Power unit converter

Enter a known power and see its equivalent immediately in another electrical, mechanical, or thermal unit.

Power to convert
Converted power

Contents

Read the same power in another unit

A motor and a lamp connected by power conversion arrows

Enter a known power in either field and choose two units. The other field updates immediately, from milliwatts and kilowatts to horsepower, Btu per hour, or refrigeration tons.

Watts provide the common scale

Power is the rate at which energy is transferred. One watt means one joule per second, so the converter first expresses the source value in watts and then divides by the target factor.

P2=P1ร—k1k2P_{2}=P_{1}\times\frac{k_{1}}{k_{2}}

Each k is the number of watts in one unit. The factors follow the NIST power conversion table.

Checks for motors, appliances, and cooling

Appliance label: 1.5 kW equals 1,500 W. The unit changes, but the rated power does not.

Mechanical rating: 10 mechanical hp equals about 7.45699871582 kW. Metric horsepower gives a slightly smaller result because it has a different definition.

Cooling capacity: 1 refrigeration ton equals about 3.51685284207 kW or 12,000 International Table Btu/h.

Power is not energy, and watts are not always volt-amperes

A kilowatt is power. A kilowatt-hour is energy accumulated over time. Converting one into the other requires a duration, so energy units are intentionally absent here.

Volt-amperes describe apparent electrical power. Converting VA to real watts requires the load's power factor; assuming they are always equal would be misleading. Calorie and Btu entries also state which definition they use.

Questions about power units

Unit names can look interchangeable even when their definitions or physical quantities differ.

How many watts are in one kilowatt?

One kilowatt contains exactly 1,000 watts.

How many kilowatts are in one mechanical horsepower?

One mechanical horsepower equals about 0.745699871582 kilowatts.

Are mechanical and metric horsepower equal?

No. Mechanical horsepower is about 745.6999 W, while metric horsepower is exactly 735.49875 W in this converter.

Why is VA not included?

Volt-amperes measure apparent power. Real watts also depend on power factor, which a unit-only converter cannot infer.

Can I convert watts to kilowatt-hours here?

No. Watts measure power and kilowatt-hours measure energy. A duration is required to connect them.

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