How long will an Anker SOLIX X1 last in a power cut?
A full Anker SOLIX X1 (5 kWh usable) runs the fridge-freezer, heating controls, broadband, lights and phones for about 20 h 18 min in an American home with a gas furnace. Running the whole house as normal, it lasts about 3 h 43 min.
Starting at a 20% reserve, the same essentials get about 4 h 4 min. Backup needs Anker's Backup Controller, which switches the house over in under 10 milliseconds. Batteries stack in 5 kWh modules, up to six on one power module.
The specifications that matter in a power cut
- Usable energy
- 5 kWh per unit
- Continuous output
- 6 kW
- Peak output
- 10 kW. For 10 seconds, on the 5 and 6 kW power modules.
- Backup
- Whole house, with the gateway (X1 Backup Controller)
- Solar during a cut
- Not stated
- Units per system
- Up to 6
- Chemistry
- LFP (lithium iron phosphate)
- Warranty
- 10 years
- Sold in
- the US
Source: maker's datasheet, read 2026-09-26. Anker's own power module and battery module datasheet (May 2024), hosted by a reseller.
One, two or three of them
| What it runs | One | Two | Three |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fridge, internet, lights and phones | 44 h 8 min | 3 days 16 h | 5 days 12 h |
| The essentials, with the heating | 20 h 18 min | 40 h 36 min | 2 days 13 h |
| Essentials, heating, cooking and TV | 16 h 43 min | 33 h 26 min | 2 days 2 h |
| The whole house, as normal | 3 h 43 min | 7 h 27 min | 11 h 10 min |
| What it runs | Full | Half full | At a 20% reserve |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fridge, internet, lights and phones | 44 h 8 min | 22 h 4 min | 8 h 50 min |
| The essentials, with the heating | 20 h 18 min | 10 h 9 min | 4 h 4 min |
| Essentials, heating, cooking and TV | 16 h 43 min | 8 h 22 min | 3 h 20 min |
| The whole house, as normal | 3 h 43 min | 1 h 52 min | 44 min |
What it can run at once
Energy decides how long; output decides what. One Anker SOLIX X1 supplies 6 kW continuously, so the essentials are easy but a big heater, a kettle or a car charger on top can be too much. Motors and compressors also need a start-up surge.
| Add this to the essentials | Everything at once | One SOLIX X1 |
|---|---|---|
| Microwave, 1,000 W output | 2.3 kW | Yes |
| Space heater, 1,500 W | 2.3 kW | Yes |
| Window air conditioner, 12,000 BTU | 1.9 kW | Yes |
| Sump pump | 1.6 kW | Yes |
| Well pump (1/2 hp) | 1.8 kW | Yes |
| Electric car (3-pin "granny" charger) | 2.2 kW | Yes |
Solar in a power cut
The panels connect through the same hybrid inverter, but the datasheet does not say outright that solar charges it during a cut.
With 7 kWp of panels (Atlanta, 33.7°N), an average day's sun covers the essentials in every month. These are averages. A week of thick cloud, common in a British winter, can cut the panels to a fraction of this, so in the darker months plan on the battery alone and count the sun as a bonus.
| Month | Starting full |
|---|---|
| Jan | Keeps going |
| Feb | Keeps going |
| Mar | Keeps going |
| Apr | Keeps going |
| May | Keeps going |
| Jun | Keeps going |
| Jul | Keeps going |
| Aug | Keeps going |
| Sep | Keeps going |
| Oct | Keeps going |
| Nov | Keeps going |
| Dec | Keeps going |
Do solar panels work in a power cut? explains why most systems stop, and what keeps them going.
How full is it when the power goes?
A home battery spends most days charging and discharging to save money, so a power cut finds it at whatever level it happens to be. In the evening in winter that can be close to empty. Most systems let you set a backup reserve that the battery will not use on ordinary days (Tesla calls it Backup Reserve; GivEnergy's app has a similar minimum charge for its emergency supply). The tables here show a full battery, a half-full one, and one sitting at a 20% reserve.
If a storm is forecast, charge it to full. Tesla's Storm Watch does this automatically when a weather warning is issued for your area; on other systems you raise the reserve or force a charge in the app.
No home battery? A power station for the essentials
A portable power station does the same job for the things that plug in, without an installer. The biggest ones hold a third to a half of a home battery. Here is how long each runs the fridge-freezer, the heating, the broadband, the lights and the phones, starting full:
| Power station | Capacity | UK home | US home |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zendure SuperBase V6400 | 6,438 Wh | 40 h 34 min | 19 h 50 min |
| EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra | 6,144 Wh | 39 h 47 min | 19 h 43 min |
| Jackery Explorer 5000 Plus | 5,040 Wh | 34 h 48 min | 16 h 41 min |
| Zendure SuperBase V4600 | 4,608 Wh | 31 h 13 min | 15 h 7 min |
| EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 | 4,096 Wh | 27 h 45 min | 13 h 26 min |
The boiler or furnace is the catch: it is usually wired in, not plugged in, so a power station can only run it through a socket or a changeover switch an electrician fits. The boiler guide and the furnace guide explain how. Each station page has the full numbers and where to buy it.
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These are estimates from the site's model, not a maker's claim: stored energy × 94% through the inverter ÷ (what the house draws on average + about 30 W for the battery system itself). The sum is explained here.
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