Simple Pilot Bay inverter installation

December 25, 2016, 08:58:02 pm

Ever since we started traveling on the coach I have used a laptop on the dash running Delorme's Street Atlas as my navigator.
I had a small 100 watt inverter and powered the rig from the dash lighter receptacle. I never liked the setup very much but didn't want to install a 110 outlet up there either. When the small inverter bit the dust I pulled a larger one I had off the shelf and used it. I liked that even less. I could just see not only the laptop (actually a small netbook) but also the clunky inverter flying through the air in some bad event.

Since the dash lifts up in two places, the curved portion over the instrument panel and the flat portion just to the right of it, I started pondering the space that cover covered (if you will).
Some what of an aside, I had been coveting the second dash mounted house battery connected lighter receptacle that later models have.

Well, mounted on a board which slides vertically into a set of tracks under the console cover is the Audit computer and also the second lighter receptacle. This looked like the ideal place to hide the sharp cornered metal missile. I considered wiring the inverter into the lighter circuit but that wouldn't work. I didn't want to open the cover to turn it on and off and I didn't want to introduce any more parasitic drain in the system. Installing an additional switch seemed like more work than I wanted/needed to do.

There was ample room to mount the inverter with it's feed and the laptop power cord out the sides of the cover.
Cleans the dash up a little

Re: Simple Pilot Bay inverter installation

Reply #1 – December 25, 2016, 09:03:24 pm

WE, too, have been using the Delorme Street Atlas for about ten years. It allows for the large screen on the dash to be easier to see. I bought a power wire the plugs directly into the lighter socket and powers the computer. It's worked fine for ten years and I just have to unplug it when not in use. This ower wire is just the same size as the one that came with the computer except that it has the 12 volt plug.

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