Ok, I may regret posting this as I may be making more out of this than I should. Here's the deal. My oldest son's school wants to use my truck as one of their Valentines Day parade floats here locally. Since the parade is in the evening, I wanted to add a couple strings of colored/flashing christmas style lights to the bed area. The light strings are obviously rated at 110V AC. How do I wire them correctly to my trucks 12V DC system? I know a simple solution would be to buy an inverter, but I can't think of any use for one beyond this one event.

Any thoughts or suggestions???

-Mike-

 

I bought a Husky brand 110 volt/400 watt power inverter at Home Depot to run my PS2/XBOX in my Expy. It costs $39.95 and has 2 outlets for 110 volt accessories. It plugs in to your cigarette lighter.

 

Are you really sure that the lights are 110v?
My Xmas lights (that I bought in England) are actually 24v and you get a little "step down" transformer with them in the box. This plugs into the mains and the lights plug into that.
These are the outside type lights so they are low voltage.
If this is the case, you could hook up a couple of 12v batteries in the bed and run the lights of them independent from the truck.

 

Think yours are different from the ones we have. Mine plug straight into the wall socket w/o any type of transformer.

Anyone have any other ideas? As I mentioned in my original post, I'd prefer to find a wiring solution as opposed to purchasing an inverter.

-Mike-

 

Just FYI, those inverters are REALLY cheap now. I mean, they used to be upwards of $75+... I've seen them at Targhetto (Target) for around $25 now!

 

the alt. produces a/c that it converts to dc. problem is that it is done internally and would probably not be an easy fix to tap into it. Not so sure that it would provide a steady a/c voltage either. Do what any red blooded home depot shopper would do and buy the inverter. use it once, put it back into the box and return it. Have been in line many times with returns and see it all the time.

 

 

I've seen this happen too (way too often!). Being a contractor and suffering price hikes constantly on materials due to this type of activitiy, I would not do such a thing. As far as I'm concerned HD is way too lax with their return policies.

Looks like the simplest route is to buy an inverter. Are any better than others? Don't know too much about them. If you have any thoughts, please share.

-Mike-

 

Hit-up the local truck stop and purchase a set of 12-volt christmas lights. They may still have some laying around.

The only direct way to wire up 110V AC lights to 12V DC is with an inverter.

-Joe

 

The only way you can convert to a/c is to build your own inverter. If you're that determined to not buy a manufactured one go to Fry's or radio shack and one of the nerdier salesman should be able to tell you what you need and how to do it.

 

Hi Mike -

If you are going to buy one just for light duty (no pun intended) you can get a 400 watt unit from Sam's for $28 or so.

Some are better than others, but in the sub-500 watt arena I think the majority are the same.

If you think you might have a need to run power tools, etc. from your truck, I bought a 1,000 watt unit from Costco for $69. It will run a drill, circular saw, reciprocating saw, etc. with ease.

Only problems with a large unit is they require space to ventilate properly and they require heavy gauge cables to the battery, if you intend on drawing anywhere near the 1,000 watt mark. (1,000 watts @ 12 VDC is roughly 84 amps, with no loss)

The smaller units typically come with alligator leads for direct battery connections, and / or a cigarette lighter plug for inside connection.