2500 Inverter?

I thought anything over 1000 had to be hard-wired into the batteries?

 

All depends on what exactly you plan on running. If you planning on running a laptop or computer off it you might want to look into a pure sine wave inverter, its a little more $$$ but much better for computer equipment.

 

I used to have a 2500 watt continuous (3000watt peak) inverter, it lasted 3 years.
Now I have a 3500 watt (5000watt peak) and it has lasted over 4 years, but that may because of different manufacturers or better technology.

It isn't too much, but batteries can prematurely fail if the inverter is used alot while the engine is off, over an extended period of time.
I ALWAYS turn the inverter off if I am going to be parked and out of the truck for longer than 24 hours.

Also, I "hard-wire" my inverter directly to the batteries using "welding" cable, which is about 1/2 the price of "battery" cable.

 

It's pretty easy to figure out how much current the unit will draw & decide where to attach it to the truck.

I'll start you off by saying a 300 watt inverter will draw upwards of 450 watts from its supply in full output operation.

450 watts drawn from a 13.8vdc power supply equals a 32 amp draw from that 13.8vdc supply.

This is not something you should connect to a cigarette lighter adapter. Those adapters can barely supply 5 amps without getting too hot.

I would say that anything over a 200 watt inverter should have a good connection to the truck's electrical system.

A 2500 watt inverter really needs connected to the batterys or at least a point near them that can supply 250 amps at full draw.

 

I have heard of truck fires caused by an inverter (probably undersized and overworked) that got "warm". I originally started with a small 250 watt, but that got real hot just powering a TV and I saw the possibility of a fire starting.
A 2500 watt should be enough, but as long as the truck is idling, the stock alternator should be sufficient for keeping the batteries charged.
I have never used a "pure sine-wave" inverter, so I don't know about them.