How much to use the wall outlet in the back?

Hello, I have a 2017 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off Road. The battery is a Duralast gold 24F.

I have found as much info as I can on using the back outlet in something like a camping situation. But I need someone with a little knowledge and/or experience to let me know how far I can tap into my battery to charge things.

I found this chart:

Battery Charge -> Voltmeter Reading
100% 12.70+
75% 12.40
50% 12.20
25% 12.00
0% 11.80

I want to know if this is flexible. For example when I power the car on without running the engine, my cigarette lighter voltmeter reads 11.8. But, I would assume there is at least some leeway for... say plugging in some Christmas lights for a few minutes.

But is there a good way to find the line between a permissible power draw, and draining it too far?

 

Welcome to The Forum!

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld

 

The AC plug in the bed will only work when the engine is running and button on the dash is on. When not moving, the output is 400 watts/~4amps; when driving its 100watts/-~1amp. It is not designed to be used while engine is off. There are mods out there that can be used to tweak the way the inverter that runs the outlet works.

 

Christmas lights in the end of January?

 

Common practice for camping is to have a secondary battery that runs what ever you need (inverter, 12v stuff, whatever). You can have the second battery connected to the vehicle charging system but isolated to prevent running down the starting battery, connected to a solar panel, and/or a secondary charging system (trickle charger, etc). Any combination of this will work.

 

If your voltmeter is reading 11.8v with the vehicle off, your battery is in poor shape and may need replacement. A healthy battery should read in the mid-upper 12v range with the vehicle off.

 

I understood from this video that the outlet works when the engine is not running https://youtu.be/MhxpHTgp_kI

Yeah my battery may be getting old. I got the car a week ago, so it may be the as old as 2016/2017. I would love to get a northstar/x2power next if this bed outlet is useful for camping.

But I am trying to decide between that, and just getting some sort of goal zero type battery to charge stuff when camping without a power hookup.

 

Keep in mind that unless you installed an ampmeter shunt and are running a voltmeter that can calculate the compensation for amp draw, then you aren't measuring diddly squat. That $10 mictuning reader can't get an accurate bead on your battery unless it's pulling zero current and fully rested. If you're drawing power, it drains the "apparent" volts. The more current you run, the more the voltage appears to drop when you are measuring downstream from the battery. So your battery might be at 12.5, but because you're running a fridge, dome light, and stereo, your volt meter thinks it's at 11.8. As said earlier, the only way to measure it on the fly is to get a complicated RV style meter, those typically start at $250.

That said, I always consider 12.0 to be my 0% point. You risk shortening the life of the battery if you drop below that, especially if the battery isn't a true deep cycle.

I agree with the other posters. Get a separate battery for camping.

 

I am using a deep cycle marine battery in a customized plastic battery box and a trickle charger for top up when moving. I don't usually camp in one spot for long but I have a 100w solar panel if base camping is a goal. I have run my Dometic fridge off this setup for week with no issues. Whole setup was <$500.