Daily load

What counts as load

Everything that draws power from the system: lights, fridge, charging devices, heat pump, water pump, oven, induction cooktop, air conditioning, EV chargers (when not modelled separately), inverter idle losses, everything. The simulator doesn’t care what the loads are — only the total daily kWh.

The default value (15 kWh / day) is a sensible mid-range guess for a typical Australian household; bump it up for larger homes with electric heating or pool pumps, drop it down for small apartments, off-grid homes or caravan setups. See the rules-of-thumb below.

Rules of thumb (grid-tied homes)

• Small apartment / unit, gas hot water and cooking — 5–8 kWh / day.
• Average suburban home — 12–18 kWh / day. Australian Bureau of Statistics median is ~15 kWh.
• Larger home with electric hot water and cooking — 20–30 kWh / day.
• Home with pool pump or air conditioning — add 5–15 kWh / day during the months they’re used.
• Home with EV — add 8–15 kWh / day for typical commuting (about 50–100 km). Note: if you’ve enabled the “Charge EV” goal in the calculator the EV daily kWh is modelled separately — keep it out of this number to avoid double-counting.

The fastest way to get an accurate number is to look at your last electricity bill: total kWh ÷ days in the billing period = daily average. Most retailers also show a per-day average on the bill summary.

Off-grid: caravan / rv

Mobile rigs typically run a 12 V house battery with a mix of native-12 V appliances and 230 V / 120 V devices fed through an inverter. Daily kWh is dramatically lower than a house — anywhere from 0.5 kWh (a pop-top with just LED lights and a phone charger) up to ~5 kWh (a large caravan with an inverter-fed induction cooktop, full-size fridge, and air conditioning on a hot day).

Common loads to add up:

• 12 V compressor fridge — 0.4–1.0 kWh / day depending on size, ambient temperature, and insulation. The single biggest load on most rigs.
• LED lighting — 0.05–0.15 kWh / day across the whole rig if you’re stationary in the evenings. Negligible during the daytime.
• Fans (roof vent, table fans) — 0.1–0.4 kWh / day. Useful proxy for AC in a mild summer.
• Water pump — 0.05–0.10 kWh / day for typical caravan use (toilet flushes, kitchen tap, showers). Higher if you’re running longer showers daily.
• Phone / laptop / camera charging — 0.1–0.5 kWh / day depending on how many devices and whether you’re working from the rig.
• Induction cooktop — 0.3–1.0 kWh / day for typical meal prep. Big spike in instantaneous power (1500–1800 W) so inverter and battery sizing matters more than total kWh.
• Microwave — 0.1–0.3 kWh / day for warming food and quick cooking. Same caveat as induction: high peak demand.
• TV / media — 0.1–0.3 kWh / day for an evening of viewing on a 12 V or inverter-fed TV.
• Diesel heater fan + glow plug — 0.05–0.20 kWh / day in cold weather, depending on burn time. The fuel does most of the work; the 12 V draw is just the fan and ignition.
• Air conditioning — 1.0–3.0 kWh / day if you’re running it for 4–8 hours on a hot day. By far the biggest single load when active; most lithium-and-solar setups can’t cover overnight AC without shore power or a generator.
• Inverter idle — 0.1–0.4 kWh / day if the inverter is on 24/7. Worth turning off when not actively using 230 V / 120 V loads.

Quick caravan / RV starter values: 1.5–2.0 kWh / day for stationary use with no AC; 3–5 kWh / day if you’re using induction cooking and air-con on hot days. The simulator’s shortfall numbers will tell you fast if your guess is too low.

Off-grid: home

A fixed off-grid home sits between a caravan and a full-size house in load. Typical range is 3–15 kWh / day depending on size, occupancy, and whether heating / cooling / cooking are electric. A weekender used Friday-to-Sunday averages much lower across the week; a permanently-occupied off-grid home tracks closer to a small-house number.

The largest electric loads in an off-grid home are usually heating (heat pump or resistance), water heating, and pumping (well, septic). Wood heat, propane cooking, and solar hot water keep the kWh number small.

How to estimate from scratch

For each appliance, multiply its rated power (W) by the hours per day it’s active, then divide by 1000 to get kWh. Add the lot up. Watch for the difference between rated power (the badge number) and actual average draw (often half the badge for cycling appliances like fridges and air-con).

The gold standard is a measurement: clip a battery monitor (Victron BMV, Renogy DCC, etc.) onto your shunt and read off the daily kWh after a normal-use day. In grid-tied homes, your inverter app or the retailer’s online portal usually shows the same number.