The solar generator people buy for a house, not a campsite

The search is “best solar generator for home backup.” What that usually means is one quiet night: fridge, router, a lamp, maybe a CPAP, a cord you can see. Not a roof. Not a well pump. The pick below is the machine that still has hours left when the grid does not come back at dinner.

The short version

• For a 120 volt home backup night, the solar generator we point at is the BLUETTI AC200L: 2,048 Wh, 2,400 W, extra batteries printed to 8,192 Wh, $899 on October 12, 2026.
• Anker SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 is the one you can carry.
• Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus is the 3,000 W comparison (kit with two SolarSaga 100W mini panels, $1,429, in stock on jackery.com as of October 12, 2026).
• Not a roof, not 240 volts.
• Jackery, BLUETTI and Anker SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 prices checked October 12, 2026.

The solar generators hub is the map of the search term. What a station really runs is the night itself, cord by cord. This page is the shopping decision: which of the three tanks we already cover is the one to start with when the house is the job. Wet basement: sump pump runtime. Sleep: CPAP through an outage.

Choose by capacity and runtime

These hours are estimates, not measurements. Rated Wh is each maker’s printed capacity. Usable is our planning assumption of 90 percent, the same one the load calculator states. Load watts are the averages used across this site: a closed fridge at about 150 W running about a third of the time (about 50 W average), a router at about 10 W, and a CPAP at about 50 W without a heated humidifier. Formula: hours = rated Wh × 0.9 ÷ average load watts.

Can this actually run my house? Load tiers

Honest answer: a ~2 kWh 120 volt portable unit does not run a whole house. It runs a short must keep list. Use this tier table, then finish the pencil on the load calculator and sump pump runtime if the basement votes.

Any 240 volt must keep load (well, many dryers, some air handlers) removes this page’s class of machine. That is the F3800 or a standby generator: not more 120 volt modules.

What “home backup” is allowed to mean here

A household refrigerator, once cold and shut, draws about 150 watts while the compressor is spinning, and often only about a third of the hour. Against a ~2 kWh tank that is roughly two days if the door stays shut. Add the internet and a couple of lamps and you are still in tomorrow. A 1,500 watt space heater turns the same tank into an evening. The longer pencil is fridge runtime. The fill in form is the load calculator.

If the well, the dryer, or the air handler has a vote, stop. Extra batteries in this class never grow the missing hot leg. That is a 240 volt battery or a standby generator, and pretending a driveway panel fixes it is how people buy the wrong box.

The one to start with

For this job our pick is the BLUETTI AC200L: 2,048 Wh, 2,400 W continuous, 62.4 lb, $899 at bluettipower.com, checked October 12, 2026. The reason is not a lab score. It is the attic. The maker prints extra batteries out to 8,192 Wh, still 120 volts. A first night fridge is one tank. A storm that teaches you the outage can last three days is the expansion, and that page already exists: extra batteries. See BLUETTI AC200L on bluettipower.com.

It is heavy. Sixty two pounds is a two person lift onto a kitchen cart, not a backpack. If the plan is one floor and a cord to the fridge, that weight is fine. If you have to carry it up stairs every time the lights flicker, read the next paragraph before you buy the expandable one.

Which outage are you planning for?

• Short outage, one night: one tank covers a fridge, router, and CPAP list. Panels are optional.
• Multi day outage: one tank runs out. Plan an extra battery (the AC200L prints expansion to 8,192 Wh) or daylight charging.
• Selected appliances vs whole home: these run a short list of 120 V loads. A whole home, or any 240 V load, needs a different class of machine (below).
• Panels extend runtime by day: they refill the tank in sun, they do not run the fridge at night. Match a panel to your station with the portable solar panel buying guide.

The one you can actually carry

The Anker SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 is the same 2,048 Wh tank and 2,400 W continuous, with a 4,000 W peak printed, at 41.7 lb and $999.99 with a code that expires January 1, 2027 (base price $1,199.99; checked October 15, 2026; in stock on ankersolix.com when checked October 15, 2026). About twenty pounds lighter than the other two. The link goes to Anker SOLIX’s own store, not Anker.com retail. Buy this one if the house is a walk up, or if the station has to live upstairs and come down when the grid drops. The expansion story is thinner than BLUETTI’s printed attic. See Anker SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 on ankersolix.com.

The strong inverter, not the default

The Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus is 2,042.8 Wh, 3,000 W continuous, 61.5 lb. Featured kit: Explorer 2000 Plus + two SolarSaga 100W mini panels at $1,429 on jackery.com, checked October 12, 2026, and in stock there. No standalone unit is listed. Same size tank, more steady watts than our pick, more money than BLUETTI. It sits in the comparison, not as our pick, because the home backup night is hours and a compressor start, and 2,400 W already covers the fridge starts owners keep describing. See Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus kit on Jackery.com.

Family versus family, including the 240 volt fork, is Jackery vs BLUETTI vs Anker SOLIX. EcoFlow is comparison only on Jackery vs EcoFlow. No EcoFlow store link on this page.

Add a panel only if the outage can outlast one tank

A folding panel does not run the fridge. It puts daylight back into the tank. A 200 watt folder on a decent day is a dent in 2 kWh by late afternoon, not a fill up by lunch in January. Stay in the family cable: SolarSaga into Jackery, SP200L into BLUETTI, PS400 into Anker SOLIX. The panel aisle is portable solar panels. If the outage always ends after dark, skip the glass and buy the tank.

How it actually plugs in

Cords you can see are the default for this class. A transfer switch is a different project, with a permit and an electrician, and it does not make a 120 volt station into a whole house plant. The three paths are already written: cords, inlet box, or automatic transfer switch.

Method: how we pick · disclosure. Spec based unless a photo of the unit in our hands is shown.

How we evaluated this (and what we did not do)

This page is spec based. We did not overnight your fridge on these three tanks. Wh/day tiers are closed door arithmetic plus maker nameplate figures dated next to each price. The lead photo is an illustrative porch scene, not a product shot; the product photos on the linked pages are the makers’ own. No whole house claim for portable units. disclosure · how we review.

Back to the search map: solar generators · the night, cord by cord: what a station really runs · pencil: load calculator · sleep: CPAP runtime · wet basement: sump pump runtime.