Ontario BS Thread

No worries. Although it’s costly it’s never bad to go up a size. Just comes down to available room and cost.

 

Will likely go the 4ga route as I may upgrade the invertor in the future. This one was priced right at $0 from my Dad.

 

In case anyone wants to make similar enhancements to their mall-crawling prowess
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-3rd-gen-today.399305/page-7395#post-22615726
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-3rd-gen-today.399305/page-7405#post-22631652

 

Amazon has some big ones. Got my 2k watt one for just over a $100. It doesn’t put out that much but works for what I need.

 

His other Land Rover is pretty well equipped with a mid-mounted winch.

 

I should probably replace the ground strap I made out of 12 ga. wire for the Subaru There are 3 straps connecting the engine to the chassis, which is probably why I didn't notice one of them broken until I was underneath changing the oil.

 

That’s awesome. Will look there in the future should this one conk out. I’ve used it twice in last 5 years to charge camera batteries on the go. What have you powered? I have a small Fridge from my Dad, not sure its power requirement though.

More excited to put the compressor, then locker to use. I’ve got most of what I need to in boxes, just have to purchase wire, crimp and plumb it all together,

 

So my second battery is in the back of the truck and it powers a fridge, inverter, all my auxiliary lighting, twin compressor and a few usb/cig lighters.

My inverter is mainly used for a desk fan, and charging phones and what not. I have used it to run a shop vac at the farm, an my old air mattress pump.

 

If you put the inverter close to the battery then you won't need such large wire for the 120V power as it will only be supplied with 3.33 amps.
You could then use much smaller wire going to the back of the truck.
You could then cut up an extension cord (not recommended as it may not be oil resistant) or just use SOW or SJOW cord AWG #16/3 or AWG #22/3 if you can find the 22guage.(or even smaller if available).

Then for the compressor at 14 amps, AWG#12/3 SOW or SJOW cord.

You can get the cord by the foot at Home Creepo or any electrical supply place.

SOW will be a little more expensive than SJOW as it is rated "Extra Heavy Duty" and has a 600V rating because of thicker insulation.
SJOW looks the same but is only rated for 300V and only rated "Heavy Duty"

Both are black, flexible and easy to work with.

 

inverters, shmerverters, wires...


who needs a winch since most here mall crawl, when are we having next one? Cmon tacomas organize!

 

Lol,
Fans, Lights, fridges, air mattresses . ..

Sounds like you got quite the setup in the back of that rig...

You could make some good cash being an Uber and AirBnB at the same time!

 

hey, when the gf comes with you, you want to ensure she has the most positive experience possible so you can continue to have more trips. Simply a strategy....

We are actually getting rid of the air mattress since our dog keeps popping them. So we are going with foam. The fridge is nice, since dont have to worry about ice, plus who doesn't love icecream on the trail

 

Oh look the first one to like that post was a Russian....

Said with very thick Russian accent;
" You know, that wourd not worrrk khere.
But back home in mudder RRRRussiaaa,
Could make sum gooood muuuneey.
In fact,
If we involve wodka sum how,
weeeed be rrrich!
Let me call Natasha and Borrrris back kome,
Aaaand we zet something up!"

 

Gotta derp question. If I run 12/3 sjow, do I crimp all 3 isolated bundles together from the battery with an inline fuse?

Invertor and compressor both going to be roughly 15-20’ of wire from battery for ease of packaging in the rear internal side wall. Invertor can’t be closer, no free space. Compressor there for convenience.

I’ll run wires inside the cabin so oil resistance not a big factor.

 

If I'm understanding this you want to have the inverter and compressor wired together on a larger fuse? You would want a individual fuse for each item and ensure the wire and everything is appropriate.

If you are wiring both in the cab, in may be easier to run a larger wire from the battery into the cab (that wire is fused at the battery) and then you can have a terminal post in the cab, so you can grab power off of it. Everything would need to be individual fuse off of that terminal post, but less wires to run. So I have a 1/0 cable from my auxiliary to the engine bay where some of the light wiring is.

 

Yes exactly my intention. But what size for my needs? Don’t need to overdo it.

1 power invertor @ 400W (maybe larger eventually)
1 ARB @ 10 amps
A handful of led lights for the interior.

 

Easiest thing would be to calculate all your amps, leave room for future upgrades, and then use that chart.

Right now your running about 42 amps. (Inverter is 400watts/12volts=33.3 +9 amps for the arb). 20ft away, would be 6-4 gauge based on the chart. That also leaves you 9 amps of extra room assuming you would be using everything at the same time to it’s peak. If you’re planning on only running one at a time you can calculate that in.

 

Ahhhh key word "GF",

Ok I understand why you WANT her to come.

SOMEHOW the last two brand new air mattresses I bought had slow leaks so my wife no longer likes camping as much....

But a cooler of ice holds your beer at night and your head in the morning!

Tip the cooler up, one shower, ready to go....

Such an integral part of North American camping.

Ice Cream... camping... hmmmm must be a thing these modern youngsters do when roughing it.

Lol I guess I've missed out.

I can't tease you too much though,
my first wife made me buy a 24' trailer for "camping",
after she saw that my regular equipment was a rucksack, poncho, ground mat, mummy bag and a hammock.
Burnt all the hair off my arm one time trying to light the F'n furnace in that thing,

 

That looks friggin awesome man!

Very impressive eye candy

I am going to have re-wrap my wheel eventually, my finger nails are hard as rock and eat up everything

 

Inverter can't be fed from 12/3, 400W / 12V = 33.3 Amps So you need larger wire to run it to the back.
Amperage From the inverter is 400W / 120V = 3.33 Amps , 3 Wires, so even 14/3 is way overkill but is cheap and easy to get.

Actually for the compressor you will only need 12/2 lol you don't need a bonding wire in Automotive.

If you want to get real minimalist, the + side with a fuse only needs to be run to the back,
so only one AWG #12 wire is needed, the - feed from the battery can be accomplished by attaching to the frame of the truck.

Just need to use a 20 or 25Amp fuse on the Positive wire. (might need to upsize to 25A fuse if the compressor pops the 20A on startup)

Reason why I suggest 12/2 is it's a better practice to run higher amperage/electrically noisy stuff's ground to a point close to the battery,
That way it won't put noise onto other sensitive electronics in the vehicle if there are other grounding problems.
Even though the inverter may be electrically isolated it's still not best practice also to hook it directly to the negative terminal on the battery.
The Alternator will Load Shed and uses the battery as a "buffer" ,
so things grounded directly to the terminals may see spikes.
Iif things are not electrically isolated and you connect directly to the - terminal on the battery, there is a chance that it may become a current path for other things.

So ground the - side of the inverter to something metal within about a foot of the battery but NOT to where other stuff is grounded.