What is power boost?

Power boost is the capacity of some power supplies to increase their output current to 120% of the standard range for a short period of time (typically 10 seconds). This comes in handy, for example, when handling in-rush current for an induction motor start up, locked-rotor current, or load spikes that can arise with the energizing of solenoids. Power supplies with power boost capabilities can often be smaller than would otherwise be necessary to handle the temporarily high outputs.