power inverter wired into amp powerwire?

so i would like to run power tools from my truck, and had an idea...can you hook up a power inverter wired through a relay into a stereo amp powerwire? what range of inverter would i need? what relay? i am not very edumicated in electrical stuff, so details and part links are most welcome. also, what is about the biggest optima battery that could be made to go in the battery tray?

As for the battery, it doesn't REALLY have to go inside the engine bay. You could always sit it in the cargo area and get the biggest one possible.

thanks, but i want my battery in that corner(i like my cargo space)

if you do plan on doing that make sure that the amp wire is a good size gauge and second i wouldn't turn it on while the amp is on you could frag the amp

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can you hook up a power inverter wired through a relay into a stereo amp powerwire?
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Yes, But you are much better off keeping the inverter as close to the bat/alt as you can. Run a short 120 V extension to get the power were you need it.

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what range of inverter would I need?
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You need to know you total load. Add all the load rating of you tools that you want to run AT ONE TIME. All most every tools is marked with it's load rating. It may be marked in watts just total them out. If it's marked in amps just multiply times 110 and then add that to your total. Most inverter are rated in watts. Just make sure the inverter rating is higher then your total from before. Best if it's a little higher too.

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wired through a relay into a stereo amp powerwire
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What's the relay for?

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what is about the biggest optima battery that could be made to go in the battery tray?
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Optima suck for this job. If you really want one go to your local friendly Optima dealer and ask him/her.

xuv-this said:

so i would like to run power tools from my truck, and had an idea...can you hook up a power inverter wired through a relay into a stereo amp powerwire?

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You could, but it's probably not a good idea. More info on this in a moment, but given the amount of continuous current draw you're going to have from that inverter it could well melt amp wiring or the amp itself.

what range of inverter would i need? what relay?

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For power tools, I'd go with 2000W as a minimum. The reason for this is that while you may not be pulling 2000W, inverters have a duty cycle based (generally) on how much heat their current draw is generating. They get too hot, they shut down. Few things are more annoying than having to wait 30-60 minutes for the breaker to reset itself before you can start using it again; it's just easier to overspec the inverter in the first place and have it be running understressed.

i am not very edumicated in electrical stuff, so details and part links are most welcome. also, what is about the biggest optima battery that could be made to go in the battery tray?

Click to expand...

I use a D34/78 Yellowtop (fits perfectly in the battery tray on a 2000) and Coleman PMP-2000 inverter, with plans on going to a dual-battery and isolator setup later. To get power back to the inverter, I picked up a couple of 8' Warn reciprocating quick-disconnects (p/n WAR23264) at the local 4 Wheel Parts (in-store price was about $12 apiece cheaper than online on the day I went). One's permanently wired to the battery and runs back into the cabin; the other's attached to the inverter posts and plugs in to the cabin connector. This turned out to be considerably cheaper than trying to make my own cables, and has worked great for powering over 1200W constant-draw of computer and radio gear for extended periods of time.

Incidentally, I forgot to mention that you'll want some beefy cable running from the battery to the inverter - 2 or 4ga. would probably be best and still allow you to route the stuff without having to mandrel-bend it

I'll admit that there is no relay on my inverter circuit. However, there are two reasons for this: firstly, the inverter is not permanently-wired; secondly, you should *never* have a device drawing a load plugged into an inverter when you power it up - power on the inverter, plug in the device, then power the device on.

the wire is 6 gauge. i am not planning on running a huge chopsaw. just stuff like tv, power drill, every once in a while a skilsaw, etc. the amp would not be on.the relay would be to just keep it disconnected when i am not using it, so as to not fry my amp if something goes wrong. would 1000 watt be ok? could i rig a relay into the amp remote to turn it off? i want to mount the inverter next to the amp for convience.

xuv-this said:

the wire is 6 gauge. i am not planning on running a huge chopsaw. just stuff like tv, power drill, every once in a while a skilsaw, etc. the amp would not be on.the relay would be to just keep it disconnected when i am not using it, so as to not fry my amp if something goes wrong. would 1000 watt be ok? could i rig a relay into the amp remote to turn it off? i want to mount the inverter next to the amp for convience.

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Mount it there by all means, but if you've got 6ga. wiring for it I'd still say run it directly from the battery. 1000W sounds kinda low for avoiding the duty cycle (TV and skil-saw being the main power hogs); 1500W might be a better bet. I'd still avoid splicing into the amp circuit, though. Incidentally, if the inverter has a remote power switch it probably has a relay built-in as well, but don't take that as gospel.

ok. i've looked some stuff up on ebay, and the inverter sellers that list reccomended outputs say that 1000ish watts would be enough for most power tools. i only plan on using stuff like that 1 at a time anyway. what watt range do you think 6 gauge would work ok(not necessarily best) with? is there a relay that would work on that big wire?

xuv-this said:

the wire is 6 gauge. i am not planning on running a huge chopsaw. just stuff like tv, power drill, every once in a while a skilsaw, etc. the amp would not be on.the relay would be to just keep it disconnected when i am not using it, so as to not fry my amp if something goes wrong. would 1000 watt be ok? could i rig a relay into the amp remote to turn it off? i want to mount the inverter next to the amp for convience.

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The circular saw will draw the most amps and 1000watt inverter will not power it. Most circ saws will draw at least 10-13 amps, especially at start up. Casm is giving you good info on the inverter you need. Have fun!
dn

so just offhand, what size inverter would that 6g wire push? what could i run off that?