PowerLink Brain

The 12V panel that starts and stops a portable generator from wherever you happen to be. One per system.

You press start in the app and the panel takes it from there. Five isolated relay channels handle fuel, choke, crank, ignition and stop, with the safety interlocks sitting beside them, and the whole sequence runs on the panel itself rather than in the cloud. The app is only ever asking it to begin, and then watching. That matters when the generator is at a property you are a hundred miles from and the reason you want it running is happening right now.

It will also start itself if you want it to. Set the voltage that triggers a start, how long the battery has to stay under it first, and the recovery voltage that ends the run, and it will bring the generator up without being asked. Crank duration and maximum retries are yours to set as well. Cranking longer than an engine needs can damage a generator, and the retry limit stops the panel cranking at one that isn’t going to start. Run limit defaults to 180 minutes and can be any length you want.

The gateway is a Teltonika RUT241 industrial cellular router. It carries the app over LTE and covers the property over Wi-Fi, and it fails over from Starlink or Wi-Fi without being asked. Cameras, sensors and whatever else you have out there ride the same link, so it’s one data plan instead of one per device. Pick your carrier when you order; the line goes in your name.

A 4-stage charge controller runs a 50W solar array into the starter battery and holds it at float. Rated idle draw is under 1.2 W. Nothing in this panel has ever been plugged into the grid.

It will start and stop a generator with no load panel attached at all. Add a Muscle when you want to switch what the generator feeds.

Which fuel type to order. On propane or natural gas you will probably want a motorized ball valve, and the fuel channel is what drives it. It usually goes in right after the supply. Leave the supply open and the gas still stays out of the run of line to the generator until the panel calls for it. Some setups already have one. If yours doesn’t, ours comes in 1/4" and 1/2" NPT at the same price, and which size you want depends on your generator and how the gas is plumbed at your end. Gasoline works the other way around. There the add-on is a linear choke actuator, which puts the choke under the panel on a start you are not present for. Whether your engine wants choking is a judgement about that engine, and if you decide it doesn’t, order the panel with no add-ons.

• Included: the panel, the wiring harness, and the app.
• Requires a portable generator with electric start. If yours doesn’t have one, this is the wrong product. Ask before you buy and we’ll tell you.
• Installation: the AC side is plug and receptacle, but the five engine contacts get spliced into the generator’s own wiring. That splice may void the generator’s factory warranty. Ask the manufacturer where they stand on it before you cut.

Assembled in St. Petersburg, Florida. Parts carry 12 months when we install the system, or when a 12V-certified professional or a licensed electrician does, and 90 days when you install it yourself. Nothing here warrants the generator, which was never ours.

PowerLink is a convenience, not a safety device. SP33D Industries accepts no liability for damage, injury or loss arising from its use, or from the operation of any generator connected to it.

* GENERATOR NOT INCLUDED