chrishibbard7
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 21, 2011
- Posts
- 142
Searched the forum, and didn't find anything recent talking about this, so here goes
We're just starting to take trips w/ our "new to us" 22' 4winds Class C, and I've been thinking of all that 12V juice going to waste while I drive (and don't want to run the generator for hours on end while driving).
After 6 years of cross-country roadtrips (us+4kids) in a minivan, we're used to using a portable cig lighter inverter that puts out <=400watts, to run a portable DVD player (2 screens) laptop, camera + phone chargers, etc. I plan on using this same inverter to run a DVD player (~50 watts) and 32"lcd (<=110watts) while we're driving, plus laptop, phone&camera chargers, so I don't need to run the generator all day long. When I tried out the TV installation on it's maiden voyage, I learned not to try to power the TV from the inverter while idling. Now driver's side cig lighter won't work (gotta find that fuse)
I don't have any 12v outlets other than the 2 cig lighters in the cab, which surprises me. A lot of items I use can be powered either way, and I figure, why invert & rectify from DC-->A/C-->DC? So...
Has anyone out there added 12v outlets to their rig?
Anyone using 12v appliances? What works well, what doesn't? I understand I need to add up wattages and stay under the amount my inverter can safely maintain... here are some 12V things that are native DC, I plan to use from cig lighter outlets, or something better I may rig up:
Both cell phone chargers
kids Gameboy charger
1 of our DVD players
laptop power (yes, most have a cig lighter adaptors you can order that removes the need for the DC-->A/C-->D/C conversion game)
any small home appliance that has a "wall-wart" rectifier that will accept 9-15V DC in, can be jury rigged to use a cig lighter, provided it uses few enough watts
of course, my trusty portable 400W inverter we used to use in our minivan
We're just starting to take trips w/ our "new to us" 22' 4winds Class C, and I've been thinking of all that 12V juice going to waste while I drive (and don't want to run the generator for hours on end while driving).
After 6 years of cross-country roadtrips (us+4kids) in a minivan, we're used to using a portable cig lighter inverter that puts out <=400watts, to run a portable DVD player (2 screens) laptop, camera + phone chargers, etc. I plan on using this same inverter to run a DVD player (~50 watts) and 32"lcd (<=110watts) while we're driving, plus laptop, phone&camera chargers, so I don't need to run the generator all day long. When I tried out the TV installation on it's maiden voyage, I learned not to try to power the TV from the inverter while idling. Now driver's side cig lighter won't work (gotta find that fuse)
I don't have any 12v outlets other than the 2 cig lighters in the cab, which surprises me. A lot of items I use can be powered either way, and I figure, why invert & rectify from DC-->A/C-->DC? So...
Has anyone out there added 12v outlets to their rig?
Anyone using 12v appliances? What works well, what doesn't? I understand I need to add up wattages and stay under the amount my inverter can safely maintain... here are some 12V things that are native DC, I plan to use from cig lighter outlets, or something better I may rig up:
Both cell phone chargers
kids Gameboy charger
1 of our DVD players
laptop power (yes, most have a cig lighter adaptors you can order that removes the need for the DC-->A/C-->D/C conversion game)
any small home appliance that has a "wall-wart" rectifier that will accept 9-15V DC in, can be jury rigged to use a cig lighter, provided it uses few enough watts
of course, my trusty portable 400W inverter we used to use in our minivan