Trying to use vacuum cleaner with electrical outlet?

So I'm trying to clean out my car by plugging my vacuum cleaner into the outlet in the bed of my truck.

It turns on for a second before shutting off, and the lights on the 100W/400W button on my dash turn off.

What gives? I lost the owner's manual so maybe I'm missing something.

2008 Toyota Tacoma PreRunner Sport Double Cab

 

The outlet has a max of 400w, good luck finding something useful to plug into it. One more reason why I didn't spend $3000 to upgrade to the TRD package.

 

I had the same problem w/ a circular saw I wanted to run once.

The most useful thing I've used w/ it is a hedge trimmer. I can go all over the yard now w/o worrying about not having enough extension cord.

 

x2. unless i can run power tools off the outlet it isnt worth shit.

 

your box is about 3.5 amps, a normal house vacuum or shopvac are around 10-15 amps.

 

seriously? guess you dont have much electrical background. like said before, you wont run much off that outlet.

 

not enough juice. You're tripping something. The most usefull thing that I can run off mine is a 1 gallon air compressor or a battery charger for my R/C car batteries.

 

you could buy one rated at 1200-1500 watts, but heres the thing, not counting conversion effeciency and such, that would be 100-120 amps AT the battery. If 100 of us did that , i bet 50 wouldnt turn the engine on to keep the battery charged on a camping trip.
We use an inverter for work rated at 2000 watts for grinders, hammer drills n such, not only do we idle the engine, we have to either kick the rpm up or increase the alternator output at idle or we get a dead aux. battery.

 

I'm thinking the most useful thing I'll power off the bed outlet is the battery charger for my portable power tools. It will be close but I'm hoping it will work okay.

 

That's a concern of mine when I'm charging my r/c batteries but I've tried it for 30 minutes and didn't have a problem. But yeah I agree with you I'm sure a few people have used it and killed their battery.

 

Jason..... I confess... I have one of those traxxas Slashes. Lotsa fun lol

 

Yea definitely too much juice. Good thing the power outlet isn't why I spent $3k for a TRD package.

 

You realize it's to power stereos or lights right? Not plug an axle grinder into.

Even if you did manage to up the power to the inverter, wouldn't you have to drastically increase the wiring to hold such a current?

 

I use a small handheld vaccuum and it works great, and man are people jealous of me being able to clean out my cab anywhere! Or brewing a cup of coffee.

 

The only thing I've used that outlet for is to power my air pump for my air mattress when camping. Works like a charm.

 

Haha. They are too much fun. What I like about the smaller scales is you can have big time fun outside or inside if it's a crappy day.

Check out this thread.
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/sports-hobbies-interests/54080-florida-desert-racing.html

 

Damn, I was hoping I could take a 120 volt welder with me on the trails and fix everyone's broken axles...

 

Without going out to get my manual, I thought the truck had to be running to use that outlet at full strength? Or am I just imagining this?

I wouldn't think to run a power tool off of it. Battery charger for cordless or R/C cars is cool. What about a blender? Margarita's on the fly is always a refreshing idea.

 

No matter how big the cables to the inverter , it'll still be a 400 watt inverter, so the same amps will still trip it. The cables to the 1500 watt inverter in my van at work has cables supplying it bigger than jumper cables. I don't recall the guage though. I'd say the wire itself is about 1/2" w/o insulation. Could shoot a photo of it tomorrow and post it.

 

Running and in park. Although there is a mod to fuck with that so you can use it while it's in drive.


And I wasn't talking about the cables to the inverter, I was talking about the cables from the inverter to the outlet in the bed.