jalaber

Tripp Lite PV 300 Watt Power Inverter with Cigarette Plug Adapter

Buy it at CC for $59.99

A $30 mail in rebate will print out.

Put rebate and item in your rig.

Walk back in and do a 110% Price Match to Staples which sells it for $45.49. You will be credited $15.95.

Your Cost $59.99 - 15.95 - 30.00 +tax = $18.00 max including stamp.

Hot or not?

Churnd

I say go for it. If it doesn't work out, you can always take it back. I wish there was a Staples down here. I'd get myself one too.

Dr. Zhivago

Buy.com sells these for $40.45 shipped. I'll be lazy and just order it that way.

I was thinking of buying one of these incidentally. It's weird that you brought it up...

Dr. Z

White SR5

This is definately a good deal. Radio shack as them for $100. Either one is a bargain.

Zach

L33T35T 4Runner

sam's club has a 400 watt/800 watt peak for 28 bucks

tahts where i got mine

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Jason, do you have a pic of the one you got?
Or a website?

I'd like to hard wire one into my rig.
I could mount it somewhere in the cockpit, and then cut the cig cable and run a wire out to my underhood fusebox.

This way it would have power all the time running to it.
This could be used for charging up the digicam batteries during a trip.
Can't really think of to many other things I would need it for.

Dr. Zhivago

Corey, what about your Espresso maker?

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Sam's Club
$28.76

I wonder how this one compares to the other one?
The one Jalaber posted looks a little more compact, but hard to tell unless you see them in person.

L33T35T 4Runner

that's exactly it. I'll take some pictures of it if you like.

I ran a 10 gauge wire (old power wire from my brothers old car stereo) from the positive on my battery, through the firewall, under the carpet, and it sticks out where the seat belt is on the right side between teh seat and the door jam. it then wrapped it up, put some electrical tape over the bare end (incase it hits a ground) and tucked it under the seat. If i need to use my power inverter, its in my storage compartment in the back. hook positive driectly to the unit, and plug the black clamp to any ground (usually something bare on the door jam). if i need to, i can plug it on to the seatbelt bolt.

anyway... ya 400 watts is sweet. it'll power my blender for on the road smoothies It's pretty small...nothing to complain about. fits right under any seat. It has a nice on and off switch, and a fan that makes very little noise

If you want to power anything under 150 watts (rechargable batteries) you can probably plug it right into the cigarette lighter. if you need anything over 150 watts you have to hard wire it. the cigarette lighter cant put out that much power.. wire is too thin.

want pics?

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Pics would be nice.

If I get one, I'll just hard wire it all the time to that fusebox of mine.
Not sure if I'd keep the unit up front, or try to mount it in the back somewhere.

L33T35T 4Runner

give me about 15-20 minutes on those pictures...

why run it to the fuse box? it already has 2 fuses on it.

Just gotta make sure you turn it off so you dont drain your battery

jalaber

Sweet! The deal worked great. I picked up one tonight. Net Cost $17.67. Looks nice, measures in at 6.5"dx4.0"wx2.0"h. Weight 2lbs. I'll use the cig cord for a while then may hard wire it (manual says if connecting over 240 watts then a direct battery connection is a must).

Corey

iTrader: (1)

I have two extra openings on my underhood fusebox I installed.

Plus, each circuit on the box is fused, and the wire that goes from the box to the battery is fused also.

That line you have going to your battery really needs to be fused also.
Even with the tape on the end of it, it's a live hot wire from your battery, and could start a fire if it comes into a contact with ground.

It should have a 30 to 50 amp fuse within 18" of the battery terminal.
Here is my 30 amp inline fuse for my fusebox on the firewall.
If you fuse it like that, there is no chance of a fire if your wire under the seat comes into contact with metal somehow.

L33T35T 4Runner

I have a problem... when i take pictures of something.. i take WAY TOO MANY. I ended up taking 11 pictures... here's 4 of them

fuses


size comparison


wire coming from seat belt area


overall setup... ground, positive, and rechargable batteries

L33T35T 4Runner

the system came with 2 cords. one has a cigarette lighter, the other has two clamps. The one with the two clamps, well i taped off the connection end that goes to the inverter with electrical tape so incase it came in contact with a ground and positive or anything.. it will be fine. I'm only using the ground part of the plug... the positive line that i ran thru the firewall is directly connected

seafarinman

Hey Guys I have a Travelpower 800W continuous/1100W voltage inverter that I paid $39.99 for at GI Joes in Federal Way. I have it connected with a amp wiring kit (4 AWG wire to fuse/distribution block with (2) 8 AWG outputs. On the other end there is a water resistant double outlet box in the truck bed.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Oh my gosh, I totally forgot
I have my distro box under my rear seat for my two amps.

The positive box has two openings left on it.
I could easily run an 8 guage wire to it, and also ground it there to.

Good idea, thanks.

L33T35T 4Runner

i wouldnt wanna starve power from your amps

seafarinman

I actually have a separate amp wiring kit just for the inverter alone. But, I doubt that you would really starve the amps since you would not likely use both the stereo and inverter at the same time.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Went to Sam's Club and picked it up.
Also stopped by a local stereo shop along the way, and he recommended I use 8 gauge to my distro box under the rear seat.

I could get by with 10 gauge going to my under hood fuse box, but he said this will be more reliable.

I picked up 6' of 8 gauge wire in brown as they were out of red.
Also got a 50 amp big blade fuse that is the type my distro box uses.
http://www.toyotaoffroad.net/tando/temp/converter.jpg

All I need now is better weather, and to decide on where to mount this.
I bet one could get into the guts on this thing and mount it behind the rear cargo area where the side doors are, and wire in a home type wall mount plate with two receptacles on it.

I don't know if I'll get that elaborate with it though.