Power station to work from home in an outage
A laptop, a router and a lamp need very little power. The big question is how many hours you need, and whether your internet itself stays up (a cable or fibre box needs power at the street too, which a station at home cannot supply; phone hotspot is the usual fallback).
Typical numbers
| Item | Typical running | Hours | Per day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laptop | 60 W | 8 | 480 Wh |
| Wi-Fi router and modem | 20 W | 24 | 480 Wh |
| LED lights (5 bulbs) | 45 W | 5 | 225 Wh |
| Phone charging (4 phones) | 20 W | 3 | 60 Wh |
| Total | about 1,245 Wh |
Typical values; a plug-in watt meter gives your real figure. Switching the router off outside work hours saves a lot.
Worked example
With 85% of rated capacity usable:
| Battery rating | Usable | This setup lasts |
|---|---|---|
| 500 Wh | 425 Wh | about 8 hours |
| 1,000 Wh | 850 Wh | about 16 hours |
| 2,000 Wh | 1,700 Wh | about 33 hours |
A desktop PC with a monitor (about 250 W typical, 2,000 Wh over 8 hours) uses far more than a laptop: with it, a 2,000 Wh battery covers roughly one workday. Surge is not an issue for these loads, so output rating rarely limits you.
Good to know
- Choose a laptop plus a phone hotspot to stretch the battery the furthest.
- Some stations offer UPS-style switchover for brief dips; check the maker's page for this before relying on it.
Open the calculator with a work-from-home setup filled in
Appliance figures are typical values, not measurements of your device: the label or a plug-in watt meter on yours wins. The sums assume 85% of a battery's rated capacity reaches your outlets (how the numbers work). We list no prices and have not hands-on tested any product.
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Check how long a specific model runs your setup (runtime tool).