ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh I can't do that. Okay..........listen to Oldnew. *nods* And don't leave your big honking appliances out for the shop to see either.
My understanding is an inverter plugged into a CLA will not get you in trouble. I never had any problems in my company trucks...complete with inverters in full view. Shops I went to as company: Phoenix, Troutdale, Sumner, Sparks, Albuquerque, Decatur, Oklahoma City and New Boston. Nobody ever said a peep about my 300W plug-in inverters...and they were never confiscated. If you want a coffee pot, get the 12V model. It takes longer to brew, but you won't need a hard-wired inverter for it. For inverter needs, look at how many watts your appliance draws, multiply it by three and get that size inverter. I heard that CLA inverter that burned the truck up had the fuse junction jumped with wire and was overloaded. Driver was a putz.
As of 5/3/2011 in my orientation class the shop manager at denver said any plug in inverters were ok. He said just don't wire anything to the truck. So the company policy seems to be don't tamper with their equipment, simple as that. And, reflecting on injun's post, i would refrain from tampering with theinverter itself, i.e. jumping the fuse or wiring a 1500w inverter to plug in to a power point outlet.
400 Watts is about the largest plug-in inverter you can safely plug in through a cigarette outlet, since it pulls over 30 DC amps when fully loaded. That's why anything larger requires being wired in for safety. I have a 1500w inverter in my van that's wired using 4 gauge wire.
Still, take it out of your truck on shoptime. Anything you value in there is fair game for anyone walking by to grab. No one is responsible for your loss. Legalized theft.
