Great Job!
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Great Job!
With my projects, I find I have to idiot proof things. If I can screw it up, I will.
You said that this will have full time power if the jeep is on or off. I see potential for backseat passengers feet, or my camp gear, to accidentally flip the power switch turning the invertor on. While this wouldn't cause the same drain as if you had something plugged in, I see me bumping the switch leading to a dead battery in the middle of nowhere. I would most likely attach a very visible light or LED, wired so that when the A/C side of the invertor was on I couldn't miss it.
Really nice install!!! I like the idea of using the actual front panel rather than piggy backing one but I'm sure either will work. I was actually thinking of installing the inverter in the rear panel near the rear power outlet and using that power lead (this way it's switched with the ignition). Not sure how easy that will be to get to, but worth a try.
I leave stuff plugged in to charge over night and when I forget on Fridays they can stay plugged in all weekend. Because I charge stuff like my blue tooth head set the inverter needs power all the time. I have left this plugged in a weekend before and have had no issues at all starting. I leave it plugged in over night all the time. I'm not sure how long it would take to drain the battery if it was just left on with nothing plugged in but it would take a while. For idiot proof just get a better inverter one that has a sleep mode and could also monitor the battery condition and shut itself down before it drained beyond what was needed for start up. One of the reasons for using the inverters own outlet was to maintain the lights and switches that came with it. But my first mounting position would not fit so when I moved it the lights were now to short. :( I will just make sure nothings plugged in for to long and the battery will be fine. This is also why a second battery is on the mod list. :)
Awsome! Thanks for the step by step with pics.
I have installed this product on a couple of emergency vehicles and a couple of mine over the years. http://www.prioritystart.com/ It monitors your battery's voltage and automatically disconnects the battery when it starts draining below a pre-set voltage. When you turn your key on, to start, it re-connects with enough power left to ( hopefully) start your vehicle. It has came in handy on more that one occasion.
I only had one fail, of course it was on one of my cars ! Manufacture replaced it..
Future mod list; auxiliary battery, also; I have used "Marine" switches with " One-Two-Both-Off" selections..on a couple of my other vehicles.
Thats a really good idea and I'll add this to our link page. The dual batteries will elimanate this if there hooked up correctly.