A customer of OutsideSupply.com called a few days ago and was wondering why he could not use a 1000 watt power inverter through his cigarette lighter socket.
The following information is what I gave the customer in response to their inverter question.
Most cars and trucks sold in the US have fuses and wiring which limit a power inverter to somewhere under 300 watts.
It depends on the car and what other items may be run off of the same circuit as the DC socket. So there is no definitive answer on how large an inverter can run on a cigarette (DC) socket.
However, 300 watts is the largest we would recommend in any vehicle. Some cars may actually only work with 200 watts or less. If your blowing fuse, go hard wire instead. It gives a better connection and the install effort will provide reliable power on the go.
I always suggest get an inverter that is large enough to power 120% of your required load. So if you required load is somewhere above 280 Watts, look at hard-wiring. Check out these top notch inverter install kits!
