Will do I am working on this and the audio . Ot will take some time....

 

Yea this isa gimmick.. The ac outlet is pretty much useless. If Hyundai really wanted to impress, they would have made this capable of powering a small electric stove fo rcamping which is what this vehihcle is actually aimed at being used for. Ill look into upgrading this useless Ac outlet with something more powerful. problme is the alternator will need to be upgraded to a 350amp monster. The wiring will need to be upgraded.

 

Please post your upgrade when you do it.

 

Do you think the inverter would power 200 of the miniature Christmas lights so I could use in a parade. Don't really want to drag along a generator for such little power consumption

 

The 150-watt AC power outlet can power about 300 incandescent miniature Christmas lights or about 3,000-4,000 LED Christmas lights.

 

Could you recharge a portable power station or do they draw too much power? 12v would work of course but on a multi leg camping trip for example I'd rather recharge a large portable battery in the bed while driving than have it taking up space in the cab.

 

Look at the power station or its charger or documentation to see what the power requirements are. You can also use a device like a Kill A Watt to measure power consumption before using the vehicle's AC power outlet.

 

The real question is why didn't they include a 12V car power plug right next to it? At least then I could hook up an electric cooler in the bed, or an air pump for bike tires and water floating things. Stuff I might actually want to power from the outside of the vehicle. As far as I see it this is best for people who are doing on the go videography. Charging batteries for cameras, drones, powering a laptop to stream footage.

 

If you have a 7-pin trailer wiring connector, you can use an adapter like this one to get a 12-volt power outlet at the rear of the vehicle.

 

As I’m sure you know, most all inverters basically work this way and there are some that are more sensitive equipment compatible (filtered and wave shaped output)….but I’m sure this is not one of them. One of these days if I get my oscilloscope out of storage….will check for output purity/square wave/filtering. 🧐

edit: on second thought, who cares? 🙂

 

Another thing to keep in mind regarding the AC power outlet is that its output is a "modified" sine wave (a series of smaller square waves that approximates a sine wave) and not a "pure" sine wave.

The safest items to plug into such an outlet are an incandescent light bulb or small resistive load such as a non-electronic slower cooker on the "keep warm" setting. I wouldn't plug anything I cared about into it. The limited amount of power it provides is terribly "dirty".

Image source: Tripp Lite

 

You can charge your cell phone, but will any towers be functioning in the hurricane?

 

So I just did my kicker install today… there are no fuses, breakers or reset buttons at the inverter. Only the 30a fuse under the bonnet.

 

Oldflyer: If you haven’t already, check the inverter fuse (30A) in the engine compartment fuse panel, it’s location is shown on page 9-55 of the owners manual at the bottom of the diagram.

 

I was excited when I learned the Santa Cruz offers a 115 volt AC outlet in the truck bed, at least in some trim packages; but, disappointed when I learned the total available wattage. I thought about using a circular saw from the bed of the vehicle. When I think back over the last 50 years, I needed to do that twice, and both times a standard outlet in a building was close at hand. (I do not go to games, and I do not tailgate.)

 

The stock inverter is behind the right rear seat. It's not too difficult to get to. Should be easy too install a more powerful inverter if needed... Unless there is something in the electrical system that prevents that upgrade.

 

Is this where you would also reset the inverter? I popped mine on my initial test and was going to ask the dealer to do a reset the first time I go in for a checkup (even though I will likely never have use for it).

 

I have a separate 400 Watt inverter I can plug into the cigarette lighter. It has two 115 volt receptacles like a wall outlet. The fan is a little noisy, but its output is more than double the truck bed outlet. So far, I have not used it with this vehicle.

 

Semi related - I am in S FL too... you'll find me posting on Central Florida Hurricane Center 2022 - 27 Years Tracking Storms with local conditions if anything comes of this. Here is my Irma video of the last time we went thru this drill, never lost power thankfully during that storm.

 

It’s 150 watts, which is approx 1.36 amps at 110v, it’s not a lot, but it will work fine as long as you don’t exceed the rating.

 

Im in S Fla, so we're facing a hurricane which means power outages in the next few days. I read somewhere about the plug in the bed of the Santa Cruz being OK (or not Ok?) for charging a cell phone, or plugging stuff in. If there's no power, in a pinch, can I just plug a normal wall converter into the outlet in the bed of the truck and charge a cell phone with that? Will it work? Damage anything? It can just be used like a normal outlet in the wall? Anything else I should be aware of...?
(Note : I do know that my Limited has a wireless charger or that I can use a converter for the cigarette lighter; Im just wondering about the outlet in the bed; I know its Ok for some things and not others, wondering about cell phone charging)..

 

Just be aware engine must be running for inverter to work.

 

There are a lot of battery powered appliances on the market.

for less than $40 you can buy a blender for tailgating that will mix 15 drinks on one charge. Keep it plugged in and it will charge between uses and stay charged all day.

For $400-1100 you can buy a quite portable 2000w generator.

Sams sells a 2300w generator for $350 that runs 6.5 hours on 1.1 gallons of fuel.

if I had a need for 110v power at the tailgate, that is the route I would go.

 

The AC outlet only is hot when the engine is running….a 35 inch LED tv only draws 60-80 watts so tailgate video from a laptop could show videos of game action while tailgating 🏈. Power is rated at 150w

 

The Ridgeline allows you to use its AC outlet in 150W mode in accessory mode without the engine running for up to 60 minutes at a time. You can switch the vehicle off and back to accessory for another 60 minutes. The AC outlet will turn off automatically before the battery discharges. 400W mode, however, requires the engine to be running with the transmission in park. Even 400W greatly limits the usefulness of this feature - that won't run most power tools or even a blender for making frozen margaritas at a tailgate party; although, the Truck-Bed Audio System is a neat parlor trick and pairs nicely with the LED Christmas light for use in a parade.

One use I found for the AC outlet is to power a slow cooker while transporting food in the trunk.

 

At 115V/150W - yes, it’s pretty much useless, except to charge your phone, laptop and run some LED Christmas lights…

 

Did anyone at Hyundai tell you it would do more than 115V/150W? They did not. This is also not a truck for construction contractors. What you're doing is analyzing a tool not meant for what you intended and being salty that it doesn't do something you didn't pay for.

 

I was disappointed to hear how easy it was to overload the bed AC plug but at least I knew before I made the purchase. I thought I had the perfect mission for AC plug. I have a piece of equipment offsite that needs the battery charged a little prior to start up if it has been sitting more than a month. Perfect job for the SC outlet using my 1 AMP motorcycle charger or so I thought. The engine needs to be running to energize the AC plug circuit. Well that just put the AC plug in the useless piece of crap category for me.

I would love to eat crow and be schooled on how I can get continuous power to the plug for 15-30 minutes without the engine running. Plan B is to haul my little Honda generator, which I will tie down in front of the right side cubby.

 

Ok you'll have to explain why it's useless just because the car has to be running. This is actually really smart on Hyundais part for making it like this for a mass produced car. Imagine if half the SC customer base gets stranded with a dead battery because the customers don't have the basic understanding that the car battery can only maintain its charge while the engine is running. Letting your battery drain and then jumping it to get it going takes a toll on the battery, and having to do that multiple times will cut your overall battery life in half. Why not just idle the car while you use the AC outlet? The engine isnt loud so it can't be inconveniencing you that way. It doesn't consume much fuel while idling, so you can't be upset about the $1-2 of gas you're burning while idling for an hour. You understand the AC outlet is a convenience and conveniences usually come with a price, this one being a couple dollars of gas here and there.

Prolonged use of an AC outlet on ANY vehicle on the market while the engine is off, will result in decreased battery life or your battery dying on you.

 

An advertisement popped up on Facebook for a 4000 Watt inverter (12 volts input/115 volts output). I think you are supposed to have the engine running when you use it. But, 4000 Watts produces almost 35 Amperes. That is probably a peak output rather than a continuous output. But, that is enough to run a 115 volt flux core welder. The price on that inverter was $450. I do not know what size of wires are recommended on the 12 volt side, but it is probably more than comes from the Hyundai factory. When I went to look for it again, I found a number of 4000 Watt inverters available. The inverter I saw was from Renogy, but I cannot find it on their web page.

 

A 100W-equivalent LED light bulb (bright!) draws only 17W, and a 60W LED bulb draws only 9W. So you could light up a whole string of those.

In fact, campers can light up their whole campground and annoy the heck out of fellow campers. lol.

 

It would power two 75 W light bulbs.

 

i would go with the 2x inkjet printers!

Running a work light when I need to do some thing in the driveway vs garage would be nice.

 

Note to Hyundai- Either up the amperage to the bed socket or take it out and put in a 12 volt outlet that can run things like a cooler. Maybe install GFI so you can reset the outlet when it trips off.

 

A GFI doesnt trip on current overload only for a ground fault