Ask HN: Power for Remote Equipment

There are many portable battery/inverter combos on Amazon that look like a really good idea until you find out they cannot be charged from a 12v-15v source while in use.

That is, they will not power the inverter outlets while charging, even if the battery has plenty of charge, and will power the inverters if you unplug the charging source.

That makes these portable battery/inverter devices nearly useless for situations where you have a solar panel providing 12v charging.

I am looking for a battery/inverter unit that charges from a 12v-15v source while, at the same time, powering inverter outlets.

The power needs are very modest: Under 20 watts. Most of the portable battery/inverter units are rated for 100w and up to 500w. But all the ones I have seen so far will not charge while the inverter outlets are in use.

If you know of have a setup that will charge while in use, please let me know what you are using. If you have used both solar and a 12v POE splitter to charge a remote battery/inverter setup I would also be interested in how well the POE splitter worked in that situation. Thank you for helping!