Need to know what the best Plugin inverter is. I hear that a ciggarette lighter socket will only handle 300w safely. The freightliner columbia I,m supposed to pick up has 3 "hot points"(I think) Can i use 2 or 3 inverters or am I just asking for trouble? Running a small fan,maybe a small tv/dvd for an hour or 2, a small cooler (6or8cans),cellphone charger etc. Any info would be appreciated!

You should be alright if you don't run them all on the same outlet. I'm not sure what your doing with 3 inverters in your case ? Coolers are 12 volt and you can get a small 12 volt fan. You can also get a 12 volt/110 tv at the truck stop or online. I had the same stuff you are looking to do in the Columbia I drove. I had a regular 110 14"/dvd tv that I ran off a 400 watt Cobra inverter plug in to the socket by the tv. Then I had the big Coleman cooler plugged in to the socket that was inside the bottom of the closet on the drivers side. Then in the socket by the controls in the sleep I'd plug in my fan, or cell charger. I did use a 2nd inverter on that outlet but the only thing I used for was to charge my laptop and power some speakers I had hooked up to the tv. I couldn't hear the ones on the tv worth a crap so I went and bought those ones you plug in to Walkman but those really sucked so I bought some powered computer speakers and an extension line to run to the headphone plug on my tv. So my speakers are right by my head and they work great and sound pretty good.

I never had a problem with that whole set up. Never blew a fuse or nothing. 8) 8)

does each hot point have it's own fuse...? if not only 1 300w invertor per fuse.

tk-thanks for the info. I was going to wait till I get a few paychecks in my wallet before I bought a dc powered tv/dvd or other dc appliances. I'm hoping to use my small ac powered tv plugged into an inverter.Cooler will take care of another outlet,cell phone or gps will take care of the dash one. Am I correct that there are Four outlets?


Flood brought up a good question-1 fuse per 12v outlet? I guess that was one of my main concerns.I would hate to keep poppin fuses.My trainers unit was apu equipped so we never had to worry about power or 12v outlets

Your 300W inverter should be fine for running tv, dvd, laptop etc. for hours on end.
Get yourself a USB Broadband Modem to go with laptop too, they`re fan dabby dozy

btw our volvo 780 has 5 12v plugs.

i have a 100w invertor in the overhead for to run the printer, gsr radio, powered ubs hub and dvd burner, dsah cam, mp3 charger.

dash 12v runs sirus radio, bluetooth charger.

1 300w invertor in the 12v plug for the cooler to run a dvd/vcr, satellite dvr, tv signal boster.

1 300w invertor in the back for her cell charger, psp charger, guitar amp

1 1500w invertor running tv, fridge, mirco, laptop, my cell charger, other mp3 charger,

don't run everything at the same time but everything is pluged in never blown a fuse yet.

Flood - you got more electronics in your truck than I have in my whole house!:lol: But seriously - thanks for all the info from everybody - been a big help!

I know this is a old thread but didnt want to make a new thread. Say I had a 400-500W plug in converter. I run my fan or 2 ( small clip on home fan ), phone charger, 12v cooler. How long can I run all this before I need to crank the truck to charge the battery's?? What about adding my laptop into the mix how long till I need to crank the truck to re-charge?? My laptop battery is shot so it needs consent power when in use. Thanks for any info !!

tater259 if you have been driving all day you can run what you are talking about all night and more. the fans will use more power than the laptop, cooler and charger togther.

if the batteries get to low the truck will sound an alarm and turn off ALL the 12v plugs and lights so you will still have power to start the truck.

a 400w should be hard wired and a 500w invertor has to be hard wired. a hard wired invertor will bypass the cutoff circuit (the alarm will still sound and cutoff the 12v plugs) but the invertor can drain the batteries all the way down.

Some of the older 12 volt receptacles where rated 15 amps, I don't know if the newer plastic ones can handle the 15 amps. If it has a 15 amp fuse in the fuse box it will.
But the weak point is always going to be the the actual 12 volt plug on the item. The cheap ones are known to melt at around 12 amps. Heavy duty plugs will do the actual 15 amps continuous. They are made of heavy plastic that can handle the high temperatures. More details