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12V truck bed accessory sockets
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03frontier
User
May 11, 2021, 2:16 PM
Post #1 of 15
(1000 views)
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12V truck bed accessory sockets
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so i ordered one of these on amazon recently; need to plug a portable fridge in the truck bed. (image resized; thx hammertime! i'll reply to the thread soon)
tried it out over the weekend by touching the black and red leads onto the neg and pos terminals on my battery; everything seemed to check out fine. the meter read 12.something something volts.
my plan of attack is to simply run 2 wires from the neg and pos terminals, route them neatly under the firewall, in the underside of the chassis and back up through the taillight area and connect these 2 wires to the black/neg wire and red/pos wire on the outlets, and of course finding a suitable mounting surface in the bed. also plan on using a good length of that plastic split loom tubing to protect these wires from damage, and copious zip ties to make everything secure.
is there a need to add an in-line fuse of my own? or is that built-in fuse pictured along the red wire in the socket assembly enough?
thoughts? warnings? suggestions? as stated in my other thread (LED bulbs.. smaller fuse vs resistor), i'm seriously a novice with electrical wiring of any kind, so any advice from pros would be awesome.
thanks much!
(This post was edited by 03frontier on May 11, 2021, 3:15 PM)
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
May 11, 2021, 2:44 PM
Post #2 of 15
(994 views)
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Re: 12V truck bed accessory sockets
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You can easily resize the image by going to the imaging software and click on the 3rd icon from the left and you can reduce it by percentage. Reload the question page and you will see the difference.
As for that system, what is the output voltage and rated capacity. The USBs show 5v. The refrigerator may have a pretty high current draw and that thing may not have the capacity. I expect it would melt that plastic plug in pretty short order even if it could handle it.
The other concern is will you be running that fridge with the truck engine off. It will kill the battery pretty quickly.
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
May 11, 2021, 4:26 PM
Post #3 of 15
(975 views)
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Re: 12V truck bed accessory sockets
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All in good fun. Fuse this thing right at battery if you do, do this.
Now like lots is ages ago had a 12V "cooler" rather than calling it a 'refrigerator' only power it needed was for a fan? Dang thing worked not to cool warm things so much as maintain already cool things - food or canned drinks.
It did not use a powered compressor of any sort! Just two heat sinks idea is cool one side with plain air the other turns cool. Not much power to use it IDK for sure the draw I had two marine, deep cycle batteries so no way to get stuck with a battery too low for an engine.
Hardly matters it was a large boat never enough "fridge" room but OMG the thing has to start!
With that I suggest a separate deep cycle battery and charge it off a running engine or when back to "shore power" (home) base or whatever you're up to.
That thing is neat too bad for what THEN would interest me is two power ports forget the USBs you can get those for power ports anywhere.
If you do run wire think hard how junk blown up and off of wheels hits things AND where you might hoist/jack up this truck too,
T
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03frontier
User
May 12, 2021, 9:36 AM
Post #4 of 15
(952 views)
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Re: 12V truck bed accessory sockets
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here's a link to the amazon posting:
Link deleted .... not allowed
hammer time - i was under the assumption the output voltage would be around 12v. when i touched the red/black to the battery terminals, that's what the readout said. i also have a multimeter and i can reconnect those wires again and check the 12v socket to see if it's around the same.
as for the fridge, i'm debating between a dometic cff35 ......Link deleted ..... or a cheaper, more generic option; the $800+ price tag is really hard to swallow, but i keep hearing how much more reliable they are than the other options. it'd suck to have to end a camping trip early because of all the food going bad. most/all dometics, and pretty much all other fridges have a battery protection feature that [somehow] keeps monitoring the source battery, and stops drawing power if/when it reaches a certain point. read somewhere that if you're not gonna be running an aux battery (nod to tom greenleaf), it's best to start the car engine and recharge the battery for a while w/ the alternator every 10-12hrs. so basically, the fridge won't drain the car battery to the point of being unable to start the truck.
that, and i'll likely be connecting the thing to an portable power supply/solar setup anyway, so i'm not too concerned about how i'm gonna keep the fridge powered.
and tom - sounds like you're describing one of those thermoelectric units? where it cools (and heats! which is nice) the contents depending on ambient temperature outside the unit. and yes, i'll also be following some other factory wiring routes in the underside to make sure it'll all be up to snuff.
(This post was edited by Hammer Time on May 12, 2021, 9:53 AM)
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03frontier
User
May 12, 2021, 10:07 AM
Post #7 of 15
(934 views)
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Re: 12V truck bed accessory sockets
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firstly, sorry for the links; forgot about that rule!
so i think this setup might work... based on what i found on the dometic site for cff35:
"Rated input current (DC) 4.5 A at 12V DC, 2.3A at 24V DC A"
i think that's a 10A in-line fuse.. so will that 12v socket likely be more than enough power for the fridge?
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
May 12, 2021, 10:12 AM
Post #8 of 15
(932 views)
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Re: 12V truck bed accessory sockets
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No, I don't think 10amps will operate a fridge. They really spike the current draw when the compressor kicks in. You really need to decide on a fridge first and see what the current supply needs to be to operate it safely. Most of this Chinese made stuff is cheap junk that can't handle much load at all, especially continuously.
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
May 12, 2021, 10:24 AM
Post #9 of 15
(928 views)
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Re: 12V truck bed accessory sockets
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$800 bucks for a fridge! What are you really getting? My post was a livable boat A/C|D/C fridge automatically switched to 110V when plugged in AND auto battery charger. It and other stuff added thousands to cost of that thing being auto switched like that.
Stove was electric with alc. sternos under those for use without 110V (AC power) whole electrical switched by itself.
The second battery I mounted in engine compartment left Bat+ cable hooked up and just removed (wing nuts) on Bat- when known ready to go, fully charged which the thing did hooking up to 100V Manually put the two together charged the spare.
Out of that but could and did countless long weekends away from power with the thing. It's all RV stuff more costly if marine rated things can't make a spark - anything that switches, alternator was shielded as well as starter - common to all.
For what you are spending you could get spare batteries and an inverter all for less than $800. Idea is leave the truck out of it is what I suggest unless you wanted to leave it there all the time??
It's fun stuff to play loved those times also glad it's over. Just being a boat vs land something is more work totally salt air was a pest to get off of whole thing,
Tom
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03frontier
User
May 12, 2021, 10:37 AM
Post #10 of 15
(921 views)
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Re: 12V truck bed accessory sockets
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if 10A won't cover it, looks like i'll have to make a return to amazon and get my $ back.
looked at 4wheelparts.com instead.. there's something from a company called RT Off-Road, and their site suggests they're based in Marshfield, MA 02050. it's just a 12v socket, but rated at 20A. think that'd work for that dometic?
at this point, i'm tired of searching/deciding for the right fridge; i'm just gonna blow the $800 on it, provided that i can find a suitable 12v accessory socket for it. that camping fridge market is so over-saturated; it'd take a spreadsheet to sort out the pros/cons of each one. that said, sorry tom! i don't have the time/resources/space to get an aux battery setup. LOL
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03frontier
User
May 12, 2021, 12:52 PM
Post #12 of 15
(889 views)
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Re: 12V truck bed accessory sockets
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if 10A won't cover it, looks like i'll have to make a return to amazon and get my $ back.
looked at 4wheelparts.com instead.. there's something from a company called RT Off-Road, and their site suggests they're based in Marshfield, MA 02050. it's just a 12v socket, but rated at 20A. think that'd work for that dometic?
at this point, i'm tired of searching/deciding for the right fridge; i'm just gonna blow the $800 on it, provided that i can find a suitable 12v accessory socket for it. that camping fridge market is so over-saturated; it'd take a spreadsheet to sort out the pros/cons of each one. that said, sorry tom! i don't have the time/resources/space to get an aux battery setup. LOL
in addition to that RT Off-Road find, there's also this on amazon (likely another chinese brand), but one of the top reviewers stated he used it for "12V oven, 12V fridge/freezer and charge [his] devices from this plug set"
so would a 20A, or even 30A socket cover any power spikes in the dometic's compressor when it kicks in?
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
May 12, 2021, 12:57 PM
Post #13 of 15
(883 views)
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Re: 12V truck bed accessory sockets
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Yeah, you should be good with that.
Don't put 100% faith in raving reviews. I get a lot of free stuff for doing that.
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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03frontier
User
Jun 13, 2021, 3:56 PM
Post #14 of 15
(743 views)
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Re: 12V truck bed accessory sockets
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hi again - just wanted to touch base with you all again to say thank you for all your advice (and stories!). i did the install a few weeks ago, and my fridge showed up on the doorstep not too long ago. finally got to give it a test run yesterday and it all worked flawlessly. no issues with powering it up, and the fridge stayed plugged in and powered on all day. engine turned as normal, so no issues with serious battery drain. did an ice cream run with the family, and they stayed frozen the whole time; was only able to do that with dry ice before.
wish i remembered to take pics of the whole process.. but maybe next project. thanks again!!
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Jun 13, 2021, 4:00 PM
Post #15 of 15
(739 views)
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Re: 12V truck bed accessory sockets
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Glad to hear it worked out. Closing this now as solved.
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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