Size on consumption, not on outage length
For a normal house, the question is "how long is the outage?" For a tiny house running partly or wholly on batteries, the question is "how much do we use in a day, and how much comes back in?" That reframing changes which specifications matter.
| Load | Typical daily energy |
|---|
| Compact refrigerator | 0.6-1.2 kWh |
|---|
| LED lighting, evening | 0.1-0.3 kWh |
|---|
| Laptop and phones | 0.2-0.4 kWh |
|---|
| Water pump, intermittent | 0.1-0.3 kWh |
|---|
| Induction cooking, one meal | 0.3-0.6 kWh |
|---|
| Mini split, mild weather | 2-6 kWh |
|---|
Daily figures are derived from the running watts in the appliance wattage chart applied to normal duty cycles. Measure your own with a metering plug before buying at this scale — estimates compound quickly.
Add the first five rows and a modest tiny house lands around 1.3 to 2.8kWh a day. That is why the 2kWh class is the common answer, and why the mini split row is the one that changes everything.
The three decisions that matter
1. Does anything need 240V?
A well pump, a full-size mini split, or a hardwired water heater says yes, and that rules out every 120V unit regardless of capacity. Check before shopping, because it is the one requirement that cannot be worked around.
2. Will it cycle daily?
If yes, cycle life stops being a marketing number and becomes the specification that determines when you buy the next battery. At one cycle a day, 6,000 cycles is roughly sixteen years and 3,000 is about eight — the lifespan page works that through.
3. What recharges it?
Shore power makes this easy. Solar makes it a system: you need enough panel to replace daily consumption plus losses, in the worst month you intend to live there, not in June.
Why a power station rather than a wired system
A traditional off-grid installation — batteries, a charge controller, an inverter, a distribution panel — is more efficient and more permanent. A power station is none of those things, and it wins on three points that matter in a tiny house:
- No installation. It works the day it arrives, which matters when the house is not finished.
- It moves. If the house is towed, sold or rebuilt, the battery comes with you.
- It is a known quantity. One box with published specifications and a warranty, rather than five components you have to integrate correctly.
The trade is efficiency and cost per kilowatt-hour at scale — the off-grid cabin page covers where the line falls.
The setup that works
- Measure for a month on shore power with a metering plug or a panel monitor.
- Buy roughly 1.5 times your daily consumption in battery, so a cloudy day does not empty it.
- Add panel until generation covers consumption in your worst intended month.
- Keep cooking and heating off the battery where you can. Propane does both for a fraction of the stored energy.
The short version
- Size on daily kWh, not on outage hours.
- 1.3 to 2.8kWh a day is typical without climate control.
- Cycle life matters here in a way it does not for storm backup.
- Check for 240V loads first. They decide the whole purchase.
