120 Outlet Question

Was doing a Christmas parade pulling a trailer with regular lights on. Had 4 strings of christmas lights that were added late. The rest were battery operated. Plugged them in using extension cord into bed 120 outlet and turned on the 120 outlet button. Everything worked fine while in park. As soon as I put it into Drive the lights went out and the 120 outlet button light went out. Moved extension cord to rear seat outlet with same results. Pressed the 120 outlet button and it would illuminate for a couple seconds then go out. Any ideas?

 

Maybe overloaded?
Did you try just one strand?

 

In park and neutral you have 400 watts in drive you only have 100.

 

IF you are using LED lights, 4 strings shouldnt exceed 100 watts, I would change out the cord

 

Hi degrotk 2023. you need to check if you are pulling over or near 400watts that is all the oem 120vac is capable which would be for a laptop or something like a small device electric razor etc . Think or it as burning ONLY 6 60 WATT BULBS IF YOU HAD 7 THAT WOULD BE 420 6X 7 420 WATTS GOING 12VDC TO 110 IS PRETTY EFFICIENT BUT OVERLOADING WILL EITHER THROW A FUSE OR BREAKER ON TRUCK . My suggestion if you want power is get on Amazon or someone making a Full-sine wave power inverter rated at 5 to 7 kw and use an extra battery so the power amperage will be there for the 120vac out. Don't be fooled by the BS that ford puts out on their on board 120 ac an claiming it will power a house BECAUSE the kink of house i have requires 24 kw an that would take 4 trucks hooked up to the house. This is why most use portable back up generators during outages to only power the appliances needed freezer re-frig etc. if you use a modified sine wave or square tooth it is hard on electronic equipment. Maybe too much info but hope this sheds a little light on the subject of watts ohms and amps . perhaps if you can stand the sound put a 3kw portable Generac or Honda in your truck bed cause if you damage any or the electronics on yor truck it will get pretty expensive.Merry Christmas! smileytn1

 

A typical string of 100 incandescent Christmas lights uses around 40 watts. If your 4 strings were incandescent, then you exceeded the 100W maximum of your truck's outlet while driving.

I find the 400/100W outlet on our trucks rather useless.

Matt

 

I use a 12V DC-120V AC 4000 watt inverter connected directly to the battery with zero issues when I need power.

 

Please read your owners manual