2018 Power Inverter

In my recently purchased 2018 I have a 120v Power Inverter. Something I have never had before and I have some questions to those of you that have used yours.

1. Does it run off the battery or the alternator, and do I have to have the motor running when using it?
2. Can a standard 3/8” drill or possibly a battery charger for battery operated devices.

The plug would only be used in a pinch where there is no available electrical service, like camping, or even working on my ranch out in the field. I’m just trying to get an idea of its effective use for such occasions!!

A 115 or 230 Volt (150 Watts Maximum) outlet is located on the center stack of the instrument panel, to the right of the radio. This outlet can power cellular phones, electronics and other low power devices requiring power up to 150 Watts. Certain high-end video game consoles will exceed this power limit, as will most power tools.

The power inverter is designed with built-in overload protection. If the power rating of 150 Watts is exceeded, the power inverter will automatically shut down. Once the electrical device has been removed from the outlet the inverter should automatically reset.

3
To turn on the power outlet, simply plug in the device. The outlet automatically turns off when the device is un- plugged.

NOTE:

• The Power Inverter will only turn on if the ignition is in the ACC or ON/RUN position.

• Due to built-in overload protection, the power inverter will shut down if the power rating is exceeded.

That thing is pretty much good to charge laptops, iPads,etc.... It won’t run much of anything useful. A cheap generator is best if you’re trying to have power away from anything.

Thanks for the great information.

Is there a way to buy an aftermarket inverter, install it in the factory location and use the factory plug?


2018 Ram 2500 Tradesman
6.7L, G56

RockyAEV said:

Is there a way to buy an aftermarket inverter, install it in the factory location and use the factory plug?

Click to expand...

The wiring and outlet are not spec'ed for anything higher than the factory inverter and the inverter is turned on/off by a signal from the outlet telling it that something is plugged in so, to give the short answer to your question, not really. Not safely at least. I did see a video on youtube last year when I was researching adding the factory inverter to mine where the poster did exactly that, but I would not want to take the risk of melting the insulation on the wires and crossing 120v AC into the truck's 12v system. The 120v wires are run in the same harness as many other wires.

-K

I'm sure you could buy a bigger inverter and run bigger wires to the battery pos and ground, and then use the current wires (which are only hot with ignition in acc or on/run) to close a relay. That way you are still only powering it when the key is in, you are not overloading any wires, and you could go to a much higher wattage.

Keep n mind that 12V batteries are 12 volts, not 120! So a 7 amp corded 1/2" drill you normally use in your garage will represent a 70 amp load on your 12v battery. Roughly speaking, watts = volts * amps. So at 120 volts, a 7 amp drill uses 840 watts. Now that same 840 watts, if supplied by a 12v battery, needs 70 amps.

So if you get a 600 watt inverter, which will be good for maybe 550 watts after inversion and wiring losses, will put a 50 amp load on your battery. This will drain a 100 AH group 27 battery down to 50% within 60 minutes of use under a full load.

In other words, bigger inverters use more power and can kill your battery faster. Numbers give you an idea, but remember they are theoretical. An inverter capable of supplying 600 watts will consume more than 600 watts. A 100 amp hour battery theoretically can supply 1 amp for 100 hours, but would have a hard time supplying 100 amps for an hour. (The faster you deplete it, the less total juice you can get out of it.) You also don't want to run your battery down past 50%, unless you want to be replacing batteries constantly.

So the net result is that you can use the inverter for small stuff - pulling large wattage loads from a 12v battery is seldom a good idea.

Hope that helps.

Yes both answers are helpful. I want to be able to run some large items occasionally (air pump for our tubes for floating) my wife like to do her hair when we go on road trips just before we get where we are going (final touches on the masterpiece lol) ya know things like that, and will most always have the truck running for the duration of the voltage draw.

So I think I will add a larger inverter but will run new cables from the battery, and to the plug so that I bypass the trucks factory wiring so that the gauge is large enough to handle the load....but will probably use the original signal wire to turn it on and off....

If I do this it should make thing safe enough to use and actually be useful because currently it’s a phone charger at best! Haha thanks for the info


2018 Ram 2500 Tradesman
6.7L, G56