the closing summary recap states pick #8 for this brand; this is a numeric inconsistency between the two parts of the transcript and both figures are preserved here | held up just fine, no damage | not tested | not tested |
| 5TBER$30 | 1,274 g / 2.81 lb | not tested | 20 W | 6.37 W at just over 22 V flat, the best flat result up to that point in testing; 4.57 W at 28 degrees | 14.37 W, over 5 W short of its rating | SAFETY ISSUE: began charging at under 1 V, but never stopped charging even after the battery reached 15.5 V | not tested | damaged at pick #9 per the main test narration (tied with Volt Hero), though the closing summary recap states pick #8; both figures preserved here | survived without any damage | not tested | not tested |
| 6EBL$25 | 1,024 g / 2.26 lb | not tested | 25 W | 4.87 W at 13.14 V flat; 4.18 W at 28 degrees, about 21 W below its rating | just over 14 W, over 10 W short of its 25 W rating | cut-in voltage 12.6 V, cutout voltage 13.8 V; functioning cutout observed | not tested | has a rubberized coating; earned a perfect 10 with no damage from any pick tested | held up just fine, no visible damage | not tested | not tested |
| 7Grecell$50 | 1,034 g / 2.28 lb | not tested | 25 W | just over 7 W at just under 14 V flat, moving into the lead at that point; 8.87 W at 28 degrees | 15.71 W, continuing to outperform the visually similar EBL | cut-in voltage 13.3 V, cutout voltage 14.1 V; described in the closing summary as better cut-in/cutout points than the FlexSolar | passed (not one of the two brands that failed) | has a rubberized coating; earned a perfect 10 with no damage from any pick tested | held up just as well as the EBL, no damage | 7.95 W, 2nd place overall behind NXQWLL | not tested |
| 8SOLPERK$50 | 1,324 g / 2.92 lb | not tested | 20 W | 5.81 W at around 20 V flat; 3.85 W at 28 degrees (angle hurt performance) | 14.51 W, well below its 20 W rating; noted as very hot to the touch in direct sunlight | begins charging at 5 V; cut-in voltage 13.7 V, cutout voltage 15.2 V, which the reviewer flags as 'seems too high' | not tested | no rubberized coating; damaged at pick #8 | WORST RESULT: ruined by the impact | not tested | not tested |
| 9NXQWLL$59 | 524 g / 1.15 lb | 165 sq in (3rd smallest mentioned) | 20 W maximum output | 10.67 W at 14.7 V flat, moving into the lead; 10.49 W at 28 degrees | 16.77 W, moving into the lead at that point (2nd place in the final hot-sun ranking behind FlexSolar) | cut-in voltage 13.8 V, cutout voltage 14.5 V; functioning cutout observed | FAILED: experienced a pretty significant spark and the wiring became extremely hot; the reviewer notes a continuous connection would likely have caused damage, though the tool still worked fine after the brief test | not very durable, damaged at the relatively soft pick #3, the worst scratch result of any brand | experienced a pretty big dent but the panel still works fine | 10.58 W, the best of all 14 brands in this test | 0.1 W per square inch (tied with PulseTech for 2nd behind FlexSolar); 14.52 W per pound (close 2nd behind FlexSolar) |
| 10TogoPOWER$60 | 1,462 g / 3.22 lb | not tested | not tested | 2.68 W at around 10 V flat, described as underpowered and not enough to charge a car battery; 2.28 W at 28 degrees, still around 10 V | 14.19 W, struggling in the heat | cut-in voltage 13.8 V (same as NXQWLL), cutout voltage 14.5 V (same as NXQWLL); functioning cutout observed | not tested | damaged at pick #8, much better than the NXQWLL | survived without any damage | not tested | not tested |
| 11FlexSolar$80 | 636 g / 1.4 lb | not tested | 20 W (per the hot-sun test section) | 4 W at around 19 V flat; just under 5 W at 28 degrees | just over 21.5 W, the best of all 14 brands, exceeding its own rating and seemingly unaffected by heat | begins charging only at 5 V or higher (will not charge a battery under 5 V); cut-in voltage 14.1 V (described as a little high), cutout voltage 14.4 V (also described as pretty high) | passed (not one of the two brands that failed) | has a rubberized coating; earned a perfect 10 with no damage from any pick tested | small dent from the impact | not tested | best of all 14 brands: 0.12 W per square inch and 15.35 W per pound |
| 12SUNER POWER$86 | stated in the transcript as '284 g or 4.59 lb', which is numerically inconsistent (284 g would be about 0.63 lb, not 4.59 lb); described as by far the heaviest brand up to that point in testing, so the 4.59 lb figure (about 2,082 g) is likely the more accurate one and '284 g' is likely a caption/transcription error; both figures are kept verbatim here per the no-invention rule | not tested | 20 W | 7.33 W at around 22 V flat, performing better than average; 5.79 W at 28 degrees | 14.75 W, about average for the 20 W-rated chargers | begins charging at around 5 V; cut-in voltage around 13.8 V, cutout voltage around 14.3 V | not tested | pretty durable, damaged at pick #8 | held up just fine | 6.56 W, 3rd place overall | not tested |
| 13Schumacher$112 | 4,926 g / 10.86 lb, described as 'absolutely massive' and 'quite a behemoth', by far the heaviest panel in the video | not tested | 15 W | 3.08 W at around 20 V flat; 2.25 W at 28 degrees, described as performing poorly compared to the competition | 11.86 W, described as really struggling for its size | designed to only begin charging a battery with at least a 3.3 V charge (cannot jump-start a fully dead battery like most other brands); cut-in voltage 12.3 V (below a fully charged battery's baseline of 12.6 V), cutout voltage 14.4 V | not tested | light scratches at pick #7, deeper grooves at pick #8 | held up just fine | not tested | not tested |
| 14PulseTech$265 | 994 g / 2.19 lb | 125 sq in (referred to in the transcript as 'the PTSE', likely a caption mangling/abbreviation of PulseTech; resolved by elimination and context, at lower confidence) | 12 W maximum energy production, the lowest claimed rating of any brand tested | 0.12 W at around 18.3 V flat, the worst result in the entire competition; 0.1 W at 28 degrees | 11.97 W, about 3 W short of its rated output (the transcript states this is 'about 3 watts short of its rating' after describing the rating as 15 W in this section, versus 12 W stated in the brand's intro; see notes) | powers on at just under 1 V; cut-in voltage 13.8 V; during testing the battery reached 15.5 V and the charger still had not reached a cutout voltage, leaving its actual cutout point unresolved | FAILED: delivered a pretty hot spark and the wiring became hot very quickly; the reviewer notes an extended reverse connection would likely have caused damage, though the tool still worked fine after the brief test | scratches pretty easily at the relatively soft pick #3, despite being the most expensive charger in the video | pretty soft, experienced a dent | not tested | 0.1 W per square inch, tied with NXQWLL for 2nd best behind FlexSolar |
How it was tested
- solar production under overcast skies, panel flat and at a 28-degree angle (watts, volts)
- solar production in hot, direct sunlight at an optimized angle (watts)
- efficiency: watts produced per square inch of panel and per pound of weight
- charging a near-dead battery and float-charge cut-in/cut-out voltage behavior
- reverse polarity protection (deliberately reversed charger clamp connections)
- scratch resistance via a Mohs hardness pick set (higher pick number survived = more resistant; perfect score = no damage from any pick)
- impact resistance (4 ft drop test with a foot-long, half-inch socket extension onto the panel)
“the Flex Solar came out on top with the best average finish of 3.5.”