12v outlet and inverter question

[WyoIDI]

Hello,
I just had a quick question regarding the 12v outlet in my new (to me) grandby. It has one 12v cig. lighter outlet that is not factory, but it runs through the breaker box and to the new agm battery and all the wiring appears to be correct. The problem is, I cannot get my very small inverter to power up when I plug it into the 12v outlet. The inverter runs fine in the pickup even when the trucks off, but it won't run in the camper. I tested the outlet an it's getting power and the fuse and breaker are fine too. So I'm a little lost with this and would really like a 110 power source to charge small electronics without having to wire in some beast of an inverter. Any help would be great, thanks in advance.
Jon
p.s. the camper is just as great as I was hoping it'd be!!!

 

[UglyScout]

Your inverter 12v plug might not be 'plugging in' correctly with the camper 12v outlet. Just guessing.

Do you have any other 12v items you could try in the camper, off that outlet?

 

[Chukar Hunter]

Do you have a good ground on that outlet? If you are checking power to the center of the outlet and ground for some other point that could be your problem

 

[WyoIDI]

So I am still perplexed by the this 12v outlet. I've tried almost every small 12v electronic in the outlet and still have no power to them. I can get my circuit tester light thing to light up when I carefully touch the ground wire to the back of the socket and the positive to the side of the socket. If I accidently bump one of the wires and short the neg. in the back to pos. on the side the fuse will pop like it should. So it seems like there should be power . Could it be that the electronics want more power than the outlet/battery can give? I've tried the smallest little cell phone chargers and they still won't go. Or could the wiring (12ga) be too small to carry enough power? I know I should go get a voltometer and see what is coming out of it, but it seems like it should be a simpler fix than that. thanks again!

 

[pods8]

The outlet geometry might not be working out for most plugs (ie not making proper contact), with a cell charger for instance start working if you wiggle it?

 

[WyoIDI]

I tried to wiggle it, twist it, and even force it in as far as I reasonably could. Maybe I'll just have to get a new socket to wire in. You'd think most 12v male/female connections would fit, but maybe not. Thanks for the input.

 

[Alley-Kat]

You answered this yourself... it would be better using a volt meter to get a reading of volts present.

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

I would try replacing the 12v plug.

You can find simple replacements at most automotive stores.

If that doesn't work, maybe buy an extra 12v receptical and hook it directly to the 12v camper battery.

(don't install it in the cabinets)

I think that would probably solve your problem of not getting enough 12v power to the outlet.

Hope this helps.



.

 

[White Dog]

The inverter may have a minimum voltage cutout. If the battery is low and below this voltage, the inverter will not turn itself on. I'm with Alley-Kat, get a voltmeter and check the voltage. You could try plugging the camper into 110 VAC so the converter brings up the voltage. Also, if one of the connections is poor somewhere in the circuit, even a poor fuse, as soon as the inverter tries to draw a load, the voltage may drop and the inverter turns itself off. This may not be so evident if you are testing the outlet with a device with a very low load.

 

[K7MDL]

You stated
"... I can get my circuit tester light thing to light up when I carefully touch the ground wire to the back of the socket and the positive to the side of the socket. If I accidently bump one of the wires and short the neg. in the back to pos. on the side the fuse will pop like it should."

If this is really as written, then you might have the wiring polarity reversed on the receptacle. Blocking diodes in your plug-in devices would just ignore the voltage in that case.

For a correctly wired system, the center pin is positive, the outer shell is ground (negative). Your "tester thingy" may or may not be polarity sensitive. If it uses a simple light bulb it is not polarity sensitive. Most use LEDs and are though. Try reversing your test leads and see what happens.

- Mike

 

[WyoIDI]

I never really thought about the pos. and neg. wires being switched. It was already wired when I bought the camper used. I'll take apart the breaker box that it's installed in and see what goes where. Sorry for the poor grammar, I'm obviously not an electrician.

 

[K7MDL]

It may be easier to swap the wires at the back of the receptacle. Black should be negative, white or red positive. If you cannot verify the polarity by using a measuring device, then tracing the wire colors to the breaker may show what the real story is. Having a voltmeter would make quick work of sorting these kinds of things out. You can find them cheap at Harbor Frieght, Radio Shack and many hardware and auto supply stores these days.