3rd Gen - AC Outlet in Cab and 400w Anytime

Not likely , maybe IF you only had a 60 amp alternator (we have 130 amp ) well most if you got the tow package. been running 2 years with it , and last week i drove almost 1400 miles in 24 hours (no shit ) and at night with all the lights on, in the rain /ac on/ and 2 kids charging everything and the wife on the lap top/towing my camper with it's lights- guess what .... no problems... im post #25
Capitol Reef National Park, Utah to Eureka, Missouri

sorry if this sounds snippy -not my intention

 

This was the explanation I got from TAS.

Did you think that Toyota would spend money designing a inverter to run on a lower wattage for no reason?

Sorry if this sounds snippy -not my intention

 

ruggy buggy said: Toyota limits the wattage for a reason. Toyota found that if you run the full 400W while driving and have everything else on (blower motor, wipers, stereo, etc) that once you got to your destination the truck battery would be dead.

me: That is hard to believe with the over-sized alternator. It can handle the 400w at idle. It seems at peak the alternator would keep up.
So, why limit to 100W?

I would like to find what toyota says about this before I design something around it.

I am suspecting the reason is that they just don't want you to leave a 400W appliance on and deemed a 100W appliance potentially less hazardous.
But this is just a guess.

With Alternator being 130 amps at 12 volts that gives you a total of 1,560 watts. Watts are Watts. Running a 400W 120 volt appliance leaves you with 1,160 watts meaning 96.66 amps at 12 volts are left for the truck to function.
Looks like way more than enough.

So what is the reason?

 

I have a Nissan van at work that does the exact same thing. 400w drops down to 100w when running. It may not be a Toyota thing, but an industry regulation.

 

America and it's restrictive vehicle regulations I also suspect. But need to know.

 

I kind of already told you. That was the explanation that Toyota Corp gave. Yes there are going to be some that say they have done the mod and aren't having an issue but under the right conditions with maximum loads on the truck, ambient air temp, engine rpm and amongst other factors it is possible to use more power than what the alternator is capable of charging when the 400W is being used. Toyota just doesn't decide to do this to make it inconvenient for their customers.

 

I am aware of what you said they told you.
I agree it is obvious Toyota Corp doesn't do this for your inconvenience.
I guess I would ask everyone why they think it was designed 400w 100w?
They could have designed the system to be 400w constant but why not?
It's not because they didn't want to design a new alternator and had a surplus of 130a.

 

Everything is built to a price point.

 

The inverter definitely costs them more to make it 100w/400w because it has extra components.

 

Subbed. Need to come back to this one at a later date!

 

Not just wattage, but amperes as well. It you plug in something that is 400 watts but only one amp, you’ll be ok. But if it’s 400 watts but and 7 amps, problems arise.

 

I used watts because that's how it's referenced on the switch...but watts=voltsxamps.

 

That's not how it works; P=IV (watts = current x voltage). This is a bit simplistic for AC power sources, but the principle is the same (the equation for AC is actually Pavg=IV cos(theta)). In this case voltage is fixed (120VAC) and the output power is limited to 400w. Current is allowed to be whatever it wants as long as the total power is kept under 400W

Edit: Ruggybuggy beat me to it.

 

Someone in an earlier post asked about whether this can be done on an SR5? My guess is no, but not 100% sure. SR5's don't come with the factory inverter which is needed for the AC outlet. Does anyone know if there is a kit available to do this? I asked about it at the dealer a while back and they didn't seem to know either way.

Any help/direction would be great!

Mahalos

 

Nothing that I know of that Toyota sells but I'm sure you could find an aftermarket kit.

 

I kind of figured it would be after market option only. It would have been nice to at least have the wiring already set up, but oh well.

 

Shouldn’t be that hard to do, no worse than wiring an audio amp. Just need a decent gauge wire tapped to the positive battery terminal, through the firewall. Then a solid ground. I saw someone here on TW mounted an inverter under one of the seats and then ran to an outlet mounted on the console.

 

Seems under the seat would be the best option.

I’ll see if I can find that set-up you’re talking about here on TW.

Thanks for the info!

 

Jesus man load calculations are done by Watts since amps x volts are watts. You then can calculate combined load of 12 volt 120 volt 208/230 volt 480 volt together with respected amp draw as watts. I know what I am talking about. Try again.

 

How do you remove the automatic transmission shift lever handle?