We Don't Guess. We Calculate.
While others copy-paste marketing claims, we run transparent, spec-based checks built from manufacturer manuals, NEC electrical standards, and conservative safety margins.
For release-by-release product updates, see our changelog.
Data Source Hierarchy
Every wattage figure on this site traces back to a documented source. We rank sources by reliability — and we show you which tier each spec comes from.
OEM Manual
Direct wattage from the manufacturer's user guide or installation manual. The gold standard.
OEM Verified
Wattage from the manufacturer's product page, spec sheet, or official FAQ — not the manual itself, but still OEM-published.
NEC Table
Running watts derived from voltage × FLA (full-load amps) published by the OEM. Surge estimated via NEC 430.248 / 430.7(B) — the US electrical standard for motor starting current.
Government Database
Cross-reference from ENERGY STAR, DOE CCMS, or AHRI Directory. Used to validate OEM claims or fill gaps with certified data.
Engineering Estimate
Watts derived from OEM amps (V × A) or industry multipliers. Always labeled as an estimate. Used only when higher-tier sources are unavailable.
Every compatibility report shows a trust badge (Verified, Mixed, or Estimated) based on the lowest-tier source used in that pairing. Learn more about our data sources.
Safety Headroom (10–25%)
Running a power station at 100% capacity is like redlining your car engine for hours. It works, until it doesn't.
Our Protocol: We apply a load-profile safety buffer that varies by the electrical behavior of the device — not its marketing category.
Compressors get the highest buffer because their startup surge is the most variable and hardest to predict. How sizing works.
10–25% headroom buffer reserved for safety
The 5 Verdicts
Every pairing on this site receives one of these verdicts. No ambiguity, no "it depends."
Passes all checks with the safety buffer applied.
Meets raw specs but fails with safety buffer. Will likely work, less margin.
Fails surge, but a soft-start device would fix it.
Insufficient running or surge capacity. Not recommended.
240V device on a 120V-only station (or vice versa). Hard gate — no workaround.
The 3 Compatibility Checks
1. Voltage Match
The #1 real-world failure in the US is voltage mismatch. A 240V device (central AC, dryer, water heater) cannot run on a 120V-only station — period.
We check 120V vs 240V split-phase compatibility first. If voltage doesn't match, the result is VOLTAGE FAIL — no further checks needed.
2. Running + Surge Power
Motors, compressors, and pumps spike at startup. We use each device's published surge watts — or estimate them via NEC 430.248 / 430.7(B) when OEM data isn't available.
Both running watts and surge watts must clear the station's rated output plus our load-profile buffer. When a soft starter is viable (device is eligible + surge × 0.45 fits), we show a conditional path.
3. Real-World Runtime
Batteries are not 100% efficient. Our runtime formula applies a 0.70 real-world derate (30% reduction) to account for inverter efficiency loss, DC-to-AC conversion, and battery management overhead.
For cyclic devices (fridges, ACs), we factor in duty cycle — a fridge compressor runs ~40% of the time, not continuously.
usable_wh = capacity × 0.70
runtime = usable_wh ÷ running_watts
Solar Compatibility
Plugging the wrong solar panel into a power station can damage the MPPT controller. We run three checks before recommending any panel.
Over-Voltage Protection
A panel's open-circuit voltage (Voc) rises in cold weather. We multiply Voc by 1.2× and verify it stays under the station's max input voltage.
Voc × 1.2 ≤ max_v
MPPT Voltage Range
The panel's operating voltage (Vmp) must fall within the station's MPPT tracking range, or the charge controller won't activate.
mppt_min ≤ Vmp ≤ mppt_max
Connector Match
MC4 panels need an adapter for XT60 stations. Proprietary connectors (DC8020, DC7909) only work with their brand's stations. We flag every mismatch.
Plug & Play vs Adapter
Panel wattage is derated by 0.70× (same 30% real-world factor) to estimate actual charging output. A "200W" panel delivers roughly 140W in typical conditions. Solar panel guide.
Data Quality Badges
Every compatibility report shows a trust badge. This is not the verdict (SAFE/FAIL) — it tells you how strong the underlying source data is for that specific pairing.
Verified
Both sides are backed by Tier 1–2 sources.
- • Generator: verified from manufacturer manual
- • Device: verified from OEM documentation
Mixed
One side is verified, the other is estimated.
- • Example: generator verified (manual), device estimated from NEC amps
Estimated
Both sides rely on engineering estimates.
- • Example: device watts derived from adapter output, not direct OEM measurement
Outage Risk Data Sources & Limitations
Our outage-risk pages use a separate data layer from generator-device compatibility. State pages can combine public HHS emPOWER county counts, historical NOAA Storm Events county summaries, a GeneratorChecker cross-signal shortlist that joins both sources at county FIPS level, and state-level utility context from official EIA Form 861 files.
HHS emPOWER medical vulnerability layer
We use the public HHS emPOWER Map county layer to surface Medicare beneficiaries with claims associated with electricity-dependent medical equipment. On outage-risk pages, this appears as a county-level context block, not as a compatibility verdict.
- What it covers: county-level Medicare counts tied to electricity-dependent equipment claims.
- What it does not cover: non-Medicare, uninsured, or unreported populations.
- Source limitation: HHS masks county cells from 1 to 10 as 11.
- Interpretation boundary: GeneratorChecker uses this layer as community-level outage sensitivity context, not as an individual medical necessity claim.
How GeneratorChecker ranks counties
Rankings by total count use the official county counts directly.
Rankings by share of Medicare beneficiaries exclude counties with fewer than 1,000 Medicare beneficiaries to reduce unstable percentage comparisons.
Counties that still have a relatively small Medicare base after that filter are flagged with a low-base-count caution note in the UI.
These rankings are intended to highlight relative county variation within a state page. They are not a clinical risk score or a guarantee of outage severity.
NOAA Storm Events historical hazard layer
Outage-risk state pages can also include a historical NOAA Storm Events block built from exact NOAA event names, then filtered through a GeneratorChecker outage-relevance methodology. This is a historical storm-pattern layer, not a confirmed utility-outage dataset.
- What it covers: historical NOAA storm-event records for exact event types such as Thunderstorm Wind, Tropical Storm, and Hurricane (Typhoon).
- County ranking boundary: county rankings reflect NOAA storm-event assignments after GeneratorChecker filtering, not confirmed outage counts.
- Crosswalk limitation: forecast-zone events without a current county crosswalk entry are excluded from county-level rankings and disclosed as unresolved zones.
- Interpretation boundary: GeneratorChecker uses this layer to summarize historical storm-event frequency and seasonality, not to claim a forecast or a guaranteed outage severity level.
Backup Priority Index (GeneratorChecker BPI)
Some outage-risk pages also include GeneratorChecker's Backup Priority Index, a public county shortlist that combines stronger historical storm frequency with larger county counts of electricity-dependent Medicare beneficiaries. This is a planning layer built by joining NOAA and HHS emPOWER county records at FIPS level.
- Version: BPI v1.0.
- Join key: county FIPS only, normalized as 5-digit zero-padded strings.
- Qualification rule: a county appears in the public BPI only when both the NOAA outage-relevant storm percentile and the HHS emPOWER medical-count percentile are at or above the 80th percentile within the same state.
- Percentile boundary: both storm and medical percentiles are calculated within each state only and are not comparable across states.
- Medical signal: the shortlist uses the absolute county count of at-risk Medicare beneficiaries, while the share of beneficiaries remains descriptive context.
- Public shortlist gates: counties flagged with low-base medical counts, or with less than 30% direct NOAA county matching, are excluded from the public top-county list.
- Interpretation boundary: this layer is meant to support backup planning, not to claim a forecast, a utility reliability score, or an individualized medical-risk assessment.
EIA utility and grid context layer
Some outage-risk pages can also include a state-level utility context block built from official EIA Form 861 utility files. This layer is meant to show market structure and reporting coverage, not to publish a statewide blended reliability score.
- What it covers: in-scope utilities, ownership mix such as IOU, cooperative, and municipal, plus the largest utilities by residential customers.
- Reliability boundary: the public block only uses annual reporting coverage context from utilities with complete SAIDI and SAIFI pairs filed to EIA, excluding major event days.
- No statewide blended SAIDI: GeneratorChecker does not merge IEEE and Other Standard reporters into a single statewide reliability number in this first public layer.
- Texas scope note: the Texas utility block uses EIA's delivery-company layer for wires utilities and does not treat the broader retail-provider market as equivalent to physical grid operators.
- Interpretation boundary: this is state-level grid context for planning, not a promise of utility performance for any specific outage event.
How a Report Is Built
Every compatibility report runs through the same pipeline. No manual overrides, no brand exceptions.
Source Verification
Device and generator specs are pulled from our database. Each figure is tagged with its source tier (OEM Manual through Engineering Estimate).
Buffer Application
A safety margin is applied based on the device's electrical load profile — compressors get a stricter buffer than resistive heaters because their startup behavior is less predictable.
4-Gate Check
Voltage match, running watts, surge watts (with and without buffer), and soft-start eligibility are tested in sequence. The first failing gate determines the verdict.
Verdict + Runtime
One of 5 verdicts is assigned. For passing pairings, runtime is estimated using rated capacity derated for real-world inverter losses and, where applicable, duty cycle.
Every report is deterministic. The same device + generator pairing will always produce the same verdict. There are no subjective scores, no editorial overrides, and no adjustments based on commercial relationships.
Phrases like "Runs Indefinitely" or "+X hours" are a humanized presentation layer. Technical specs are always shown alongside any simplified message.
About GeneratorChecker
GeneratorChecker is an independent engineering database — not a review site, not a retailer. We are not affiliated with any power station brand. Every generator and device goes through the same True Surge™ protocol regardless of brand or sales channel.
The database covers 33 power stations from 8 brands (Anker, Bluetti, EcoFlow, Goal Zero, Jackery, Pecron, VTOMAN, Zendure), 53 devices across 12 categories with 171 real-world variants, and 20 solar panels. Every device variant traces back to a specific model with documented specs.
Independence
We are not affiliated with any power station brand. Every product goes through the same True Surge™ protocol.
- • Compatibility verdicts are generated from the same calculation logic for every product.
- • Rankings are determined by spec-fit scoring: continuous power, surge handling, and runtime suitability.
Data Update & Correction Policy
- • New specs: Data is reviewed and updated when manufacturers publish new OEM documentation, product revisions, or certification updates.
- • Corrections: We target corrections within 48 hours after verification of a reported error. Every report helps improve the database.
-
• Schema dates: The
dateModifiedfield in our structured data reflects the last build date. Content-level changes are tracked in version control. - • Change history: Major updates to data, compatibility logic, and platform features are documented in our changelog.
- • Report an error: hello@generatorchecker.com
Known Limitations
- • Real-world conditions vary significantly: temperature, altitude, battery age, and device model all affect actual performance.
- • Duty cycle and runtime estimates are statistical averages, not guarantees for your specific setup.
- • This tool is not a substitute for advice from a licensed electrician, especially for hardwired or high-amperage installations.
- • Medical devices: Never rely solely on a portable power station for life-sustaining equipment. Always have a redundant backup plan approved by your healthcare provider.
- • Solar estimates assume average US sunlight conditions (peak sun hours vary by location and season).
Learn More
Frequently Asked Questions
How does GeneratorChecker determine device power requirements?
We use a 5-tier data source hierarchy. The highest tier is direct wattage from OEM manuals. When manufacturers publish only amps, we calculate watts using voltage × amps and label the result as an engineering estimate. Every spec on the site links back to its source document.
What is the difference between SAFE and TIGHT?
SAFE means the power station passes all checks even with our load-profile safety buffer applied (10–25% depending on device type). TIGHT means the station meets the raw device specs but falls short when the buffer is included. It will likely work, but with less margin for real-world variation.
How do you estimate surge watts when manufacturers don't publish them?
We follow the NEC (National Electrical Code). For motors, we apply a 3× multiplier per NEC 430.7(B). For compressors with published LRA (Locked Rotor Amps), we calculate surge as voltage × LRA. Resistive and electronic loads have no meaningful surge. Every estimate cites the specific NEC table and values used.
Are your runtime estimates guaranteed?
No. Our runtime estimates use a 0.70 real-world derate factor (30% reduction from rated capacity) to account for inverter efficiency, DC-to-AC conversion, and battery management overhead. Real-world runtime depends on temperature, battery age, altitude, and the specific device model. Our estimates are conservative starting points, not guarantees.
How do you evaluate solar panel compatibility?
We check three things: (1) the panel's Voc × 1.2 cold-weather safety margin must stay under the station's max input voltage, (2) the panel's Vmp must fall within the station's MPPT range, and (3) connector compatibility. We also derate panel wattage by 0.70× to estimate actual charging output.
Put It to the Test
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