power socket

we are taking my Ridge down to Charleston SC next week (i did not want to take it) and i need to power 2 mini fridges, 1 75w laptop and my garmin (my batterys gonna get a good work out :rolleyes:

i have a 120w inverter that has 1 plug for the laptop and 1 cigarette lighter plug thing will 1 fridge which is 57w work with the 75w laptop on the rear socket? i no its over 120w but still is it possible? or should i get a cigarette lighter plug thing splitter from radio shack?

also what are the risks if i put a little higher fuse in the rear socket?

we are taking my Ridge down to Charleston SC next week (i did not want to take it) and i need to power 2 mini fridges, 1 75w laptop and my garmin (my batterys gonna get a good work out :rolleyes:

i have a 120w inverter that has 1 plug for the laptop and 1 cigarette lighter plug thing will 1 fridge which is 57w work with the 75w laptop on the rear socket? i no its over 120w but still is it possible?

Even if possible, it would be a bad idea. I am not sure what to make of your question -- it seems to ignore the other two devices. You want to power four devices that, in total, far exceed the available power supply, which is 120W in total for all of the Ridgeline's ports.

Is your 120W inverter 120W input, or output? If 120W is the output, it may draw significantly more than that as input.

Is it a square wave or a sine wave inverter? Seeing the low power capacity, I would have to guess that it is square wave. Your more sensitive devices like the laptop may be damaged by it.

Plus, the power supply only works with the key in the accessory or on position.

It sounds like you would be much better off with a much higher-power, sine wave inverter, run straight from the battery.

or should i get a cigarette lighter plug thing splitter from radio shack?

That is not going to increase the total power available from the Ridgeline's power ports, which is also 120 watts.

also what are the risks if i put a little higher fuse in the rear socket?


Fire. Wire with too much current through them can get very hot. If that were to happen, you might be uninsured, since you overrode a safety mechanism.

Gee, I am so cheery! Enjoy your trip. :-)

I guess that I should have asked what it's worth to you to get more accessories to accommodate this trip. Sine wave inverters can be expensive. For example, there are native DC power converters for laptops that bypass the entire AC power step.

let me clarify a little, i will plug the garmin and 1 mini fridge up front, so i guess its not possible to put the fridge and the laptop in back??
how bought if i get the splitter thing and plug in both mini fridges and the garmin up front, and just the laptop in the back? then all the sockets would be under 120w

i am 95% sure that the inverter is 120w output

Right from the manual:
"the combined power rating of the accessories should be 120 watts or less (10 amps)."

It's not 120 watts for each socket. It's 120 watts in all!

Thanks, Jet Pack.

Rakapur, please check your fridges' ratings and make sure that they don't have any exceptions to their power consumption. The thing to look for is a "peak" or "burst" power consumption that could be higher than 57W.

Even if the fridges truly are 57W maximum, you will still be right at the limit of the inverter with just those two items alone. Since the inverter may have a conversion loss, and the Ridgeline only supplies 120W DC, you will be lucky to get the needed 114W to the fridges. 100W or less is probably realistic. Actual power consumption could work out to be less much of the time, and you might happen to get away with it, but it would be a bad risk to be wrong in the middle of the journey.

Do any of these items have direct DC input capability? For any such item, you can cheaply run a DC feed directly from the truck's battery. This would take load off of the power ports and inverter.

Right from the manual:
"the combined power rating of the accessories should be 120 watts or less (10 amps)."

It's not 120 watts for each socket. It's 120 watts in all!

i know i had more then 120w running at once


Rakapur, please check your fridges' ratings and make sure that they don't have any exceptions to their power consumption. The thing to look for is a "peak" or "burst" power consumption that could be higher than 57W.

Do any of these items have direct DC input capability? For any such item, you can cheaply run a DC feed directly from the truck's battery. This would take load off of the power ports and inverter.

it just says cold- 57w, hot- 43w

i thought i mentioned it, but yes both the mini fridges have the dc wires and of course the garmin has the dc wire

also what are the risks if i put a little higher fuse in the rear socket?

Keep a fire extinguisher handy! :rolleyes:

i know i had more then 120w running at once


How was this measured? Many devices run well below their maximum rated consumption a lot of the time. Thus, it is possible to have several devices going whose maximum adds up to more than the advertised available power for quite some time... but there will still be a problem if a couple get to their maximum at the same time, which is unpredictable.


both the mini fridges have the dc wires and of course the garmin has the dc wire

In that case, some inexpensive power ports can be wired from the battery to the passenger compartment for the fridges and garmin. You can run just the laptop from the inverter (if you want to trust the square wave not to fry it, rather than buying a DC-input power supply for it).

The fuse is there to protect the wiring. Installing a larger fuse will allow more current to pass through the wire. Unless you plan on toasting marshmellows in your RL, I would strongly suggest you don't do this.

Why don't you borrow your buddy's 12V car battery and bring it along with you? You can plug your fridge or your laptop into it for quite some time before draining it.:)