Looking to place a power inverter in the car, but want to mount it permanently.

I am running a Raspberry Pi Tunerstudio dash in the front, but still want to have the ability to use a tuning laptop because of ease of use. I currently have a power inverter plugged in the lighter socket in the front, but that is just a bunch of wires I want to get rid of.

Because I am running a Megasquirt ECU, the fuel pump is on when the key is on. Is this something I could tap to also run the inverter, or is there a better known location in the back, or would additional wires and a replay be better?

 

You'll want to run a dedicated fused power wire from the battery to the inverter. I'm not sure of the amps being pulled, but I'm thinking at least a 10 gauge if not aan 8 gauge wire. You'll also want a decent ground.

 

If you're using the MS fuel pump output, it's only powered during the 1 second prime when key is turned to on, or when the MS sees crank signal. So it won't be powered when you're sitting there stationary and making changes. If you aren't using that output, then for safety reasons you should do so. Otherwise the fuel pump is running constantly with key to on, and if you were in a collision it would continue to pump indefinitely and present a fire hazard.

For your original question I would run a fresh cable with a relay, and then trigger the relay with the wire from the amp in the shock tower. I think the factory +12V wire is blue, but I recall it is the thickest of the three at that connector. This is powered with ACC but it's close enough. I don't know how much power a laptop draws when charging but the stock stereo is like 15W, so you will probably want that relay and an inline fuse for the new cable. I would not power the inverter directly off of that wire.

To avoid cutting wires, this should be the correct connector for a seamless install (assuming you aren't running a speaker in that bin anymore and the connector is free): 3 Pin Yazaki 250 Connector

 

i'm not sure how many amps you need, but most FC's are wired for the AAS system. the AAS system is a 30 amp fuse, and it has a connector with power and ground at each shock tower. its really handy for things like fans

 

That is true, I have removed those because I changed out the shocks years ago, but the wires are still there, will look at that.

Θ7