Independent off-grid gear guides · Beginner-first

Free sizing tool

Battery Bank Size Calculator (12V/24V/48V)

Tell this tool how much power you use in a day and how many cloudy days you want to ride out. It works out the battery bank you need in watt-hours and amp-hours, how many batteries that takes, and exactly how to wire them in series and parallel for 12V, 24V, or 48V. No formulas on your end.

How to use this

  1. Add up roughly how many watt-hours you use in a day. A small van might use 500 to 1,000 Wh, a cabin 2,000 to 5,000 Wh. The appliance chart linked below helps.
  2. Pick your days of autonomy, meaning how many days the bank should run things with no charging at all. One is fine if you have reliable sun or a generator. Two or three suits cloudy regions.
  3. Choose your system voltage and your battery chemistry. LiFePO4 lets you use about 80% of its capacity, lead-acid AGM only about 50%.
  4. Set a reserve buffer for headroom, pick a single battery size, then hit Calculate.

Your numbers

Not sure? A fridge, lights, and charging a few devices is around 1,000 to 2,000 Wh per day.

Days the bank runs with no charging. Try 1 with good sun, 2 to 3 if cloudy.

We treat each battery as a 12V nominal module, which is the standard for 100Ah class batteries.

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