Electrical outlet (plug in) under the hood.. What is it?
 

Picked up a 66 today (pics in gallery) There is a house type plug in under the hood.. Anyone know what it might be for?
https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal.../91265.520.390

likely powered a couple of electric tools at one time or the other. Sometimes they had aftermarket 110v generators mounted on the truck, and some tools would run on the standard 12v.

JCWhitney used to sell power inverters - changed DC current to AC. I suspect that's what it was connected to.

Its to plug in your refrigerator to keep your beer cold

I have several power inverters and the AC plug is part of the housing for the inverter. However, if it is that then it is fairly new.

Back then - before 1985 say, we did not have the cheap electronics you need to change DC to AC. If you needed 110 volts with any current amount you had to run a AC alternator, either driven by the engine, or by a DC motor. Even the tube type radios of the older trucks had a vibrator tube used as a source for AC.

Kind of hard to see, but it looks like the big red wires going into the box are coming straight off the solenoid (battery). Is it possible someone is just using a 120v receptacle as a place to plug in 12v emergency lights (like a droplight)? Have you traced out the wires? That would tell you in a minute.

When I lived in the great white north, pre-EFI, it was fairly common to put electric dipstick heaters, battery warmers, and even plain old hotplates on vehicles at night. If there is a 120v cord going in to the box, it would just be a convenient place to plug all that crap in.

Ill check out what its wired to, I just spotted it there, have not had a chance to explore it yet..thought it might be something some recognised. So.. where is the fridge located on a 66?

Was it in a cold climate where it could have been used for a block heater?

Its been in Western Oregon all its life, not much need for a block heater here, just rains all the time.....I am going to track down the PO and find out what that is there for..

I lived in Tucson for a few years.... Painted aircraft at the Pima Air Muesum... No need for a block heater down there!

I have a similar plug wired into my motorcycle to make it easy to connect the trickle charger to it without going through the mess of raising the seat and taking out the tool box. Just had a mating plug on the trickle charger side.

-Scott

The thing is called a TOTE-A-VOLT "electric power from your alternator" printed on the unit... Strange, taps into the alternator. Anyone remember anything like that?

Well all Alt do produce AC voltage.. It might be good for a work light, drill or a small load item.. I wouldnt put a real load on it tho.. U might burn out the alt..

Yes, alternators produce AC current, then they chop it to DC with all the diodes. Starting in the mid 80's Cadillac tapped directly into the alternator to get 120AC to power the deicer in the windshield. The defogger in the rear window was DC but they had a front windshield that would deice that was powered by 120 AC

Like Mad said, you probably couldn't get much useful power out of it, those alternators back in the 60's didn't put out much. 30 to 40 amps maybe, now most alternators are 80 to 100 amps, that big caddy alt was 120 amp and it wasn't uncommon for them to come into the service department with the diode stack on fire

Still, its a neat part of automotive history, I've never seen one before.....cool
Bobby

tote a volt
 

hi im new to the site but a big ford fan and owner. i found this site because i was looking for info about the tote a volt. i have one in good shape and need to know what i am dealing with. any info will help thanks

Look at the bright side. If you get a dead battery, you can plug in the battery charger!

(don't think about that too hard)