A couple of years ago, I had a power inverter and game port installed in the rear of my center console in my 2000 Expedition. It's always bothered me that the installer ran the wire for the inverter out ounderneath the console, and plugged it into the rear 12 volt power outlet at the bottom of the console. Is there any technical reason I couldn't take it apart, and just connect the wires to the leads for the 12 volt power outlet inside the console? How tough is it to take the console apart to get at the inside of the back of it?

Any help will be much appreciated, as always!

- Steve

 

not hard at all....but by doing that you are going to be disabling your front outlet.........you cant run two loads in there unless you use a splitter and even still i dont suggest that.........as long as you understand you are going to just use it for the inverter then i say is pretty much easy......

you can also connect to the battery posts but you are going to need a good gauge wire and a run to your engine bay......quite sometime.....why not leave it there and organize it much better?

goodluck bud....thats hwy i install things myself lol!

 

Thanks, I've never used the 12 volt outlet anyway, but the inverter gets heavily used... playstation, charging cell phones, etc.

 

Removing center console not hard at all.I removed the rear audio and installed my kids game port for their Xbox.I hid inverter on bottom of console,and wired it directly to battery.[/IMG]...If pic not seen,go to my gallerie,and go to pic3

 

I've had some recent experience I'll pass on. Taking apart the center console is not difficult---I've done it to install a mount for my Lap top. And that's where I need an inverter---Apple doesn't sell a 12v brick for their LT. So I run an inverter. Except for the very small ones they have fans and are noisy. I put mine in the center console (to reduce the fan noise) and it gets pretty hot in there with the CD player (it's in the center c compartment) running and the inverter---so on my trips to the coast I have to make sure it's not getting too hot.

Also I have had voltage problems. Remember my LT pulls more amps than charging a cell phone so I put a fair demand on the 250watt inverter I have---I had a 400 but it was way to noisy. Running down the highway battery voltage is +14volts no problem---but when I pull into rest stop and shut down then the inverter tends to go nuts---especially if it's trying to recharge the LT battery. Battery voltage goes to 12.4-12.6---at this point line loss becomes important---you want a very short lead from the inverter to the cig lighter power point. If you have a multipoint cig device to run your radar detector/cell phone/CB radio blah blah blah you are in trouble. Especially if you have a long run to the inverter---even if the wire is large size. The line loss can be a volt or more depending on your situation and most inverters start to whine big time around 11.5volts.

So after I figured out I had too many things and way too long wires I'm back to running well. But I have shortened the lead on the inverter to no more than 2-3ft. Many of the cig lighter adapter equipment you buy are built cheaply with small gauge wire---I bought an extension cord (coiled up line telephone headset cord)---in order to put the inverter way in the back---big mistake on line loss---bet that wire is 18g or less---too much line loss.

So when trying to run an inverter to power a lap top or other significant draw you will do best to keep wires as short as possible from the source---would be best to run direct to the battery. In fact most inverters over 400watt require direct connection to the battery as they will blow the fuse on most cig lighters if they are under good load.

Hope this helps someone and avoids some of the agrivation I went through---thinking the inverters were bad--when it was wiring issues.