Sizing a power station for a home outage (fridge, router, lights and phone, 24/48/72 h)

A fridge, a Wi-Fi router, three LED bulbs in the evening and two phone charges pull about 1,978 Wh a day out of a power station once inverter losses and idle draw are counted. That means roughly 2,197 Wh of rated capacity for 24 hours, 4,394 Wh for 48 and 6,592 Wh for 72. A 400 W solar panel on an average day cuts the 72 hour figure to about 2,092 Wh.

This guide sizes the whole kit. For a fridge on its own, see how long a power station runs a refrigerator; for a router and laptop only, the home outage scenario runs that load on any station.

The kit and its daily energy

Each figure is the calculator's preset for that device, linked to its source. The fridge is a 17.5 cu ft ENERGY STAR model whose compressor runs about a third of the time, so its 123 W running draw averages out far lower. The router is on all day at 10 W.

The fridge is about two thirds of the total. The other third is small loads, which is why the inverter's own draw matters here: it runs all day for the fridge whether the lights are on or not.

Worked example 1: three days on battery alone

Inputs: the kit above for 72 hours, no solar, and the size calculator's defaults of 90% usable capacity, 88% inverter efficiency and 10 W idle draw (all explained on the methodology page).

One day needs 2,197 Wh, so every extra day adds the same amount. No single unit in our dataset reaches 6,592 Wh; at that size you are looking at a large station with an extra battery attached.

Worked example 2: the same three days with a solar panel

Inputs: the same kit and days, plus a 400 W panel at the typical US figure of 4.5 peak sun hours, derated to 75% of its rating for real-world losses (NREL sun hours, PVWatts losses).

The panel puts back 1,350 Wh of the 1,978 Wh used each day, so the battery only has to cover the gap. Halve the panel to 200 W and the requirement climbs back to 4,342 Wh. Solar only helps if the station accepts that much input: Explorer 1000 v2 tops out at 400 W, the SOLIX F2600 at 1,000 W.

Which stations cover 24, 48 and 72 hours

Each row runs the kit through the planner with that station's published capacity, and checks that its surge rating starts the fridge with everything else on. "With extra batteries" means the brand's published maximum expanded capacity reaches the target. No solar is counted.

A 1 kWh class unit like the Explorer 1000 v2 is an overnight bridge for this kit, not a three-day plan. Everything from the SOLIX F2600 up clears a full day, and the Explorer 5000 Plus is the one that reaches 48 hours without add-ons. For 72 hours the Yeti PRO 4000, DELTA Pro 3 or Explorer 5000 Plus get there with extra batteries. To weigh two of the 2 kWh options, compare the DJI Power 2000 and EcoFlow DELTA 3 Max or the EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max and Jackery Explorer 2000 v2.

What changes the answer

• Leaving the fridge out. Router, lights and phones alone need 2,864 Wh for 72 hours, about 43% of the full kit. The FDA says an unopened fridge keeps food cold for about 4 hours and a full freezer holds for about 48 (FDA, food safety during power outages), so a short outage may not need the fridge on the battery at all.
• Your own fridge. Older and larger fridges use more than the reference model. Take the yearly kWh from its EnergyGuide label and enter it as a custom device.
• Running the router on DC. The size calculator puts every device on the AC inverter. A router on a 12 V or USB-C cable skips inverter loss, but the fridge still keeps the inverter on, so the idle draw stays.
• A winter outage. At the low-sun preset of 3 sun hours, the same panel delivers a third less than in example 2.
• Starting charge. These figures assume the station is full when the power goes out. Keep it topped up if it is your backup plan.