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HandfulTools

Power Converter

Convert power ratings for engines, appliances, air conditioners and power plants between watts, kilowatts, megawatts, mechanical and metric horsepower, BTU per hour and kcal per hour.

Runs in your browser

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How to use

  1. Enter a power value.
  2. Choose the units.
  3. Read the result.

How it works

Everything converts through the watt (one joule per second). There are two horsepowers: mechanical horsepower (hp, used in the US and UK) is about 745.7 W, while metric horsepower (PS in Germany, ch in France) is 735.5 W. Air-conditioner capacity is often given in BTU/h; 12,000 BTU/h (“one ton of cooling”) ≈ 3.52 kW.

Examples

Car engine
150 kW = 201 hp = 204 PS.
Air conditioner
9,000 BTU/h = 2.64 kW.

Common uses

  • Car engine specifications
  • Choosing air conditioners and heaters
  • Solar panels and appliances

Privacy & security

This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your files and text are never uploaded to our servers — processing happens on your device and results are created locally. How each tool handles files

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between kW and kWh?

kW is power (a rate); kWh is energy (power × time).

Why do car specs show both hp and PS?

They are different units; 1 PS ≈ 0.986 hp.

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