What it is
Wattbench puts the reference an installer actually reaches for, inverter and battery fault-code libraries, field calculators, and AS/NZS explainers, into one fast, mobile-first place. Look up a Sungrow alarm on the roof, size a string against the cold-morning voltage, check what AS/NZS 5033 governs, and get moving. No login, nothing to install, free to read.
Who it's for
Accredited installers, electricians, designers and apprentices working on Australian rooftops and switchboards, and the switched-on owners who want to understand what their system is telling them. The voice is the trade's: direct, practical, and safe. Anything that touches DC/AC isolation, wiring or opening a unit is flagged as licensed electrical work, not a shortcut.
The one rule
Everything here answers to a single standard: every technical figure is traceable to a named source, and nothing is invented. A fault code comes from the manufacturer's published documentation; a formula is shown with its AS/NZS anchoring; a rebate factor is dated, maintained data, never a hard-coded guess. Where the record doesn't exist, we leave it blank and say why. A blank is a finding; a fabricated number is a liability. See the methodology for exactly how that works.
Independent, and staying that way
Wattbench is manufacturer-neutral and not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any brand. No manufacturer can pay to change a ranking, a fix, or what a calculator returns, and we don't sell homeowner new-system leads. The calculators are honest instruments. They show their formula and their limits, and they're estimates for guidance, never a compliance certificate.
Who built the platform
Wattbench was built for Solar Analytica Pty Ltd by McKercher Labs, the operating brand of McKercher Corporation, under a commercial engagement. McKercher Labs is part of a Western Australian group that also operates solar retail and installation businesses, so that group holds commercial interests in some of the categories this bench covers.
That relationship, the boundaries which apply to it, who maintains the platform now, and the direction the money runs, are set out in full on the review.solar disclosure register. It carries a dated changelog and is the authoritative record for the build relationship. It is linked rather than repeated here, because the same facts written twice in two places is how a disclosure drifts out of date.
The network
Wattbench is the applied bench in a wider evidence-first solar network: Solar Analytica covers the market with sourced data and indices, review.solar scores the products, and Wattbench is where the trade gets the answer on the day. One standard runs through all three: sourced, checkable, and free to read.
Get in touch
Spotted a mis-stated code or a formula that doesn't match the standard? That's exactly the feedback we want. Tell us and we'll fix it. Getting it right for the person on the roof is the whole point.