1000w Power Inverter on a 2011 Tacoma

Hi everybody,

I planning to install or at least use a 1000w Power Inverter running off my battery (OEM nothing special or deep cycle).

I’m aware that there’s a 400w outlet I could use instead of messing with my truck, but is not sufficient for my particular need (run a water pump, to get water from an open well in a ranch). The pump I’ll be using will draw about 700w or so.

Here are my questions. Is it safe (assuming I know what I’m doing) to use a 1000w on my truck? Or will that be too much for the alternator? Could it mess anything up in the ECU? Can I go to a 1500 or 2000w inverter? Or is a 1000w as big as I can go?

Have anyone done this before? Have your run into issues?

I have a 4WD 2011 TRD Sport Tacoma, I don’t have a Tow Package so I will run this with whatever base alternator the trucks gets factory installed.
I plan to have the motor running while using the water pump.

Hope you can shed some light into my questions.

thanks!

 

Isn’t easier to get Honda EU 2000 for $900.

 

You need to decide your type of use. If you’re going to run something 110v for 2 hours, you need a generator. If you want 110v power anytime you decide, from your truck and only 1-15 minutes at a time get an inverter. I haven’t installed my inverter yet, but it’s 2000 watts continuous, 4000 watts peak, pure sine. I have heavy cables, circuit breaker and a 20amp outdoor rated outlet, and a 31M AGM battery. I wanted to be able to run anything that you can plug into a 110 outlet. Skill saw, Keurig, shop vac, etc. It will only be used in short time intervals with the engine running. The tow package alternator won’t keep up with that kind of draw, but I have the battery to back it up and the alternator will recharge between uses.

 

If you wire it directly to the battery with appropriately sized and protected wires, it will be safe. On the other hand, if you want to run the pump for more than intermittant use, it probably won't do what you want.

Your alternator should put out 80-90 amps at high rpm, of which the truck will need ~40 amps depending on what's running. That nets you < 50 amps or 600 watts best case energy production.

Your 700 watt pump will actually cost you ~780 watts to run (assuming 90% inverter efficiency). So you're draining 180 watts, or 15 amps, an hour from your battery even while maxing your alternator. Stock battery is a 24F, somewhere between 75 and 100 amp hrs of electricity, of which half is usable.

If my math is right, you can run the pump for 2-3 hrs, maxing out your alternator, before starting to damage your battery.

tl:dr; you can run as big an inverter as you want, but >500 watts will drain your battery. Generator is probably the better solution here.

Edit: what above poster said, but with math

 

Thank you all for your insight. I plan to run the pump for about 20min tops.

I’m planning to use the pump to fill a small water tank (300gal) from a well.

I agree that a generator is easier, but I’d like to avoid halving to bring it back and forth, leaving it there is not a option due to security reasons.

What about a couple LED lights(9w each) and a tv (30w). Can a run that for hours long? With the engine running.

 

For what you want to do, it’s kind of a toss up whether to go with a generator or an inverter. A generator is nice to have for power outages or whatever. The Honda eu2000i generators are nice. They’re super quiet and you can carry them around with 1 hand like a suitcase. They also make a connection kit that you can use to connect 2 of them together for double the watts.

The advantage of an inverter is that it’s always in your truck to use anytime. The advantage to a generator is you can take it anywhere and let it run for hours to power a heater, refrigerator, freezer, microwave, lights, whatever.

The disadvantage to the generator is that it’s 1 more thing to maintain. Run clear premium in it, add Stabil to the gas when you store it, oil changes, etc.

 

I had a base model 2005 Tacoma for a company work truck. I installed a 5000w inverter to run corded tools while mobile. I ran a heat gun, soldering iron, jig saw, and a 10 amp circular saw on that truck from 2005 to 2011. I would run the engine for around 5 minutes during my smoke breaks, idk maybe every 45 minutes to an hour and a half of the inverter running continuously. I did try to start it more often when using that 10 amp circular saw. The truck was completely stock including the battery. I never had any issues whatsoever. I did the exact same thing with the exact same inverter with the previous work truck which was a base model 1995 Tacoma. I think the 1995's original battery lasted around 5 years with that inverter, but it's been a few years so my memory might be a little off.

 

Make sure your pump can start with a 1kw inverter. A typical pump requires about 3 times the specified power to start.