Built in AC inverter?

[Matthew Jeschke]

I've got my truck interior pretty well disassmbled. I'm thinking about running 12v power back to the D pillar area where the jack is stored and hiding an AC inverter in that panel.

Curious if anybody else has done this and how it turned out and or if there are better suggestions? I may run a relay for the inverter and put a switch on the dash too as I'm a bit scared about it heating up and catching the truck on fire lol

 

[tom3]

New Tahoes have these standard. A 150 watt unit I believe. Not too useful except to run a light or charge a phone maybe. Have to be careful with these. That power has to come from somewhere. Consider a 240 watt AC 120 volt power needs a feed of 240 + watts at 12 volts.

2 amps AC from 20 amps DC.

Want to make some coffee you're looking at way over 100 amps from the battery. Best way to do this is to put a second alternator on and run the engine while using the inverter.

 

[Matthew Jeschke]

I want to charge drone batteries and things like that.

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[swathdiver]

I want to charge drone batteries and things like that.

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Hit up the junk yards and find some old Pontiac Montanas or their twins. They had a 110V plug out back and the little box behind the panel on the right just forward of the jacking tools. We used them a lot and thought about retrofitting it to the Yukon but it's not a high priority.

 

[Matthew Jeschke]

super cool suggestion. will do that

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[Matthew Jeschke]

I found the AC inverter for Pontiac Montana online. Was pretty easy. Curious how the wiring harness is routed / how it hooks into the electrical. Any ideas where there might be drawings / wiring diagrams for it?

 

[Matthew Jeschke]

I think I found an even better place. the other pillar has a cigarette plug. It also has vent / air intake for rear AC / heat exchanger so could get airflow / cooling over the inverter.

I could just use that 12 volt power and swap plug for inverter / AC.

Curious though. I should probably upgrade the wires used for aux power plugs. My only worry is that my 800 watt inverter would heat up those electrical lines. possibly start a fire.

curious if anybody knows of somebody who has cut into the aux power bus and restrung larger wire?

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[George B]

How about getting power at the trailer harness?

 

[swathdiver]

I think I found an even better place. the other pillar has a cigarette plug. It also has vent / air intake for rear AC / heat exchanger so could get airflow / cooling over the inverter.

That's also where the tire inflator hooks up. Always surprised that the full-size trucks didn't get this option either.

How about getting power at the trailer harness?

My 2006 SV6 Montana had the trailer wiring harness plug into the auto-leveling compressor! Weirdest thing, took me forever to figure out!

 

[rockola1971]

I think I found an even better place. the other pillar has a cigarette plug. It also has vent / air intake for rear AC / heat exchanger so could get airflow / cooling over the inverter.

I could just use that 12 volt power and swap plug for inverter / AC.

Curious though. I should probably upgrade the wires used for aux power plugs. My only worry is that my 800 watt inverter would heat up those electrical lines. possibly start a fire.

curious if anybody knows of somebody who has cut into the aux power bus and restrung larger wire?

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You can get wiring diagrams off autozone.com
Sign up for free account then add a vehicle.... click on Repair Help>Vehicle Repair Guides>Wiring Diagrams

 

[rockola1971]

New Tahoes have these standard. A 150 watt unit I believe. Not too useful except to run a light or charge a phone maybe. Have to be careful with these. That power has to come from somewhere. Consider a 240 watt AC 120 volt power needs a feed of 240 + watts at 12 volts.

2 amps AC from 20 amps DC.

Want to make some coffee you're looking at way over 100 amps from the battery. Best way to do this is to put a second alternator on and run the engine while using the inverter.

Or just remove the rectifier and youll get 120vac off the alternator.

 

[BG1988]

That's also where the tire inflator hooks up. Always surprised that the full-size trucks didn't get this option either.



My 2006 SV6 Montana had the trailer wiring harness plug into the auto-leveling compressor! Weirdest thing, took me forever to figure out!

2008 has factory 120v outlet and 20amp 12volt cig (for the tire infiltrator ) I suggest everyone get one off ebay they fill up the tire quickly way faster then the ones at the gas stations it took 4 min just to go up 1 PSI (tire was hot) I was able to inflate it much faster with the inflator we got it to 45PSI COLD in just 5min from 33PSI hot
(on a toyota corolla )

Or just remove the rectifier and youll get 120vac off the alternator.

but then his car will get 120VAC he would have to isolate the second alt you will also need smoothing caps as some devices don't like the output wave from the alt

 

[Matthew Jeschke]

You can get wiring diagrams off autozone.com
Sign up for free account then add a vehicle.... click on Repair Help>Vehicle Repair Guides>Wiring Diagrams

sweet I will have to check that out

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[Matthew Jeschke]

Not sure removing rectifier would work as you then have to spin alternator at 60hrz / have a governor of some sort. It's been a long time since I studied magnetic fields in physics but I think it'd be a bit of work to get a auto alternator to do 120v AC. Although I've thought of that more than once and would be super cool.

My thinking is more this. I have a 135 amp alternator (I'm assuming 135 amps at idle?). At 12 volts that 1620 watts, a 400 watt AC inverter isn't going to max out the alternator. However, most of that power is actually spoken for if you run all the accessories and drive down the road. The factory alternators don't leave much headroom for anything else.

They sell replacement alternators that have double that output. I'll buy one of those. However, wiring in the factory harness is a bit light. I could easily start an electrical fire if I try to run that much power through a factory strung Aux power / cigarette lighter plug. I'll need to run a larger line back to wherever I put the inverter.

That's the attractive thing about a factory inverter though, from the Pontiac Montana though, I'd probably be fine on cheap small gauge GM wiring.

 

[swathdiver]

I have a 135 amp alternator (I'm assuming 135 amps at idle?).

It's my understanding that alternator's output is measured at maximum rpms, not idle.

Scratch that! Hold it! Just came across a chart for GMT900s with 160 Amp alternators.

At 600 rpms they put out between 95 and 120 depending on temperature. Seems they are all in by 2000 rpms, most cruising speeds, and at that speed their output is between 130 and 165, again, depending on temperature.

At 2000 rpms and 257 degrees, the alternator's output is about 130 amps. At 77 degrees at the same speed it is about 165 amps.

 

[Phildirt]

I just cut the cigarette lighter plug out in the rear of my 05 suburban and wired a cheap inverter in its place. Took all of about 5 minutes. I used it to charge cordless drill batteries no problem. Did the same thing up front and put the inverter in the storage bin between the seats. Charged my Iphone on that one with lightning cord and also charged SLR camera batteries. Simple is better imo if you're just charging batteries, the wiring and fuses are already there why not use them. Unless you just really like cigarette lighters lol.

 

[DougAMiller]

I put a 750W inverter behind the rear driver's side panel where the subwoofer is located in earlier models before they moved it into the console. I made a bracket that mounted to the subwoofer box mounting points and bolted the inverter to that. Since a 750W inverter could draw as much as 60 amps, I ran 6 gauge wire directly from my aux battery to it. I put two outlets behind the cup holder door at the back of the console and one back near the inverter. I have a switch in the dash that is used to turn it on, but the switch is wired through a relay that is wired to the accessory circuit so that I can't accidentally leave it on and run the battery down. Although, since the inverter is connected to the auxillary battery which is disconnected from the main battery when the engine isn't running, it would only run down the aux battery. There is also a switch on the inverter that lets me turn it on without the key if I need to, but I generally don't use that one.