120V Outlet or via cigarette lighter?

Mitsubishi Delica L400 production commenced in 1994 -- After much anticipation, the L400 arrived on Canadian Soil in 2009!
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dr_airtime
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120V Outlet or via cigarette lighter?

Post by dr_airtime »

Have a 97 Jasper L400 diesel arriving at the Vancouver Port on Jan 15th. I'm assuming it is going to be a winterized dual battery which opens up some options for camping electrical.

Can anyone confirm if L400s come with a 120V 60 Hz AC North American standard socket at all? Or any plug? Plugs in Japan the same two-prong. If there is a plug in Japan the standard appears to be 100V 50/60 Hz. Maybe if there is a plug this is close enough to the North American standard to work?

If not, what is everyone's experience with running an inverter off the L400 cigarette lighter?

I'm an L300 owner and I remember reading on the L300 forum that since the L300s were made before the days of personal electronics, they used a very thin gauge (hence low amp maybe 8A if remember?) wire/fuse to route to both the dashboard and bench-area lighters so if you used an inverter, other L300 owner's experience was that is was only a matter of time before the wires fried and the cigarette lighters were rendered useless. I never used an inverter on my L300 as a result.

Is this other people's experience with the L400 or perhaps they spec'd the lighter fuses and wires for higher amperage (say 15A or 20A).

Thanks in advance for help! Couldn't find this topic anywhere here so created new thread.
thelazygreenfox
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120V Outlet or via cigarette lighter?

Post by thelazygreenfox »

DA
Even my 99 L400 has IMHO too light guage a wire. Size up if you can. Never assume anything till your delica arrives. The options are incredible and hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised when your "baby" arrives. No idea on the 120V(?) plug but I'd hard wire an inverter if you need the juice. Temp use still produces heat at the cig lighter.
MD
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Thomasdontgiveacrap
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120V Outlet or via cigarette lighter?

Post by Thomasdontgiveacrap »

Hi, I have 99 Chamonix. I was expecting dual battery as it should be winter package but I didn't get it. But have to say that she starts in -30 without major problems. [when get below -25, she works a bit harder but never had to boost her]
I found two cigarette lighters [one classic by driver and one by rear gate].
I use some "gas station'' inverter to charge my camera and laptop with no problem but I give you head up about electricity. I had to replaced alternator and even with not even year old part, whenever I put on all of my el. powered tools. [Low beams, fog lights, rear window defroster etc.] I star dropping voltage when idling. Maybe it's just me but I'm wondering how guys powering their light bars, fridges and other stuff.
thelazygreenfox
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120V Outlet or via cigarette lighter?

Post by thelazygreenfox »

Thomas
The alternator failure is often preceded by a dead battery, the message being "replace your battery when it doesn't hold a charge." The battery may need to be replaced with a larger battery when the deli arrives here.
MD
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dr_airtime
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120V Outlet or via cigarette lighter?

Post by dr_airtime »

No outlet seems to be the word. But L400's apparently have a 15A wired lighter in the front and a 20A wired lighter in the back.

http://www.mdocuk.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12347

The L300s seemed to have a 15A front cigarrette lighter. Probably same for bench seat lighter too. These are the 15A wires infamous for burning out on L300s.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=17785&p=132209&hili ... te#p132209

Basically - solution is just always use the rear socket.

Most I'll ever do is charge my laptop so I don't blow it. The inverter needs to output only 180 Watts as an input into my laptop charger (120V x 1.5A). Round to 200 Watts.

200 Watts divided by your 12V car battery would result in 16 Amps on the wire. (200W/12V). 16 Amps is greater than the front 15A wire so this could explain how low loads blew the old L300 15A cigarette lighters.

Use the rear 20A lighter and 16A<20A so hopefully the wires won't overheat.

An iphone plug charger needs 120V @ 0.15A or only 18 Watts out of the inverter. The inverter should thus draw 18 Watts / 12V battery only 1.5 Amps on wires. Phones and tablets not an issue to charge as a result.

This is simplistic and I'm no electrical expert and this ignores AC/DC conversion.

Let me know if that makes sense.
thelazygreenfox
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120V Outlet or via cigarette lighter?

Post by thelazygreenfox »

yup, it makes sense to me
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Thomasdontgiveacrap
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120V Outlet or via cigarette lighter?

Post by Thomasdontgiveacrap »

thelazygreenfox wrote:Thomas
The alternator failure is often preceded by a dead battery, the message being "replace your battery when it doesn't hold a charge." The battery may need to be replaced with a larger battery when the deli arrives here.
MD
Battery was replaced last year. Alternator went about 10 months after.
Alternator was check in the shop and produces 14.4 V at 100 AMPS. What would be your battery choice?
THX
thelazygreenfox
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120V Outlet or via cigarette lighter?

Post by thelazygreenfox »

measure the present battery and phone around. Lordco was the cheapest for me last time.
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