Bed Outlet

Does anyone know if you can drain your battery (i.e. truck won't start) via the 120v bed outlet, or is there a limiter that disables the oulet to save the battery for starting?

 

I don't think the outlet will run unless the truck is running and the switch is engaged.

 

It will work with the ignition "on" but the engine not running (just used it that way last weekend). I don't know, but I would expect that the truck will shut down the electrical system after a certain amount of time with the engine off. I know it does this in accessory mode but I don't know for sure about Ign mode.

 

The crazy thing is, they used to ship with every vehicle!!

 

Good point!

Lol, I guess this is where I should get all butt hurt and make a smart ass reply.

 

Owners Manual, heard about them, but never read one.

 

Only one way to find out...

 

Butts can only do one thing at a time, so you can't do both.

And you have to be able to comply with the formal definition of a smart ass to qualify for said replies.

Definition-one that can sit on a bowl of ice cream and tell you what flavor it is.

 

Green Eggs and Ham?

 

Crazy book does not answer his question:

From the good book:

■The power outlet can be used when

The engine is running.

Not true. Works with engine off in Ign mode. Did it last weekend. OK, you can say that it does work when the engine is running, but clearly the implication is that it only works when the engine is running. So, not helpful here.

■To prevent battery discharge

Turn off all the vehicle’s electronic equipment and accessories, such as the


headlights and air conditioning, when electrical appliances that consume in


excess of 100 W are used continuously for long periods of time.

The alternator puts out something like 1500w peak, I don't think you need to turn off your headlights to keep your battery from going dead. Also, no mention of how long it will run with the engine off or if there is a low battery protection which the OP asked about.

Just say'n, RTFM is not always the answer. In this case it does not apply.

 

Dude! You are depriving someone of the self-righteous flood of endorphins when they see an angry post in response to their trolling comments.

That poor person now has to get their fix in some other way, like kicking a dog or putting a kitten in a blender. You are directly contributing to animal abuse.

You bastard.

 

I have one I'll sell for 50 bux.

I never read if so it's brand new.

 

Of course I wasn't referring to you specifically, just having fun with the situation. But your preference for blender fodder is duly noted.

 

So I don't know much about power, but usually enough to get me by. I'm hoping someone a little more intelligent could shed some light on this. I had a power outage after storm today and pulled the truck up beside my house, and ran an extension cord inside to power my sump pump. The pump runs on 120v, and says it pulls 9a, but draws significantly less once it is running. I guess 9a is the initial draw. When I tried running it off the truck the pump would make a quiet hum like it was trying to run but wouldn't. My back up for my sump is a 12v car battery with an inverter plugged on it. That runs the pump fine (I was trying to run from the truck to save the back up battery for when I left for work). Why won't the plug in the bed run a small 1/3 hp pump? That doesn't seem right. Am I doing something wrong or what is happening. If it makes a difference I was running a 12g extension, figured that would be better than a standard. Thanks for the insight guys.

 

The outlet only gives you 400W when the truck is running, that equates to 3.5-4 amps, so not enough to power that initial draw.

 

Max output on the bed outlet us 400w, your pump needs 1080w

 

Well that would explain the humming then. Thanks alot!

 

And that explains why my inverter runs it. It's a 1500w

 

Wow, that's awesome. Thanks. That is pretty straight forward. Should make it easy. Let's just say that I want to put a setup in my truck that runs a larger inverter off of a secondary battery. That is straight forward, I can do that I think. The trick is I want it to power the inverter with the truck off (so just run both the positive and negative lines accordingly) but to charge when the truck is running just like the other battery. Is there a way to do that? I don't know how I could wire the second battery into truck so that the inverter only pulls from one and not both. Figured I'd ask since you seem like you know a little more about wiring than I do.