Reactive power converter
Convert reactive power ratings with exact SI prefixes: 1 Mvar is exactly 1000 kvar, so transmission bank schedules, nameplates in kvar and capacitor datasheets in var line up without hand-calculator slips. Free in your browser.
- Free
- Runs in your browser
- No sign-up
- Your data stays on your device
Run — free
Worked example
- Value
- 2,500
- From
- var
- To
- kvar
- Result
- 2.5
- From label
- volt-amperes reactive
- To label
- kilovar
- Value var
- 2,500
This reactive power converter turns a numeric reactive-power rating from one common electrical unit into another and returns the converted magnitude with canonical unit labels. Conversion always bridges through the SI base unit var using exact decimal prefix factors, so the same input always yields the same result with no network calls, no sampling, and no date-dependent shortcuts. Typical checks include twenty-five hundred var to kilovar, one and a half megavar to kvar, and five hundred microvar to var.
What the reactive power converter returns and which units it understands
A reactive-power conversion answers a narrow question: given a magnitude in one unit of volt-amperes reactive, what is the equivalent magnitude in another unit that people actually use for capacitor banks, shunt reactors, generators, and power-factor correction equipment. This calculator accepts a numeric value, a source unit, and a target unit, then returns the converted result rounded to a stable precision, the canonical from and to identifiers, human-readable labels, the intermediate value in var, and the SI factors used for the bridge.
Canonical ids are var for volt-amperes reactive, kvar for kilovar, Mvar for megavar, Gvar for gigavar, mvar for millivar, and uvar for microvar. Everyday spellings such as VAR, vars, volt-amperes reactive, kilovar, kVAR, megavar, MVAR, gigavar, millivar, and microvar normalize to those ids so forms, query strings, and spreadsheets can reuse the same contract without inventing private enums.
Where reactive-power conversion fits in utility, plant, and software work
Utility studies and industrial power-factor correction routinely mix kilovar on medium-voltage equipment lists with megavar on transmission-scale bank schedules, while lab notebooks and small capacitor datasheets stay in var or even microvar for precision components, so a single deterministic converter prevents hand-calculator drift when a planner, technician, or student compares ratings.
Substation engineers convert Mvar of shunt capacitors into kvar for protection settings and bill of materials; plant electricians move between nameplate kvar and var when verifying filter banks; teachers assign homework that needs a fast, offline check of megavar to kilovar without trusting opaque apps that silently change precision. Developers call the same contract from scripts to seed deterministic test vectors for SCADA UIs, to normalize user-entered reactive power before sizing demos, or to satisfy programming-challenge statements that demand exact SI prefixes rather than a hand-waved estimate.
Product tools use the rewrite when a learner or agent types one point five megavar and the UI must show kvar and var side by side. Pair it with electrical power and power-factor calculators when you need active or apparent power from circuit quantities first, and with the general multi-category unit converter when the same form must also handle length or mass.
What you can do with it
Capacitor bank and reactor nameplates
Convert between var, kvar, and Mvar when comparing capacitor banks, shunt reactors, and filter stages across utility and industrial datasheets.
Power-factor correction studies
Normalize reactive compensation ratings into a single unit for deterministic load-flow inputs, bill of materials, and protection settings.
FAQ
What does the reactive power converter cost?
It is free in your browser on this page.
What happens if I send an unknown unit?
Unknown or misspelled units are never silently mapped.
Does this convert watts or apparent power (VA) as well?
No. This capability converts reactive-power units only (var family). For active power in watts or circuit power from voltage and current, use the dedicated power and electrical tools.
How many kvar is 2500 var?
It is 2.5 kvar. One kilovar is exactly 1000 var, so the converter divides by 1000; going the other way, multiply the kvar figure by 1000 to get var.
Does capitalization matter, as in Mvar versus mvar?
Yes. Mvar, MVAR and MVAr mean megavar, one million var, while a bare mvar means millivar, a thousandth of a var. Writing out megavar or millivar removes any doubt.
Related tools
For developers — API access
Everything on this page is available programmatically. This section is for teams who want to wire it into their own systems; everyone else can just use the tool above.
API endpoint
Prefer to automate it? One authenticated POST creates the task; the result comes back by webhook or a signed link. The same capability also runs here on the web, by email and from Telegram — and soon from our app too.
Call it from your stack
curl -X POST https://api.kit.forhosting.com/conv/reactive-power \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $KIT_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"value":2500,"from":"var","to":"kvar"}'const res = await fetch("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/conv/reactive-power", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
"Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.KIT_KEY}`,
"Content-Type": "application/json"
},
body: JSON.stringify({
"value": 2500,
"from": "var",
"to": "kvar"
})
});
const { task_id } = await res.json();import os, requests
res = requests.post(
"https://api.kit.forhosting.com/conv/reactive-power",
headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['KIT_KEY']}"},
json={
"value": 2500,
"from": "var",
"to": "kvar"
},
)
task_id = res.json()["task_id"]<?php
$res = file_get_contents("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/conv/reactive-power", false, stream_context_create([
"http" => [
"method" => "POST",
"header" => "Authorization: Bearer " . getenv("KIT_KEY") . "\r\nContent-Type: application/json",
"content" => '{"value":2500,"from":"var","to":"kvar"}',
],
]));
$task = json_decode($res, true);body := bytes.NewBufferString(`{"value":2500,"from":"var","to":"kvar"}`)
req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.kit.forhosting.com/conv/reactive-power", body)
req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+os.Getenv("KIT_KEY"))
req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)Example request
{
"value": 2500,
"from": "var",
"to": "kvar"
}Example response
{
"task_id": "tsk_a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6",
"type": "conv.reactive_power",
"status": "queued",
"_links": {
"result": "/tasks/tsk_…/result"
}
}The API is asynchronous: the call returns a task_id immediately and the result arrives by webhook. Polling is capped at 1 req/s per task.
Pricing
Published price — no tokens, no invented credits. A failed task is never charged.
Limits
max_abs_value | 1000000000000000000 |
Errors
| HTTP | Code | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
401 | unauthorized | Missing or invalid API key. |
402 | insufficient_balance | Your balance doesn't cover the task price. |
404 | unknown_type | That task type doesn't exist. |
429 | rate_limited | Too many requests. Use the webhook instead of polling. |
Technical notes
Supported units are volt-amperes reactive, kilovar, megavar, gigavar, millivar, and microvar, plus everyday aliases such as var, VAR, kvar, kVAR, Mvar, MVAR, Gvar, millivar, and microvar.
What the reactive power converter returns and which units it understands
There is no approximate efficiency path and no power-factor or active-power table: the engine either multiplies and divides by fixed SI prefix factors inside the supported magnitude range or rejects the input with invalid_input. Rejected cases include missing value, from, or to; non-finite numbers; magnitudes above the documented ceiling; and any unit string that is not on the supported list.
How factors are defined and how results stay reproducible
Optional scientific notation on the value string is allowed when it parses as a finite decimal; embedded spaces, hex prefixes, and non-numeric tokens are rejected with a clear message so a bad cell does not become a wrong bank rating. Zero is a valid value and simply yields zero in the target unit. Computation multiplies value by the source factor in var, then divides by the target factor: one kilovar is exactly one thousand var; one megavar is exactly one million var; one gigavar is exactly one billion var; one millivar is exactly one thousandth of a var; one microvar is exactly one millionth of a var. Short forms respect SI casing where it matters: bare mvar means millivar, while Mvar, MVAR, and MVAr mean megavar; word forms megavar and millivar are unambiguous either way. The preferred fields are value for the reactive-power magnitude, from for the source unit, and to for the target unit, with aliases amount, q, reactive_power, n, and quantity for the value, unit, from_unit, source, and input_unit for from, and target, to_unit, output_unit, and into for to so heterogeneous clients can share one contract. An optional precision field, with aliases decimals and dp, chooses how many decimal places to expose for value, result, and value_var, defaulting to ten and capped at fifteen so JSON goldens stay stable. Pair the free browser run on this page with the priced API when you need the identical mathematical result inside an automated pipeline without re-implementing unit tables yourself.
Where reactive-power conversion fits in utility, plant, and software work
On this page the work runs entirely in your browser; through the API each successful lookup costs $0.002, failed validation is not charged, and nothing is stored after the response returns. That split — free interactive exploration and a priced, identical API — matches the rest of the KIT tier-A catalog and lets you move from a classroom demo to an automated pipeline without changing the mathematical result.
Integration use cases
Homework and CI fixtures
Generate reproducible reactive-power conversions for worksheets, tutoring software, and unit tests that assert fixed SI prefix factors.
Technical questions
Which reactive-power units are supported?
Volt-amperes reactive (var), kilovar (kvar), megavar (Mvar), gigavar (Gvar), millivar (mvar), and microvar (uvar), including common aliases such as VAR, kVAR, MVAR, megavar, millivar, and microvar.
How are conversion factors defined?
All conversions bridge through var using exact SI prefixes: 1 kvar = 1000 var, 1 Mvar = 1,000,000 var, 1 Gvar = 1,000,000,000 var, 1 mvar = 0.001 var, and 1 uvar = 0.000001 var.