12v outlets in bed by 110v

Hi, my name is Charlie Gates and I got my Tacoma in late July. I found Tacoma World and was most impressed by the many projects my fellow Taco owners had posted. I especially want to thank tcBob for this forum, Krookz for his advice, and piercedtiger for this idea.

I love the 120v outlet in the bed. Why did'nt Toyota put a 12v outlet in the bed. I read piercedtiger’s posting about his 12v outlet. I decided to put one in my bed also. When I looked for an outlet I found a 12v three outlet box by Bell. Originally designed to be a 5 amp extension of already existing outlet the box lent itself to a major modification. My son’s and I disassembled the box and removed the original wiring. We used 14 gauge wire and resoldered all the connections. I do not know what the new rating is but unless the inwards of the switch is weak I should be able to run anything I want off of it.

The power supply for the box will be a 6 gauge wire that will run directly from the battery. I am going to fuse it at the battery and again directly behind the box and the battery side of a quick disconnect.

Anyway here it goes.

Remove the 110v outlet box by removing the allen wrench screws.
The 110v outlet supply has a retainer that is very close to the plug.
If you are careful you can remove it by a little plastic clip so you
can plug it back in when you are done.
Also be careful when you remove the plug as the wires seem very flimsy.

If you use the bell outlet you will need to trim it to fit the box. I used a drimmel with a router type bit to trim the outer edges on the front of the box. Do not trim beyond the outside edge of the screws. If you do the box will not stay together.

If you do not have a drimmel you could use a razor knife or file. You could also use a grinder.

We disassembled the box by removing four screws with a Phillips or crosstip jeweler’s screwdriver. There are also two smaller screws with some type of wing that swings out. We removed those two smaller screws and threw them away.

Once the box was removed we photographed the interior. That way we knew how to solder the new wires. We then soldered new 14 gauge wires replacing the smaller wires. While the box was apart we ground a small hole on the bottom half of the box on the back side. This hole will serve as an access hole for the two power supply wires.

We then drilled two holes in the rear of the 110v outlet box for the power supply wires. We drilled three small pilot holes in the top of the 110v box. We made sure these holes lined up with locations on the 12v box that could accept a screw without damaging wires or plugs. We then screwed three screws in to the top of the 110v box to secure the 12v box.

We then touched the end of the power supply wires to the battery posts for a test. To establish polarity we tied a knot in the positive wire. We made sure the indicator light came on, and that all three 12v power supply plugs worked.

We then put the box back in. We made sure we put the retaining plug back in and hooked up the 110v plug.

Our next project will be hooking up a 6 gauge wire. We will run the wire from the battery to the rear of the truck. If you have any ideas let me know.

 

looks good!

 

I can not believe I forgot to post a pic of the job after it was done!

 

Good job on your mod! Looks good!

When you run your hot from the battery to the back of the truck, make sure you use an inline fuse and put the fuse under the hood somewhere close the battery.

 

You look like you are 12 years old.

 

yea, that is actually my 12 year old in the pics. So easy a kid can do it!