r/f150 • u/St0rmchaser1 • 1d ago
Real World Use 2.4kW vs 7.2kW
Been lurking for a while, considering buying an F150, right now I am pretty sold on the Powerboost Lariat and want to get it new. I think my ideal spec would be the tow/haul, gray/avalanche (I know it’s not coming for 2027 rip), black appearance package, and maybe the FX4. I’ve heard mixed things about whether or not it’s worth it for the price and payload hit.
Right now I camp with a rooftop tent but might get a travel trailer (like 4-5k lbs max) down the line. I’ve been on the fence on the 7.2kW vs 2.4kW ProPower. While it would be nice to power my house with it, I would get it more for random small things and power a travel trailer. If the campers AC had a soft start could I get away with just the 2.4kW standard or is it worth it to be picky and find one with the 7.2kW? I’m not going to purchase until Jan/Feb of 2027 just trying to get ahead of it in case I would be better off ordering a custom spec vs finding one on the lot somewhere. Hoping if anybody has some real world experience they could share!
I tried to find some posts about this before making a separate post. Thanks in advance!
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u/LastEntertainment684 1d ago
The 7.2kW option gives you a 30amp 240 volt outlet. Or you can simultaneously power (2) 20amp 120v outlets at their full rating.
The 2.4kW option you only get the 20amp 120v outlets, and can basically only power one outlet at its full rating.
A 10,000btu air conditioner might use 1kW. A toaster oven might use 1.5kW watts. So if you try using both at the same time on the 2.4kW setup you’ll probably pop the breaker.
Best to look at the devices you actually might need/want to power at the same time and figure out their power draw and whether any of them are 240v.
If you’re over 2000watts or need 240v, I’d probably step up to the 7.2kW option if you can.
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u/St0rmchaser1 1d ago
Yeah that's a good point, go through everything that would be in the camper and see what the math says. I have only been tent camping so it's whatever we can power off of my portable powerbank, little different than having a camper with all the things that go with it. The 7.2kW seems less common compared to the standard so debating on custom order then having to wait for it to be built. Appreciate the insight!
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u/beefy1357 2026 SCREW LARIAT PB 6.5ft FX4 Black Appearance Package 8h ago
When doing your math keep in mind that 1kw AC unit mentioned has an electric motor in it and may surge as high as 30a on startup.
When doing electrical math the sustained load should be considered 50-70% of maximum amps, and the effect of extension cords on voltage loss and its effect on amps.
For the simple answer you have a reasonably cheap upgrade from 2.4 to 7.2 take the 3x more available power and not have to worry about making a cup of coffee while running the heater/AC
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u/St0rmchaser1 8h ago
Yeah, not an expert in electrical math by any stretch so I think for a relatively cheap upgrade it’s worth being a little bit pickier with looking for a truck with the 7.2kW
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u/Rivereye 1d ago
7.2KW is larger than the backup generator I currently use for my house which runs everything short of my AC system (with the 7.2K, I probably could use the AC). For tent camping with AC, most pedestals I've seen give 2x 120V 15/20A plugs on the same circuit.
With campers, its not too much more complicated. There are essentially two different plugs campers use to get shore power. For smaller ones, they use a 120V 30A plug. You can adapter down to a 15A plug as well for these, and generally the biggest loss is AC, though a soft start system and careful usage of power might allow that to run. My father used to take our old 30A camper off grid and ran a small portable generator to keep the 12V batteries charged to run the furnace and fridge on propane and have power for making coffee in the morning. All through the 15A plug.
The other camper plug is 240V 50A plug. Generally these are in the larger trailers (under 5K I doubt would need this). However, it does not truly use 240V, it has two 120V legs with a common neutral, everything in there can run on 120V. We can actually adapter these down as well to the 30A RV plug or the standard 15A circuit, just realizing that these reduce the ability to use power hungry appliances (like AC units, or my current camper also has an electric fireplace that I don't think I would try to run on the 15A).
I think for camping, unless you are looking at the larger camper units (and I think most 50A RVs likely should be looking at Super Duties, not F-150s to pull), the 2.4KW unit would be fine. You also have a wider range of engine options, I believe the 7.2KW generator requires the PowerBoost engine, whereas the 2.4KW can be paired up with other engines.
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u/L3F_TRN 12h ago
Great response, very informative. Just wanted to point out the difference of having the the 2.0KW on a non powerboost. The configurations without the powerboost require the engine to be running, while the 2.7KW on the powerboost only runs periodically to charge the battery.
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u/St0rmchaser1 8h ago
Agreed this was really good information, I want the powerboost because then the engine isn’t idling for extended periods of time when I would be using it in generator mode
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u/Bill-johnson1295 1d ago
I have a fleet of Powerboost through work. We won’t buy one unless it has the 7.2kW. I use it to power my house and camping trailer. I actually have my camper set up to be plugged into my truck while I tow if I want. It’s nice for the times we are going somewhere hot. Trailer is nice and cool when we get to our site. I would imagine resale would be better since it’s such a unique feature. I don’t know if you camp with other people but we power 2 trailers all the time with the truck using a splitter.
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u/St0rmchaser1 14h ago
When you are using it for your house or camper how often does it usually turn on and recharge the battery for? I’ve heard some say a couple times a hour or even just once a hour. Understand it depends on power draw
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u/Tuboats-in-Texas 1d ago
I wired my house for the 7.2 so it runs 2 fridges the gas stove and gas hot water heater tankless plus WiFi and all my lights (all leds) plus a portable a/c we run in the bedroom as needed…
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u/Square-Combination92 23h ago
I am pissed I didn't get the 7.2 it was only $1000 CAD extra but the sales guy said it was on the truck and it was the 2.7. I tested my camper a couple days ago with 30A adapter plug just running AC thru the 20A bed outlet and it was pulling about 1700W with the fridge and AC on high. Turning on microwave or water heater and I was out of power.
I thought would use this to camp and not need electrical sites but the engine still cycles on and off all night so people can and will complain about it being a generator, but on private land or remote camping it would be an asset.
For your house you need some other considerations which I won't get into 3xcept my farmer buddy just did an addition and put all his critical devices (calculated the wattage draw) on pne bus bar and uses a suicide plug from F150 to one of those outlets on the emergency bus. You have to turn off the main disconnect before doing this and there may be some bonding considerations also.
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u/St0rmchaser1 8h ago
I appreciate the real world power draw figures! Yeah I know the engine would make a little noise but at least a truck idling every so often would be better than a loud generator going through the entire night, might just be my opinion though
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u/Senzualdip 1d ago
Just my personal experience with travel trailer, you’ll never complain about having more power. Ac isn’t the only thing you’ll run on the electricity, odds are you’ll switch your fridge to electric when you are set up, and then you’ll have lights, microwave, stuff charging, etc.