Turn on bed outlet when truck is not running?

Is there any way to turn the outlet in the bed on when the truck is not running?

 

Amy I the only one that needs to have the power outlet work when the truck is not running?

 

I was wondering this as well, but haven't figured out how, if even possible, to keep the outlet always hot.

 

Thats completely dumb that it wouldnt stay on.

Why do japanese manufacturers insist on turning off the outlets when the car is off? The US mfg's have not done this for as long as I can remember and I don't recall a cell phone charger ever killing my battery.

But then, all the Japanese cars I have had don't automatically turn off the interior lights and that does kill the battery, while my American cars all seemed to have a time out on the lights if you left a door open and would be fine the next day.

 

I don't have a solution to this specific problem, but I will say that power inverters generally have a much higher power draw than a 12v cig. lighter outlet.
I am researching adding an aftermarket inverter, and most folks that leave the 120v outlet on are running dual batteries with an isolator.
If I do install an inverter I will be putting it on an accessory circuit so that I don't forget it and come back to a dead battery.

 

It just doesn't make sense to me that there wouldn't be a way to turn that on all the time. If you're at a tailgate and want to charge your phone or run a fan you shouldn't need to have the truck idling.

 

it make complete sense to not have that feature IMO, something should be recharging the battery while using the inverter

 

What in God's name do you think is going to power the outlet when the truck is not running. Your 12V battery. Holy cripes people, come-on. This one time, my refrigerator stopped running, so I plugged my Iphone charger into it and guess what.................................nothing wondertwins, holy crap.

 

It's clear you're much smarter than me, but I would think running a fan for an hour and then having to start the truck for a bit to recharge should be doable without having to run an engine the entire time. From a quick search, it appears it's not inconceivable. How Long Can a Car Battery Power 6 Types of Fans? – Home Battery Bank

 

I don't have access to the 3rd gen wiring diagrams *cough @RainMan_PNW cough* or a 3rd gen to actually look at, but you could take a look in your engine bay fuse/relay box and see if there is a relay dedicated to the bed outlet. If it has one, you should be able to put a jumper wire in its place to make it always hot, similar to what has been done with the interior outlets on previous gens.

 

Good info. Thank you

 

Way out of line and I apologize. Was just in this conversation at work about what power tools the F-150 can actually run so was assuming high level power usage. Have a good weekend.

 

OP - your profile says 2020 Tundra. I’m not aware of a factory plug in the bed of any models/trims of Gen2.5 Tundra. If you do have a gen 2.5 and a bed power outlet, it is aftermarket and whoever installed it tapped it to accessory and that is the normally-accepted method that I’m aware of for most vehicles, but should be easy enough to change to a dedicated battery circuit (again, assuming it is aftermarket).

if you have a 2022, then as Jake pointed out, I haven’t yet pulled down the Gen3 manuals (I may actually have a free weekend soon) to be able to provide any insight. More and more the accessory power circuits are routed through a relay that is controlled by a timer in the ECU. If doing any kind of large load, you would want a second battery with an isolator as someone else here mentions

 

Until someone leaves it on and kills their battery and complains “it doesn’t make any sense why Toyota would allow the outlet to stay on when the cars off and kill the battery”.

Toyota can’t control how much power an end user utilizes and most end users don’t have a clue how to check their battery status. They’ll just be pissed when the car does click click.

 

I do have a 2022, apologies for that. I will need to get it changed in my profile.

Thank you for the input, greatly appreciated. I won't use anything that needs a heavy load, just thinking it may be nice to use some during our fall tailgates and realize I'll have to start the truck at times to keep the battery charged. Thank you for again for the input.

 

I'm with you about this 100W/400W inverter system. Toyota innovated it way back in 2005 on the Tacoma but hasn't improved it since then.

 

Toyota can control useful features in option packages. When I bought the '05 Tundra 4.7l Limited used I was surprised it didn't have an inverter at all. $500 dollars later, time piecing together parts, install time, I had a 600W PSW inverter with low-voltage cutoff and a circuit breaker.

This is 2022, Yota should have got on the ball and done something factory to what I added to an '05 with the 130A alternator and Group 27 battery for $500. Especially with the hybrid.