What size power station do you need to run a CPAP overnight?
Short answer: 452 Wh of rated capacity — that's the ~500–600 Wh — small class. A CPAP is the classic 'must not stop' load — medical, overnight, and modest in watts.
The math, appliance by appliance
Appliance
Avg draw
Hours used
Energy
CPAP (no humidifier)
40 W
8 h
320 Wh
Energy needed over 8 hours
320 Wh
÷ 0.85 inverter efficiency
376 Wh
× 1.2 headroom (ageing, cold, overrun)
452 Wh
Recommended: ~500–600 Wh — small class. Output check: 40 W continuous, 40 W surge.
Fridges and freezers use their average cycling draw for energy and full compressor draw for the output check — that's why the numbers differ from the label.
The bare energy need is 376 Wh after inverter losses; the extra 20% covers battery ageing, cold weather, and outages running long. A smaller unit works on a good day — this size works on a bad one.
What about output watts, not just capacity?
These loads draw 40 W continuously with no motor surges — any unit big enough on capacity is big enough on output.
Could solar keep this running indefinitely?
Roughly 320 W of panels replaces a day's usage with ~4 hours of decent sun at real-world (75%) efficiency. Half that solar doubles your runtime instead of sustaining it.