Max amps for power outlets?

10 amps, and thats as much a limitation of the socket as the fuse/wiring.

Wayne

 

I have a 15a fuse in there. This is for both the under-dash outlet, and the underarm bin outlet.

I use it to power up an inverter to power my laptop, but I have already blown two fuses. Does anyone know of an inverter that will work in the Prius for this purpose without popping that 15a fuse?

 

F1 in the interior fuse panel apparently supples both of them, it is a 15 Amp fuse. I would assume that means you could draw 15A total, so if one was not in use you should be able to get15 from the other. Of course it really depends on wire size and you would have to look to determine that.

I think the Gen2 was the same and I used my tire compressor and a 12 Volt vacuum cleaner, not at the same time of course, with no problems.

 

I have had two different fuses blow, one for each power outlet. Last night, I again blew the fuse for the one under the dash, using my inverter, but before plugging in my laptop. Are you sure that they power both? They do not in mine (2010 Prius V Nav)

 

Wayne (above) says 10A max partly due to the socket, he probably knows better than I do so maybe 10A would be a good limit. Also page 379 or the owner's manual does say accessories that run on less than 10 Amps.

 

Wayne,

If this is the case, do you know why both of these fuses that came with the car were both 15A fuses? If this is a 10A circuit, then this does not make much sense to me.

 

The 15A fuses are typically used for a high inrush current draw, unless something else is on the circuit, I don't have the wiring diagrams in front of me. The sockets are 10 amp max due to their construction and the construction of the plugs that go into them. If your inverter is more than 180 watts it may be having a too high inrush to charge the inverter capacitors, or it's a modified sinewave inverter that is just inefficient. Any inverter greater than 120 watts should really be wired to the 12 volt battery.

Wayne

 

If your pulling more than 15 amps running an inverter for a laptop, your inverter is either way too big for the job or something is wrong with it. If I do my math right 15 amps at 14V is 210 watts? That is a whole lot to run a laptop.

 

Power = Volts * Amps

That would be 12V * 10A = 120 Watts
You can probably assume that the inverter itself is going to take some power to run itself... I have no idea about what that would be. Lets assume 15 Watts. I have a power hungry 15 in Apple MacBook Pro that requires 85 Watts max. That's still 85W + 15W = 100W.

I'm surprised that you're having a problem. I have one of these and it works great Black & Decker Power Tools . The fan in it is a little noisy. That is my biggest complaint. As a bonus, it can power a USB device too like an ipod. It isn't a fancy inverter... as in it produces a modified sine wave (square wave), but the macbook pro charger seems to work fine with it. I bought it at Target.

EDIT: Hey and guess what... it has a 10A fuse built into it. So, unless you have something power hungry plugged into the other Prius outlet at the same time, the fuse in this thing should blow before your 15A one. Since replacing the fuse in a cigarette lighter adapter is just unscrewing the cap and dropping in a new fuse. That's probably easier.

 

Separate from the outlet rating, using a 15A device on a 15A fuse repeatedly will result in fuse trouble over time. Up until their last moment, fuses are analog devices and need some operating margin to remain reliable.

 

I think a good way to run a compressor or vacuum cleaner might be to connect a heavy duty outlet directly to the battery through a fuse, say 20 Amps or so. You could just install the outlet in one of the panels back by the battery.

Any problems with this idea? Of course you would have to limit use so as not to run the 12 Volt battery down or leave the car on when using it.

 

In getting an inverter for the Prius is it better to get a 200W inverter and limit its use to 100W or do I get a 100W inverter.

The reason I ask is that I found in the past that a 100W converter heated up a lot when it approached 80-90W and was wondering if a larger capasity inverter would work better overall.

Stan

 

The inverter that I use has a 4 Amp fuse built into it, so I would also assume that this is partially to blame for it. I also find myself fighting to get the plug into the car's power outlet each and every time that I use it, and this may be some of the problem. I think that I will buy a short 'extension cord' to pop into there, and then try connecting to it instead of directly into the outlet, in case this is the cause of my consternation.