Gypes

Unit converter

Power converter

Convert common electrical, mechanical, and heating power units through watts.

Power is energy per unit of time

One watt equals one joule per second. A kilowatt is 1,000 watts and a megawatt is one million watts. Power describes a rate; energy describes the accumulated amount transferred over time.

Horsepower conventions

This tool uses mechanical horsepower, approximately 745.6998715822702 watts. Metric horsepower and electrical horsepower use different definitions, so confirm the convention in a vehicle, motor, or equipment specification.

Heating and cooling ratings

BTU per hour is a power unit even though the “per hour” is sometimes omitted in casual descriptions. This tool uses the International Table BTU, making 1 BTU/h approximately 0.2930710701722222 watt.

Read Energy and Power Units Explained for examples involving appliance ratings and kilowatt-hours.

A unit conversion does not account for input versus output power, duty cycle, efficiency, or operating conditions. Use the definitions required by the relevant standard.