Help? I need to get my truck wired to run my Grinder

rhinoknives

rhinoknives

Well-Known Member
Hello fellow Dogsters. This request is for those with electronic knowledge0?

I just bought a new 2015 truck, I want to use the motor, generator etc to run a power inventor of sorts?

To run my Franken 2 x 72" grinder I built with a 1 HP Motor and a KABC Variable control and a buddy wired.
I want to run that grinder and say, a light or two for knife sharpening and some demo work at Farmers Markets, peoples homes. I have been running a gasoline generator and just doing jobs at peoples homes that I can plug in at their garage.

I want to use my trucks power directly and have someone set up an inverter and battery in the bed of my truck I can plug into. For some reason Amps, Ohm's Watts etc are all Greek to me.

I am going to talk to a local Auto Electric repair shop or two, what size inventer and possibly an additional battery would I need to run that kind of draw? I want to get the right equipment for the work and not damage my new truck I just purchased. :sad:

It's a Toyota Tacoma with a four cylinder and stock battery etc. If that makes any difference?

Thanks and if you need more info please ask! I appreciate your replies.
 
I'm not an electrician - but if we take a S.W.A.G. that your grinder and lights and running truck might be drawing about 1300 watts, at 12 volts, that's a draw of about 108 amps. I'd be surprised if the stock alternator delivered that much and even if it did, it would require some very heavy wiring to supply the invertor. An extra battery maybe - with an isolator? You might want to check out an RV supply. They have experience with supplying household power levels through 12 volt supplies and voltage inverters.

Our local automotive supply advertises several units in the $200 - $400 range that have the specs, but I share your concern about asking too much of the alternator and battery in your new truck.
 
Rob,
Thanks. I'm heading over to talk with this man, he seem very knowledgeable, far more than the first one I talked with on the phone.
 
Laurence,

The RV shop is the way to go. A few years back I needed 110 power out of a van for my photography business. I went to a Auto Electric place and spent $1500 for the solution. It nearly burned up my van. It fried a $3200 lighting system. After that a friend told me to check out a RV conversion shop. For $1100 they installed the proper wiring, additional batteries (2), the transfer switching, and inverter with the proper cooling to safely operate my equipment.

I still do business with that company 20 years later as they expanded into custom pickup truck work also.
 
^^^theres your answer. The stock equipment in the truck will not handle much more than a DVD and a flashlight. You'd be better served and save lots of dough by just buying a Honda or Ryobi small inverter generator. You can get these that will ha dale the amperage and wattage you'll be pulling. To get the needed capacity - use the simple equation A = W/V or W = A x V. Add up everything you want to run this way to get total watts and amps needed.
Take the amp rating of the motor, multiply by voltage (120 or 240) and that gives you the wattage you'll be pulling. Whatever you use to power the machinery must meet both amps and watts needed, and I'd add a 25% safety for service factor ratings on the motor. Example: a 1 HP motor may have a 1.25 service factor which means when under strain it will pull the amperage of a 1.25 HP motor.

All that being said, you should be able to find a smallish, quiet inverter generator for less than $1000 that will fill your needs.
 
Jack the truck up,use a belt off the rear wheels to drive your grinder.:biggrin:
Im not sure if that little imitation of a truck will have enough horsepower and torque to power your grinder though,you should have bought a Chevy.:biggrin:
Lawrence,don't hate me for this,I couldn't resist!:biggrin:
 
Calvin Robinson said:
Jack the truck up,use a belt off the rear wheels to drive your grinder.:biggrin:
Im not sure if that little imitation of a truck will have enough horsepower and torque to power your grinder though,you should have bought a Chevy.:biggrin:
Lawrence,don't hate me for this,I couldn't resist!:biggrin:
Click to expand...

Calvin,
I had a CHEVY, and the ^&$# thing broke down so many times I went with the truck that has the BEST dependable rating by a long shot! That's TOYOTA! I'll be sure to wave to ya as I pass you sitting on the side of the road with your hood up!:biggrin:
 
Well Guys I found a local auto Electric shop that said to go down to the Marine/Boat supply and buy a 3000 watt inverter, a 1000 watt deep cycle Marine battery and another unit to protect my battery. He will put it all in on Monday.
I don't have the list in front of me right now.. puts in the truck with all of the equipment.

He said that he always buys the Marine Quality stuff. To avoid any Auto sound cr@p from china. I will double check what I purchased against the math you provided DL.

I Thank everyone for their replies. Even Calvin:60:

I will let everyone know how it works. I already have a 3000 watt Gasoline generator. I wanted to be able to not have the noise & smoke at the Farmers markets and be able to stop anywhere and sharpen!
 
Laurence - I'd be VERY CAREFUL about that inverter. A 1hp motor is going to pull a LOTS of power at 12VDC - and "IF" you do think about using an inverter, be SURE to get a true sine wave inverter, NOT the "modified" sine wave. BIG difference in performance, and even bigger difference in price.

Mr Brothers has the best answer by far
You'd be better served and save lots of dough by just buying a Honda or Ryobi small inverter generator
Click to expand...
Those provide good clean 60 hz sine wave. I'm not sure how picky that VFD will be on cycles and how clean the power needs to be, but normal generators are not the "best" in clean power. You mentioned you've been running VFD from a gasoline genset? I guess it's working pretty good? Thoes inverter rated gensets, especially in a sound box can hardly be heard they're so quiet.

Ken H>
 
Last edited:
rhinoknives said:
Calvin,
I had a CHEVY, and the ^&$# thing broke down so many times I went with the truck that has the BEST dependable rating by a long shot! That's TOYOTA! I'll be sure to wave to ya as I pass you sitting on the side of the road with your hood up!:biggrin:
Click to expand...

:biggrin:
 
Well first let me say thank you! Even to Calvin since I got to slam his Chevy Truck! :biggrin:.

I bought American Trucks since forever and had some many problems with my last one that I bought what is called a domestically made truck by Toyota in Texas.

Anyway I had my Maiden voyage with the new truck and inverter system and this gu did a great job of wiring it all up. He had me roll under on a creeper and showed me the wiring job.

Very sanitary! Looks like the stock job of the truck only heavier and he put two fuse breakers in. I used it for about 3 hours total run time with the truck idling for about an hour of it as the installer suggested. He said its better to keep the second battery charged. I am doing a Farmers Market this Sunday that will be an all day affair.
 
Lawrence,
I'm happy you got your truck wired the way you needed it.
You slammed your chevy truck not mine. You can't slam mine because My current Chevy HD 2500 has 237,000 miles on it and is still going strong and has never left me stranded. This is the latest in a long line of Chevy trucks that I have put a quarter of a million miles on and then sold or gave away.
I hope I didn't offend you by taking a jab at your imitation truck.:biggrin:
 
Not at all. My last chevy was a S-10 with the 4.3 v-6 and I had so many problems with it at only 130.000 miles that I bought the truck with the BEST reliability and resale! Toyota. I will be able to easily put over 300.000 on this one.

I also sold Chevrolet trucks for over six years. I have a pretty good understanding of how screwed up that company is!

If I had wanted a full size I would have purchased the Dodge! :biggrin:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top