Sized for a job
Sized for an outage: a full-size refrigerator for a day, a router, phone charging and lights, with the compressor surge checked. Which units hold enough, and what a second day costs. Start with EcoFlow DELTA 3 Ultra for enough capacity without carrying a much larger battery.
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Best for home backup3.9/5 overall
Score from the maker's figures and 3 independent reviews
Why it’s here
Holds 3,072 Wh against the 2,323 Wh needed for a day of home backup and a 7,200 W surge for the 1,351 W start-up. $0.46 per Wh ($1,399), 72.1 lb.
$1,399 · $0.46/Wh
Best value3.6/5 overall
Score from the maker's figures and 2 independent reviews
Why it’s here
Holds 3,072 Wh against the 2,323 Wh needed for a day of home backup and a 7,200 W surge for the 1,351 W start-up. $1,399 ($0.46 per Wh), a lower-cost way to cover a day of home backup.
$1,399 · $0.46/Wh
Easiest to carry3.5/5 overall
Score from the maker's figures and 3 independent reviews
Why it’s here
Holds 3,014 Wh against the 2,323 Wh needed for a day of home backup and a 4,800 W surge for the 1,351 W start-up. 58 lb, one of the lightest options with enough power.
$1,499 · $0.50/Wh
Surge first, then days. A full-size refrigerator averages 41 W over a day by the ENERGY STAR arithmetic, so a day is only 1,167 Wh after inverter losses; but its compressor pulls 1,300 W for a fraction of a second at every start, and a unit whose surge rating is below that shuts down at the first cycle. The fit table checks both. A second day doubles the watt-hours and changes nothing else, so once the surge clears, choose by the days of outage you want to cover and by whether the unit accepts extra batteries. A sump pump (1,116 W running, 2,900 W at start) is the other load worth adding if you have one; tick it in the calculator. A home oxygen concentrator at 120 W is a steady load that a mid-size unit covers for a night.
Check the transfer-time figure if equipment must stay on when wall power fails. A delay is not the same as uninterrupted power, and an appliance may reset. Match the station's backup mode to the appliance's own requirements before relying on it.
Start with the appliances you need through an outage. A refrigerator, router and lights make a different load list from central air, an electric range and a well pump. A bigger battery can extend runtime, but it does not establish the right voltage or a safe connection to the house. Therefrigerator guide works the biggest of those loads by hand and lists the units that clear one, two and three days.
Appliances with a 120 V plug: plug compatible appliances directly into the station's matching outlets, within its outlet and total limits. The starting shortlist on this page checks energy and watts for that use. It does not approve supplying a breaker panel.
Hardwired 120 V circuits: a furnace or lighting circuit needs a documented connection through suitable transfer equipment. A qualified electrician must check the station, inlet, grounding and neutral arrangement, and the home's circuits. Do not connect a station's output to a wall receptacle to feed the house.
120/240 V split phase: a 240 V well pump or other appliance needs the correct output, not just enough watts. A plug adapter does not create the missing voltage. Choose this connection in the calculator and treat the rows as battery-size candidates until an electrician confirms the complete setup.
Not sure: check the appliance nameplate and manual. If you cannot establish the voltage or whether it is hardwired, leave the calculator on “I am not sure.” It will keep the energy estimate and withhold a fit verdict. The custom appliance rows let you enter the watts and hours once you have them.
Over 1 day. Device watt-hours ÷ 0.85 for the inverter, × 1.2 for headroom, gives the 2,323 Wh above; the start-up peak adds the largest single surge among these devices to the running total.
| Device | Watts | Hours a day | Wh a day | Start-up W |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Refrigerator (full-size, ENERGY STAR, ~18 cu ft top freezer) (average) | 41 | 24 | 992 | 1,300 |
| Wi-Fi router (rated) | 24 | 24 | 576 | – |
| Smartphone charger (USB-C) (rated) | 20 | 2 | 40 | – |
| Camp LED light set (4 chainable lights) (rated) | 6 | 6 | 38 | – |
Listed smallest to largest by capacity; every unit here clears the job, so the smaller ones are the cheaper way to do it.
16 units
| Unit | Chemistry | Cycles | Store | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anker SOLIX F2600 | 3.4 | 2,560 | 2,400 W (2,800 surge) | 69.7 | 1,000 | LiFePO4 | 3,000 to 80% | $1,500 | $0.59 | See it at Anker SOLIXCheck price on Amazon |
| BLUETTI Apex 300 | 3.5 | 2,765 | 3,840 W | 83.8 | 2,400 | LiFePO4 | 6,000 to 80% | $1,699 | $0.61 | See it at BLUETTICheck price on Amazon |
| BLUETTI Elite 300 | 3.5 | 3,014 | 2,400 W (4,800 surge) | 58 | 1,200 | LiFePO4 | 6,000 to 80% | $1,499 | $0.50 | See it at BLUETTICheck price on Amazon |
| Anker SOLIX F3000 | 4.1 | 3,072 | 3,600 W (7,200 surge) | 91.5 | 2,400 | LiFePO4 | 4,000 to 80% | $1,500 | $0.49 | See it at Anker SOLIXCheck price on Amazon |
| EcoFlow DELTA 3 Ultra | 3.9 | 3,072 | 3,600 W (7,200 surge) | 72.1 | 800 | LiFePO4 | – | $1,399 | $0.46 | See it at EcoFlow |
| Jackery HomePower 3000 | 3.6 | 3,072 | 3,600 W (7,200 surge) | 59.5 | 1,000 | LiFePO4 | 4,000 to 70% | $1,399 | $0.46 | See it at JackeryCheck price on Amazon |
| OUPES Mega 3 | 4.0 | 3,072 | 3,600 W (7,000 surge) | 83.3 | 2,100 | LiFePO4 | 3,500 to 80% | $1,099 | $0.36 | See it at OUPES |
| Jackery HomePower 3600 Plus | 4.0 | 3,584 | 3,600 W (7,200 surge) | 77.2 | 1,000 | LiFePO4 | 6,000 to 70% | $1,709 | $0.48 | See it at JackeryCheck price on Amazon |
| Anker SOLIX F3800 | 3.6 | 3,840 | 6,000 W (9,000 surge) | 132.3 | 2,400 | LiFePO4 | 3,000 to 80% | $2,200 | $0.57 | See it at Anker SOLIXCheck price on Amazon |
| Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus | 3.8 | 3,840 | 6,000 W (9,000 surge) | 136.7 | 3,200 | LiFePO4 | 3,000 to 80% | $2,600 | $0.68 | See it at Anker SOLIXCheck price on Amazon |
| BLUETTI Elite 400 | 3.6 | 3,840 | 2,600 W (5,200 surge) | 86 | 1,000 | LiFePO4 | – | $1,799 | $0.47 | See it at BLUETTICheck price on Amazon |
| Goal Zero Yeti PRO 4000 | 3.6 | 3,994 | 3,600 W (7,200 surge) | 115.7 | 3,000 | LiFePO4 | 4,000 to 80% | $4,000 | $1.00 | See it at Goal Zero |
| EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 | 3.7 | 4,096 | 4,000 W (8,000 surge) | 113.5 | 2,600 | LiFePO4 | 4,000 to 80% | $2,799 | $0.68 | See it at EcoFlowCheck price on Amazon |
| Zendure SuperBase V4600 | 3.7 | 4,608 | 3,800 W (5,000 surge) | 121 | 3,000 | LiFePO4 | 6,000 | $4,999 | $1.08 | See it at Zendure |
| Jackery Explorer 5000 Plus | 3.4 | 5,040 | 7,200 W (14,400 surge) | 134.5 | – | LiFePO4 | 4,000 to 70% | $3,149 | $0.62 | See it at JackeryCheck price on Amazon |
| Zendure SuperBase V6400 | 3.1 | 6,438 | 3,800 W (5,000 surge) | 130 | 3,000 | Li-ion (unspecified) | 3,000 | $6,999 | $1.09 | See it at Zendure |
Tick appliances from the device table, or add your own appliance using its label or a plug-in watt meter. Keep a preset only if it matches the equipment you plan to run.
Any picks earlier on this page use the starting appliances. Your changes update the calculator and its table below.
For a well pump, furnace or house inlet, check the connection before choosing by watts. The home-backup guide explains what an electrician needs to check.
Your entries stay in this tab. They are not saved in a link or sent with calculator events.
Use running watts while the appliance is on. For a cycling fridge or pump, enter the hours connected and the percentage of that time it runs. If your watts are already a daily average, leave duty at 100%. Startup watts must include the full startup draw, not just the extra watts.
2,323Wh
92W
1,351W
Devices draw 1,645 Wh over1 days. 1,645 ÷ 0.85 × 1.2 gives the rated Wh to buy.
The loss allowance is an estimate. Headroom adds 20% to the energy requirement. All selected appliances can run together; copies in the same custom row can start together.
DC rows use this separate estimate. The default keeps the same loss allowance as AC; change it only if you know the efficiency of your cable and converter. Port voltage, current and shared limits still need checking.
16 of 56 tracked units fit
Other jobs: a night of CPAP, two nights of camping, a day in an RV, a working day in a van. Every unit: the best picks page.
They are arithmetic: capacity × 0.85 ÷ device watts. Real hours depend on temperature, battery age and the exact device; the constants are stated so you can adjust them, and every device draw in the calculator can be changed.
Shorten the hours, drop a device, or move it to DC. The calculator recomputes as you change it, and the checkbox under its table shows every unit with the reason it fails, which usually points at one device.
Because the job is fixed, and once a unit clears it, more capacity is weight and money for nothing. Choose the weight, recharge time and expansion options you will actually use.
