# 12v Plug & Inverter - Questions...



## Fanatical1 (Jan 9, 2006)

All right, I need some advice. I bought a 400 watt inverter to power a few small things when dry camping. Today I plugged it in to the
12V plug in the ceiling near the TV and realized I need more info to do this correctly.

Here's my questions:

1.) Can the existing 12V plug handle the 400 watt converter? If not, what's the best way to hard wire the converter?

2.) The 12V plug did not fit very well into the existing ceiling plug (too tight) I assumed the 12V plug was simular to an auto 12V plug?

3.) Where is the 12V fuse located in a 07 26KBRS? I didn't blow it yet, but looked at the fuse panel and did not see it?

Any other tips? I picked the 400 watt inverter because I know inverters can be power drains and tried to pick one that fit my needs 
without using any additional power loss that a larger unit might use. Correct? Just curious, if I need to go to the trouble of hard wiring it, 
should I go with something a little bigger? Thoughts? Most watts I think I need is around 300 - 400 watts at one time.

Mark


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## Ridgway-Rangers (Apr 18, 2008)

You should not have a problem with a 400 W inverter.
The 12V outlets in my rig are very tight also. Either go slow or a little no-cunductive grease to help the slide in and out process.
I dont know which fuse it is, plug in a 12 Volt item and start pulling fuses.
I hope this helps,
Brian


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## GarethsDad (Apr 4, 2007)

(1) Sorry but the plug cannot handle 400 watts. Did your inverter also come with a heavier wire with eyelets on it to be connected directly to a battery? (2) Many rv power ports are tight to keep the plug from coming out while in transit, also they are cheeply made. (3) the 12 volt fuses should be in the same area as the 120 volt breakers and will look like automotive fuses. (Extra info) the larger the inverter the faster you will kill the battery/s using the same 120 volt item. I can run my 175/400 watt inverter for a few hours off of the 2 6 volt btteries and can kill them in a 1/2 hour with the 2000/4000 watt inverter. Hope this helps. James


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## Fanatical1 (Jan 9, 2006)

Thanks for the input...

- The fuse is not identified 12V on any fuses. There are breakers, two 40 amps fuses and about 8 - 15 amp fuses. Are one of these fuses for the 12V plug?

- Yes, my inverter came witht the eylets and about 6' of heavy wire. I am assuming I would need to tap off the batteries and snake a wire
all the way to other side of the trailer? I don't think I can use this wire because it is too short and I would want to hard wire it and skip the
aligator clips.

The outlet is way, way too tight to properly fit my plug..... I may have damaged my plug just trying to remove it.

James,

I am sure hoping to get more than a few hours from my two Trojan 6 volt batteries drawing about 125watts..... In fact, I need them to last through
the night or even several nights. At 125 watts, two trojan T105's, how many hours is reasonable with an inverter? I'm rounding up on the watts to
account for the inverter loss.


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## GarethsDad (Apr 4, 2007)

Yes one of those fuses should be the 12v power port. I have only run the inverter running a fan 200 watts for a few hours before the batteries showed any sign use with the OB supplied battery meter. I run the fan at night and ran the generator in the day. I have since upgraded the battery meter and 120v meter. I also upgraded the converter to a 3 stage. I can kill the batteries in no time running the AC off of the big inverter. You can get # 10/2 wire and run it from the batteries to where you want to run the inverter through the underbelly. James


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## hazmat456 (Jul 26, 2007)

I have a 750 watt and two twelve volt batteries I turn off the charger in the fuse/breaker panel and just plug the campers cord into the inverter, I can watch dvd's for about 5 hours with the furnace on before I need a recharge


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## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

GarethsDad said:


> (1) Sorry but the plug cannot handle 400 watts. Did your inverter also come with a heavier wire with eyelets on it to be connected directly to a battery? (2) Many rv power ports are tight to keep the plug from coming out while in transit, also they are cheeply made. (3) the 12 volt fuses should be in the same area as the 120 volt breakers and will look like automotive fuses. (Extra info) the larger the inverter the faster you will kill the battery/s using the same 120 volt item. I can run my 175/400 watt inverter for a few hours off of the 2 6 volt btteries and can kill them in a 1/2 hour with the 2000/4000 watt inverter. Hope this helps. James


X2 ... if you try to run anything over 150 watts you will probabloy blow a fuse (even though its a 400 watt inverter)... you need to run the inverter DIRECTLY from the battery if you are going to run something heavy... I have a 400 watt inverter and two 6 volt Trojans running together and can power most TVs almost all night ... but if i had plug the inverter into the cigarette lighter then it woul;d have blown the fuses on the Outback...


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

The size of the outlet is small as it is limited to very small loads. If you you try to shove your 400 watt plug in it will break.

I wired mine direct to a spare fuse lug in the converter box and mounted both a 125 watt and a 400 watt inverter in a cabinet behind the converter. I then ran dedicated outlets above the cabinet just from the inverters..


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

Fanatical1 said:


> 2.) The 12V plug did not fit very well into the existing ceiling plug (too tight) I assumed the 12V plug was simular to an auto 12V plug?


I don't know what the deal is with that plug, but it does indeed seems to be off in size from the standard. The first time I plugged something in there I ended up having to unscrew the cover plate to get it back out.

Now I have one of those cigarette plug splitter thingies that I just leave permanently crammed in there, and plug my 12v fan, cell chargers, etc. into the splitter.


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## Fanatical1 (Jan 9, 2006)

Great information and very helpful. I think I decided that I will need to hard wire it somewhere. I think CamperAndy did the job correctly, but
not without a lot of work. I will take a look at the fuse box to see if that is a project I want to undertake. If not, I will tag off the batteries and run a dedicated line, but a little unsure of the best way to snake it to the back of the trailer yet.

Need to get it done for Memorial Day weekend.

Mark


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

Fanatical1 said:


> I think CamperAndy did the job correctly, but not without a lot of work.


It really depends on the model. Our 31RQS almost begs for this mod with the fuse box basically in the base of the tv cabinet. (I haven't done it yet, but with some dry camping in this year's plans, I see it likely in the future.)


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## usmc03 (Jun 6, 2006)

Very helpful post. Had it not been for this, I never would have looked closely at my 500w inverter to see the warning. Question, is there a way to make the battery wires a little longer so it fits inside? Also, I have two 12 volts, how would I hook it up that? Can I just hook it to one of them or do I clip it to each one?

Thanks


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## GarethsDad (Apr 4, 2007)

usmc03 said:


> Very helpful post. Had it not been for this, I never would have looked closely at my 500w inverter to see the warning. Question, is there a way to make the battery wires a little longer so it fits inside? Also, I have two 12 volts, how would I hook it up that? Can I just hook it to one of them or do I clip it to each one?
> 
> Thanks


Yes you can remove the wire that came with your inverter and run longer wire of a larger size for the higher load. You can hook up to one of the batteries as they are 12v and in parallel. I'm liking CamperAndy's idea of picking up the 12v from the backside of the fuse panel at the #6 wire lugs that feed the panel from the batteries. James


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## Fanatical1 (Jan 9, 2006)

GarethsDad said:


> Very helpful post. Had it not been for this, I never would have looked closely at my 500w inverter to see the warning. Question, is there a way to make the battery wires a little longer so it fits inside? Also, I have two 12 volts, how would I hook it up that? Can I just hook it to one of them or do I clip it to each one?
> 
> Thanks


Yes you can remove the wire that came with your inverter and run longer wire of a larger size for the higher load. You can hook up to one of the batteries as they are 12v and in parallel. I'm liking CamperAndy's idea of picking up the 12v from the backside of the fuse panel at the #6 wire lugs that feed the panel from the batteries. James
[/quote]

If I tag off the incoming 12V behind the fuse box, should you run the 12V lines into an open spot in the fuse box so you can add a 15 amp fuse to protect the line your running to the inverter?

Thanks


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## GarethsDad (Apr 4, 2007)

Fanatical1 said:


> Very helpful post. Had it not been for this, I never would have looked closely at my 500w inverter to see the warning. Question, is there a way to make the battery wires a little longer so it fits inside? Also, I have two 12 volts, how would I hook it up that? Can I just hook it to one of them or do I clip it to each one?
> 
> Thanks


Yes you can remove the wire that came with your inverter and run longer wire of a larger size for the higher load. You can hook up to one of the batteries as they are 12v and in parallel. I'm liking CamperAndy's idea of picking up the 12v from the backside of the fuse panel at the #6 wire lugs that feed the panel from the batteries. James
[/quote]

If I tag off the incoming 12V behind the fuse box, should you run the 12V lines into an open spot in the fuse box so you can add a 15 amp fuse to protect the line your running to the inverter?

Thanks
[/quote]All of the inverters that I have have fuses built into them to protect them from overloads or shorts.








In the photo just above the power feed wires there is a black cap that covers a 25 amp fuse. James


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## ED_RN (Jun 25, 2006)

Great post. Lot's of ideas here. Everyone hates that tiny socket. Some day I'll install the new one I bought.


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## Fanatical1 (Jan 9, 2006)

GarethsDad said:


> Very helpful post. Had it not been for this, I never would have looked closely at my 500w inverter to see the warning. Question, is there a way to make the battery wires a little longer so it fits inside? Also, I have two 12 volts, how would I hook it up that? Can I just hook it to one of them or do I clip it to each one?
> 
> Thanks


Yes you can remove the wire that came with your inverter and run longer wire of a larger size for the higher load. You can hook up to one of the batteries as they are 12v and in parallel. I'm liking CamperAndy's idea of picking up the 12v from the backside of the fuse panel at the #6 wire lugs that feed the panel from the batteries. James
[/quote]

If I tag off the incoming 12V behind the fuse box, should you run the 12V lines into an open spot in the fuse box so you can add a 15 amp fuse to protect the line your running to the inverter?

Thanks
[/quote]All of the inverters that I have have fuses built into them to protect them from overloads or shorts.








In the photo just above the power feed wires there is a black cap that covers a 25 amp fuse. James
[/quote]

James,

Thanks for the info. My inverter does not have the fuse showing like yours and the manual makes no reference to it other than stating that
the inverter will shut down if it overheats or there is a surge or demand that is greater than the capacity of the unit. I suspect that my unit
has a built in type of protection device.

Mark


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