Power an entire tailgate party with Ford F-150's Pro Power Onboard
Power an entire tailgate party with Ford F-150's Pro Power Onboard
5:31

Power an entire tailgate party with Ford F-150's Pro Power Onboard

Cars
[MUSIC] So the big game which shall not be named for legal reasons, is just around the corner and you're looking to do a little tailgate and to get outside and enjoy the action, maybe have a little fun in a small, socially distant circle, of course, to do that, you need a few things. Snacks, a screen, sound and of course the tailgate. And today I'm taking a look at a truck tech that I recently put to the test in my very own driveway for its pro power on board and the 2021 F 150, which could bring your next tailgate party to the next level. Into my power boost hybrid F-150 Platinum I plugged 250 inch LCD TV and a 2.1 channel around 100 watt soundbar with a subwoofer. I also grabbed my Xbox One X game console good for streaming the game or like I did playing a completely different game like Forza Horizon four I grabbed my laptop, which maybe you'd use for keeping tabs on stats. But I was using for keeping tabs on Slack and encoding a bunch of 4K video. I was of course, technically still at work appearing into the cabinet at the pro power onscreen display. I dragged out nearly my entire home theater set up and it was barely scratching the surface of what the system could do. TV and home electronics are pretty efficient these days after all, to make a dent, I need to kick it up a notch and bring out some appliances. The game will probably run into the night so I grabbed a few lamps from a corner of the garage. Admittedly not the best lamps for outdoor use. I also hooked up a fan to I don't know blow away the intermittent exhausts. I plugged in my blender to make a few drinks. Yeah, no, yeah, totally non alcoholic drinks and still wasn't close to the max load. Okay, time for the big guard. Now my girlfriend was looking at snuck into the kitchen and grabbed our 1800 watt toaster oven. But when I plugged it in and fired it up the power cut out but only for a few items that were running at the time. Doing the math, I figured I should still be right under the margin and with a little troubleshooting, I traced the issue to a blown fuse on one of the power strips I was using. Now quick rejigger my connections to rebalance the load and everything was up and running just under the 2400 watt max. Drink and dry toasted bread and hand. Look. I'm not a chef. Okay, I was able to kick back and enjoy the game. All right, my setup was a little jank. Okay, very, very jank, but with a little bit of patience. You could put together a pretty decent tailgating setup with fourth pro power system. And if you're a bit more economical with your choices like maybe you don't need a whole toaster oven, you can actually probably get away with a less powerful 400 watt inverter like the one in the ram box or the Honda Ridgeline or the Chevy Silverado. That's enough power to plug up a TV or a projector or maybe even some speakers. I'm not suggesting that you run out and buy a whole dang truck just to tailgate. However, Ford's in bed power solution is a touch more capable than most. Were most in bed AC power inverters that I've seen clocking in at around 150 to 400 watts of power. Pro power starts at two kilowatts and goes up from there. There are three flavors to choose from depending largely on the pickup power train. Most trims your conventional EcoBoost and the eights are available with an optional two kilowatt system that features a pair of 20 amp 120 volt outlets in the bed. Choosing the new hybrid power boost model comes with a 2.4 kilowatt pro power system as standard equipment No still only rocking 2, 20 amp outlets, but both more capacity and output for simultaneous use of more power hungry equipment. And it can run for up to 85 hours. And finally, there's the big mama 7.2 kilowatt upgrade for the power boost hybrid with three times the power. This system features 4, 20 amp 120 volt outlets, but also adds a 240 volt NEMA plug. Big plug that you use for plugging in your dryer or maybe your electric car charger? Yeah, that one. With the most capacity the system can run an entire worksite we're talking welders plasma cutters, table saws for up to 32 hours. 7.2 kilowatt, fifth grade if you're building a house off the grid, but for tailgating, I think the 2.4 kilowatt system is in that Goldilocks sweet spot for a few reasons. For starters, it's standard equipment on the power boost F150 a truck that I already really like. So you don't necessarily have to pay extra if you've already decided to go hybrid, 2.4 kilowatts, as we'll see shortly is also a, decent amount of power for the sort of gear you'll be using for tailgating party. The 85 hours of runtime is more than enough for even the longest overtime game and being a hybrid all the time the pro power system will be running off the trucks battery pack, so the engine won't just be idling the whole time, good for your lungs, and better for the environment. Plus, you will be coming back to an empty tank on Monday morning when it's time to head back to work. Personally, I'd like to see this technology pushed a little bit further. The hybrid was good, but even it had to kick on the gasoline motor every now and then to top off the battery pack. Imagine a fully electric f-150 or rivian R1T one or Tesla cybertruck silently powering your tailgating party or even a worksite with its big old battery pack. Maybe even a hydrogen truck. Anybody even still working on this? I can't wait to see where this technology goes. But I wanna know where do you think it's headed? Better yet? What would you plug into your pickup power tailgating party? Let us know in the comments below and make sure you're subscribed. We've got more truck stuff headed up and you definitely don't wanna miss it.

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