Founded in the 1990s, Hughes Autoformers fell into financial trouble around 2013, when three Pacific Transformer employees bought the company and turned it around.
Though all three still have day jobs at Pacific Transformer, a custom power transformer manufacturer, they own Hughes Autoformers in full. Its 5,000-square-foot facility, where 7 employees make 35 units a day, is 500 yards from Pacific Transformer’s Anaheim, California, headquarters.
Hughes Autoformers’ two main product lines are autoformers, originally designed for the aftermarket, and its newer Power Watchdog. While autoformers drop amperage and use that to boost voltage, Power Watchdog acts as a surge protector and power monitor. Power Watchdogs come in 30 and 50-amp models and have a 4,800-Joule absorption limit, the highest in the industry for a basic surge protector.
