hollaatchaboi

iTrader: (1)

How do you wire a power inverter? What is the best amount of wattage needed? Any particular kinds that are good?

sunten1

you could wire it directly to the battery through the firewall, make sure you use a fuse and a on and off switch...it also depends where you are going to be mounting the inverter

hollaatchaboi

iTrader: (1)

The on and off swith it comes with isn't enough? It will be under the driver seat, while the PS2 will be under the passenger seat.

So what should the order be? Battery > Switch> Fuse> Power Inverter?

sunten1

Battery > Fuse> Switch> Power Inverter

hollaatchaboi

iTrader: (1)

one more thing....what gauge wire should be used?

sunten1

ummmm sorry but i don't know much about wire guages but i would be leaning towards somewhere along the lines of 14-18

PhillyDonut

iTrader: (3)

I would imagine that you will buy a decent power inverter and those come with an on/off switch as well as a fuse, which should be sufficient. Depending on what you plan on using it for, you really don't need too much wattage. The packaging on most of them have a rule of thumb guide as to how much wattage you need for the electronic device. If the device that you are using it for does not draw high current then you could probably get away with just splicing it to the cigarette lighter wire (unless you want it to have power when the car is off, then go with battery or if you use the cigarette lighter power supply for other things). The unit does get hot if it runs for a long time (4hrs longest for me) and it shut off. My friend was dumb enough to try starting a high power air compressor with it, which obviously did not start.

I would suggest getting one that has a fan and will self shut off when it over heats, and prevents drawing higher current than it can provide. And avoid cheap POS ones.

hollaatchaboi

iTrader: (1)

the one i have does have a fan and it gives a warning when the battery drainage is low. I do have a couple things connected to the cigarette lighter and I don't want it to be on when the car is not on. Is there another place I can get power for it (that is on only when the car is on)? What gauge wire is good to use?

isac

probably the best thing would be to use 10 gauge cable. if you can solder, you can connect your cable to the ignition cable in the ignition harness (under the steering wheel) which would be black with a yellow or white stripe depending on which side of the harness you connect it to. this way it will only be on if the car is on, your other option would be to connect directly to the battery and use a relay to trigger it to turn on from the cigarrete lighter

hollaatchaboi

iTrader: (1)

I'm not sure about the whole relay thing. however, the power inverter I have, even if it is left in the on position, you must reset it to turn on. I'm kind of skeptical about splicing into the ignition wire also. If I use 10 gauge wire, do I have to use a smaller gauge before I splice it into the ignition wire? Will this affect my starter or anything?

By chance, can you explain the relay thing to me so i can consider it as a second option?

Lastly, I'm planning on getting a yellow top battery, so can i just bring it straight to the battery since the power invertor needs to be reset to turn on?

hollaatchaboi

iTrader: (1)

bump........

isac

if you look at the relay from the bottom you can see the numbers on the terminals. pretty much for the relay to work 86 should have 12 volts and 85 should be to ground, 87 and 30 are the contacts that you are opening or closing with the switch, just follow the diagram below (sorry for the little kid drawing but i think you get the idea)

and by the way, the relay will only draw a very small amount of current from the cigarette lighter (that is used only to trigger it) so you could still connect other stuff on there.

hollaatchaboi

iTrader: (1)

so which way do you suggest is best? Use relay and power straight from the battery? With the use of the relay, can i use 18 gauge wire?

I'm planning on getting a yellow top battery, so can i just bring it straight to the battery since the power invertor needs to be reset to turn on (therefore, I don't really need a relay)?

hollaatchaboi

iTrader: (1)

Isac....i just bought the relay. But on the box, it says that 30 is the fused power from the battery and 87 is the power to invertor. Is your diagram from experience or do what the box says?

Adrian

iTrader: (11)

I ve been wanting to do this mod since the new slimline ps2 came out I found this web site that makes a converter kit www.bigcattech.com so you dont have to use a power inverter not sure if it damages the ps2 but check it Im probly going to go ahead and do it as soon as thy come out with one for slimline version

alpimax99

iTrader: (2)

30 on a relay should always be the out put

isac

actually i can tell you from experience that it doesn't really matter if you switch the 30 and 87 around, pretty much the relay is an electronic switch and the 30 and 87 contacts are the ones that are connected when the relay is energized, so you could use either one as the input or output it will just like if you had a regular toggle switch with two contacts but just switch them around; i have wired relays both ways and it has always worked for me, but if it makes you feel a little safer, do it like it says on the box