Power Inverter Purchase & Install

N

Nee

Noob
Following on the heels of an install I did for my Dad years ago... I am now needing a inverter installed in the Taurus.
Mom and I are taking a trip in April (about 2K miles round trip) and we equally hate Truck stop/gas stop food and fare.

Thanks to Jon and the guys in teh BAH I have a good idea of which Inverter I will be using but I am ALWAYS up for idears and other opinions.

And for posterity, and to save an OLD Thread off another forum, I am posting dad's install I did way back when:
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R.I.P. DAD! ♥ U and I am taking care of Mom just like I Prommissed....
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July 20, 2009:
Back Story:
My Father requires Oxygen and compressed air to take his breathing treatments. Previously he was using bottled oxygen (Expensive) and a small, unreliable, cigarette Lighter power inverter (they've gone through three so far) to run his compressor in his truck when they travel.
So I/we decided it was time to resolve this unreliable method of health care.

1- 1000 W Power Inverter = $120
1- 4 AWG Amplifier Wiring Kit = $ 90.00
4 - hours = $ Labor of Love.

Security knowing Pops will be taken care of = $ Priceless

The blank canvas:
1.jpg

11.jpg


New Ground + Power/Fuse
116.jpg


Power Wire Runs
15.jpg

18.jpg


Inverter Install/Mount
19.jpg

113.jpg

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Power Center
118.jpg

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Love ya Dad! ~ Your Daughter!
 
Thanks Al!
the picture makes the wiring look all wiggly waggly but I promise that was just the shape of the truck. Bothered the hell out of me looking at the pictures tho.

I sat down and compared a BUNCH of inverters in the the 800-1000W range this weekend. I settled on the 800W Cobra; it should be here on Wednesday then it is time to go get busy installing it. and yes, I will take LOTS of pictures. :D

Sometime in the future I will run another larger gauge wire to the trunk dedicated to the audio system but for now, I have a 4 AWG ran from front to back for the trailer and rack lights; this should be sufficient for the relatively small inverter.
 
Nee said:
Thanks Al!
the picture makes the wiring look all wiggly waggly but I promise that was just the shape of the truck. Bothered the hell out of me looking at the pictures tho.

I sat down and compared a BUNCH of inverters in the the 800-1000W range this weekend. I settled on the 800W Cobra; it should be here on Wednesday then it is time to go get busy installing it. and yes, I will take LOTS of pictures. :D

Sometime in the future I will run another larger gauge wire to the trunk dedicated to the audio system but for now, I have a 4 AWG ran from front to back for the trailer and rack lights; this should be sufficient for the relatively small inverter.
Click to expand...

What are you going to run off of it?
 
Just my Nutribullet. It's a small blender. Maybe charge the kindle while we are driving

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk
 
Some picture fodder/Follow up for you:

Gettin' ready to take LONG trip, over 2K miles, this upcoming week.
To make it as comfortable as possible for me and my vacationing companion, I wanted to add a few "extras" to the trunk area so we can be self sufficient, eat right [healthy] with our Nutribullet meals and of course charge the laptop, Kindles, and all around have power.

Here is a little project I did over the last few days.

Pre-wired the trunk for towing/lights relay package. I had used large enough wire for a few amplifiers as well.
behind%20the%20scenes.jpg

Power.jpg


My source for 110V power on the road. I should have taken some progress pictures of the install itself but with only me working on it I needed to beat the sunlight to make sure it got done.
Powered%20up.jpg

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And--to make sure we can see what we are doing.
While I had the panel out I simply spliced in to the stock lighting pigtail and ran some wires up and over in the top trim piece. A tiny cross hatch cut and, Ta-Da!
trunk%20lit.jpg

trunk%20LEDs.jpg
 
I bet that blender makes a helluva margarita!

Nice work on the lights and power supply. You can actually SEE stuff in that trunk!
 
The trip ended up at just under 2600 miles.
We drove straight through from Boise to Phoenix in one long push. (over 17 hours). The inverter came in VERY handy for entertainment purposes- Charging the Laptop, Kindle, and phones. I ran a temp extension cord from the trunk up to the front console.
Mesa/Phoenix/Scottsdale the first two days. - We stayed in Mesa but ended up pretty much everywhere in this metro area. A huge day on Monday but with the cooler in the trunk and 110V power on tap we had our own healthy lunches made right out of the trunk.
Flagstaff, AZ. The L.E.D. lighting I installed REALLY made a Difference at o'dark thirty, when we were loading the car in the early early morning hours. We left Flagstaff about 3:30 and drove to the Grand Canyon for some sunrise pictures. The lights in the trunk and having power available for extra lighting and a smoothie was epic. :D

Las Vegas: I had downloaded a Ton of Music on a flash drive but I needed to use the USB port I use to charge my phone to listen to it. (Sirius XM got on my nerves after 4 days)
I used my home [fast charger] and just ran the wires up to the phone to keep it charged from the extension cord. (thank you to ford for making it so easy) - Now we had our favorite tunes on the usb and unlimited charging for my Note5/Navigation/Communications-- ya, you get it. Using the NAV / Google maps and the Bluetooth takes a lot of battery power. Plugging it in this way was seamless and never chewed into the battery reserves.
I could not have navigated around Phoenix and Las Vegas with such Confidence without it.

My Next goal is to engineer and install a "hidden" 110V power outlet hard wired to the front of the car. This will also include a switch to turn off the Inverter remotely, a small indicator light to remind me when it is on, with a Voltage Monitor for both the 12V and 110V side of the equation. :)
 
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