Best practice to run an inverter in the tow vehicle.

[opnspaces]

When we take a long road trip I always have a 300W inverter in the vehicle to keep the portable electronics charged. Typically I plug the inverter into the power port in the dash of the Suburban and run a long corded (6 foot) power strip to the back seat so the kids can plug in.

My question is about the length of the power cords. Is it better to run a short 12V cord to the inverter, and a long AC cord to the power strip or vice versa? Are there any real pros and cons to this since we're really talking a maximum run of whether AC or DC?

Any thoughts?

[opnspaces]

Thanks for all the input. I was figuring the 12v was the one I should keep short and this confirms it.

I did consider hard wiring something at the battery and even an inverter under the hood, but I'm not sure if I want to go that far.


MEX, I hear you about the children but it reality they range from 8 - 15 and I've always trained them constantly about how to be careful with 120v cords. What I'm basically doing is giving them the power strip in the back seat so I don't have a tangle of charge cords coming up across the central console to the dash.

Now you have me thinking about hard wiring under the hood and running a few permanent outlets in waterproof boxes somewhere in the back. I know this really isn't practical, but I'll probably go home and look at the interior before my better sense kicks in and I give up on that idea. 🙂

[MEXICOWANDERER]

120 volts?

Long cords?

Children?

Use wisdom

[pianotuna]

Hi,

The cigarette lighter is rated at about 12 amps.

300 watts = 30 amps of draw. Best practise would be to add a heavy duty connector in the cab, going directly to the battery with #8 wire. (#10 would work but at full load there may be voltage drop).

Do keep the DC path as short as possible.

[1492]

Moved from Forum Technical Support

[RoyB]

DISREGARD BELOW about my trailer INVERTER HOOKUP - I miss read the part about the TOW VEHICLE... I carry a MSW 600WATT INVERTER hard wired to my battery bus under the back seat of my truck next to two or three TWO WAY radios residing there.

ABout the only thing I use this for is to power up my bean coffee grinder... My ON-BOARD 2KW generator sitting covered and secured in the truck bed tailgate corner is always availabe for 120VAC power...



*****
I permanently mounted my 600WATT PSW Inverter to the inside of a cabinet wall closest to the battery terminals. My Inverter is ON 24/7. I ran two 120VAC extension cords with multi-tap heads from my INVERTER with one cord going to the home entertainment area and the other cord going to the bedroom night stand area. These cords are hidden behind the cabinets or run through cable management covers from LOWES.

These two multi-tap 120VAC receptacles are my emergency 120VAC connections. The small items I want to always have available are plugged into these two receptacles.

I usually run around 250 WATTS of 120VAC items from these emergency power receptacles receptacles but it is nice to have additional 120VAC power available if you need it.

Roy Ken

[AH64ID]

As it was stated you want as short of DC run as possible, or you really have to up the length of the DC cable.

[mlts22]

The shorter the 12 volt length the better. A couple volts dropped on a 120VAC link, no biggie. Dropping a few volts on a 12 volt cord can cause issues.

As an alternative, there are 12 volt chargers, which skip the inverter completely. I wonder if that might help.