Ok, here it is everyone...I hope the pictures show up right haha....
got the idea from seeing a power outlet on a pontiac vibe. Thought it was cool and would be great for my dedicated laptop for the fuel curve program I had on my diablo chip. Here’s how we did it as a guinea pig in my friend’s mustang
Step 1 - Deciding On Power
First you need to decide how much power you're going to need. The inverter I purchased is rated at 150 Watts. Inverters range from 100 Watts to over 1000 Watts. The more watts you want, the more you're going to spend, and the larger the unit will be. I went with the 150 Watt inverter because it was fairly cheap at $40, it was small, which meant it would be easy to find a place to hide it in the car, and it delivered enough power for my needs.
I was planning on buying a DC to AC Inverter to power my laptop and other devices on the road for quite a while. Then seeing the television commercials for the Pontiac Vibe, which comes with an AC plug in the dash, I decided to hardwire the AC inverter and mount the plug in the dash for a factory look.
Step 1 - Deciding On Power
First you need to decide how much power you're going to need. The inverter I purchased is rated at 150 Watts. Inverters range from 100 Watts to over 1000 Watts. The more watts you want, the more you're going to spend, and the larger the unit will be. I went with the 150 Watt inverter because it was fairly cheap at $40, it was small, which meant it would be easy to find a place to hide it in the car, and it delivered enough power for my needs.
This chart was on the back of my inverters packaging and gives an idea of how much power is needed for different devices.
Items / power needed:
Cellphone & Camcorder Charger
20 Watts
Laptop Computer / Digital Camera
38-45 Watts
CD Player / Mini Stereo / VCR
50 Watts
Portable Refrigerator / 9” TV
60 Watts
Car Buffer / 13” TV
77 Watts
Dremel Moto Tool
99 Watts
12” Electric Fan / 19” TV
100 Watts
Rotary Power Tool / Finishing Sander
126-176 Watts
Craftsman 3/8” Drill
220 Watts
Jigsaw / 6” Bench Grinder
232-250 Watts
Printer / Computer / Fax
300 Watts
Electric 3/8” Drill
350 Watts
Blender
450 Watts
Sewing Machine
500 Watts
Portable Vacuum
525 Watts
Coffee Machine
600 Watts
Step 2 - Choosing An Inverter
Once you know how much power you need, next you need to find an inverter that is "install friendly." To keep things simple, try to find an inverter that comes apart fairly easily. The one I got was ideal. two screws held a front plate which when removed allowed a back plate to slide right off, giving full access to the wiring. Also, both the AC plugs and the on/off switch were held onto the metal plate by clips from behind. I used these same clips to mount the parts in the car.
Step 3 - Choosing Locations
In my civic I decided to mount it under the driver’s seat so that will be the first thing to remove…if you can’t do that then stop here because you are incompitent haha. In my friend’s mustang we put it in the console in front of the shifter…in my civic (I’ve got a 98 ex) we put it in a custom panel I’ve done up with an air/fuel ratio gauge and misc. switches where my factory cd player used to be. You can practically put it anywhere you’re willing to whittle out to stick the switch as long as you extend the wires enough
Step 4 - Installation
First off, disconnect the battery because you will be dealing with live wires. Your individual application may vary depending on the locations you choose, but the wiring will be the same. Next "dry" fit the inverter in place to be sure there is enough clearance for the compartment to fit back into place.
Now that you're sure everything will fit, it's time to do the wiring. Open the inverter and locate the two wires leading to the plug you will be mounting in the dash. Also locate the two wires which go to the On / Off switch.
Cut the plug wires and extend them as far as you need to reach the mounting location (in my case, next to the cigarette lighter). Cut the On / Off switch wires and extend those as far as you need to reach the mounting location (in my case, inside under the driver’s seat).
It would be a good idea to put everything together and test the inverter to be sure your connections are correct. Also, leave the inverter on for a few minutes and feel the wires and feel the inverter for heat. If the wires feel hot then you may need to use thicker wires to extend the plug and switch.
Now its time to get rid of the cigarette lighter plug and hardwire the inverter. Take apart the cigarette lighter plug and figure out which wire goes to the "center part" and which wire goes to the "side part." This is key because getting these wires mixed up will result in a blown fuse later. (I know from experience) 8-)
I chose to splice into the wires leading to the extra power point because it was next to my mounting location, and it is the same wires the inverter is "supposed" to be plugged into if used out of the box.
The wire colors may vary between different car years. This is how it was in the mustang. If you get the two wires flipped, you will end up burning a fuse located under the hood near the battery. Check your owners manual for the exact fuse. Pull off the plug from the back of the power point. Connect the "center part" wire from the inverter to the purple and brown wire, and connect the "side part" wire from the inverter to the black wire. Here’s the tangled mess now haha.
Put the inverter back together with all your extended wires sticking out of it. Plug wires (white), On / Off switch wires (green) and Power supply wires (black). Frankenstein should sorta look like this…this is of course the part you hide under the driver’s seat.
It's time to mount the plug and On / Off switch. You should check that everything is working at this point before you start cutting your dash up. Then pick a place and start hacking making sure to test fit every now and then so you don’t make the hole too big and make it look all ugly so frankie doesn’t fit right. Once everything is cut out, mount the plug and On / Off switch (another cut hole or if you’ve got an old switch already mounted…I did from a amp on/off switch haha) and put everything back together.
Here’s the finished product….
ok this took forever, please let me know what you guys think about this heh.
-stackz
above the smilies and paste the url into the box. click ok and then post. For a bunch of pictures, just attach them all and post the message, then edit the message and make all of your attached files into pictures
