My newest mod
#1
My newest mod
Well as I was browsing Canadian Tire the other day for electrical stuff for my light bar, I noticed this 300W inverter on sale for 20 bucks. I have been using a small 75W cigarette lighter inverter forever now and this bigger one was a steal.
Well, not being content with leaving something stock, I decide I need to find a permanent location for this sucker... Well I found a great spot for it here behind the dash. odd spot for an inverter possibly? kinda hard to use it in there After some searching around the truck, I decided I was gonna lengthen all the wiring and mount the outlets to the airbag module cover...
Now the fun begins... time to hack er up
Using my air pencil (basically like a Dremel 'wand' that runs on air) and some patience, I cut holes in the cover and mounted everything in. I fabbed some 'locks' out of thin aluminum plate to hold the outlets uber tight in the cover, and glued the LED in place just so it can't fall out. I then cut all wiring going to the outlets, switch, and LED and soldered new wiring to everything, tied it up and loomed it all nice and pretty like
Here it is all together on the bench
and here you can see how the whole setup is mounted in the truck. I grounded it near the inverter, and ran wiring up to the battery and fused it there.
The best part about it is that it is somewhat portable! So if I decide to buy another 2nd Gen, or just sell this inverter (to another 2nd gen owner of course) then all I have to do is remove it, no cutting wires involved!
Well, what do ya think? I'm extremely happy with how clean looking it turned out, and I now have my power outlet freed up! I lost my phone's car charger eons ago, so I have my house charger in the truck and have been using it with the 75W inverter. And I also run my laptop in there once in a while for diagnostic purposes usually, so it'll be great for that too. Oh and the gawd awful wall wart AA chargers, I used to have them hangin off the power outlet lol...
Well, not being content with leaving something stock, I decide I need to find a permanent location for this sucker... Well I found a great spot for it here behind the dash. odd spot for an inverter possibly? kinda hard to use it in there After some searching around the truck, I decided I was gonna lengthen all the wiring and mount the outlets to the airbag module cover...
Now the fun begins... time to hack er up
Using my air pencil (basically like a Dremel 'wand' that runs on air) and some patience, I cut holes in the cover and mounted everything in. I fabbed some 'locks' out of thin aluminum plate to hold the outlets uber tight in the cover, and glued the LED in place just so it can't fall out. I then cut all wiring going to the outlets, switch, and LED and soldered new wiring to everything, tied it up and loomed it all nice and pretty like
Here it is all together on the bench
and here you can see how the whole setup is mounted in the truck. I grounded it near the inverter, and ran wiring up to the battery and fused it there.
The best part about it is that it is somewhat portable! So if I decide to buy another 2nd Gen, or just sell this inverter (to another 2nd gen owner of course) then all I have to do is remove it, no cutting wires involved!
Well, what do ya think? I'm extremely happy with how clean looking it turned out, and I now have my power outlet freed up! I lost my phone's car charger eons ago, so I have my house charger in the truck and have been using it with the 75W inverter. And I also run my laptop in there once in a while for diagnostic purposes usually, so it'll be great for that too. Oh and the gawd awful wall wart AA chargers, I used to have them hangin off the power outlet lol...
#5
#7