Originally Posted By: dougwalkabout
You're asking a lot from a single lighter socket. I'm pretty sure the socket would be fuse-protected, so you shouldn't melt the wires. But you may "go dark" all of a sudden; and as you know, this always happens at the most inconvenient time.

For ongoing use, I think the safest and most reliable approach would be to have your mechanic add extra fused circuits right from the fuse block. This is not at all complicated, so if you're handy and can test for polarity, you could do it yourself. And if your big inverter is the type with a DC power cord, you might even consider wiring it into the fuse block and hard-mounting it in a convenient place.


Indeed! The worst thing about the lighter socket is that the plug falls out too easily. If you install a (fused) power feed from the battery or fuse box consider a PowerPole outlet. You'll have to modify the plug on your inverter, or get an adapter, but PowerPoles are IMHO the way to go.

I installed one of these in my dash:

http://www.powerwerx.com/product.asp?ProdID=1783&CtgID=1681

I filed down the housing a little, and snapped it into an empty switch cutout in the centre console.

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