Portable Power for Site & Events | Silent Mobile Battery Systems

Match the unit to how it moves

The design driver for portable power is handling, not capacity. A 2 kWh case unit is carried by two people; a 5 kWh unit is a trolley; a 20 kWh unit needs a trailer or a vehicle.

Getting that wrong is the most common disappointment: a unit bought for its capacity that turns out to be too heavy to move to where the work is.

So start from how the unit gets to site, how often it moves during a day, and who moves it. Those answers constrain the capacity available to you far more than the load does.

Surge ratings decide whether the work happens

Every portable system has a continuous rating and a surge rating with a time limit. Motors need the surge. A compressor or a pump with a 1.2 kW running load can pull 5 kW for four seconds on start-up, which will trip an inverter rated at 3 kW continuous and 6 kW for two seconds.

Specify from the starting current, and be honest about the duration. We would rather tell you a tool will not run than have you discover it on site.

Silence, and where it matters

The value of a portable battery is often not the electricity but the absence of a generator: no noise next to a customer's window, no exhaust in a basement, no fuel handling, no idling engine outside a venue at 6 a.m.

For events, welfare units and any location near the public, that is frequently the deciding factor rather than the cost per kilowatt-hour.

FAQ

When is a battery better than a generator?

When the load is modest or intermittent, when the location is enclosed or near people, when noise or emissions are a problem, or when the unit will be used indoors or in a confined area where a generator cannot legally run. For continuous heavy load over long periods, a generator remains the cheaper answer.

What does a portable battery cost compared with a generator?

The purchase price is higher for the same continuous output, and the running cost is far lower — no fuel, no servicing, and electricity at whatever the charging tariff is. Where the unit is used frequently, the total cost over five years often favours the battery; where it is used a few times a year, the generator usually wins.

How do I know whether my equipment will start?

Send us the equipment's rated power and its starting current. Induction motors draw three to six times their running current at start-up, for a duration that depends on the load on the tool. The surge rating of the inverter, not the battery capacity, decides whether it starts.

Can it be recharged on site?

From a generator, from mains if there is a supply, or from solar. A 1.5 kW solar array will recharge a 5 kWh unit in about six hours of useful sunlight, which suits multi-day site work in summer but not in winter at high latitude.