How Long Will a Power Station Last During an Outage?
Runtime depends on the power station's watt-hour (Wh) capacity divided by what you're actually running — a 500Wh station running a 50W load (a few lights, phone charging) lasts roughly 8-10 hours accounting for inverter losses; the same station running a 500W load lasts closer to 45-60 minutes.
Manufacturers' headline runtime numbers are usually best-case for light loads. For planning, divide capacity (Wh) by your actual combined wattage, then subtract 10-15% for real-world inverter efficiency.
Solar-compatible power stations can extend an outage indefinitely in daylight, though recharge rates are much slower than wall power — useful for outages that stretch past a day.
