110V Electrical Outlet Specs

ember1205 · July 28, 2015

The AC outlet is a joke. I plugged my Makita charger into it, and it tripped immediately. Why even put on in there in the first place?

You can plug the pump in and see if it trips.

What are you expecting here? Backup power for your house in a blackout? It's intended to run things like a portable DVD player, allow you to use your house charger for your phone, and other -simple- things like that. Anything that has an electric motor draws a LOT of current compared to other items (like plain lights) and will surge up to DOUBLE the steady-state draw when initially powered on. Ever see your house lights dim or flicker when the furnace blower kicks on or the well pump starts up? HUGE initial power draw because of the large motors.

TenofMe · July 28, 2015

What are you expecting here?

Well let's see. How about charging the batteries of my electric tools? Seems like a reasonable request, in that trucks are -sometimes- used for work.

The Makita battery charger requires 110v and 240 watts. That's not a whole lot. You can buy a better inverter on Amazon for $20 that will power it. It seems to charge my Ultrabook OK, but my son's Alienware laptop will not charge if the computer is on and plugged in. It's either / or.

It's just another marketing gimmick so people can say "oh, and it has an AC outlet!" Why bother.

Newell33 · July 28, 2015

What are you expecting here? Backup power for your house in a blackout? It's intended to run things like a portable DVD player, allow you to use your house charger for your phone, and other -simple- things like that. Anything that has an electric motor draws a LOT of current compared to other items (like plain lights) and will surge up to DOUBLE the steady-state draw when initially powered on. Ever see your house lights dim or flicker when the furnace blower kicks on or the well pump starts up? HUGE initial power draw because of the large motors.

Hmmm... Maybe this guy was in the room when GM decided on the 150 watt version. I guess I'd expect to be able to power the typical 18v Dewalt or similar brand chargers. What are those, 7 or 8 amps of current draw? Heck, I don't even think the auto parts stores sell anything smaller than a 400 watt inverter, do they? Essentially, all that can be powered is a very low draw phone charger, or similar device. I'm going to go with "fail" on this one.

ember1205 · July 28, 2015

110V @ 10A = 12V @ 90A

Ever seen a 90A fuse in a vehicle or the wiring required to support it?

Your expectations of what that 110V outlet should provide are completely unreasonable. Want to run a circular saw at the job site? Charge up the 24v batteries in your power tools? Bring a generator with you.

Even if the auto stores SELL a 400W inverter, they tell you right on the package that you can expect to have to direct-wire it to the battery to get full capacity.

Newell33 · July 28, 2015

110V @ 10A = 12V @ 90A

Ever seen a 90A fuse in a vehicle or the wiring required to support it?

Your expectations of what that 110V outlet should provide are completely unreasonable. Want to run a circular saw at the job site? Charge up the 24v batteries in your power tools? Bring a generator with you.

Even if the auto stores SELL a 400W inverter, they tell you right on the package that you can expect to have to direct-wire it to the battery to get full capacity.

Hardwire to the battery? Yeah, I'm pretty sure GM has that part covered. And I'm pretty sure the other poster mentioned charging his cordless tool batteries, not running a 120v circular saw. There's a slight difference in amperage draw there. I just looked, my Bosch 18v charger draws 2.4 amps.... Fail. Edited July 28, 2015 by Newell33

Lawnmower2020 · July 28, 2015

12.5 amps should be plenty for most household appliances, even a microwave or a small refrigerator. I'd imagine, though, that you want to pull this much amperage only with the alternator turning/engine running.

Well, "Nerd", you are SO far off base here that you ought to do everyone a favor and just edit the post to say "oops" because, so far, you've posted NOTHING that's right.

The inverter puts out a "modified sine" -- basically a square wave with a variable pulse width for regulation -- that some loads will tolerate and others will not. Induction motors, which at this power level would be most likely shaded-pole types will NOT be happy at all with it and will probably trip it off. Universal motors, small ones, will tolerate it okay. Most electronics tolerate it well. Electronics with "power factor correction" may or may not tolerate it. Anything labelled over 150W will trip it off. Bottom line, it's okay for (most) laptop chargers, etc. Forget drills, saws, fans, immersion heaters.....

red70judge · July 28, 2015

The correct answer stated is 1.25 Amps at 110-120v. and only small drain electronics such as laptops, phone

chargers, GPS, and such. If in doubt read the power requirements in watts before plugging in the device.

If more than 1 device add the wattage requirements together. I have carried a 300 watt inverter (450 w. peak)

for sometime that can be used say for additional small demand devices. This circuit is fused separately.

And as mentioned if power tools, compressors, etc are to be used get a generator, they are relatively inexpensive

and quiet. They can fit your needs up to 10k watts and more. If wiring an inverter to the battery a circuit breaker

must be installed in series, I recommend 2, one on the plus wire and 1 on the ground wire.

After being a "roadie" pulling new RV's across country to the dealerships for 7 1/2 years at about 160-200k miles/year

you must be prepared for anything.

Edited July 28, 2015 by red70judge

red70judge · July 28, 2015

OK, screwed up on double posts, sorry bout that folks. Somehow I could not eliminate the 2nd post just the text.

My bad...keep the good info flowing!

Edited July 28, 2015 by red70judge

ember1205 · July 29, 2015

Hardwire to the battery? Yeah, I'm pretty sure GM has that part covered. And I'm pretty sure the other poster mentioned charging his cordless tool batteries, not running a 120v circular saw. There's a slight difference in amperage draw there. I just looked, my Bosch 18v charger draws 2.4 amps.... Fail.

No, GM does NOT have the covered. The amount of 12V current required to produce 450W of power is... Drum roll, please... 37.5A

In order to carry that kind of current, you need wires that are A) much heavier gauge than almost ALL of the wiring inside the cabin of the truck and B) as short as reasonably possible because of the impedance and resulting heat over longer distances. And, with impedance, comes a requirement for even MORE current.

I was being a bit facetious about the circular saw because that was likely going to be the next griping point. As far as the specific comments that the poster listed, it ISN'T the big difference you seem to think it is. He was commenting about chargers being a 7 or 8 Amp draw. A circular saw will spike at about 13 or 14 and then run around 10. So, not such a big difference after all.

The general public does not understand that a 110 outlet in a vehicle simply can not supply the same amount of power that a household 110 outlet does. Period. The outlet is not there to run the DJ system at the party in the field - it's a convenience for those small-draw items that you either simply can't get a 12v plug for or that you don't -have- one for and only need to use occasionally. This relates back to my first sentence above.

450W of power requires only 4A of 110V power but 37.5A of 12V power. When one is lowered, the other is raised. It's the only way to sustain the balance.

Newell33 · July 29, 2015

No, GM does NOT have the covered. The amount of 12V current required to produce 450W of power is... Drum roll, please... 37.5A

In order to carry that kind of current, you need wires that are A) much heavier gauge than almost ALL of the wiring inside the cabin of the truck and B) as short as reasonably possible because of the impedance and resulting heat over longer distances. And, with impedance, comes a requirement for even MORE current.

I was being a bit facetious about the circular saw because that was likely going to be the next griping point. As far as the specific comments that the poster listed, it ISN'T the big difference you seem to think it is. He was commenting about chargers being a 7 or 8 Amp draw. A circular saw will spike at about 13 or 14 and then run around 10. So, not such a big difference after all.

The general public does not understand that a 110 outlet in a vehicle simply can not supply the same amount of power that a household 110 outlet does. Period. The outlet is not there to run the DJ system at the party in the field - it's a convenience for those small-draw items that you either simply can't get a 12v plug for or that you don't -have- one for and only need to use occasionally. This relates back to my first sentence above.

450W of power requires only 4A of 110V power but 37.5A of 12V power. When one is lowered, the other is raised. It's the only way to sustain the balance.

Question of the day... Is an outlet that can only handle 1.25A adequate? How about a happy medium?

ember1205 · July 29, 2015

Question of the day... Is an outlet that can only handle 1.25A adequate? How about a happy medium?

Again... LIGHT DRAW devices are the intent. Phone chargers, portable DVD players, maybe a laptop charger. It's a 12V electrical system at its base. You're stepping the voltage up by a factor of 10 on the "appliance side". You have to understand that the amperage on the "supply" side is going up by a factor of ten as well. So, that 1.25A of 110V is 12.5A of 12V, or close to it.

If water were available on your street but was supplied in a pipe the size of a drinking straw, would you really be irritated like this when you found out you couldn't use it to wash your truck?

Said it before - Unreasonable Expectations of the system. And they're caused by a) a lack of common understanding of the two very different electrical systems in use and b) lack of "in-your-face" information from the manufacturer on the intended use.

ghgmi · July 29, 2015

Some years ago they were talking about converting cars from 12V to 42V (or was it 48V?). What ever happened to that?

Newell33 · July 29, 2015

Again... LIGHT DRAW devices are the intent. Phone chargers, portable DVD players, maybe a laptop charger. It's a 12V electrical system at its base. You're stepping the voltage up by a factor of 10 on the "appliance side". You have to understand that the amperage on the "supply" side is going up by a factor of ten as well. So, that 1.25A of 110V is 12.5A of 12V, or close to it.

If water were available on your street but was supplied in a pipe the size of a drinking straw, would you really be irritated like this when you found out you couldn't use it to wash your truck?

Said it before - Unreasonable Expectations of the system. And they're caused by a) a lack of common understanding of the two very different electrical systems in use and b) lack of "in-your-face" information from the manufacturer on the intended use.

Yes, I understand the equation and the relationship. What I'd like to see is a 350w inverter. This would allow for about a 3 amp outlet, which would be adequate for that 18v charger that we talked about earlier. Yes, this would be about a 30 amp load at 12 volts. Assuming the inverter is behind the socket in the dash, and the wiring being no longer than 8-10 feet routed (probably less),10 gauge wire could be used. I know copper is expensive, but it would be nice to have something a bit more powerful.

TenofMe · July 29, 2015

Again... LIGHT DRAW devices are the intent. Phone chargers, portable DVD players, maybe a laptop charger.

A really small laptop. As I mentioned earlier, a high performance laptop like the Alienware can't even be on, and charge at the same time on this outlet.

We all understand that it's for light, intermittent use. But at what point is it useless? I think that is the point I'm trying to make. It's useless. Just a marketing gimmick.

Here's the real question of the day... Who the hell still uses a portable DVD player? Even 2 year-olds and grandparents use iPads now.

jkyle · July 29, 2015

110V @ 10A = 12V @ 90A

Ever seen a 90A fuse in a vehicle or the wiring required to support it?

Your expectations of what that 110V outlet should provide are completely unreasonable. Want to run a circular saw at the job site? Charge up the 24v batteries in your power tools? Bring a generator with you.

Even if the auto stores SELL a 400W inverter, they tell you right on the package that you can expect to have to direct-wire it to the battery to get full capacity.

The Ford F150 has a 400W inverter, is Chevy not capable of the same engineering? if not, I guess we should swap to Ford.

Ford Website: "110-volt/400-watt Power Inverter "http://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/trim/lariat/viewall/