Hi All,
We are planning to have a long road trip, do you think plugging the xbox to the electrical outlet with the power converter dc to ac would overload the alternator? Thanks

 

Not sure if they use the same alternator, but I plugged a small TV into one of those power convertors on an '01 Odyssey for a 12 hr road trip and it was fine.

 

That is good to know. I guess the xbox is not comsuming a lot more than the tv. Thanks

 

no ur fine. i used my laptop while driving, and going to NYC tonight so will be doing it again.

 

probably not a good assumption in my experience..

i have a TV. super nintendo, and 64 in my accord...

one day i hooked up the old "Xbox" and it bogged everything down.. and that was on an optima battery

they take up the same power as a computer... tv's on the other hand.. dont take much...

just be careful when doing so.

i think my old xbox drew 3 amps...

they 360 could draw more or less.. im not familiar with trying it.

 

Just to let you know I tried hooking my Xbox 360 to a power inverter in a Dodge Caravan on the way to New York last Summer....it never worked. Not enough power from the power inverter.

The only way it is possible is to get an inverter that is able to hook up the car battery itself and find a way to run the wires to the inside of the car.

Probably very dangerous and mostly not worth it.

 

after reading up on it just now..

there are tons of warnings on the subject.. recommending expensive power converter's that are hooked to the battery with some pretty thick ass power cables...

apparently ps2's and ps1's run about the same amount of power as a flashlight lol... xbox's on the other hand suck up some juice...

just sing some tunes on the way! lol

 

Thanks for the feedbacks guys. That was my bad assumption, and it sounds like I shouldn't attempt it.

 

not a bad assumption. It sounds like you didnt want to be bored on a long trip, lol

 

the total load from all the electrics- lights-fans radio etc and whatever you want to hook up is important
I have run (not in the TL) a power convertor- they have a readout of how much draw anything you plug in will take- 4 amps as example
The cabin fan takes 15+ amps at high speeds, so total load isnt really a factor, its getting the power from the battery to the convertor
You are not trying to pull 50 amps, just more than the 5 or 10 the lighter outlet is willing to provide. Some 10 guage wire on its own fuse is easy to run thru the firewall and to the device- you can power many things.

Electric devices should list their amp draw

 

^^ I was waiting for him to step in and give the Scientific reasoning behind why it wont work , lol

 

It will work, just figure the total (reasonable) load you will have & make certain the inverter you use is capable of supplying it, along with using appropriate size wiring to the inverter & good quality connections. And put it on it's own fused circuit as 01tl4tl said.

 

If your inverter is big enough it wont be a problem. I have had one hooked up before in my car. Now if you could hook up your inverter to a dedicated line like 01tl4tl said it would be better

 

I used to run an invertor in the truck off the lighter outlet for small devices like 4 amp no problem
and hook it to the battery direct to power bigger things like a tv or the bigger frig and its 10 amp draw

Just dont leave it hooked up overnight or you will be jumping the battery in the morning

Modern convertors have sine wave whatever,, and are ok to use with your laptop or other sensative equipment

 

thats because hes right.


you always want to have converter that is rated higher than what your using, atleast thats my rule of thumb. it will run longer a cooler.

if somone throws a crappy converter in and runs something that pulls alot of current especially an xbox that is not consistent with its current draw (disc spinning up to play game)
the converter works harder and trys to pull more current and thats where the power wire comes into play. without going to technical, the little 18awg wire thats behind that cigarette lighter has a max of ten amps until either the fuse blows or your wire begins to heat up and melt.

10awg on the other hand can handle much more current to provide that power to the converter.

i had a 400 "watt" inverter that ran an xbox and it seemed to do fine. i dont know that specs on your inverter or the xbox so i couldn't recommend anything specific to help you out.

what size inverter do you have, spec wise.