The short answer: a solar generator cannot run a whole house the way the grid does, but it can run the part of the house you cannot do without. For most outages that is the right goal, and the unit we would start with is the Jackery HomePower 3600 Plus if you want it wired to your panel, or the HomePower 3000 if cords are enough.
The number that settles the question
An average American home uses roughly 30 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity a day. A kilowatt-hour is one thousand watts running for one hour, and it is the unit your power bill uses.
Now compare that with what the units we recommend actually hold:
| Unit | Stored energy | Output | Expandable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jackery HomePower 3000 | 3,072Wh | 3,600W | No |
| Jackery HomePower 3600 Plus | 3,584Wh | 3,600W | To 21kWh |
| Jackery Solar Generator 5000 Plus | 5,040Wh | 7,200W | To 60kWh |
Even the 5000 Plus holds about one sixth of a normal day’s use before you add batteries. So on a hot afternoon with the air conditioning, oven and dryer all running, a single unit is empty in well under an hour or two. That is the honest answer to the question in the title.
What “whole house” really means in an outage
People asking this question usually do not want to run everything. They want the house to be livable. That list is much shorter than 30kWh:
| Load | Typical draw | Typical use per day |
|---|---|---|
| Refrigerator | 150W running | 1.2 to 1.8kWh |
| Wi-Fi router and modem | 20W | 0.5kWh |
| LED lights, several rooms | 60W | 0.4kWh |
| Phones, laptops, TV | 100W | 0.5kWh |
| CPAP machine | 40W | 0.3kWh |
| Sump pump or small fan, intermittent | 300W | 0.3kWh |
Add those up and the essentials land at roughly 3 to 4kWh on a heavy day, and closer to 1.5kWh if you are careful. The figures are typical, so check the plate on your own appliances. That is why the same box that is hopeless as a whole-house supply is excellent as an essentials supply.
Cords or a panel: the real choice
There are two ways to connect a solar generator to a home, and they give very different results.
Extension cords. You plug the fridge, router and lamps into the unit. It is quick, it needs no electrician, and it works with the HomePower 3000. The cost is that you run cords and choose by hand what to power.
A transfer switch at the panel. An electrician installs a switch so that chosen circuits can be fed from the generator instead of the grid. Lights, outlets and the fridge circuit come back on by themselves, with no cords. The HomePower 3600 Plus is built for this and the 5000 Plus and the 240V kits are too. This is the nearest thing to a whole-house setup, and it is licensed work, so budget for the electrician as well as the unit.
Why 240V matters for bigger homes
Most homes are wired in two halves. Ordinary outlets give 120V, and a few large appliances use 240V: central air conditioning, an electric water heater, an electric dryer and a well pump. A 120V-only unit cannot run any of them, however large the battery is. We cover that decision in our 240V backup guide.
If any of those loads are on your must-keep list, your shortlist becomes the Jackery Solar Generator 5000 Plus, the EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra, or the Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus kit, which we compare in our three-brand comparison.
Runtime: what you actually get
Runtime is stored energy divided by what you draw each day, with no sun. These are battery-only figures, so panels add to them.
| Setup | Essentials (about 1.5kWh a day) | Heavier use (about 4kWh a day) |
|---|---|---|
| HomePower 3000 (3,072Wh) | about 2 days | under 1 day |
| HomePower 3600 Plus (3,584Wh) | about 2.3 days | under 1 day |
| 3600 Plus fully expanded (21kWh) | about 14 days | about 5 days |
| 5000 Plus (5,040Wh) | about 3.3 days | about 1.2 days |
Real numbers will be a little lower, because the inverter that turns battery power into household power wastes some of it.
Adding solar so the days keep going
Solar panels do not make the battery bigger. They refill it. On a clear day a few hundred watts of panels can add 1 to 2kWh, which roughly covers a careful household’s essentials. In a cloudy week they will not, which is why capacity matters more than panels for storm outages. The HomePower 3000 bundle ships with panels, which makes it the simplest way to start. Our sizing guide walks through the arithmetic for your own list.
Check the current price of the HomePower 3600 Plus
Solar generator or a whole-home battery?
A permanently installed home battery is designed to carry an entire house, and it is priced and installed accordingly. A solar generator is the cheaper, movable option for a chosen set of circuits. If you want the lights, fridge and internet to survive a storm and you are happy to leave the air conditioning off, a solar generator is the sensible purchase. If you want the whole house to carry on unchanged, you are shopping for an installed system, and that is a different conversation with an installer. For a fuel-based alternative, read solar generator vs gas generator.
Which one to buy
- Fridge, Wi-Fi, lights and a CPAP for a day or two, no electrician: the HomePower 3000, panels included. Read the full review.
- Circuits that come back on without cords, or more than two days: the HomePower 3600 Plus, then add batteries as the budget allows.
- Central air, a well pump or a water heater on the list: a 240V system. Start with the 5000 Plus, or the Anker kit from Outbound Power if price is the main concern.
Before you buy
- Write down what must stay on and look up each appliance’s wattage on its label.
- Add the daily watt-hours and multiply by the days you want to cover.
- Check whether anything on the list is 240V.
- Decide on cords or a panel connection before choosing the unit.
- Never run a gas generator indoors as a backup to your backup. Carbon monoxide kills.
The pattern is the same for every home: size for the essentials, not for the bill. A unit that covers two days of essentials is a good purchase, and one that is trying to cover everything is usually the wrong one.