sagexpman
Loveland, Colorado
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I have 12 volt cigarette lighter type outlet that is located next to the 120 volt AC outlet in the entertainment center area for the TV and DVD player in my 2005 Jayco 31BHS. What I want to do is plug a 500 watt inverting into the cig outlet and then plug my TV and DVD players into the inverter when dry camping. I called Jayco and they told me that this would damage the wiring in the TT and not to do it. Two Jayco dealers have told me that this would not be a problem.
Are there any Jayco owners out there that have any experience with what I am trying to do? If so I would love to hear from you. I do not want to try it and fry something in the TT.
Thanks, Rick
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John & Angela
Full Timers in Canada, USA and Mexico
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Good afternoon.
In my humble opinion 500 watts or even 350 watts is too much to pull from a cigarrette lighter adaptor and the probable 12 gauge wire feeding it. I suspect the voltage drop would more than likely be too much to hold the inverter on anyway. You may want to consider a proper inverter install and either dedicated circuit or additional circuit install from it.
JMHO
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SteveB
Rhode Island
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Hi Rick,
I think that a 500 watt load at 12VDC is about 40 amps. It is only 4.2 amps at 120V. It is not a direct translation from DC to AC though.
None of the 500 watt units that I've seen has a cig plug but a couple of direct wire terminals.
That could be why Jayco is advising against it.
SteveB
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tvman44
Southwest Louisiana
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12 gauge wire is rated at 20 amps, 500 watts at 12 volts is about 41amps. Do the math.
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mike4947
N. Syracuse, NY
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To add to those siding with the factory. Plastic 12 volt outlets are rated for 8 amps and fused for 7.5 amps. That's 90 watts.
Metal Cigarette lighter outlets are rated and usually fused for 20 amps. That's 240 watts.
We've scrapped many a mess of molten plastic and replaced scorched wood from over loaded unfused 12 volt outlets.
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mark1228
Helena, MT
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I will argue the other way. I have the same set up in my Maverick motorhome and I put in an inverter that plugs into the 12 volt plug for my 26" flat screen and DVD player just like you are thinking of doing. My inverter has a gauge that shows the draw and with both the TV and DVD player on and running, it is pulling under 100 watts, even though it is a 400 watt continous/800 watt peak inverter. The key is to not overload it. You cant run your coffee pot or blow dryer off of that wiring, but TV and DVD don't draw much.
Almost every manufacturer puts that plug (Winegard) in their entertainment center and I have also run a 9" TV/VCR combo off of that plug on other RV's for years with not problem.
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Hurricaner
Hurricane Utah
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Every once in a while someone gets away with using that recepacle for a TV because it is a short run to the power distribution box but in general it usally does not work. You can try it, if it does not blow the fuse, shutdown the inverter on low voltage or get too hot it will be fine but 90% percent of the time it doesn't work.
Sam
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sagexpman
Loveland, Colorado
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Thanks for all the replies I really appreciate it. I think I will error on the side of caution and avoid that setup. What really frustrates me is my dealer said "sure no problem" a call to Jayco and advice from all of you probably saved me an expensive repair bill. Blasted dealer! 
Thanks again, Rick
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NHguy
NH
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If your inverter has the optional heavy wires for higher draws you might try to get at the main battery cables behind your converter.
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emaav
Hillsboro, Oregon
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On my 12vdc TV plug in the Jayco it states not to exceed 8 amps.
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