What Will a 6000W Inverter Run?

Inverters have come a long way in terms of power. Nowadays there are 6000W inverters that can handle the needs of energy hungry appliances and devices. We conducted thorough research so all your questions about their capacity, running time and related topics are answered here.

A 6000W inverter is capable of running various appliances and power tools such as air conditioners, refrigerators, water pumps, electric drills and coffee makers. A 6000W inverter also has a 12000W surge watt capacity.

What Appliances Can a 6000W Inverter Run?

A 6000 watt inverter can run a power load of up to 6000 running watts at the same time. Most of these inverters also have a surge or peak watt capacity of 12000-18000 watts.

Running watts is the capacity the inverter can load continuously. For example, a 6000W inverter like the PowerBright PW6000 can load a 4000W clothes dryer, a 1400W coffee maker and a 500W desktop computer simultaneously. As long as the total is 6000 running watts or less, the inverter is going to work.

Surge or peak watt capacity refers to the initial power requirement of some appliances. It is usually 2-3 times greater than its running watts but only lasts a second or so.

Take a refrigerator. These appliances cycle on and off so a typical fridge might use 800 watts a day (lower if it is an energy efficient model). However, it may require up to 1600 or 2400 watts of surge to start the motor. This is the type of inverter you need if your daily power consumption is high.

Because surge power requirements are brief, it should not affect the capacity of the inverter much. When shopping for an inverter, check if the capacity advertised refers to running watts or surge watts.

The following are some large appliances and tools you can run with a 6000W inverter. We have not included TVs fans, computers and other small appliances as an inverter this size can obviously run it.

• Home air conditioner 4000W
• Air fryer 1500W
• Clothes dryer 4000W
• Dishwasher 1500W
• Coffee maker 1400W
• Belt sander 1000W
• Electric leaf blower 2500W
• Corded drill 1000W
• Water pump 300W

This inverter can run any number of appliances provided the power consumption does not exceed 6000 running watts or 12000 surge watts. For inverter safety practices most manufacturers suggest loading up to 90-95% only. This can vary though as there are some deep cycle batteries that can now be used up to 100%.

How Long Does a 6000W Inverter Run?

Inverters will keep running as long as there is power available. If you are off the grid, the inverter runtime is going to depend on the batteries you are using.

To calculate how long an inverter battery lasts, multiply the battery capacity by its voltage. Divide the result by the total watt consumption. The number you get is the estimated inverter runtime. This also works for 800W inverters.

Battery capacity (ah) x battery voltage (V) / inverter load (W) = runtime

For this article we are using this formula for 6000 watt inverters, but you can use this for any inverter or battery size.

First you need a good quality battery like the 200ah 12V Ampere Time LiFePO4. A 6000W inverter has a high capacity and needs plenty of power.

So assume you have 4×200ah batteries for an 800ah capacity. If your inverter is a 48V system, connect the 12V batteries in a series to add their voltages.

Now you want to run a laptop, lights, a modem, a refrigerator and a window air conditioner. How long can a 6000W inverter and a 200ah battery run?

The first step is to calculate the power consumption.

• Window air conditioner 1000W
• Laptop, usually 65-100W, but assume it is a gaming laptop which consumes up to 320W
• Modem 20W
• 3 LED lights 30W
• Refrigerator 400W

Total power consumption: 1770W

With your 800ah 48V battery bank, use the formula given earlier:

800×48 / 1770 = 21.6

The inverter will run for approximately 21.6 hours.

This was just an example and shows how powerful an inverter this size can be. Of course it all depends on how much battery power is available to it.

Using Other Calculation Examples

The battery bank size and power consumption determine how long you can use the inverter. If you have a 400ah battery bank and carry the same load, the runtime gets cut in half.

Regardless of the inverter and battery size the calculation remains the same. The inverter capacity is not used in the calculation; it is always the load that it is carrying.

For example: you want to load 5500 watts and have a 500ah battery bank and 24V inverter. To figure how out long the system will run, use the same formula as before.

500×24 / 5500 = 2.1

A 6000W inverter with a 5500 watt load on a 500ah battery bank will run for about 2 hours.

If you have a 48V inverter you use the same figures except replace 24 with 48.

500×48 / 5500 = 4.36

The estimated runtime is 4.3 hours.

Most inverters are 24V or 48V, while you will find a lot of 12V deep cycle batteries. That is not an issue since you can connect batteries in a series to add up their voltage.

Note also that in these calculations we always say approximate run times. That is because inverters lose some efficiency during the DC to AC conversion. Batteries also lose power faster when heavily discharged. That is why you should be conservative when estimating inverter and battery running times.

How Many Batteries Does a 6000W Inverter Need?

It depends on long much load you want to run and for how long. The longer you want to run a load, the larger the battery capacity. The formula is simple:

Power requirements or total wattage

Battery capacity (ah) / voltage

For this scenario we are going to use a 6000W inverter but any inverter will do. Just replace the inverter and batteries with what you have.

If you want to load a total of 5800 watts and use it for 8 hours, how many batteries would be needed?

Assume that you are using a 48V inverter and you want to use 200ah 24V batteries (wired in a series). To convert battery ampere hours (ah) into watts., do this:

200ah x 24V = 4800

To run 5800 watts an hour for 8 hours, you need 46400 watts. A 200ah 24V battery has a capacity of 4800 watts. You will need 10×200ah batteries.

This calculation assumes that the battery has a 100% discharge rate. With lead acid batteries the DOD (depth of discharge) is 50% so the usable capacity is only half. When capacity drops to 50% you have to recharge. Lithium batteries are more efficient at 85% or higher.

The discharge rate varies depending on the battery so you have to account for that. If a 100ah battery has an 85% DOD, it means 85% can be used before it requires a recharge. This will change the runtime duration of the battery and inverter.

The key here is to have a high quality battery or batteries. Decide beforehand how many devices you want to load and for how long. From there it is easy to figure out how many batteries you are going to need.

How Many Amps is a 6000W Inverter?

You can figure out the amps drawn by an inverter by dividing the watts used by voltage. A fully loaded 6000W 48V inverter pulls 125 amps.

You should only include the watts loaded onto the inverter, not its capacity. If your inverter has a 6000W capacity but only loads 4000 watts, use 4000 watts in the calculation.

4000 / 48 = 83.3

In this case the inverter pulls 83.3 amps. Keep this in mind as some appliances and devices use amps instead of watts. It is common for refrigerator and freezer consumption to be expressed in amps for instance.