Wire Inverter to work all the time

[Bobzdar]

After a 4 day long camping trip off-grid, I found that the inverter is virtually useless due to needing the Jeep running to work for more than 20 minutes (ACC turns off automatically after around that long). This means to charge or use anything for longer than 20 minutes, the Jeep would have to sit idling, even though with the factory battery you could run the inverter at full 400W load for around 12 hours without killing the battery. The load we typically had one it was in the 50-100W range max, so there was little danger in killing the battery especially given it got driven once or twice a day. It seems like there should be a way to wire the dash switch to control it by itself and not be tied to ACC - has anyone tried this? Without that functionality, I may actually have to bring a separate inverter that wires directly to the battery, which would seem really stupid.

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[furcifer]

Buy a jackery with solar panels. Far more useful than an inverter. You won't be tied to your vehicle. No risk of killing your battery.

 

[Bobzdar]

Thanks dude, I've been waiting almost 4 (powerless) years for some guidance.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Don't count on a factory battery to last as long as you think. They lose capacity over time and especially since many Jeep owners don't keep them at 100% state of charge. (they aren't driven often enough for long enough)
Drawing a battery down like that will make life even shorter for it.
Cycling a battery is bad. You may say "it's fine, the truck started" but you are killing it slowly.
I'd bet that a Jeep supplied battery would have only 1/2 to 2/3 of it's new capacity after a couple of years - meaning no, after 12 hours it may not start.
Do all the math you want on watts and so on - that battery no longer has the same capacity it left the factory with - and cycling like that is one reason.

 

[furcifer]

If you have questions, ask away. I personally run a 1250wh gridless core pack. I use it on my ice fishing expeditions up in the north country of Maine (Eagle Lake). It runs heaters, small shortwave radios, heated blankets, and an HF radio I use to keep in contact with my family. There have been a few nights that I had to endure -60 degree nights (with the wind chill) and had to power multiple heated blankets.

I use a small jackery unit when I go camping throughout the US. It doesn't make sense to me to be tied to a vehicle, especially a part of your vehicle which is vitally needed to get you out.

As a side note. The battery in my TJ crapped out on a photography expedition on Naches Pass (OHV)in Washington. I was not using it for an inverter either. Now, I have a trickle charger 1.5a that's part of my kit.

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