Boneyard Tools

Watt Hour Calculator

Turn a battery or device rating into watt-hours so you can compare packs and estimate run time. Enter volts and amp-hours to size a battery, or watts and hours to see what an appliance consumes. The result shows energy in watt-hours and kilowatt-hours, plus milliamp-hours whenever you supply a voltage.

How to calculate watt-hours

  1. Pick a mode with the toggle at the top: 'Volts and amp-hours' for a battery, or 'Watts and hours' for a device.
  2. For a battery, type the pack voltage in the Volts field and its capacity in the Amp-hours field.
  3. For a device, type its power draw in the Watts field and how long it runs in the Hours field.
  4. Read the big total in watt-hours, with kilowatt-hours below it.
  5. In battery mode, also read the capacity in milliamp-hours, then use Copy result to grab the full summary.

Examples

12 V battery rated 100 Ah

Volts and amp-hours mode: 12 V, 100 Ah
1,200 Wh, 1.2 kWh, 100,000 mAh

60 W device running 5 hours

Watts and hours mode: 60 W, 5 h
300 Wh, 0.3 kWh, milliamp-hours n/a

3.7 V 18650 lithium cell rated 2.6 Ah

Volts and amp-hours mode: 3.7 V, 2.6 Ah
9.62 Wh, 0.00962 kWh, 2,600 mAh

Frequently asked questions

How do I turn amp-hours into watt-hours?

Multiply the voltage by the amp-hours. A 12 volt battery rated 100 Ah holds 12 times 100, which is 1200 watt-hours. The tool does this the moment both fields are filled.

How do watts and hours give watt-hours?

Multiply the power in watts by the time in hours. A 60 watt device running 5 hours uses 60 times 5, which is 300 watt-hours. Switch to the watts and hours mode to enter these two figures.

What is the difference between mAh and Wh?

Milliamp-hours measure charge at a given voltage, while watt-hours measure energy. Two packs can share a mAh rating yet hold very different energy if their voltages differ, so watt-hours are the fairer way to compare them.

Why is there no mAh result for watts and hours?

Milliamp-hours depend on voltage, and the watts and hours inputs never state one. The tool shows milliamp-hours only in the volts and amp-hours mode, where the voltage is known, and displays n/a otherwise.

How do I convert watt-hours to kilowatt-hours?

Divide watt-hours by 1000. So 1200 watt-hours is 1.2 kilowatt-hours, the unit your electricity bill charges by. The tool prints both figures side by side.

Can I estimate how long a battery will power a device?

Yes, with a quick two-step. Work out the battery energy in watt-hours here, then divide by the device wattage to get rough hours. A 1200 Wh battery driving a 100 W load lasts about 12 hours before real-world losses.

Does it handle decimals and small cells?

Yes. Every field accepts decimals, so a 3.7 volt cell rated 2.6 Ah reads as 9.62 watt-hours. Watt-hours are rounded to four decimal places and kilowatt-hours to six, which keeps tiny values readable.

What if I leave a field blank or enter zero?

Both values in the active mode must be positive numbers. A blank, zero or negative entry shows a short prompt instead of a result, since energy cannot be computed from an incomplete pair.

Is anything sent to a server?

No. The arithmetic runs entirely in your browser, so the ratings you type never leave your device and there is nothing to upload or store.

Learn more

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