Having A Truck Without An APU

In addition to Not4hire's great information, and additional thing to keep in mind, is that many devices that use motors (blow dryer, food processor etc...) use roughly2-7 times their normal current at start up. So If its a 12v 2amp motor, at start up itll be more like 12v 10amp.

If unaccounted for during your power distribution planning, you'll at best trip the fuse and at worst you'll burn down your truck. So be sure to either start those heavy draw items first, or have a more than ample electrical system to run your gear.

In addition to Not4hire's great information, and additional thing to keep in mind, is that many devices that use motors (blow dryer, food processor etc...) use roughly2-7 times their normal current at start up. So If its a 12v 2amp motor, at start up itll be more like 12v 10amp.

If unaccounted for during your power distribution planning, you'll at best trip the fuse and at worst you'll burn down your truck. So be sure to either start those heavy draw items first, or have a more than ample electrical system to run your gear.

At best I'm just going to use a inverter for my laptop, heater and possibly cooking.

I'm not trying to get too power hungry and burn a fuse.

Be careful with the heater. They are power hungry. Most heaters for use in the home are rated at 1500 watts. I have no idea what special heaters might be out there for trucks.

Cory - you may want to see if a 12vdc charger is available for your laptop. Those plug directly into a 12v plug and you won't have the loss (mostly heat) resulting from stepping 12vdc up to 110vac and then back down to 20vdc or whatever your particular laptop requires. They're available for many laptops.

Cory - you may want to see if a 12vdc charger is available for your laptop. Those plug directly into a 12v plug and you won't have the loss (mostly heat) resulting from stepping 12vdc up to 110vac and then back down to 20vdc or whatever your particular laptop requires. They're available for many laptops.

Yup. I bought one on Amazon for my Dell. Around $25-30.

Heater?? our trucks are also set up to shut down during cooler temps but they come with bunk heaters installed and it provides plenty of heat.

There are appliances made for trucks and/or 12v plugs. I have a crockpot and coffee pot. The crockpot works fine. Unfortunately it takes about 30-45 mins to get a small "pot" of coffee. :( The coffee maker takes 1 bottle of water. So that is how much coffee you get. It is not super hot either, but it is a nice very warm cup of joe..it serves its purpose. I also have a thermo electric cooler by Coleman. Thing is awesome. Only problem is if I don't keep the temp inside my truck above 72 degrees my stuff freezes. I usually aim to keep my truck around 75 degrees at night.

Is there any chargeable inverter that you can plug into a cigarette light for a long time to run on its own without charging...? Something like a generator.

Most "jump packs" for starting vehicles with deas batteries have a inverter in them or at least a 12v outlet. Im not sure what all they could run but they can normally recharge by plugging them into a 120 outlet or the 12v outlet in your vehicle.

Is there any chargeable inverter that you can plug into a cigarette light for a long time to run on its own without charging...? Something like a generator.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge on the subject. The issue I have with my truck is it doesn't idle when it's cold.

Any suggestions?

It sounds like you have something like Opti-Idle or some other setting in the ECM that needs to be adjusted.