400W Inverter Mod?

[Spencertron]

Done and done! Took about 15 minutes total with tools and clean up and it's working like a charm! Great easy mod. I run my fridge off an aux battery that gets charged from a 70 watt solar panel on the roof (write up coming soon). The problem I forsee is that on long camping trips I'll have surfboards or camping gear or some thing on the load bars (above the solar panel) which would completely cover it. The fridge will automatically switch to 120v if it has it. This way, I leave both the 12v and 120v plugged in all the time, and while I'm driving to or from somewhere I just press that inverter button and badda-boom, I can crank the fridge up and run it off the alternator while driving. That way im storing energy as "coldness" in the fridge without draining the aux battery. Should extend the amount of time I can stay in one spot without having to start the 4runner if it's cloudy or something. Plus a 70 watt panel is pushing it on keeping up with the fridge.

anyway, now you know why I was so interested. Thanks again.

 

[Spencertron]

I'll keep you all updated. I figure if I start getting lights on the dashboard I can hopefully just put everything back the way it was....but that's probably wishful thinking.
With fingers crossed,
spencer

 

[Volley]

Done and done! Took about 15 minutes total with tools and clean up and it's working like a charm! Great easy mod. I run my fridge off an aux battery that gets charged from a 70 watt solar panel on the roof (write up coming soon). The problem I forsee is that on long camping trips I'll have surfboards or camping gear or some thing on the load bars (above the solar panel) which would completely cover it. The fridge will automatically switch to 120v if it has it. This way, I leave both the 12v and 120v plugged in all the time, and while I'm driving to or from somewhere I just press that inverter button and badda-boom, I can crank the fridge up and run it off the alternator while driving. That way im storing energy as "coldness" in the fridge without draining the aux battery. Should extend the amount of time I can stay in one spot without having to start the 4runner if it's cloudy or something. Plus a 70 watt panel is pushing it on keeping up with the fridge.

anyway, now you know why I was so interested. Thanks again.

Congrats! Glad it worked out. I have my ARB fridge sitting in the garage that I need to drop in the truck too. Do you have a write up on the dual batteries too? Thanks!

 

[keithsnell]

Done and done! Took about 15 minutes total with tools and clean up and it's working like a charm! Great easy mod. I run my fridge off an aux battery that gets charged from a 70 watt solar panel on the roof (write up coming soon). The problem I forsee is that on long camping trips I'll have surfboards or camping gear or some thing on the load bars (above the solar panel) which would completely cover it. The fridge will automatically switch to 120v if it has it. This way, I leave both the 12v and 120v plugged in all the time, and while I'm driving to or from somewhere I just press that inverter button and badda-boom, I can crank the fridge up and run it off the alternator while driving. That way im storing energy as "coldness" in the fridge without draining the aux battery. Should extend the amount of time I can stay in one spot without having to start the 4runner if it's cloudy or something. Plus a 70 watt panel is pushing it on keeping up with the fridge.

anyway, now you know why I was so interested. Thanks again.

Glad it worked out for you. I camp with a fridge and solar panel too, but chose to implement the settup in a slightly different way (at least for now). When the car is running, I'm charging the aux battery off the alternator (and run the fridge off the aux battery). When I stop to camp, I set up my folding 150W panel to charge the battery and run the fridge. (I would think energy "stores" better in a battery than in a fridge?)

Thanks for giving this a try. I might actually have to bump it up on my to do list.

 

[Spencertron]

after the drive in to work this morning everything is still AOK. I don't have a write up on the dual batteries but i'll make one soon (and to clarify, it's not a true "dual battery" setup since i usually think of that as when both batteries are charged off the alternator, this is a second battery completely isolated from everything else in the 4runner and is charged by a solar panel)

 

[Josh_357]

I know this is an old thread, but I did the mod this weekend and wanted to share my experience.

On my 2018, I took the black wire from the connector into the inverter, the NSW wire, and cut it from the harness and grounded the end going into the connector. In otherwords grounding the NSW line into the inverter, leaving the harness NSW wire open. I did not cut the speed wire, and everything works as expected. Can drive all day with 400W setting.

 

[ozon8r]

I know this is an old thread, but I did the mod this weekend and wanted to share my experience.

On my 2018, I took the black wire from the connector into the inverter, the NSW wire, and cut it from the harness and grounded the end going into the connector. In otherwords grounding the NSW line into the inverter, leaving the harness NSW wire open. I did not cut the speed wire, and everything works as expected. Can drive all day with 400W setting.

Considering this mod for my ARB fridge as well. Can you post up a picture of what you did? Did you ground the NSW wire to the chasis/wheel well or was there another ground available in the area?

Thx

 

[Bumbo]

Considering this mod for my ARB fridge as well. Can you post up a picture of what you did? Did you ground the NSW wire to the chasis/wheel well or was there another ground available in the area?

Thx

I would not do this if you want to use it to run a fridge… it is less efficient and will ultimately drain more out of the cars battery (less run time)

The fridge runs the most efficient and uses less battery power off direct DC.

You are better off making the 12v plug in the rear always on. Using the inverter, you have a DC to AC conversation loss and a persistent idle load for the inverter even if the fridge compressor isn't running.

The ARB also has a built in automatic transfer switch with AC priority… You could use the 400W inverter when the engine in running, and use a portable battery pack to keep the fridge running when the car is off if you didn’t want to use the starter battery to power the fridge. It managed the power source automatically.

 

[ozon8r]

I installed a lithium 100ah battery charged by a Redarc bcdc supplying power to a few things such as the fridge from a newly installed DC plug when engine is off.

The thought process is that I can use the alternator to power the fridge thru the inverter when the engine is running using the ARB 120v plug. Simultaneously, I would have the ARB plugged into a DC outlet with power supplied by an aux battery when the engine is off. The ARB will automatically switch to 120v when available then back over to DC when engine/alternator is off. And I don't have to unplug and replug every time I start the engine. And the ARB fridge has one DC power plug and one 120v power plug.

But I am wide open to ideas and suggestions.

Edit: I expect the alternator to adjust to accommodate the additional load on the system from the fridge.

 

[Bumbo]

In that scenario you would be fine... for some reason I was thinking you were trying to run it off inverter when the engine was not running.

Yes, the fridge will automatically transfer from AC to DC and run off your lithium supply when you remove AC power.

I would be surprised you even needed to do the inverter mod, normal operating conditions for that fridge should be under 100 watts anyways, but you can modify it too, not big deal.

Even if the fridge is being powered off the aux supply, and not AC, the alternator is still going to be feeding the fridge when the engine is running, but only though the Redarc as it charges the lithium battery.

The only real benefit of running it off AC is to increase the amount of charge going to the lithium batteries from the Redarc (by removing the fridge from that circuit temporally)... I would suspect its hardly a problem with 100ah on deck unless you have other loads which are making it hard for the charger to keep up. How much charge current is the Redarc capable of supplying?

By the way, this is exactly how I am using my ARB fridge in the 5th gen, but my lithium supply is SUPER SMALL. I am only doing this to preserve run-time for things like shopping trips in the city. Only difference is I am not charging the lithium battery pack in the truck...

 

[cctt]

I recently got a dometic 50 fridge. I found an old agm battery that I used for fishing that I placed in the back. It is a 12 volt, 55 amp hour battery.

I have been plugging in both the fridge and a noco battery charger (g7200) at night so that the fridge gets power from the DC while the noco charged up the battery.

Before that, I was using the stock inverter to power the Noco charger to charge the battery while it runs the fridge. If I drove it for an 30 mins, it would charge the battery from 50 percent to 70 percent. ( I used a wireless battery monitor)

At any rate, I was thinking what if I ran a separate inverter plugged into the cig port in the back to run the Fridge while I use the stock inverter for the NOCO so when I notice the battery need to be charge, I can activate the stock inverter.

do you think that this will be too much draining on the alternator?

side note, I can run the fridge for 3 days on the 55 amp hour which is good to know

 

[Tj900]

Has anyone confirmed that this modification works? Id like 400W all the time as well. I have a laptop with 150W PS and I cant charge it while driving around. I hate buying another inverter since the factory one is capable and already there.

I know this is an old thread, but I did the mod this weekend and wanted to share my experience.

On my 2018, I took the black wire from the connector into the inverter, the NSW wire, and cut it from the harness and grounded the end going into the connector. In otherwords grounding the NSW line into the inverter, leaving the harness NSW wire open. I did not cut the speed wire, and everything works as expected. Can drive all day with 400W setting.

 

[Salvo Jimmy]

I found powering an inverter from a 12v outlet generally tripped off because as someone said, too much voltage drop to the outlet.

This thread, last pic, shows what I did to get reliable power.

https://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-...o2-concentrator-t4r-2.html?highlight=Inverter

 

[Hungryhawk]

I know this is an old thread, but I did the mod this weekend and wanted to share my experience.

On my 2018, I took the black wire from the connector into the inverter, the NSW wire, and cut it from the harness and grounded the end going into the connector. In otherwords grounding the NSW line into the inverter, leaving the harness NSW wire open. I did not cut the speed wire, and everything works as expected. Can drive all day with 400W setting.

Hi Josh,
Thanks for adding your update as I am researching this issue too for my 2017 SR5
hungryhawk

 

[rockwind1]

Probably has to do with fuel consumption. Alternators at full generation are not easy to turn

are you sure? i was doing the math at 110 volts and 400 watts, that is about 3.3 amps and the alternator has to put out at least 75 amps wouldn't it? doesn't seem like much,,and on top of that,, that is at a full 400 watts,, most things you plug into it don't take that many watts. laptops and stuff,,, ( i am assuming

 

[Sky]

are you sure? i was doing the math at 110 volts and 400 watts, that is about 3.3 amps and the alternator has to put out at least 75 amps wouldn't it? doesn't seem like much,,and on top of that,, that is at a full 400 watts,, most things you plug into it don't take that many watts. laptops and stuff,,, ( i am assuming

110V at 400W is 3.6A

BUT

12V at 400W is 33.3A

The invertor probably draws more than that at full output due to inefficencies in the conversion. IOW it may take 500W of actual power to crank out 400W of useable power.

That is why the invertor fuse is 80A

 

[Bumbo]

110V at 400W is 3.6A

BUT

12V at 400W is 33.3A

The invertor probably draws more than that at full output due to inefficencies in the conversion. IOW it may take 500W of actual power to crank out 400W of useable power.

That is why the invertor fuse is 80A

Good post. We can assume 10% loss for conversation efficiency, so it's likely closer to 37 amps on the DC side to make 400 AC watts.

Inverter fusing at near double is likely to help combat losses from line resistance and surge currents.

 

[davedug]

Has anyone seen a mod where they changed the 400w/100w switch on the dash to On/Off switch? So when you turn the car on it automatically comes on and turns off automatically when you shut the car off.
I have searched for about a week and have been unable to find anything on this.

 

[emmantik]

This might be of interest to some.

https://www.ktjo4x4.com/4runner-power-outlet-2014

Cheers!

 

[DAW89446]

Interesting thread. I have no reason to change the outlet on my ‘18 SR5 because I don’t use the inverter while driving.

I do use the inverter mainly for routine vacuuming of my rig. I use a medium size Shop Vac. Beats having to run approximately 75’ of extension cord; I just keep a 10’ outdoor cord with the vac so I have enough to run around both sides of the truck.

I don’t know the amperage of my vac, but it does kick off at least once per session, sometimes more. It only requires switching the dash switch off then on to reset and I continue, but it’s a pain as it seems to always do this when I’m on the opposite side of the switch. Probably caused by the motor straining when vacuuming tight places that cause blockage to the hose, thus exceeding 400W.