One Big Appliance vs. Several Small Devices: Getting the Most Runtime from a Power Station
A fixed power station capacity gives a fundamentally different runtime picture depending on how it's used — running one large, continuous appliance (like a refrigerator) drains the battery at a steady, predictable rate, while running several small devices (phones, lights, a router) at once draws far less total wattage and can stretch the same capacity across many more hours, simply because total watts drawn is what determines runtime, not the number of devices.
The same power station can feel like it barely lasts an evening or like it lasts for days, purely depending on what's plugged into it — understanding why helps set realistic expectations.
Why total watts is what actually matters, not device count
Runtime depends on total wattage drawn at any given moment, not how many individual devices are plugged in — ten devices each drawing 10 watts (100 watts total) drain a power station at the same rate as one 100-watt device, so the practical question is always "what's my combined running wattage," which the Power Station Size Calculator handles for exactly this kind of multi-device scenario.
A practical prioritization strategy
For a genuinely long outage, many people get more total useful runtime by prioritizing low-wattage essentials (phone charging, lights, a router) over one continuous high-wattage appliance, since a fridge alone at 200W can use in a few hours what ten small devices would use across an entire day.