FranklinWH aPower 2 cost factors

FranklinWH publishes no price. Its buying FAQ, read August 19, 2026, sets out the process instead: contact the company, a Business Development Representative reaches out within 24 hours to discuss your requirements, and then "We will find a FranklinWH Certified Installer in your area, who will schedule a site survey if necessary and provide you with a customized design and an accurate quote." Its consumer funnel is a five-step list that ends at "Step 4 Receive a quote" and "Step 5 Purchase energy freedom." There is no number anywhere in it.

What FranklinWH does publish is unusually complete documentation, and reading it changes where you look on a quote. On this architecture the battery is the simple part. The controller is where the scope decisions live. Everything below comes from the aPower 2 datasheet (SKU APR-10K15V2-US, revision date December 16, 2025), the aGate 1.3.1 datasheet (SKU AGT-R1V3-US, revision date October 11, 2025), and FranklinWH's own support pages, all read August 19, 2026. Our aPower 2 model page records the headline specifications. We have not tested this system.

The battery is the part that does not vary

Published aPower 2 figures, so you know what the fixed half of the quote is:

| Specification | Published figure |

| --- | --- |

| Usable system energy | 15 kWh AC per unit, up to 15 units per aGate |

| Max real power, discharge | 10 kW / 11.5 kVA continuous |

| Max real power, charge | 8 kW continuous |

| Max peak output power | 15 kW for 10 seconds |

| Max transient load capacity | 25 kW for 1 second |

| Max load start capability | 185 A LRA |

| Round trip efficiency | 90 percent, grid to battery to load |

| Chemistry | lithium iron phosphate (LFP) |

| Warranty | 15 years, 60 MWh aggregate warrantied throughput |

| Weight | 357 lb complete, 335 lb without cover |

| Dimensions | 45.2 x 29.5 x 11.8 in |

| Enclosure | Type 3R, IP56 wiring, IP67 battery pack and inverter |

| Operating temperature | minus 4 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit, operating to 131 degrees at 5 kW derated output |

| Coupling | AC coupled |

Two figures there are worth pricing against rather than admiring. The 185 A locked rotor amp load start capability is the specification that decides whether a compressor or a well pump starts, and it is published in the same units a motor nameplate uses, which is rare. And the warranty is 15 years or 60 MWh of throughput, whichever comes first, which at 15 kWh per full cycle works out to 4,000 full cycles, roughly eleven years at one full cycle a day. If your reason for buying is daily rate arbitrage rather than outages, that arithmetic is the one that matters, and our load shifting guide works it through.

One documentation caution before you compare quotes on power. FranklinWH's components support page publishes a different power tier table for the aPower 2 than the current datasheet does. The datasheet is the newer document. Ask which figure your installer designed against.

The aGate is the cost component people miss

FranklinWH is explicit that this is not a battery you buy on its own. Its components page states that "The FranklinWH system consists of three essential parts: aGate, aPower, and the FranklinWH App," and its how-it-works page that "A FranklinWH system includes at least one aGate and one aPower."

The aGate 1.3.1 datasheet describes it as the controller "for all home power sources by interconnecting solar, grid, batteries, and a standby generator to supply electricity to the home," and, crucially for scope, says it "can be installed at the service entrance, connected to the main load center, or used as a load center."

Read that sentence as three different electrical jobs at three different prices. Service entrance work, a tie into an existing main panel, and replacing the load center outright are not the same install, and a quote can contain any of them.

The published ratings that shape the design:

• Busbar rating 280 A
• Grid input overcurrent protection device 200 A maximum
• aPower overcurrent protection device 125 A maximum
• Solar input overcurrent protection device 80 A maximum
• Backup load port 200 A maximum, non-backup load port 200 A maximum
• Generator overcurrent protection device 200 A maximum
• Maximum supply fault current 22 kA
• 31.5 x 21.7 x 6.3 in, 38.6 lb, wall mount, NEMA Type 3R
• 12-year limited warranty, which is shorter than the battery's 15

FranklinWH turns the busbar figure into a direct cost claim on the aGate product page: "The aGate's 280 A capacity eliminates the need for an upgrade, saving time and money." That is the single largest swing item on most battery quotes, so it is worth being precise about what has been established. The claim is about the hardware. Whether your service and your panel escape an upgrade is a site survey finding, and it should appear in your quote as a finding rather than as a marketing line.

The optional modules are separate line items

Two capabilities most people assume come in the box are footnoted as optional in the aGate datasheet.

The Generator Module. The aGate supports "Standby generator integration via generator module," with the footnote "Generator Module is optional." FranklinWH's product page describes support for both standby and portable generators, which can recharge the aPower battery while powering the home. If a generator is part of your reason for choosing FranklinWH, confirm the module is quoted. Our battery versus generator guide covers whether you want both.

The Smart Circuits Module. Published as "Precise control of electricity usage through Smart Circuits Module," again footnoted as optional, with two configuration options for the overcurrent protection devices. Smart Circuits are how you schedule individual loads or shed them to extend backup time, and FranklinWH's whole-home backup definition depends on them: it describes whole-home backup as all household loads except Smart Circuit loads connected via the main panel to the aGate backup port, and partial backup as only essential loads on the backup ports with non-essential loads on non-backup ports.

So the whole-home versus partial decision on this system is partly a module purchase, not only a wiring decision. Our whole home versus essentials explainer covers the general trade, and our critical loads panel guide covers what the partial route usually involves elsewhere.

Your existing solar is in scope

The aPower 2 is AC coupled, which is the retrofit-friendly answer. FranklinWH states that "As an AC coupled system, the FHP is compatible with most solar inverters of various types and brands in the market," and its aGate page claims the system "easily integrates with your existing solar system without overhauling your setup."

One published number to size against: FranklinWH's components page says the system enables 8 kW of PV to a single aPower 2, and the aGate's solar input overcurrent protection device is 80 A maximum. A large existing array is therefore a design conversation about unit count, not an assumption.

Site, code, and who is allowed to touch it

The aPower 2 is a 357 lb unit rated for wall or floor mount, Type 3R, from minus 4 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit with derated operation to 131, flood resistant to 29 inches from the bottom, and rated to a maximum altitude of 9,843 feet. Which of those constraints your site imposes decides mounting work and location, and our installation location guide covers the general question.

FranklinWH publishes a UL 9540A summary and installation guidance document for the aPower 2 that makes several clearance and fire-protection arguments, including that the unit qualifies for reduced indoor clearances "to at least 4 inches for three aPower 2 units, as tested," that automatic sprinkler systems "may not be required" given compliance with the UL 9540A unit-level performance criteria, and that ventilation requirements "may not be needed." Note the modal verbs. FranklinWH closes the same document with the operative instruction: "Always consult with your local Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), building/fire department and ensure each FranklinWH ESS is installed in compliance with local regulations and fire codes." Reduced clearances that your AHJ accepts save real money on where the unit goes. Reduced clearances your AHJ declines cost you nothing but a different location. Our UL 9540 and NFPA 855 explainer covers the code layer.

The aPower 2 datasheet lists certifications including UL 9540, UL 9540A, UL 1973, UL 1741 with SB, PCS, CRD and Multimode, UL 3141, IEEE 1547 and 1547.1, UN 38.3, and seismic qualification to AC 156, OSHPD, and IEEE 693-2005 high. The aGate datasheet's certification list is different and shorter: UL 1741, UL 1741 PCS, UL 67, UL 869A, UL 916, plus CSA standards. If an inspector asks about a listing, know which document it lives in.

Finally, labor is not optional and FranklinWH says so. Its support article on who can install the system reads, in full: "Only FranklinWH certified and licensed installers. Certification ensures NEC compliance and warranty validity." That is also the reason the warranty question and the installer question are the same question.

The California exception

FranklinWH's components page introduces a second controller: "The MAC 1 serves as the intelligent energy management system at the heart of the FranklinWH System. It seamlessly coordinates and optimizes the operation of aPower 2 and aPower S batteries," followed by "The MAC solution is now available in California."

If you are in California and your quote does not contain an aGate, that is not necessarily an omission. Ask which controller is in the design and what it changes about the backup scope, the generator option, and the panel work. FranklinWH's meter adapter controller page carries the same instruction as everything else on pricing: contact an installation partner to get a quote.

Reading a FranklinWH quote

Ask for these in writing, and compare line by line:

1. Unit count. How many aPower 2 units, and the resulting kWh and continuous kW written out separately.

2. Which controller. aGate 1.3.1 or, in California, the MAC solution, and where it is being installed: service entrance, tied to the main load center, or replacing it.

3. Panel work. Whether the 280 A busbar actually avoids a service or panel upgrade at your address, stated as a site survey finding.

4. Modules. Whether the Generator Module and the Smart Circuits Module are in the price, since both are published as optional.

5. Backup scope. Whole home or partial, and which circuits land on which port.

6. Solar. Your array size against the published 8 kW of PV per aPower 2, and whether your inverter has been confirmed compatible.

7. Site work. Mounting surface, indoor or outdoor, and which clearance argument the installer intends to make to your AHJ.

8. Warranty paperwork. Fifteen years or 60 MWh on the battery, twelve on the aGate, and confirmation that your installer is certified, since FranklinWH ties warranty validity to that.

There is no federal purchase credit in 2026. Section 25D expired on December 31, 2025, so a cash or loan buyer gets nothing federal, and Section 48E reaches homeowners only through a lease or power purchase agreement where a company owns the system. FranklinWH names several consumer lenders on its buying FAQ, which is financing rather than a credit and adds cost rather than removing it. Put your own numbers into the Worth It calculator before you sign.