How To Add Appliances And Usage Data

The quality of your result depends heavily on the quality of your load data. GridGap works best when appliances, hours, duty cycle, and surge behavior are entered as realistically as possible.

Choose or create the appliance

Start from the appliance dropdown where possible. The library can prefill common values such as running watts, duty cycle, surge multiplier, and power factor profile. If the exact appliance is not available, create a custom entry and name it clearly.

Set power and quantity

Rated watts should reflect the normal running power of one unit, not the surge. Quantity should reflect how many identical units may be present in the scenario.

For RVs, boats, shops, and warehouses, the principle is the same as for a house: add only the loads the backup or solar-assisted system is expected to support.

Set hours and duty cycle

Hours used is the selected operating window. Duty cycle is the fraction of that window in which the appliance is actually running. A fridge or pump may be available for many hours without running continuously.

Duty cycle matters because it stops intermittent loads from being treated as if they run at full power the whole time.

Set surge and power factor

Surge multiplier matters for motors, compressors, and pumps. It affects inverter surge interpretation, not just the steady-state load.

Power Factor Profile provides a practical shortcut. If the appliance behaves like resistive heating or lighting, a profile near 1.00 is common. Motors and compressors often justify a lower profile. Use manual power factor when you have a better real specification.