Battery Backup Runtime Calculator — How Long Will It Last, 2026

Pick the appliances you need to keep running (or enter your own wattage) and see exactly how many hours your battery bank will cover.

⏱ ~20 sec🔌 Appliance presets🔒 No signup

Backup runtime

18.0 hrs
Estimated runtime
Same, in days0.8 days
Total connected load500 W
Usable energy available9.0 kWh

Runtime assumes a steady load — real appliances cycle on and off (fridge compressors, etc.), so actual backup time in practice is often somewhat longer than this steady-state estimate.

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Further reading: Solar Battery Storage 101: Sizing, Cost, and Whether It's Worth It

How runtime is calculated

Usable energy (Wh) = Battery capacity (kWh) × 1000 × Inverter efficiency
Runtime (hours) = Usable energy (Wh) ÷ Total connected load (W)

This is the inverse of battery sizing: instead of solving for capacity given a target runtime, it solves for runtime given a capacity you already have (or are considering). Check the appliances above that you'd actually want running during an outage — most people are surprised how far a modest battery goes once the load is trimmed to real essentials.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my load lower than my whole house's normal draw?

During an outage most people only power an "essentials" circuit — fridge, some lights, wifi, phone charging — not the whole house at once. That's why this defaults to a modest load rather than a whole-home total.

What if I want a specific number of backup hours instead?

Use the Battery Size Calculator — enter your target hours/days there and it solves for the capacity you need, the reverse of this tool.

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