If you live with scheduled power cuts, you already know the frustration: the lights go out at the same time every day, the inverter beeps, and you hope the batteries last until the grid comes back. Most battery calculators ask for generic “hours of backup” — but load shedding has a pattern. Our Load Shedding Battery Planner is the first tool designed specifically for scheduled outages. Enter your actual outage slots, tick which appliances you need running, and get a battery bank and inverter sized precisely for your power cut schedule.
Why Load Shedding Needs Its Own Tool
Standard battery calculators size for continuous backup — they assume the battery must cover your entire daily load for a set number of hours or days. But load shedding is different in three important ways. First, the outage is predictable — you know it is 6 to 10 AM and 6 to 10 PM, not a random 8 hours. Second, the battery recharges between slots — a morning slot drains the battery, but the grid (or solar panels) recharges it before the evening slot. Third, you do not run everything during outages — the air conditioner and water heater stay off while the fridge, lights, and fans keep running.
Our planner accounts for all three. It sizes the battery for your longest single outage slot (the worst case the bank must survive), not the total daily outage hours. It assumes the bank recharges fully between slots. And it lets you tick exactly which appliances run during load shedding, so the sizing is based on your actual outage load, not your whole-home consumption.
How to Use the Load Shedding Battery Planner
Enter your outage schedule as up to three time slots per day. For example, a common Pakistan schedule might be 4 hours morning plus 4 hours evening. A South Africa schedule might be a single 4-hour block. Some areas have three shorter slots throughout the day. Enter the hours for each slot and the number of days per week load shedding occurs.
Then go through the appliance list: LED bulbs, ceiling fans, refrigerator, router, TV, laptop charger, phone charger, water pump, air conditioner, washing machine, microwave, and iron. Each has a default wattage and quantity. Tick the checkbox for every appliance you want running during outages. Untick anything you can live without when the power is out. You can add custom appliances if your setup includes something not in the default list.
The results update instantly. You see the total load in watts, the energy consumed during the longest slot in kWh, the number of batteries needed (with your chosen Ah and chemistry), the inverter size, monthly outage hours, and monthly energy drawn from the battery bank.
Sizing for the Longest Slot
The planner sizes the battery for the single longest outage slot, not the total. If you have a 4-hour morning slot and a 4-hour evening slot, the battery needs to survive 4 hours — not 8. The bank recharges between slots either from the grid or from solar panels. This is the critical insight that prevents oversizing: a tool that sizes for “8 hours of backup” would recommend double the batteries you actually need.
If your longest slot is 6 hours and your outage load is 500 watts, the energy per slot is 3.0 kWh. With LiFePO4 batteries at 90 percent depth of discharge and 85 percent efficiency, you need 3.0 ÷ (0.9 × 0.85) = 3.92 kWh of rated battery capacity. On a 24-volt system with 200 Ah batteries, that is 4 batteries. The same calculation with lead-acid at 50 percent depth of discharge would need 7.06 kWh rated — 8 batteries. See our lead-acid vs LiFePO4 comparison for why the chemistry choice matters so much.
Common Load Shedding Configurations
For Pakistan and South Asia (4+4 hours, essentials only at ~500W): 4 batteries at 200 Ah LiFePO4 on 24V with a 1.5 kVA inverter. For South Africa (4-hour stages, essentials at ~800W): 4 batteries at 200 Ah LiFePO4 on 24V with a 2 kVA inverter. For areas with longer 6-hour cuts at 500W essential load: 4 batteries at 230 Ah LiFePO4 on 24V. For heavy loads including air conditioning at 1,500W for 4 hours: 8 batteries at 200 Ah LiFePO4 on 48V with a 3 kVA inverter.
These are starting points. Your actual configuration depends on your specific appliances, which is exactly what the planner calculates from your ticked items.
From Load Shedding to Full Solar
The Load Shedding Battery Planner sizes your battery and inverter for grid-backup during outages. If you want to go further and add solar panels so the batteries charge from the sun instead of (or in addition to) the grid, use our Solar System Calculator. It takes the same load-building approach and extends it through panel sizing, charge controller, and a complete cost comparison. Many load shedding sufferers start with a battery+inverter setup and add panels later — the planner gives you the foundation to build on.
Plan Your Load Shedding Backup Now
Our Load Shedding Battery Planner is the only tool built specifically for scheduled power cuts. Enter your outage schedule, tick your essentials, and get a properly sized battery bank and inverter in seconds — no oversizing, no guessing, and no paying for capacity you will never use.
Open the Load Shedding Battery Planner →
⚡ Free Solar Sizing Cheat Sheet
Get our one-page guide to sizing panels, batteries and inverters — plus weekly solar tips. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
By subscribing you agree to our privacy policy. We'll email your guide and occasional solar tips — never spam.
