You must assess your power needs by listing all essential devices (e.g., medical equipment, communication tools) and accurately calculating the total wattage and daily runtime (watt-hours) required. This ensures you buy a unit with the correct capacity to power your critical items.

You should prioritize power for life-sustaining and critical equipment first. This includes medical devices, heating or cooling during extreme weather conditions, and communication tools necessary to contact emergency services.

The most common mistake is failing to perform regular maintenance and charging, resulting in the unit not being fully charged when an outage occurs. Regular checks and topping off the charge level are crucial for emergency readiness.

The primary safety guideline is to never run a generator indoors or in confined spaces. This is essential to prevent the accumulation of deadly carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.

Wattage refers to the instantaneous power draw, or the peak power (maximum simultaneous draw) the unit must handle. Total energy (watt-hours) refers to the unit's capacity, which determines the total time, or runtime, the unit can operate devices over a period.