Mounting Inverter in-cab

Hey fellas,

So I had posted a little while ago about possibly trading in my 01 for an 11... well I decided that I'm gonna keep my 1st gen until it completely dies, which means time for more mods!

I'm thinking about mounting a 400w inverter under the passenger seat, simply screwing its flanges to the floorboard, and hard-wiring it. I just hate having loose things plugged into the 12v outlets and the jumble of wires it produces. I have 2 concerns though:

1. Do you think it will get too hot being under the seat? I think no since I probably won't run it for extended periods of time, mainly just to charge things, mostly my computer while I'm on long road trips.

2. I want to wire it so it only can be turned on with accessory power, so that someone (me) can't accidentally leave it on and end up with a dead battery in the middle of nowhere. The easiest solution to me seems to be to just tap directly into a cigarette lighter or 12 v power point behind the dash. Now I don't really know much about electrical, but are the wires running to the 12v heavy gauge enough, will this be OK or will I need to run a new, heavier gauge wire to it, and install some sort of relay from a hot accessory-powered wire? I have seen some posts where folks have done some much more complicated setups to put in inverters, rerouting the switch and outlets, and I would honestly rather not explode the whole unit, I'm perfectly happy having to reach under the seat to turn it on and plug things in...

From someone who knows more about wiring than I do, will this work? Or will I melt/fry things? Has anyone done anything similar?

 

DISCLAIMER: I am not an electrician!!!
I am looking to do the same thing (using a ). From what I found online, if you are using over 150 watts you need to wire directly to the battery (suggest using 4AWG wire). Like you, I worry about it draining my battery. I might hard wire the inverter and put in an in-line switch if I can find one that can handle the load.
Basically, the smaller wire to the Cig Lighter might not deliver the appropriate amount of power for the inverter to work at max level.

 

I would suggest a relay/ solenoid to trigger it.

 

ya hard wiring it to the battery is fine BUT make sure you relay it

you can pull the trigger signal from the cig lighter just like you wanted to before

 

What sort of relay should I get, I totally understand HOW they work, just not sure what kind I'd need or where to get it? Aren't most of them you'd find at an auto parts place purpose built for a specific wiring harness-connector plug or something, like headlights? Would there perhaps be a marine-type one I could get that would be well sealed and be happy under my hood?

 

you just need a standard 30 amp (or maybe smaller) bosch relay


i wouln't mount it under the hood, just more clutter

you will run a new bigger gauge wire from the batter to the relay....you will be pulling the trigger from the cig lighter....so i would just mount the relay in around there

then just run the power out to the inverter, and run a ground wire back (pretty sure you also have to ground the relay)

 

Sounds really easy, thanks for the info! Can I just pick up that relay at an auto parts store or would I be best off getting it off the internet?

 

Any decent auto parts store should have them in stock. Also, an in-line fuse is never a bad idea if you're hardwiring to the battery.

 

Relays run about $5 at any Radio Shack. Look near the drawers where they keep the radio/speaker equipment. I've seen 20A, 30A and 40A depending on the store.

For some reason, I've never seen them at an auto parts store!

 

yes an inline fuse (within 12") of the battery is a very good idea (just like you would with a power wire for a stereo install

i think a 20A relay should be enough...and probably a 20 am fuse too....you can always lower the fuse if it doesn't need to be that high

 

if the inverter has a power switch on it, then would you need to do a relay

 

who has pics of one installed?

 

i got the 750w harbor freight inverter and all parts to install will post pics when i get done

 

What exactly do you power with something like that?

 

An RV park?

 

Mine is mounted under the driver seat. But I moved the outlets and switch to the center console (2nd gen)

 

Very nice guys, I went with a cobra 400 w inverter, under the passenger seat. Wired it with some 10g wire directly to the battery, through a switch in one of the knockouts just below the ashtray. Put a 30 amp inline fuse in it, and all was well until the other day, I turned it on and was met with the lovely smell of ozone and a fried inverter... not exactly sure what caused it other than the fact that I bought the inverter on Amazon for 20 bucks and was probably pretty crappy...