Didn't think I'd use it... but PowerBoost's Pro Power helping and working perfectly in our power outage

[Shooter56]

It's great to see other people getting use out of their Pro Power Onboard. It's almost camping season again here in Colorado so mine will get another season of use powering my travel trailer out in BLM land. Over the winter, aside from powering up batteries for an assortment of small power tools, I used mine for making coffee and hot chocolate while outside in the woods hunting for a Christmas tree and letting the stucco guys power their tools when their generator died. I get that many people have no such need for onboard power, but if you camp it completely changes the way you do it for the better. Yes, I am too old to sleep on the hard ground, in a tent. Those days are over for me. I read about all of the challenges and expense of solar power, battery issues, how to hook things up, how much power can they generate, making sure there's sunlight to the panels, etc. and I am very pleased that all I do is plug in and enjoy essentially unlimited power without the noise, hassle or limitations of other sources of power. The Powerboost also tows my 5500lbish loaded trailer with ease in all types of conditions.

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[Davexxxx]

It's great to see other people getting use out of their Pro Power Onboard. It's almost camping season again here in Colorado so mine will get another season of use powering my travel trailer out in BLM land. Over the winter, aside from powering up batteries for an assortment of small power tools, I used mine for making coffee and hot chocolate while outside in the woods hunting for a Christmas tree and letting the stucco guys power their tools when their generator died. I get that many people have no such need for onboard power, but if you camp it completely changes the way you do it for the better. Yes, I am too old to sleep on the hard ground, in a tent. Those days are over for me. I read about all of the challenges and expense of solar power, battery issues, how to hook things up, how much power can they generate, making sure there's sunlight to the panels, etc. and I am very pleased that all I do is plug in and enjoy essentially unlimited power without the noise, hassle or limitations of other sources of power. The Powerboost also tows my 5500lbish loaded trailer with ease in all types of conditions.

I'll be outfitting our trailer with a pretty decent solar / battery / inverter charger system, which will handle more or less all electrical needs except long term electric space heater or air conditioning needs. The powerboost is for those times, or extended cloudy weather, or in the woods. I want to be able to use it but not necessarily, need to use it.

 

[HammaMan]

Love to see all of the uses people find for it. It's one of those things you don't think you have a use for until you have it and then realize you've got a rather powerful plug with you no matter where you go. I use it most often to vac the truck. I've got a little shop vac that's quite powerful, it's nice being able to just carry it out, plug it in and done.

 

[Ziggy73]

You can view your usage on your phone. I turn off the screen and dim the other one for power outages. Welcome to the 'no power, no problem' club

It's also quiet so you don't attract unwanted attention in extended outages. Generator thefts are quite common in extended outages.

Wish you could completely turn off the gauge cluster.

 

[Snooker_ML]

I found this power cord worked well for me during my last power outage. Its flat so it goes over the tailgate and you can close the bed cover and have the tailgate closed in case its raining or snowing. I also like it because I can close my garage door too. Just my two cents.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D3GVYBB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

That flat cable is great! Everyone note the key here is to look for a NEMA connector type L14-30P which is the style that fits into the twin 4 prong outlet on the big boy. I just ordered one for my PB 7.2kw as it will be handy in general to tap into it and get 4 standard outlets. I see the plug has color codes outlets, 2 of each color so you can tell which leg it is taking power from (in case you have to balance your loads).

I had already got a (short) dogbone to switch over to a standard 50A RV style plug for my trailer power cord, and in my driveway I ran the AC, microwave, and electric fireplace all at once, no issue and plenty of power left. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08RBNQN5R

I just ordered a 200Ah Ampere Time lithium battery and I think it's a great solution. It came with a little solar, if I was full time I'd go big in solar but I'm not and this fits the bill for me.

 

[Snooker_ML]

Wish you could completely turn off the gauge cluster.

Yeah, for the overnight camping users. Or at least dim the gauges WAY down.

 

[Snakebitten]

Cardboard cutout to cover the instrument panel, if you want complete dark out in the cabin.

Would be so cool if they ever write the code for turning it off in the Powerboost.

The truck begs for some low hanging fruit code to be written for "camping generator mode".

 

[Cobraman428]

Cardboard cutout to cover the instrument panel, if you want complete dark out in the cabin.

Would be so cool if they ever write the code for turning it off in the Powerboost.

The truck begs for some low hanging fruit code to be written for "camping generator mode".

AMEN! This truck is a game changer. Just wish Ford would take the time and tweak it and add some stupid basic features like being able to turn off lights in the cab at night while on ProPower and add an watertight outlet under the bed for the Pro Power Onboard feature.

 

[Mash150]

Using the pro power now as an ice storm with freezing rain, thunder and ice pellets took out a lot of the areas power grid. Really hassle free compared to getting a generator going.

 

[eharri3]

I have the 7.2 system and Have had the cords to set propower up to run first floor essentials on the shelf for a few months but am just getting around to playing with the the system. I have a generator cord with the plug for the 240 volt outlet on one end and 4 standard outlets on the other. A heavy duty cord for fridges and then medium duty stuff for the rest. Started small today, running a Deep freezer and hedge trimmer just to see that nothing goofy happened.

Next step is going to be to run it into a window and run the 3 main first Floor power strips and the fridge off it to see how that registers.

TV/cable/internet, a couple lamps, a couple cell phone charges and the
Fridge.

ThenI'll swap in the washer/dryer by themselves to see those figures. Tough thing is trusting the system to do what it's designed to do and shut down if there are issues. I have the paranoid feeling in the back of my head I'll fry something in testing and have to answer to the wife, so I'm going slow to get a sense of what everything draws.

 

[JJSnell]

I have the 7.2 system

Is there another option on the Powerboost beside the 7.2kw? I have 7.2kw but only saw the 2x 200w when I plugged in the other day....

 

[Yves]

Is there another option on the Powerboost beside the 7.2kw? I have 7.2kw but only saw the 2x 200w when I plugged in the other day....

The 7.2 KW is an option and the best option and it comes with 2x 120V and 1x 240V 30 A. By default the Powerboost comws with the 2.4 KW

 

[eharri3]

Is there another option on the Powerboost beside the 7.2kw? I have 7.2kw but only saw the 2x 200w when I plugged in the other day....

If you were running things and only saw the 200 numbers this means you weren't running enough to register over 200. It won't show numbers below that. My garage freezer didn't register as it didn't run most of the time it was plugged in. Then a big spike on startup, then barely registered. Triggering my hedge trimmer got me to just short of 400'on one leg. I'm thinking if you plugged in a number of Things with minimal power requirements or say plugged in a fridge that didn't actually run while it was on generator Power you may not have strained it Enough to register. Some modern fridges are efficient enough that they may barely budge you over the 200 watt mark once running.

There could be things that spike it on startup and if you're not watching it at that moment you may never know. This is why as I start to experiment I'm paying careful attention to start up wattage. If you run a bunch of things thinking you're OK going by continuous power use one thing that only kicks on periodically can screw you if you don't give yourself the headroom.

 

[JJSnell]

If you were running things and only saw the 200 numbers this means you weren't running enough to register over 200. It won't show numbers below that. My garage freezer didn't register while
Running, only on startup. Triggering my hedge trimmer got me to just short of 400'on one leg. I'm thinking if you plugged in a number of
Things with minimal power requirements or say plugged in a fridge that didn't actually run while it was on generator Power you may not have strained it Enough to register.

Ahhh, ok
Yah, the day it went down, I only powered up my internet, switches, laptop and all things associated with docking station.
Later I powered up my servers, but didn't look closely at consumption at that time.

 

[eharri3]

Ahhh, ok
Yah, the day it went down, I only powered up my internet, switches, laptop and all things associated with docking station.
Later I powered up my servers, but didn't look closely at consumption at that time.

Just googling it seems like most laptops will use well under 100 watts in normal running so you probably just didn’t use much power. You barely taxed it.

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