Best Solar Battery Backup for Home of 2026
A home battery backup keeps your essentials, or your whole house, running when the grid goes down, silently and without fuel. The portable systems below need no electrician and cover a fridge, lights, and electronics; the expandable ones tie into your panel to back up real circuits. The right size comes down to two numbers: watt-hours of storage and watts of output. Here are the picks, by how much of your home you want to keep alive.
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EcoFlow Delta Pro
Who it is for: Backing up essentials now, with room to grow into whole-circuit backup.
- +3,600 Wh base, expandable past 10,000 Wh with extra batteries.
- +3,600 W output (4,500 W surge) runs a fridge, well pump, and more.
- +Can pair with a transfer switch to back up circuits in your panel, and recharges from solar.
Watch out: Whole-circuit backup needs the transfer switch and an electrician to install it.
Bluetti AC300 + B300
Who it is for: Building up to large capacity over time.
- +Modular: one inverter hub takes multiple B300 battery modules to scale storage.
- +3,000 W output with strong surge handling.
- +LiFePO4 batteries rated for thousands of cycles.
Watch out: The hub and batteries are bought separately, so price it as a stack.
Anker SOLIX F3800
Who it is for: Running heavy loads like a dryer or backing up a 240V circuit.
- +6,000 W output and a 120/240V split-phase outlet, rare in a portable unit.
- +3,840 Wh base, expandable with extra packs.
- +High solar input for fast daytime recharging.
Watch out: Large and heavy; this is a serious unit, priced like one.
Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus
Who it is for: Solid essentials backup without the whole-home price.
- +2,042 Wh and 3,000 W output covers a fridge, lights, and electronics through an outage.
- +Expandable with add-on batteries if your needs grow.
- +LiFePO4 chemistry and fast recharge from wall or solar.
Watch out: Not meant to wire into your panel; it powers what you plug into it.
What actually matters when buying
Watt-hours are runtime, watts are what you can plug in. Two numbers size a backup. Watt-hours (Wh) is how much energy is stored, which sets how long it lasts. Watts (W) is how much it delivers at once, which sets what you can run. To keep a fridge, lights, and phones going for a day you want at least 2,000 Wh; to run a well pump, dryer, or 240V load you need high output, often 3,600 W or more, plus the surge headroom to start motors.
Portable unit or whole-home, and the transfer switch. Decide up front whether you want to power what you plug in, or back up actual circuits in your panel. A portable power station runs extension cords to your essentials with no install. To back up wired circuits, you add a transfer switch wired by an electrician, which is what turns a big battery into true home backup. Expandable units like the Delta Pro and AC300 are built for that path.
Expandability so you do not buy twice. Backup needs tend to grow. Systems that take add-on battery modules let you start with what you can afford and scale storage later without replacing the inverter. If there is any chance you will want more runtime, buy into a stackable system rather than a sealed unit at its capacity ceiling.
Insist on LiFePO4, and check solar input. Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries last far longer than older lithium, often thousands of cycles, which matters for something you want for a decade. Also check the maximum solar input: in a multi-day outage, the ability to refill from panels by afternoon is what separates a battery that runs out from one that keeps going.
How we picked
Picks are based on published capacity, output and surge, expandability, battery chemistry, solar input, and broad owner feedback, not paid placement. We have not bench-tested every unit. Permanently wired whole-home batteries such as the Tesla Powerwall are an alternative we do not link here; they require professional installation. Confirm exact specs before buying.
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Frequently asked questions
How big a battery do I need to back up my house?
It depends on what you want to run and for how long. To keep essentials like a fridge, lights, internet, and phones going for a day, plan on at least 2,000 to 3,000 watt-hours. To back up wired circuits or run heavy 240V loads like a well pump or dryer, you need high output (3,600 W or more) and often 5,000 to 10,000 watt-hours, plus solar to recharge during a long outage.
Can a solar generator power a whole house?
A large, expandable unit with high output and a transfer switch can back up many of a home's circuits, but powering an entire house including central air or electric heat usually exceeds a single portable unit. For true whole-home backup you stack battery modules and have an electrician wire in a transfer switch, or install a permanently mounted home battery. For essentials, a portable unit is enough.
How long will a home battery backup last?
Divide the usable watt-hours by your load in watts. A 3,600 Wh battery running a 300 W draw of fridge, lights, and devices lasts roughly 12 hours; the same battery running a 1,800 W load lasts about 2 hours. Adding solar panels extends it indefinitely as long as the sun refills it faster than you drain it during the day.
Is a battery backup or a generator better?
A battery backup is quiet, fume-free, safe to run indoors, and needs no fuel, but stores a fixed amount of energy unless paired with solar. A gas or propane generator runs as long as you have fuel and handles big loads cheaply, but it is loud, needs ventilation and refueling, and requires maintenance. Many people use a battery for quiet everyday backup and keep a generator for long outages.
Is a home solar battery worth it?
If you face regular outages or want silent, fuel-free backup, yes, especially a portable unit that needs no install. Paired with solar, it keeps essentials running indefinitely through an outage. For whole-home backup the cost climbs quickly once you add capacity and a transfer switch, so size it to the loads you actually need to keep on rather than the whole house.