Power Outage While Working From Home? Here's How to Size a Solar Generator That Keeps You Online

Last updated: 2026-07-11

Bottom line up front: Keeping a home office running through a power outage is one of the cheapest backup power problems to solve, because a laptop, a router, and a monitor together draw less than a hair dryer. A Jackery Explorer 1000 (1,002Wh) comfortably runs a full remote workday — laptop, monitor, router, and modem — for 10+ hours on a single charge. If your outages regularly run past a full day, or your setup includes a desktop tower instead of a laptop, step up to the EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max (2,048Wh, expandable) for real multi-day margin.

For most households, a power outage is an inconvenience you wait out. For a remote worker, it's a missed deadline, a dropped client call, or a full PTO day burned because the wifi went down at 9am. Utility companies don't prorate your salary for their outages — but sizing 6–12 hours of backup power for a home office costs less than most people assume, because office equipment is genuinely light-duty compared to the appliances most backup power guides are built around.

Why a Home Office Is an Easy Backup Power Problem

Most backup power planning starts with the refrigerator, the sump pump, or the well pump — appliances that pull hundreds of watts continuously and spike even higher on startup. A home office is the opposite case. A laptop charger draws 45–65W. A 24-inch monitor draws 25–35W. A cable modem and wifi router together draw 15–25W. None of these devices have a meaningful startup surge, so you don't need to oversize for a motor spike the way you would for a sump pump or refrigerator compressor.

The one exception is a desktop computer, which draws considerably more than a laptop and changes the sizing math — covered separately below.

What a Home Office Actually Draws

Confirm your own gear against the label or a plug-in watt meter, but these are reliable planning numbers for typical setups.

| Device | Typical Draw | Notes |

|---|---|---|

| Laptop (charging + running) | 45–65W | Most 13–16" business laptops |

| External monitor (24–27") | 25–35W | LED/LCD; larger or curved monitors draw more |

| Cable modem | 8–12W | Runs continuously |

| Wifi router | 6–10W | Runs continuously |

| Desktop tower (mid-range) | 150–250W | No dedicated GPU; add 100–150W for gaming/creative GPUs |

| Desk lamp (LED) | 8–15W | |

| Phone charger | 5–10W | |

| Small space heater or fan | 300–1,500W | Excluded from sizing below — see note |

A typical laptop-based home office — laptop, monitor, modem, router, lamp, and phone charger — draws roughly 100–135W continuously. That's a small fraction of what most backup power guides plan around, which is exactly why this is one of the more forgiving sizing problems in home backup power.

One important exclusion: space heaters and fans draw far more than everything else on this list combined, and running one will blow through your runtime math fast. Size your backup for the office equipment itself, and treat comfort heating or cooling as a separate problem — extra layers, a battery-powered fan, or simply a shorter workday if the outage runs long.

Sizing for a Laptop Setup

At 120W continuous draw (laptop, monitor, modem, router, and incidentals), a 1,000Wh power station delivers roughly 7–8 hours of runtime once you account for the 10–15% conversion loss between DC battery storage and the AC power most office gear plugs into. That's a full standard workday on a single charge, with enough margin that you're not watching the battery percentage during an afternoon client call.

Jackery Explorer 1000 — 1,002Wh capacity, 1,000W AC output

This is the right-sized pick for a one-laptop home office. It's quiet (no fan noise to worry about on video calls), light enough to move between rooms, and its 1,000W continuous output has huge headroom over a 120W office load — meaning it runs cool and isn't working hard, which also means the battery isn't being stressed under load. Recharge it via wall outlet before the next outage, or add a portable solar panel if outages tend to stretch past a day.

If two people in the household work remotely at the same time — two laptops, two monitors, shared router — double the continuous draw to roughly 220–260W. The Jackery Explorer 1000 still handles this, just with runtime closer to 3.5–4 hours instead of 7–8, so a second unit or a larger-capacity station is worth considering for a two-income remote household. If you're deciding between brands rather than just capacity, our EcoFlow vs. Jackery comparison breaks down where each one actually wins.

Sizing for a Desktop Setup

A desktop tower changes the math meaningfully. A mid-range desktop without a dedicated graphics card draws 150–250W on its own — before adding a monitor, router, and modem on top. A gaming or creative workstation with a GPU can push 300–450W or more under load.

EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max — 2,048Wh capacity, 2,400W AC output, expandable

For a desktop-based home office (tower at 200W, monitor at 30W, router and modem at 20W — roughly 250W total), this delivers close to 7 hours of runtime, and its 2,400W continuous rating means it isn't strained even by a workstation-class desktop with a GPU under load. It's also expandable with an additional battery module if your outages regularly run past a single workday, which matters more for desktop setups than laptop ones given the higher baseline draw.

If your outages are rare and short, a laptop is inherently easier to back up than a desktop — it's worth keeping in mind the next time a hardware refresh is on the table, even if switching isn't practical right now.

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Don't Forget the Internet, Not Just the Computer

The most common mistake in home office backup planning is sizing for the laptop and forgetting the internet connection. A fully charged laptop is useless for remote work if the modem and router are dark. Both draw very little power (15–25W combined), so the fix is simple: plug the modem and router into the power station alongside your computer, not just the laptop charger. If you're on cellular hotspot as a backup internet path instead of home cable/fiber, your phone charger draw (5–10W) is even lighter and barely affects runtime.

If your home network gear is hardwired into a rack or a wall-mounted panel rather than sitting on a desk, a short extension cord from the power station to the network closet is worth setting up and testing once, before you need it — not during an actual outage when you're already scrambling to get online for a call. The same networking-gear approach applies if you're also trying to keep a home security system running during an outage — it draws from the same kind of low-wattage backup budget.

What About a UPS Instead?

A traditional battery backup UPS (uninterruptible power supply) — the kind IT departments use on servers — is built for a different problem: bridging a few minutes of outage so equipment shuts down safely, not running your setup for hours. A $50–$150 UPS typically delivers 10–20 minutes of runtime for a router and modem, enough to ride out a brief blip but nowhere close to covering a multi-hour outage. Portable power stations like the Jackery and EcoFlow models above serve the UPS role too — most support pass-through charging so your gear stays powered continuously and switches to battery instantly if the grid drops — while also providing the hours of runtime a real outage requires. For a remote worker, a power station replaces the need for a separate UPS rather than sitting alongside one.

Setting a Realistic Recovery Plan

Even with a well-sized power station, a multi-day outage eventually outlasts a single charge. Before that happens:

• Know your local car-charging options. Many EVs and hybrids can run an inverter or export power to a 120V outlet; if you have one, it's a deep reserve of runtime beyond any portable station.
• Identify a backup location with power — a library, coworking space, or coffee shop — before you need one, not while you're mid-search during an outage with a dying laptop battery.
• Tell your manager or clients your outage plan in advance if you live somewhere with frequent grid issues (parts of California during wildfire season, the Gulf Coast during hurricane season). A five-minute heads-up conversation before outage season starts is worth more than an apologetic email after a missed deadline.
• Add a small portable solar panel if outages in your area regularly run past a full day — it won't fully recharge a station in real time, but it extends runtime meaningfully over 48–72 hours, especially for a low-draw laptop setup.

What This Costs vs. What a Missed Day Costs

A Jackery Explorer 1000 runs roughly $699–$899 depending on current promotions; an EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max runs $1,499–$1,699. That's a real purchase, but weigh it against what a single missed workday actually costs — for a salaried employee, the lost productivity and awkward conversation with a manager; for a freelancer or contractor, a full day of unbilled hours. Both units also double as general household backup for a refrigerator or sump pump during longer outages, and as camping or travel power the rest of the year, so the cost isn't a one-purpose expense.

Start Here

The takeaway: a home office is one of the lightest, most forgiving backup power problems to solve — a laptop-based setup needs a Jackery Explorer 1000, a desktop-based setup needs an EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max, and either one should be sized to cover your computer, monitor, modem, and router together, with space heaters and other high-draw comfort items treated as a separate problem. Set it up, test it once before you need it, and the next outage becomes an inconvenience instead of a missed deadline.

Check current pricing on the Jackery Explorer 1000 or the EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max before the next storm watch, not during it.

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