I have a 2016 SuperCrew XLT. My wife and I travel with a 12v electric cooler/refrigerator that usually lives in the back seat but at times I would like to put it in the bed, which is covered. I thought sure that there would be an easy solution to this, like a male trailer connection to cigarette lighter type female, but if it's out there I can't find it. Surely somebody has done this!

Thoughts?

 

Grab you an trailer connector extension cable and route into the bed and pop one of these onto the end of it.

 

Some work involved, but run a #10 or 12 wire from the battery to an outlet that you want and mount it in the bed. Ground is easy to find on the frame. Be sure to protect the wire from the battery with something like split tubing and be sure to fuse it at the battery. I did this in an '82 F-150 that I had many years ago for this same purpose.

The power outlets are available at the auto supply stores, and mounting brackets are easy to find too.

 

How many amps does it draw?

 

Pretty heavy I think. It runs from any power port but the plug gets fairly warm so I think the draw is pretty significant.

 

I bought one of these but they don't work in the 13 gen F-150

 

Quite often the warmth from a plug is not an indication of drawn amperage. It is from a connection with the port that is not 'perfect.' It is referred to as a high resistance short. If you were to hard wire it, you would not experience that warmth.
The power outlets are not fused extremely high, so the load must not be excessive.
This condition happens with your plug-in appliances in your home as well. A warm plug on your waffle iron, or portable heater may mean that the outlet is old and worn out.

 

If you identify the unit or the amp draw you can better understand the power wire gauge requirement. If it connects off a cigarette lighter socket it may just be as simple as running some 8awg from the battery down the frame rails to the bed. I think those plugs are 10A max. Just be sure to put a fuse on it by the battery. You could snake it through the front of bed vent hole plug, or drill out a hole in the bed and install one of those water resistant plugs.

https://www.google.com/search?client...e+lighter+plug

 

It plugs in and does nothing? If thats the case you are probably missing a fuse.

 

Most of the little green lights on the gadget light up except the one to power the 12V socket. Maybe mine is missing a fuse as you mention but I just returned the thing. What fuse would I be missing?