Les Jones

Home Life > Husky Power Box

I used some of this month's daddy money* to buy one of these Husky powerboxes the other day. It strikes me as a handy thing for boosting a car battery, inflating a tire, or running home electronics during a blackout. It can be recharged from an AC wall outlet or from a car's DC adapter. It then outputs DC and inverted AC power. For $89 it seems like a deal.

Mine came with a pretty good charge out of the box - 12.8 volts. According to the manual 12.5 volts is 80% capacity and 13.0 volts is 100%.

It has all of cables and such you need except for an extension cord to charge it off of AC. The tire inflator part even includes the little adapter for inflating basketballs and such. Nice touch.

The maximum output is 400 watts, though it doesn't last long at maximum output. Anything that makes heat - such as a heater, microwave oven, coffee pot, etc. is also right out. From the manual:

See also:
- Emergency Supplies
- Emergency Communications Over Two-Way Radio
- Inexpensive Alternatives to Emergency Generators
- AC/DC - It's Not Just for Metalheads Anymore

* Melissa and I deposit our checks into a joint account for paying bills, groceries, gas, and eating out as a family. At the beginning of the month she and I each get an equal amount of mommy and daddy money for eating lunch, buying clothes, and other expenses for which we don't have to get permission from the other spouse.