It takes plenty of preparation and equipment to put on a real show. Whether you’re a DJ, band, or magician, a smoke machine can give your performance an added edge. If you’re traveling around often or setting up your stage, knowing your total power consumption is important. It ensures you will always be able to run your equipment whether you’re at a remote festival or private residence.
Below we will discuss and test fog machine wattage, explain how to work it out for yourself, and calculate the total electricity required.
How Many Watts is a Fog Machine?
The average fog machine uses between 500 to 1000 watts.
The exact number depends on the size and model of your fog machine. For example, a small portable smoke machine uses 500W or less while larger professional units draw 1000W or more.
The difference in power consumption comes down to the size of your machine. In simple terms, the larger the unit the more power it draws. In addition, modern fog machines have various functions such as colored LED lighting and audio. These types of extras will further increase the running wattage.
How to Find Out Your Fog Machine Wattage
There are 3 ways you can work out the wattage of a fog machine.
- Check Product Specification
The quickest way is to look at the fog machine’s specification. The watts (W) is usually written on a sticker on the base of the appliance. If not, you can check the user manual or the manufacturer’s website for technical details.
- Use a Wattmeter
A wattmeter is brilliant for getting a live wattage reading and tracking total energy usage of any appliance. You can simply plug it into your fog machine to get instant information.
I used one to test a fog machine which gave a live reading of 754W.
- Wattage Formula or Calculator
If you know the amperage and voltage of your fog machine you can use this to find the maximum watts. Simply use the formula Amps x Volts = Watts. Or you can head over to the ‘Watt Calculator’ to work this out.
Fog Machine Wattage Examples
Let’s take a look at specific examples of how many watts a fog machine draws. Below is a collection of modern fog machines with their listed power ratings.
| Fog Machine Model | Power Rating (Watts) |
| AGPTEK Smoke Machine | 500 |
| Fanstek Fog Machine | 400 |
| Fanstek Halloween Fog Machine | 400 |
| Upstarttech Smoke Machine | 500 |
| HOTMAI Christmas Fog Machine | 500 |
| KODIDJ Fog Machine | 500 |
| CHAUVET DJ H1200 | 1200 |
| ADJ Fog Fury | 700 |
| Equinox Stage Haze | 1500 |
| QTFX-LF900 | 900 |
As you can see, the power ratings vary between different fog machines. So you should take the time to check your own unit.
How Much Electricity Does a Fog Machine Use?
You can use fog machine wattage to work out how much electricity it uses. Plus this can be useful in understanding how much it costs to run your fog machine.
A watt (W) is a measurement of power at a single point in time. A watt-hour is the total amount of electricity used in an hour. For example, a fog machine drawing 500W would use 500Wh when running for an hour.
Happily, electricity bills are recorded in kilowatt-hours (kWh). A kilowatt is simply 1000 watts. So a 500W fog machine running for 1 hour uses 0.5kWh.
In reality, you might use a fog machine for 2 hours a week. This means a fog machine would use about 1000Wh or 1kWh electricity a week. That’s 4.3kWh a month and 52kWh a year.
That’s a rough electricity cost of $0.15 a week or $7.80 a year to run your fog machine for 2 hours a week.
Using a Fog Machine Off-Grid
If you’re planning to use your fog machine in an off-grid situation, like a power outage or remote location, the information above is important. You can select the correct power products and understand how long everything can run.
You can either use a power inverter, portable power station, or generator to produce AC electricity.
To make sure everything runs smoothly you should check two things on this equipment – wattage capacity and total energy capacity.
Your AC power source, like an inverter, should have a wattage capacity of at least 20% more than your fog machine. This ensures it will be able to deliver enough power as they are never 100% efficient. To create fog, you will need at least 750W power capacity. This will give you enough to run a small smoke machine, but you might need to upgrade to 1000W+ for larger units.
Secondly, you need to ensure your energy source, like a battery, has enough energy to run the fog machine for the required amount of time. As we already know, it might use about 500Wh electricity per hour. This is the equivalent to 41.6Ah on a 12V battery.
How Many Watts Does a Fog Machine Use Summary
I hope you now have a clear understanding of how many watts a fog machine uses.
These appliances can add a significant power draw to your setup. You should expect at least a 500 watt increase from even a small machine. Plus if you have a professional unit then it could be well over 1000 watts. When used regularly, you will certainly notice the difference in your overall electricity consumption. Plus, when setting up off-grid ensure you have an inverter and battery, or generator, that can cope with the demands!
