Power calculator: will it run on one circuit?
Pick the lights you’re bringing and how many. The calculator adds up their draw at full output, tells you how many circuits they need, and how long our Jackery power station would run them.
How the math works
A 15 A circuit at 120 V carries 1,800 W at most. Lights run for hours, so electricians plan on 80% of that for a steady load: about 1,440 W. A 20 A circuit carries 2,400 W, or about 1,920 W for a long shoot.
One LS 600X Pro takes half a 15 A circuit’s safe load on its own, and two of them use all of it, with nothing left for a monitor or a small light. Two STORM 400x lights fit, and so do two of the 300-class lights with room left over for small ones.
Outlets in the same room are often on the same breaker. Two outlets on different walls can still share one circuit. When you need more than one circuit, plug the big lights into outlets in different rooms, or ask the building which outlets share a breaker.
The figures are each maker’s maximum draw at the wall. Dimmed lights draw less, so treat the total as the most you’ll need.
With no outlet: the power station
The Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 holds 2,042 Wh and puts out up to 2,200 W from its AC outlets. Divide its capacity by your total draw for a rough run time: one LS 600X Pro at full output is about 2.8 h, and a STORM 80c is about 20.4 h. Real run time is shorter, because the station loses some power turning its battery into AC.
On a V-mount battery
Small lights run well on one V-mount. The big ones are AC lights in practice: a 240 Wh battery runs an LS 600X Pro for about 20 minutes, and the 300d II and 300x reach only about half output on one battery. Rough run times at full output, before any loss:
| Battery | Aputure STORM 80c (100 W) | Aputure P60X (78 W) |
|---|---|---|
| IndiPRO 95 Wh | about 57 min | about 1.2 h |
| SmallRig VB99 Pro (99 Wh) | about 59 min | about 1.3 h |
| Rolux 135 Wh | about 1.4 h | about 1.7 h |
| SmallRig VB155 (155 Wh) | about 1.6 h | about 2 h |
| Rolux 240 Wh | about 2.4 h | about 3.1 h |
A P60X on D-Tap shares the battery with whatever else is on it, like the camera, so it runs for less time than this.
Speakers and flashes
Speakers aren’t in the calculator: makers publish their peak wattage, not what they draw over an evening. Two or three of our powered speakers and a mixer share one 15 A circuit comfortably. Flash ratings in Ws aren’t a steady draw either, and flashes run on their own batteries.
Not sure about your setup? Call us at 778-244-4333 and we’ll work it out with you.