opti idle + power inverter = problem

Ok while at home I have been setting up my truck getting all my goodies inside and making it home. I have opti idle so I'm running a 300w power inverter for my tv and xbox (for when I do my resets). Plus I like to fall asleep with the tv on watching a movie or whatever. I found that when opti idle decides to start my truck there is such a power draw it undervolts my inverter shutting it down until I reset it. Is there some trick to keeping this from happening other than not running the opti idle?

 

Mine does the same thing. when you start the truck, the voltage drops to the inverter shutting it down. The only way to solve it is wire it directly to the battery.

 

Hmm, direct wire to the battery is not an option for me. Company policy. But I was thinking about uninterruptible power supplies for computers. I'm thinking of going to harbor freight and getting one of those cheap jumpstart packs with a 12v socket. Plug that into the truck, then plug my inverter into the jumper pack. It should in theory act as a battery back up and block the undervolt when the truck starts.

 

Got a solution. Went to harbor freight and bought a 12v jumper pack. It was $89 but it also has a built in 400w inverter. I can plug in the 12 charger for the jumper pack. Then I can run my tv and xbox off the inverter built into the jumper pack. In addition it also has 2 more 12v outlets I can plug in my 300w inverter in should I need it. This solution works very well.

 

Thanks for sharing this solution.

 

Your cigar / 12v power outlet probably has a 15 Amp fuse. You will pop the fuse long before you need your 300w inverter. 400 w at 120 v requires 33 amps at 12 volts. Read the labels on the 120 v items you plug in and add up the amps or watts required if plugging more than one at a time. Every amp used at 120v AC requires 10 amps at 12v DC. Good luck with your new ride

 

This is true on the amps for 12VDC and 120VAC. However, my thoughts are that a cigar lighter, being a heating element, probably has a fuse between 20A and 30A.

A 25 Amp fuse at 12VDC would give you 300 Watts (12V*25A=300W). Watts are not dependent on voltage, they are a measure of power that can be converted to, and are valid at, any voltage. This will give you 300 Watts or 2.5 Amps at 120VAC (300W/120V=2.5A).

One more thought that I am not sure of without trying out this setup. I believe since your jumper pack has a battery in it your can most likely exceed the power use of the plug fuse, for limited amounts of time, because the battery in the jumper pack will act as a buffer while charging from the truck.

 

Doing this may also give you cleaner power to drive the TV and XBOX too.

 

you know thats one that I never thought of trying, let me know how it works out for ya

 

A good idea but it doesn't work. The truck doesn't put out enough amperage to charge the battery used in a UPS. Now if you charged it at home and then put it in the truck, that might work for a while...