12 volt outlet in truck bed

[CGordon]

I have been thinking about putting a 12 volt outlet in the bed of my truck to plug in a cooler. I am thinking that the best way to do this would be to tap into the 12 v power at the trailer hitch.

Has anyone done this? Do you have suggestions? pictures?

many thanks!

 

[LandShark]

Just worked on this in the last few days. I used a standard 7 lead rv plug and ran the 12+ and 12- direct from the plug, I can use it from the 5th wheel outlet in the bed or the trailer plug on the stern. The output from the rv plug is a standard 2 prong plug which I can use to power a aux fuel pump for my aux fuel tank, a water pump, and a standard cigarette plug.

I would like to know if anyone has a clue about how much power I can draw from these plugs. I'm guessing at least 10 amps?

 

[Too Tall]

IMO, Keep the length to a minimum and run the biggest wire possible. Depending on load, Nothing greater than 12 gauge, 10 would be better.

 

[Hoefler]

You can buy a plug that goes into the trailer plug and has a 12 volt accessory outlet.

 

[Mingoglia]

You can buy a plug that goes into the trailer plug and has a 12 volt accessory outlet.

I have one of these, but have never used it. Walked past it at a store one day and it was less than $5 so I grabbed it just in case I ever needed it. Plugs into the 4-flat though so it requires your lights to be on, which is lame. I'm sure there's one that plugs into the 7-way so you can use the charge wire to power it.

 

[kthaxton]

I used to use a 12 volt cooler in the bed too. I just made an adapter out of a trailer plug to power it. Don't use any kind of adapter that just uses the typical cigarette lighter type connection as they aren't secure enough and they get dirty.

If you need a trailer plugged in at the same time, I'd just tap into it or do something like Landshark suggested.