How Many Watt-Hours in an Amp-Hour?

Amp-hours is the language of 12V batteries; watt-hours is the language of power stations. Translating between them takes one multiplication and one caveat.

By Michael W.Updated October 2026

An electrician using a multimeter on a wiring panel

The short answer

One amp-hour is 12 watt-hours at 12 volts, 24Wh at 24V and 48Wh at 48V. Watt-hours = amp-hours x volts, so a 100Ah 12V battery is 1,200Wh on paper. The caveat matters more than the formula: if that battery is lead-acid you can only safely use about half of it, so 1,200Wh nominal is roughly 600Wh usable. Every power station on this site publishes watt-hours you can actually use.

Amp-hours survive as a spec because the 12V world — car batteries, leisure batteries, marine deep-cycle, RV house banks — has always measured capacity that way. Power stations publish watt-hours. The moment you try to compare a van's house battery to a power station, you need to speak both languages.

The conversion

That is the entire arithmetic, and it is why anyone quoting "100 amp-hours" as though it were a capacity is leaving out half the specification. It is the same problem as milliamp-hours on a power bank, one voltage tier up: how many watt-hours is 20000mAh works through that version.

The caveat that changes the answer: depth of discharge

Nominal capacity is not usable capacity, and how far the gap opens depends entirely on chemistry.

Typical safe depth of discharge by chemistry, and what a nominal 100Ah 12V battery actually delivers. Usable figures are our arithmetic on the depth-of-discharge column.
Chemistry	Nominal	Safe depth of discharge	Usable
Flooded lead-acid	1,200Wh	About 50%	About 600Wh
AGM / sealed lead-acid	1,200Wh	50-60%	600-720Wh
LiFePO4 (LFP)	1,200Wh	80-100%	960-1,200Wh

This is why a 100Ah lithium battery and a 100Ah lead-acid battery are not the same product, and why comparing a leisure battery's amp-hours to a power station's watt-hours without this adjustment flatters the leisure battery by roughly a factor of two. Every unit in this site's registry is LiFePO4, and the published watt-hour figure is the usable one. LiFePO4 vs NMC power station batteries covers the chemistry side.

Translating the units on this site into amp-hours

Manufacturer-published watt-hours converted to 12V amp-hour equivalents. The conversion is our arithmetic; these units do not have a 12V battery inside, so read this as a comparison aid rather than a specification.
Unit	Capacity	12V equivalent	Weight
EcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus	286Wh	23.8Ah	10.4 lb
Jackery Explorer 300 v2	288Wh	24.0Ah	8.2 lb
Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2	1,024Wh	85.3Ah	24.9 lb
Jackery Explorer 1000 v2	1,070Wh	89.2Ah	23.8 lb
BLUETTI AC180	1,152Wh	96.0Ah	35.27 lb
EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max	2,048Wh	170.7Ah	50.7 lb
Anker SOLIX F3800	3,840Wh	320.0Ah	132.3 lb

Read that table with one thing in mind: a 1kWh power station is roughly equivalent to a 90Ah lithium house battery, and distinctly *better* than a 100Ah lead-acid one once depth of discharge is applied. That surprises people who assume the bigger-sounding amp-hour number wins.

Why the inverter matters to this conversion

A 12V battery delivers 12V DC. Anything with a mains plug needs 120V AC, which means an inverter, and inverting costs 10-15% of the energy. A power station has that inverter built in and publishes its output rating; a bare 100Ah battery does not, and the inverter is a separate purchase, a separate install and a separate efficiency loss.

So the honest comparison is not 1,200Wh of battery against 1,070Wh of power station. It is 600Wh of usable lead-acid energy, minus inverter losses, against 1,070Wh of usable lithium energy with the inverter already in the box and already in the price. Power station vs an inverter and battery does that comparison properly, including the cases where building it yourself genuinely wins.

When amp-hours is the right unit to think in

If you are wiring a van's 12V system — lights, a 12V fridge, a water pump, a fan — amp-hours and amps are the natural units, because nothing is converting to AC and the losses stay small. That is the strongest argument for a wired house battery over a power station, and power station vs a 12V house battery is where we make it.

If you are running mains appliances, watt-hours and watts are the right units, and a power station is the simpler product. Most van builds end up doing both — a wired 12V system for the fixtures and a power station for the laptop, the camera batteries and the induction hob. What size power station for van life sizes that second half, and charging a power station from your alternator covers keeping it full while you drive.

1. Best 1kWh equivalent of a 90Ah house battery

Jackery Explorer 1000 v2

A power cable plugged into an outlet, photographed close up

Capacity: 1,070Wh
Chemistry: LiFePO4 (LFP)
AC output: 1,500W continuous / 3,000W surge
Weight: 23.8 lb
Max solar input: 400W
Cycle rating: 4,000 cycles to 70% capacity
AC recharge: 1.7 hr wall; 1 hr emergency charge via app
Warranty: 5 years (with registration)

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1,070Wh is 89.2Ah at 12V, and because it is LiFePO4 essentially all of it is usable — against roughly 600Wh from a nominal 100Ah lead-acid battery once you respect a 50% depth of discharge.

23.8 lb and 45.0Wh per pound is the best ratio on this site, which matters because a 100Ah AGM leisure battery alone is typically heavier than this whole unit including its inverter.

400W solar input is the lowest in its class and it does not expand. For a permanent van install those two limits are real, and a wired house battery may still be the better engineering answer.

Reasons to buy

1,070Wh — 89.2Ah at 12V, essentially all usable
45.0Wh per pound at 23.8 lb
1,500W continuous, 3,000W surge
1.7 hr wall charge; 1 hr emergency charge
4,000 cycles; 5-year warranty with registration

Reasons to avoid

400W solar input
Not expandable
Two AC outlets
Cycle rating quoted to 70%, not 80%

Buy it if: replacing a leisure battery with something you can lift.

Skip it if: you are wiring a permanent 12V system.

Read the full Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 review →

A note on these figures: Jackery publishes 23.8 lb (10.8 kg) on its specification page; some Jackery US listings state 24.2 lb. We use the specification-page figure and note the discrepancy rather than picking one silently.

2. Best if the 12V system comes later

EcoFlow DELTA 3 Plus

A modern kitchen counter with small appliances plugged in

Capacity: 1,024Wh
Chemistry: LFP (LiFePO4)
AC output: 1,800W continuous / 3,600W surge
Weight: 27.6 lb
Max solar input: 1000W
Cycle rating: 4,000 cycles to 80%+ capacity
AC recharge: Full in 56 min (1,500W AC input)
Warranty: 5 years

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1,024Wh (85.3Ah at 12V) expanding to 5kWh, which is 416Ah of 12V-equivalent capacity — past what most van house banks are built to.

1,000W of solar input across two MPPT channels is what makes that expansion usable off-grid, and 800W of car charging means driving refills it properly rather than trickling.

27.6 lb and 37.1Wh per pound is middling, and expansion packs are a separate purchase. EcoFlow publishes approximate dimensions only.

Reasons to buy

1,024Wh expanding to 5kWh (416Ah at 12V)
1,000W solar across two MPPT channels
800W car charging
Six AC outlets; 13 outputs
4,000 cycles to 80%+; IP65

Reasons to avoid

27.6 lb — 37.1Wh per pound
1,800W continuous
Expansion packs cost extra
Approximate dimensions only

Buy it if: a van build that will grow its bank.

Skip it if: your capacity need is fixed and you carry the unit.

Read the full EcoFlow DELTA 3 Plus review →

A note on these figures: EcoFlow publishes solar input as two MPPT inputs of 500W each (1,000W combined) on the DELTA 3 Plus; the plain DELTA 3 is 500W total.