Okay, so I finally got my power inverter, for now i'm just gonna plug it into my cigarette lighter. But where do I get power for my screen from? I tried just splicing it in with the cd player, but it wouldn't power both at the same time. Any suggestions/experience?

thanks for any help

 

cigarette lighter 12v power wire(NOT the wire for the light)

 

so can I have the inverter plugged in to the cigarette lighter and the screen powered off of it at the same time? Thanks for the quick reply

 

I tried splicing the light first, and it didnt work and I messed up my car. Then I tried the cigg lighter plug itself, and it didnt power my lights... ack

 

Tap into the fuseblock.
Or if your ambitious there's a good sized white wire behind the fuse box that is always on and wire that to you tv with a relay to turn on with the ignition.
Pretty easy to do actually.
But fuse taps are MUCH easier IMHO

 

for my whole dvd section of my system it runs off of my cigg lighter(except memory ) it works perfectly. just make sure your inverter doesnt pull more than ten amps since most lighter sockets have 10 amp fuses.

 

You have a whole SECTION for DVD's? Sweeeettt!

 

So yes I can run the power inverter off of the cigarette adapter and the tv off of the same two wires?

Thanks for all the replies so far guys

 

as long as the load rating of the devices combined does not exceed the load rating of the fuse/socket

 

I realize that if I'm installing this stuff I should know the answers to these questions, thanks for all the help. What is the load rating for the cigarette lighter. I'm running a 400w/800w inverter and a 7.2" tv that shouldn't overrun it should it. the inverter is running a ps2.

thanks again

 

Check the cig lighter fuse amperage and take about 5 amps off

 

the right way would be to set up relays that click on with the ignition and have the power wires fused for protection, check the draw on the things you are using and use the related gauge wire and fuse.

 

yeh, its not hard to run a separate power wire..course, I have it easy..I have an auxilliary battery in the trunk, so I would just have to run a wire back to the trunk..if you're not sure if the wire you're using is heavy enough, run somthing 1 size heavier..I wasn't sure 14 ga would be enough for the lighter plug I put in the trunk (well, 12v power outlet to be technical), so I ran 12 ga..I'll probably use it for somwhat heavy stuff like multiple 12v heaters (don't ask why..you don't wanna know..), so its better to be safe than sorry..I'd put the TV on its own fused power source with an ignition activated relay if I were you..

 

What type of TV are you talking about? I'm assuming it's an LCD screen with a TV tuner? If so the LCD shouldn't draw much power at all. I'm not sure how much power the "TV" portion would draw.

Maybe you should find out just how much current this TV draws first and then start from there. Could be you having some other electrical issues somewhere else if you can't power an LCD.