Most of my 18V Ryobi packs spend their days on a shelf, fully charged and waiting for a drill I might not touch for weeks. That stored energy has real value when the grid drops, and I’ve already covered how tool batteries hold up in a blackout. Getting the most from them comes down to the adapter. A USB adapter handles phones and tablets, a clip-on inverter supplies a true 120V outlet, and a 12V step-down adapter feeds gear that runs on DC. The runtime math is simple: multiply volts by amp hours. An 18V 6.0Ah pack stores about 108Wh, and a 4.0Ah pack stores about 72Wh, before conversion losses take their share.

Your modem and Wi-Fi router

Keep the house online when the grid drops

Losing internet during an outage stings, because your phone’s cellular connection suddenly has to carry every text, weather alert, and outage-map refresh. A typical cable modem and Wi-Fi router pull around 15–25W combined. Run both through a 150W inverter, and a 6.0Ah pack should keep you online for roughly four hours once losses are counted.

My own network is the exception. The UniFi gateway in my basement rack feeds a PoE switch and four ceiling access points, and that whole chain likely asks more than a clip-on inverter can give. The standard router most internet providers hand out is a far lighter load.

For longer runtimes, consider an 18V-to-12V step-down adapter. Plenty of modems and routers take 12V DC through a barrel jack, so the adapter powers them directly and avoids converting DC to AC and back again. Match the voltage, polarity, and plug size to the label on your power brick before connecting anything.

Your laptop

Plug in the charger you already have

USB-C seems like the natural route for a laptop, but the ports on many battery adapters can’t deliver enough wattage. The RYi150BG inverter on my bench is a good example: its USB ports suit phones, not a 16-inch MacBook Pro. Plugging the laptop’s own charger into the AC outlet works better.

My 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro is a demanding test. Its 100Wh battery nearly matches a 6.0Ah pack, so after the inverter and charger each skim some energy, one pack covers most of a full charge rather than all of it. My older MacBook Air sips power by comparison and barely dents a pack.

Ryobi keeps building gear around ONE+ packs that has nothing to do with tools, and its newer 200W PCLBG06 power source adds a 60W USB-C port plus pure sine wave output. That covers most thin-and-light laptops without the charger brick.

Phones, tablets, and earbuds

The smallest adapter does the most work

Small devices are where tool batteries earn their keep. A USB-only adapter that clips onto an 18V pack costs less than an inverter and wastes less energy, since it converts battery voltage straight to USB power without creating AC first.

My iPhone 16 Pro Max has a battery of roughly 18Wh. Even after losses, a 6.0Ah pack works out to about four full charges, and a compact 2.0Ah pack still manages one with some left over. My newest iPad Pro charges from the same packs without any trouble, and AirPods barely register.

An adapter and two charged packs make a better outage kit than a drawer of half-dead power banks. Tool batteries tend to get recharged after every project anyway, so they’re usually full when you need them.

A lamp or string lights

Real light beats a flashlight beam

A flashlight lights one spot. A table lamp lights a room, which makes an evening without power feel much less like camping indoors. Put a 9W LED bulb in a lamp, plug it into the inverter, and a 6.0Ah pack should last seven or eight hours. The inverter consumes a little power just by staying on, which trims the total below what the bulb’s rating alone suggests.

String lights draw even less, so a single strand across the living room can run through most of a night.

Modified sine wave inverters, the RYi150BG included, come with one quirk. Some LED bulbs and most dimmer switches react poorly to the rougher waveform and flicker or buzz. Plain, non-dimmable bulbs in a basic lamp cause the fewest problems, so swap a misbehaving bulb before blaming the battery.

Your cordless vacuum

A Dyson that runs on drill batteries

This one has nothing to do with outages, and it’s still my favorite. A replacement V8 battery from Dyson runs past $100, while a cheap adapter lets the vacuum draw from the same ONE+ packs as my drill. I covered the adapter I fitted to my V8 last year, and it has stayed on ever since.

Runtime was the pleasant surprise. The stock Dyson pack stores roughly 60Wh, and a 6.0Ah Ryobi battery holds close to double that. My V8 now runs longer on a 6.0Ah pack than it ever did on the original battery, and swapping in a fresh pack takes seconds.

The added weight is the catch. A 6.0Ah pack makes the vacuum noticeably heavier for overhead work, so a 4.0Ah strikes a friendlier balance for quick jobs.

Tool batteries handle the small stuff, not the whole house

Everything on this list stays well under a clip-on inverter’s 150W ceiling, and that limit matters. Refrigerators, space heaters, sump pumps, and window air conditioners either draw too much or surge too hard at startup for a tool battery to cope. Those jobs call for a proper power station or generator. For everything else, the cheapest preparation is keeping your packs charged before storm season. If you’re adding batteries with outages in mind, the mid-capacity packs offer the best value per amp hour, and a few of them cover more of your house than you’d expect.