1000 Watt Inverter

[cpttimerestraint]

Has anyone installed an inverter in their truck? I have a topper on my truck so I am thinking about installing it in the bed.

[pepsipopper2001]

You mean the AC power outlet?

[Silvern Sentry]

I have used one and wired power to my bed. Yes it works but word of caution a 1000W invertor will suck your battery dry pretty fast so you basically only want to use it if alternator is running. Even a 400W will such a battery dry fast. Short of running large power tools or other larger appliances you really would never use 1000W and something like 400W would probably do just fine. For comparison you can run an entire house off a 1000W invertor (except your dryer and fridge) and a bank of 12V batteries charged via solar. I camp out in mine often and honestly rarely use anything more than 12V. Last few times I have went out I only used the stock invertor and only to blow up other peoples air mattresses, mine is foam so a little ironic. All your typical 'outdoor/camping' electronics are miniaturized these days and there really is not a lot of need for 110V outdoors these days like there was a decade or more ago. ex) Laptops are all replaced by tablets and charge from 12v there is even stuff like 12V blenders etc.

 

When it comes to batteries and Invertor what really matters is Amp Hours. You would be best to install a 2nd battery with an isolator (so does not charge / pass current to stock battery) . And use a Deep Cycle battery which will have a lot more amp hours hence run a lot longer.

 

 

Also FINALLY! Someone else that refers to it as a topper and not a canopy. I grew up calling them that but when I bought mine and asked for a topper people gave me a strange look on the west coast and were quick and pointed to correct me. Canopy sounds like soft cover or a tarp when topper sounds solid to me.

[cpttimerestraint]

I either call it a topper or a shell. Never a canopy.

 

I already have an isolated deep cycle battery. Want 1000 watts so I can run a bug zapper that has a 4.5 amp draw. 400 watt would be under sized.

 

How and where did you mount yours? Where do your wires enter the bed?

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[Silvern Sentry]

I do not keep it plugged in, sits in a box with the rest of my gear.

 

I ran the wire under the cab then up the back and into the box at the front drivers corner. There is some holes/gaps leading outside if you look up under this lip from inside of the bed that you can run the wires. It just outputs to a 12V that I 3m taped up under the lip in bed, so basically it is hidden. I also wired up a switch that I can turn on/off from the cab to enable rear power, this way I can turn on a fan or heater/defroster for the back window while driving as my dog rides back there.

 

There are also solar Bug Zappers available these days which is probably a much cheaper solution:

https://www.amazon.com/TerraTrade-Solar-Bug-Zapper-Light/dp/B01E558YJY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1470945469&sr=8-2&keywords=mobile+bug+zapper

 

I use one of these and trust me there are a ton of bugs in British Columbia it seems to work well, the best solution as always though is to just stand next to someone the bugs like more