7-pin trailer connector for Inverter - Tacoma 2021

Can I use the 7-pin trailer connector on my 2021 Tacoma to run a 2500w inverter for Furnace, and Fridge? Bought one of these doohickies (see pix) but can't get it to work. No power with engine running. Is there a trick? What load would the 7-pin support anyways? Is this a bad idea?

I have used the inverter directly from the battery with jumper cables. Using the 7-pin would be a cleaner solution.

 

I can’t help with why there isn’t power but I can tell you it isn’t going to be enough for a 2500 watt inverter. That circuit provides around 6-8amps (75-100w) charge to my trailer batteries. You eat up a lot of power just converting DC to AC. For example, my Starlink dish draws about 50 watts (110v AC) and to run it with a 500w inverter draws 75 watts (13.3v DC) from my batteries.

 

thanks for the input. I was afraid of that.

 

Whoa, 2500 watts?!?

Tacoma alternators don't put out anywhere near that much. 130 amps, so like 1560 - 1800 watts max. And the truck needs some of that to keep itself running. So your inverter would be sucking half it's power straight outta your battery, which would probably drain in no time.

What are you trying to do? We might have other, better solutions.

 

In a power outage emergency for say 12-24 hours, run a gas furnace (blower), fridge and sump pump intermittently.

Probably don't need 2500 watts (5000w start up) but that's the inverter I have.

 

OP stated:

 

an electric heated furnace would be drastically more than 2500w, but as he clarified, it's just the blower. And a full sized home fridge draws FAR more power than a smaller fridge, or even a 12v fridge run on AC.

Definitely clarification can help here.

 

Double door LG home fridge. specs says 275 watts run time (double for startup)
1/4 HP sump pump (runs very infrequently)
Just the blower on the gas furnace but I don't have those specs

 

You need to find the Blower motor wattage, fridge wattage, and sump pump wattage to figure out what's needed.

What inverter do you have? A pure sine may be 90-95% efficient, meaning your 2500w inverter might only max out at 2650w or so draw from your battery, but a non pure sine, cheaper inverter could be as low as 75%, meaning over 3300 watt draw. 3300w at, say, 13.5v is 244 amps. Even using only half capacity you could be using 120 amps which is too much for the truck to keep up with. My deep cycle AGM (which is MUCH more capacity than a stock battery) would be dead flat in about an hour with the engine running (at 60 amps from the battery, 60 from the truck).

I just don't think it's feasible, and definitely not for 12-24 hours.

 

Quick googling looks like
Sump - 400-500w while running
Blower - 400 for standard motor

And you noted 275 for the fridge

So without the sump you're talking an average of about 700w per hour (900+ with efficiency losses). That could work, but that's still 67 amps or so.

And randomly, i just read the 3rd gen shuts off after 1 hour left in park.

 

Good info thanks! I didn't know about the 1hr shutoff in park. Thats a new one.

 

Obviously if you need this now, do what you need to. But if you are planning for future, buy a cheap Harbor Freight generator. My sis just picked up the dual fuel one a few months back. I'm a big proponent of running on propane since the carb doesn't get gummed up with old gas if you leave it unused for months/years. I have a little champion I bought for my camper that I've never actually needed, but I started it for the second time, after letting it sit for two years, ran like a top with propane. Never seen a drop of gas, but could be used with gas if ever needed.

Good luck!

 

All those loads are variable run time though so actual draw would be a lot lower. Sump might run 2 minutes every hour, furnace for 15 minutes an hour and fridge for about 15 also assuming it’s cooled already.

 

Yeah, that's why i didn't use the sump at all in the calcs. But yes, I was still erring on the high side for everything.

 

Thanks All! I'll use this in a pinch but a generator may be in my future. Winters storms are coming soon.