Hello gang. I've tried searching the interwebs and forums and can't quite find what I'm looking for so I'm hoping someone can help me out. I'm a new owner of a 2021 F150 Lariat crew cab short bed and have some questions about the outlets. I have a plug in the dash, in the back of the center console for the rear seat area and in the bed with all three labeled AC 120V / 400 W MAX. Full disclosure, I'm an idiot when it comes to electricity.

I have an ICECO refrigerator cooler (VL45 to be exact) and as best as I can tell the average draw is 55W with a max of 85W in the rapid cool setting. So, seems like I should be fine to plug it in to any of the outlets and it will run fine? Correct?

As best as I can learn too, those outlets will only work when the truck is on? Correct? I ask because the cooler has a setting that prevents it from drawing down a vehicle battery below the level to start the vehicle but if the outlets aren't powered that doesn't really matter.

Thanks for any education you guys and gals can provide!

 

55W - 85W should be fine, the system will not allow you to overload it and will shut down if too much wattage is plugged in.

Yes vehicle must be running.

May want to look at what the starting load pull is on the cooler verses running load. Starting load is sometimes more than running load; however, you should still be okay.

Looks like it can also be used in DC mode plugging into one of the 12VDC outlets

 

Thanks. Some more digging online and seems like the cooler draws 2.5-3.0 amps while running and 4.5-5.0 at startup. As mentioned, I'm an electrical idiot so I help me with amps vs. watts. Still OK or going to be a problem?

 

Manual shows that it's maximum draw is 85W so your 400W should be fine. This 400W is for you AC plug (household style plug). Watts are just Volts times Amps so to figure out how many Amps that is:

What your truck provides: W = V*A so A = W/V, A = 400/120 So you have 3.3 Amps available at 120V AC

The refrigerator at 85W would only pull 0.7 Amps at 120V AC, A = 85/120

If the unit pulls 85W while hooked to 12V DC it would pull 7 Amps, A = 85/12

 

Just to add some consideration,; power conversion is done as some loss because the conversion efficiency is never 100%.
Expect the Battery drain to be a bit higher to cover those losses.
How long the Battery would last to starting failure, if the engine could not be run, would depend on the Battery RC or Reserve Capacity at that time, if you used an outside Inverter at the same power loading..
The cooler uses a Heating Cooling >Junction< and a DC fan motor for heat sink cooling.
Whether it Heats or Cools depends on which direction the DC Current flows across that Junction..
Good luck.

 

Thanks guys. Seems like it will run my cooler fine. Another related question....the inverter apparently puts out a modified sine wave rather than a pure sine wave. I've looked online and tried Iceco customer support and can't find a clear answer. Will a modified sine wave damage my cooler?

 

Mod. Sine Wave won't hurt the Cooler or the Fan.
Pure Sine Wave supplies are more expensive.
If you had a Scope Display tool, you would see something much different than a >Sine< Wave displayed on its Screen like a modified form of it.
Good luck.

 

No. On a trip to big bend, I had my iceco and 2 other electric coolers plugged in. No issues.