I want to provide power for an inverter, and didnt want to go through directly connecting to the battery, (and also didnt want to use the cig lighter deal), can I use the 12 v power to the nav, or the head radio unit?

In other words, can I split the 12 v power that is going to nav and connect it to power my inverter also?

Is that the same as getting power from battery?

Is there a negative aspect to this, ie drawing more current/heating the 12 v wire/melt/fire issues??

Thanks

 

Draw back is your screen goes out due to power loss. Inverters are wierd in how they work and should be isolated straight to the battery for this reason. You are converting into lots of Watts so the draw will/can affect your NAVI screen. Also, since you mentioned it, the wires for the 12 for the navi are thin as hell, there is no way it could be safe. The cig lighter has much thicker guage so that would be a better idea (also note most inverters come with the cig light adpater and thats where they get thier power in most cases), but to be honest with you since you want to hard wire it, go straight to the battery, or settle for cig lighter but make sure to:

1) Never use the cig lighter or you'll blow a fuse
2) Mimic the SAME circuit protection that comes inside the cig light adapter for the inverter, where ever you intend to install it. (Basically add fuses for saftey if NOT wiring it to the cigarette lighter, rather straight to the battery).

The battery has its own fuse protection so if you draw too much current, just change the cig lighter fuse. Menaing if it blows, you know where to look.

 

Dont cut corners! Go straight from the battery; its not hard
Also use an inline fuse on your battery connection as close to the battery as possible

 

I am also going to power and iverter for the XBoX... what guage wire would would think is ok?

 

Cool, I understand.


How about the 12V going to the amp, is that the same principal (cutting out due to inverter drain?)


How do you go from inside to engine/battery? As for gage, I'm not sure, I will go tomorrow to homedepot to look at some wires. I"ll let you know when I decide.

 

Youll have to cut a hole through the rubber grommet pictured above. Then run your wire through that hole and catch it on the inside (youll have to take off the plastic pieces on the passenger side most likely)

MAKE SURE YOU USE SILICONE TO SEAL THE HOLE YOU CUT
Failure to do so will allow water to seap into the hole and run right down your new high amperage power line


You can calculate the gauge of wire with a forumula of what kind of power youre pulling but for future expandability you would be best of running 4 gauge or higher to a distribution block then running smaller guage to individual devices

 

Cool, thanks for the pic. Also I checked out your carputer, awesome job.

I saw you are using an inline fused wired from the battery.

What spec fuse are you using?

Also, any problems with getting power from the 12v power source to the bose amp in the trunk? Maybe I can split that and power my inverter (to xbox), and also the navbox.

I think if the power from amp works, it will be better for me. If not, the directly from the battery, I will get the power, young luke skywalker!