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110v Inverter Installation - 2nd Gen 4Runner
By Corey - 2/14/2003
Corey shows you how he installed a Maxx 400 watt power inverter.
Tools Required:
Electric drill for ground wire install to drill into metal
Screw driver for various screws
Hammer for crimping connectors on the end of the wires to unit
This mod was inspired by a post on YotaTech for an ad to a power inverter.
The model I bought is the VEC031POB.
I got it at Sam's Club for around $28 which is cheaper than what the manufacturers site shows. It comes with a cigarette adapter, but you can only power a device upto 150 watts that way. It also comes with cables that connect to your battery to use the full potential of it's 400 watt capacity. I choose to hard wire it though instead as you will read about here in this write-up.
I have been wanting to do this mod for quite awhile, and I guess the post inspired me to bet off my butt and do it. The forum has a way of doing that to you if you see all the ideas thrown out there.
This mod will be great for charging up digicam batteries while on the road, or for charging the cell phone. 400 watts is also powerful enough to run portable trouble lights, TVs, radios, and lots more small appliances. Below are some pictures of the installation.
Carpet covered panel covering where the stock speakers would go.
This is the passenger side to show you what the panel looks like with no unit attached to it.
Hole where the panel goes.
This is on the drivers side where I will mount the converter.
Unit mounted to the panel board
I have it held on with 4 wood screws.
Unit mounted in place without wiring
This was a test fit to see how it would look.
Unit now wired up
I was going to drill holes in the wood panel and run them behind the plastic cargo area sides, but that was more work than I wanted to do as the sides are hard to get off and often crack easily. I already have small cracks on each side.
The ground wire I put next to the rear seat belt anchor bolt.
I would have used the seat belt hole instead of drilling a new one, but I did not have a connector that would slip over that big bolt.
For the positive wire I used my stereo amplifiers distribution block
The distribution block goes straight to my battery and is protected by a 100 amp circuit breaker. The ground & hot wire are both 8 gauge, and the book said to use 10 gauge, so it's more than protected. I also have a new 50 amp fuse in the distribution block for this 110v converter. This distribution box is a 1x4 gauge in, 4x8 gauge out distribution box.
Here is the unit getting tested after I was done installing it
I hooked up my Craftsman cordless drill charger to the Maxx converter, and it worked!
When the unit is on a green light comes on and also a fan to help keep it cool.
Should the converter be left on to long and start to drain the rigs battery, a warning alarm will sound. Shortly after that the unit will power off automatically should the batteries voltage drop down to 10.6 volts.
All in all, this is a very cool little unit. If you need a way to charge up your electronic gears batteries while on the road or out camping, this is the perfect way to do it. If you choose to do this mod good luck, and if you have any questions Corey on the Yotatech Forum.
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01-02-2006, 09:53 AM
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