On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 14:28:57 -0700, Keyboard In The Wilderness wrote:

I looked up my lighter circuit and it is 8 amps -- so 8 x 12 = 96 Watts --
at 50% or so efficiency -- should handle a 45 watt radio -- but that is
pushing it to say nothing of stray noise that may be introduced and a
possible voltage drop. Also the cigarette lighter may go thru the ignition
switching.


That was my thinking. As a note, I was just talking to a buddy of mine
with an Excursion. His "lighter plug" is actually labeled "accessory plug"
and had a 20A fuse in it from the factory. That tool replaced it with a
30A fuse so he could run his inverter rated at 25A. We won't discuss that
call any further.

Somehow on all my cars I find a grommet that lets me get thru the firewall
without drilling.

That's good to know. I'll have to poke around a bit more and see what I
can find in my 2002 Impala. I did have real good luck this afternoon on my
'97 Silverado 2500. The previous owner had already run 12g through the
firewall, so I had a hole to work with. I rewired it primarily because I
wasn't sure what he had done - it was a bit confusing.

Anyway, on the Silverado there are two "taps" - basically large studs -
along side of the fuse box. Each stud is hot and fused right in the box
with a 30A fuse. I made up a couple of cables and ran these right into the
cab using the existing hole. Found a good ground spot right on the
firewall, so it's nice and short as well! Both cables are about 5' in
length. Of course while these studs look stock (the fuse box cover
actually is molded to fit right over them) they might not be, so if
you happen to have a Silverado and don't see these studs don't blame me!

I'm sure the Impala won't be quite as easy.

--
John LeMay
kc2kth
Senior Technical Manager
NJMC | http://www.njmc.com | Phone 732-557-4848
Specializing in Microsoft and Unix based solutions