Let's hear the ideas.... there are plenty of ways to set it up, depending on what's needed or wanted. I have marine electrical habits, so I wired mine like it was a boat instead of a truck. I thought of adding an ammeter and AC + DC voltmeters to the breaker panel, but the lack of a pure sine wave AC output would show only ~70VAC on a meter when true voltage is 115VAC.... I didn't think that would look too cool and I'd probably get tired of explaining why the meter showed low voltage. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> I also considered adding another breaker to control DC voltage to the inverter, but it's case switched and fused so I decided to save the extra $25 since it can be added later if I want it. I also considered adding a second Concorde AGM battery with a battery switch on the panel, but realized if I kept on I would be building a boat instead of a truck. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

Frank

Here's mine:



Its bolted inside on the left side opening next to the drawer. The small hole on top is to pass cords through:




And now for a little advertising...For the right price I might let my drawer system and cargo barrier go. We are having our 3rd child in Sept so it looks like at the least, one of the 3rd row seats will go back in. Not sure yet if I will modify the drawers or just get rid of them altogether.

Mines not in as of yet, but I've got one of the vector 500watt units from Sam's mentioned above. Only difference is that they were cleaning out their stock and they were for sale for $15.00 each out the door. It'll be hardwired in with a outlet in the dash area, and one in the cargo area.

- Jim

Nice setups you guys.

Phil, love your cargo barrier - if I was closer to Milwaukee, I might come and get it. But shipping it here would I'm sure be a LOT more than its worth...
PHIL

First off, how hot does your's get? I'd really like to mount a unit within the backwall (I'll replace the factory cardboard sides with aluminum sheeting) of the cargo area with only an outlet visible. Secondly, I've been looking through my West Marine catalog and at all of the nice switch panels that are in there. Where did you get yours? I really like the way you wired everything, but I want to hide the inverter so I can put jump seats in the back over the fenderwells for the kid when the three of us go somewhere together. The fold and tumble needs to go so I can have max cargo space...

I've never really checked it while it was under hard use, but since it has a cooling fan I haven't worried about it. If you put it in the sidewall, why not include some ventilation holes at one end of the compartment and a PC cooling fan (or similar) with vented holes at the other end of the compartment? That should provide enough circulation for heat removal.

All of the components other than the inverter and panel plate came from West Marine... bought the inverter on ebay for about $20.... made the panel from 1/8" aluminum or stainless steel (forgot which) sheet stock and drilled/cut/tapped whatever I needed into it, then sprayed it satin black.

If you install it in the wall, remember that the inverter is fused. To keep from having to take off the side panel to replace the fuses, you might want to add an exposed breaker switch rated slightly below the fuse values.

Frank

That's a good call on the breaker and cooling fan. I'm still in the planning phase (haven't even started collecting parts yet). The wife bought ma a 16' boat for our ten year anniv. and the head probs on the Raider have kept me from doing anything creative yet. Anyway, thanks for the input and I'll run my plan by you before I actually start buying stuff...

Phil,

The USA distributor is a friend of mine and right up the road from me. There is a full height model also for non drawer type setups. He usually buys a container full every 6 months based on demand and requests (as well as other obscure 4x4 products from OZ). Shoot him an email if you like, His name is Jim:

http://www.midwestlandcruiser.com/index.html