Power outage: 1.5 hours

[jdcollins5]

Originally Posted by bwilson4web

Prius - UPS Project

Bob Wilson

Bob,

Do you know of any reason that your testing would not have the same results with the Gen III?

Dwight

[patsparks]

Originally Posted by orange4boy

Back on topic...sort of... That's a darn sight cheaper set up than the $50,000 LPG gas gen set someone ordered to be installed here on Bowen Island to power their entire 4500 square foot house during power outages, only to find out later that there is no LPG on the island, only propane by truck. Concrete base poured, wired in, fenced, bolted down, not returnable, not convertible. They found out when the gas fitter arrived to do the final task of connecting to the gas lines. It's hard being rich.

The best parts about using the Prius over a portable gen set...Quieter, much lower emissions, automatic start-stop, no jerry cans.

Would I be safe in assuming you mean't natural gas?
Propane is refered to as LPG here.

[bwilson4web]

Originally Posted by jdcollins5

Do you know of any reason that your testing would not have the same results with the Gen III?

A Gen III should work just as well ... possibly a little better. It looks like the fusible link is now 125A. Also, the 12 DC comes from co-located, traction battery. IMHO, this helps reduce (I**2)R losses.

For my wife's car, I'm thinking about using a 1.5kW, sine-wave inverter along with a quality battery, like the Odyssey. I'll still have to check the sustained power level but I suspect the ZVW30 has more capacity.

My 1 kW, modified sine-wave inverter has a surge capacity of 1.2 kW. Although it works with some motors, it isn't a universal solution and a little more surge capacity would solve the inrush problem of modern power supplies. I have considered a 'stiffening' cap but the energy numbers don't make sense.

Bob Wilson

[orange4boy]

Would I be safe in assuming you mean't natural gas?
Propane is refered to as LPG here.

Oops. Yes, I meant natural gas. (goes back to edit...)

[nerfer]

Originally Posted by orange4boy

I'll start a separate thread.

Sorry about the hijack, Bob.

I don't see your new thread, but I think I know what you're talking about. This company Solar Electrical Vehicles, originally had a system where the solar panels recharged the 12V battery only, in theory lessening the load on the main traction battery, so it would only need to run the wheels, not the fans, lights, etc. They claimed a 10% improvement in fuel efficiency. There was some debate here at PriusChat a year or so ago if that claim was legit.

Apparently they've been enable to extend this to power the traction battery as well, directly powering the vehicle and giving a better performance boost (although you can't drive 30 miles a day on sunlight, as might be implied by a casual reader looking at their bullet points - it would take several days of sunlight to get enough power for that, but if you plug it in, it will go 30 miles on the batteries only).

[nerfer]

Originally Posted by bwilson4web

For my wife's car, I'm thinking about using a 1.5kW, sine-wave inverter along with a quality battery, like the Odyssey. I'll still have to check the sustained power level but I suspect the ZVW30 has more capacity.

My 1 kW, modified sine-wave inverter has a surge capacity of 1.2 kW. Although it works with some motors, it isn't a universal solution and a little more surge capacity would solve the inrush problem of modern power supplies. I have considered a 'stiffening' cap but the energy numbers don't make sense.

Bob Wilson

I'm looking into putting a pure sine-wave inverter on my 2006 Prius.
This one in particular: Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter 600 watt - DonRowe.com

Seems like a good price for 600W sustained, 1KW peak. Since it has overload shutdown, I'm thinking I wouldn't need an extra fuse to protect the Prius system, unless the overload shutdown wouldn't be fast enough.

I don't need a big system, just enough to power the fridge if necessary, but I want a pure sine wave to run a laptop on camping trips and such. Also, I understand the pure sine wave uses less power on some motors than a modified sine wave source. Since I've gone around with a Kill-a-watt to measure most of my appliances, I don't want to throw those numbers out the window with a different sine wave, and find out an appliance I thought I could power now I can't.

So my question is, am I overlooking anything with this inverter? I would also need the cables to the battery (shorter is better), and a way to mount it if carrying it around, but that's about it I think.

I'm going to review your Prius UPS site again and do some more research before plunking down dollars on it (my Christmas present).

[bwilson4web]

Looks like a plan.

Bob Wilson