Adding more 12 volt outlet

I would add a dedicated circuit for the plug(s). Pull power directly from battery (fused). Add small $5 relay from parts store to supply power to plugs, and that is triggered by any keyed power source (the wipers, power windows, heater controls, ect) that is easily accessible at the interior fuse panel.

Perfect. Thanks

ugh wrote:
I want to add some 12 volt outlets in the back seat area for kids to play games, watch videos or whatever as we take long trips. Will I need relay for this to handle the load and to make it come on only when the truck is running?

Really depends on the load of all that they will be running.

Just powering a small portable DVD player, or charging a tablet or a PSP/DS is not likely to need that much juice, and you can probably just split off the existing power outlet.

However if you are talking larger TV/DVD, or just about anything on an inverter, laptop chargers, or other high power devices, a new (appropriately wired and fused) circuit with a relay to turn it off and on with the ignition would probably be best setup.

My new truck has a 12volt outlet under the back seat.. I purchased a splitter from the local Radio Shack , plugged it in the outlet and ran the 2 ports to each side of the trucks seat...
No problems so far... They are only using them to charge IPads.. and cell phones..
The ONE thing I DID NOT NEED was my 2 kids fighting over the charging outlet during a long ride.... :)

The problem is the cheap 12VDC sockets you find at loacl auto parts stores are not very good design. You might want to look at the high quality marine style 12VDC sockets and matching plugs.

Also the USB PORTS are almost required for most of the kids stuff... You need to have a few of those in their area as well...

Check out BLUE SEA Marine quality 12VDC products. You might even may want to install a small 8-position 12VDC BLUE SEA fused sub panel. I do this for my ham radio type devices... This is fed by a large cable from the truck battery area and then you can add several smaller fused circuits from there for the various thing you want 12VDC power for.

All of this is available from BLUE SEA and when you find what you want always type the BLUE SEA PART number into AMAZON and purchase from them. Yo will get two day delivery and sometimes a discount if you are a big AMAZON user...

Roy Ken

The outlets in my F150 are always hot. Hate that. I had a heck of a time to find a power wire under the dash that was only hot with the key on.

I used a 30A 12V automotive type relay, a power cable directly from the battery, and a fuse at the battery. Used a 10 gauge cable to run the Ham radio, and typical DC accessories.

I left the factory outlets hot to keep the GPS charged, and the dash camera powered up.

ford truck guy wrote:
My new truck has a 12volt outlet under the back seat.. I purchased a splitter from the local Radio Shack , plugged it in the outlet and ran the 2 ports to each side of the trucks seat...
No problems so far... They are only using them to charge IPads.. and cell phones..
The ONE thing I DID NOT NEED was my 2 kids fighting over the charging outlet during a long ride.... :)

X2. I have a 1x4 12V splitter with a lighted switch and the unit itself is fused. Unless the kids are running laptops that can pull upwards of 100W, this might be all you need.

boogie_4wheel wrote:
I would add a dedicated circuit for the plug(s). Pull power directly from battery (fused). Add small $5 relay from parts store to supply power to plugs, and that is triggered by any keyed power source (the wipers, power windows, heater controls, ect) that is easily accessible at the interior fuse panel.

The main source wire from the battery that I added has inline fuse and I am using 10AMP fuse.

Does the wire that is triggered by any keyed power source to the relay must be fused?

Do a power/energy analysis. I find it hard to believe you need 10A @ 12V of your vehicle's current accessory fuse. Many electronics today just need a USB cable to charge. I recommend this adapter/charger/splitter and whatever USB cables you need. On our last 2200 mile trip, we had 3 ipods, 1 pad, 2 iphones, and 3 DSs to charge, all via 5V USB. We used a combination of these and a pair of battery backup chargers similar to this. Next trip I may get that 5-way Anker charger for a cleaner setup. Splitting 5V USB cables is a lot cheaper and easier to manage than 12V power outlets/plugs/cables.

We also had a portable DVD player which charger via 12V DC and my wife worked on the road, so we charged her laptop using an inverter.

ugh wrote:
Does the wire that is triggered by any keyed power source to the relay must be fused?

It depends which side of the factory fuse box you tap the wire, if you tap the switched wire before the fuse box then, yes, you should fuse it, if you tap a switched source after the fuse box, then you should be fine. I have used the "sunroof" fuse as a source of switched power in a few GM vehicles, it's present and live even on many vehicles without a sunroof.