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Power station calculator for outages

Pick what you would plug in during an outage and see which power stations can run it, start it and keep it going, with sourced wattages and solar recharge.

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Which power station runs your list?

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Pick what you would plug in during an outage. Each station shows whether it can run them together, whether it can start the ones with motors, how many outlets they need and how long the battery lasts.

How this works. Runs together: the running watts of everything on your list, against each station's rated continuous AC output. Start-up: everything running plus the largest extra a motor draws for a moment as it starts, against the surge rating (one motor starting at a time). Lasts: 80% of stored energy, a planning allowance for conversion losses, divided by your daily use; no recharging. Station figures are the manufacturers' published specifications. Appliance figures are typical values; the label on your own appliance, or a plug-in watt meter, gives the real number, and you can type it in.

Solar. Each station is paired with a panel from the same maker whose voltage and current fit its solar input. Daily solar energy is the panel's rated watts (capped at the station's maximum solar input) times your peak sun hours, less NREL's default 14% system losses; the share reaching appliances uses the same 80% allowance. Shade, panel angle, heat and cloud lower it.

EcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus: EcoFlow rates the AC output at 600 W; its 760 W figure is the total across every port.

EcoFlow DELTA 3 Plus: EcoFlow rates the AC output at 1,800 W with a 3,600 W surge. Its X-Boost figure is a mode for heating devices, not extra rated output.

Anker SOLIX C1000: Anker lists 2,400 W as SurgePad, a mode for heating devices, and publishes no motor-start surge, so start-ups are checked against its 1,800 W rated output.

EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3: Four standard 120V outlets (NEMA 5-20R); its 30A RV and 240V outlets need matching plugs, and 120V and 240V cannot run at the same time.

Sources: Champion Power Equipment generator wattage chart; US Department of Energy FEMP light bulb guidance; Apple 20W USB-C Power Adapter; ResMed AirSense 11 user guide; NREL PVWatts version 5 manual (default 14% system losses); NREL PVWatts calculator (solar resource by location); station and panel specifications from EcoFlow, Anker and Jackery.

Reading the results

  1. Runs them together compares the running watts of everything on your list with the station's rated continuous AC output. Above that, the station cannot run everything at once, so stagger what runs.
  2. Can start the motors adds the largest extra a motor draws for a moment as it starts (a fridge, freezer, sump pump or window AC) to everything already running, and compares that with the maker's published surge rating. Where a maker publishes no motor-start surge, the check uses the rated output instead.
  3. Enough outlets counts the AC plugs on your list against the station's standard 120V outlets. Phones charge from the USB ports, so they are not counted.
  4. How long it lasts takes 80% of the stored energy, a planning allowance for conversion losses, and divides it by your day's energy use, with no recharging. For refrigeration, start with measured fridge energy use.
  5. Its solar panel estimates what a panel from the same maker, sized to fit the station's solar input, adds on a day with the peak sun hours you choose, after NREL's default system losses, and how much longer that stretches the battery.

Connect it safely

Plug appliances straight into the station. Never feed electricity into a wall outlet; connecting backup power to house wiring needs approved transfer equipment installed by a qualified electrician. A battery station makes no exhaust, but a fuel generator must run outdoors, more than 20 feet from windows, doors and vents, and never in a garage.

Estimates here are arithmetic from published ratings, not tests. Compressor start-up, cold weather, battery age and your own appliances change the result, and a plug-in watt meter is the surest way to learn what an appliance really draws.

Sources

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