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Powerstation PS 5000M portable power station

It's hard to describe this Powerstation PS5000M (Costco item #179852, priced at $79.99 in July 2008), which is available at Costco warehouses. It is an air compressor, a portable power source, a worklight, and a car battery all rolled into one. I've owned this for about a year, and have used it only a few times but it was worth the $80 each time I used it.

First let me describe what you get: the Powerstation PS5000M contains an 18 amp-hour battery, two 46 inch 6 gauge cables that have heavy duty 400 amp clamps, a 400 Watt inverter, a 140 PSI compressor, and a bright LED worklight.

Now let me describe how you use it. When you buy this, unpack it and plug it into the wall somewhere out of the way. I have it in the garage.

  • One day you go to your car and it won't start, the battery has died. Just get the Powerstation PS5000 out from the garage, open your hood, connect it to the battery, and a ground. Start the car. You just saved yourself a call for a tow truck.
  • You notice your tires are low on air. Go get the Powerstation PS5000M, unplug it from the wall, bring it out to your car and inflate the tires. It's that simple. You can also use it to inflate basketballs, volleyballs, etc.
  • Your home lost electrical power. Go get the Powerstation PS5000, unplug it from the wall, and plug in whatever you need to the PS5000. That's right the PS5000M is a portable self-contained AC power source. (Internally it has a sealed up car battery paired with an inverter.) Now, the PS5000 is not magic, you can't run an air conditioner off of it, but you can run a few lights, or charge your cell phone, or power a radio. When we lost power one night, I used it to power two floor lamps, each had a 13 Watt compact fluorescent bulb. This provided us a good deal of light for 3 hours, until the power returned. I think the battery could have lasted another 3-4 hours.

The first one of these I bought had a problem. The AC outlet seemed to have a loose wire. When I plugged something into it, I had to press on it to get a good connection. Of course, I returned it to Costco, bought a new one, and I have had no problem with the second one.

I have previously written about power inverters available at costco.com.