I am thinking about going camping and I know the plugs say 400 watts and a mini-refrigerator takes around 100 watts, but to start it, it might need around 1,200. Can the plugs handle a brief 1,200 jolt then operate normally?

 

Nope. Your owner's manual specifically states not to use the power outlet to run compressor type refrigerators.

 

PupnDuck is right. You have to consider what that 400 watts AC means in amperage to the battery. 400 watts by itself is over 30 amps to your battery. Translating that 1200 AC watts to the battery would mean about a 100 amp load on your battery. That would mean really, really fat wires would be necessary to keep from letting the smoke out.

 

I missed that.. I guess I'll just get an inverter then. Thanks!

 

I'd give it a shot before spending money on something you may not need. I ran a 100w mini fridge for years on a 400w inverter without issue.

 

100 watts sure. But the question was about 1200 watts.

All that said, startup power is "typically" only 2-3 times the rated power. So I would anticipate it only actually taking 200-300 watts on startup. I could be wrong on this, but you may want to check the unit to be sure what its surge rating is.

 

I looked up that one.. a lot said that a small refrigerator is almost the same as a large refrigerator when it comes to starting the motor so.. that's 1,200 or about there.

I figured it won't be bad if it was for a short period of time...

 

The 400 watts is the maximum output of fords inverter. After that the fuse could blow and the output of the inverter drops off like a rock, under 100 volts. Try testing it with a hair dry on the low setting to verify this.