Guide · 2026-11-11
How long can a power station run Starlink?
Divide usable watt-hours by the dish’s watts. Starlink publishes an average power range for each dish, not one number. Its V5 specification sheet lists an average of 35–50 W. The Standard 4 specification sheet lists an average of 75–100 W. Starlink’s V4 and V5 comparison page lists the same 75–100 W average for V4. RunTime’s load notes use the top of each range, 50 W and 100 W, so the plan does not start from the optimistic end.
Those are published averages. They are not a reading of your dish tonight. Snow melt and cold weather can move a real dish inside or outside its average.
The hour math
Usable watt-hours are the station’s published capacity times inverter efficiency. Hours are that result divided by the load. The Starlink kit plugs into an AC outlet through its own power supply, so RunTime puts it on the AC path. The station pages in this library do not print an inverter efficiency, so RunTime uses 85% and says so. That is the same planning assumption as the UPS calculator.
A 1,024 Wh station at 85% has 870.4 Wh to give. At 50 W that is about 17 hours 24 minutes. At 100 W it is about 8 hours 42 minutes.
| Station | Published capacity | Usable at 85% | V5 at 50 W | Standard 4 at 100 W |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jackery Explorer 300 Plus | 288 Wh | 244.8 Wh | 4 hr 54 min | 2 hr 27 min |
| EcoFlow RIVER 2 | 256 Wh | 217.6 Wh | 4 hr 21 min | 2 hr 11 min |
| Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 | 1,070 Wh | 909.5 Wh | 18 hr 11 min | 9 hr 6 min |
| EcoFlow DELTA 2 | 1,024 Wh | 870.4 Wh | 17 hr 24 min | 8 hr 42 min |
| Anker SOLIX C1000 | 1,056 Wh | 897.6 Wh | 17 hr 57 min | 8 hr 59 min |
| BLUETTI AC180 | 1,152 Wh | 979.2 Wh | 19 hr 35 min | 9 hr 48 min |
Every station in the table lists a continuous AC rating of at least 300 W, which is well above either average. The table is arithmetic on published figures. It is not a ranking, and none of these is a recommendation.
What moves the night
At the low end of the published ranges the same 870.4 Wh lasts longer: about 24 hours 52 minutes at 35 W, and about 11 hours 36 minutes at 75 W. Start from the top of the range anyway. A plan that holds at 50 W or 100 W is the safer one to make.
Starlink publishes the average for the dish. This page does not assume whether your router or anything else on the network is inside that figure. If the same station also runs a laptop, a phone charger, or a light, add those watts to the load. Temperature, battery age, and a station that is not full at the start all shorten the result.
Run it with your station
Open Starlink V5 in RunTime or Starlink Standard 4 in RunTime, then pick your station or type the watt-hours printed on it. If you own a plug-in meter, type the watts it reads over a few hours instead of the published average. How to read a power station label explains watt-hours, continuous watts, and surge. A CPAP on the same station is in how long can a power station run a CPAP.
Sources: Starlink V5 specification sheet, Starlink Standard 4 specification sheet, and Starlink Help Center, differences between Starlink V4 and V5, read 2026-11-11. Station capacities and AC ratings are from the maker pages cited on each station page.