Can the smaller Prius C battery power household appliances?

I think the traction battery for the Prius C is only .9kwh. To make the battery last a long time and to avoid cell reversal it isn't a good idea to use the whole .9kwh. Toyota doesn't fully charge or discharge the battery, so you shouldn't either. It's probably only safe to use .5kwh. That isn't much energy at all for a house.

 

I wouldn't be so concerned about the HV battery pack size. People can hook up inverters to non-hybrid cars which have no HV battery pack.

Assuming you're hook up to the 12 volt battery terminals and putting the car in READY mode, the issue I'd be concerned about is mainly the DC to DC converter output and the max # of amps it can output along w/the amperage ratings on the fuses and fusible links associated with it.

 

Who supplied the kits?

 

overpriced 1 kw kit. 2, 3 and 4 look interesting. they would have to connect directly to the hybrid battery. any idea how they are doing that?

 

How about a couple of Honda generators?

 

Who makes that kit? For my needs 1kw is more than enough. I want to use it as a power source when I'm away from home.

 

What a great idea!
I read through the site, but maybe I missed it. Does the car have to the key in the Ready position in order to be used as a generator? I only ask because I'd worry about someone stealing the car.
Also, I'm wondering why the focus is on the battery capacity. For generators, the capacity is dependent on the size of the motor to make more power. Shouldn't the size of the engine be the number which determines the maxium power output?
Anyway, thanks for the links and getting me thinking!

 

You can lock the car with the mechanical key.

 

Hmm, that and use some sort of steering wheel lock?
If anyone tries these solutions, I'd love to hear about it. I have an inverter that I can connect to the battery/cigarette outlet but it's not an ideal solution for camping or in an emergency.

 

See my post in this thread about using my C to power house essentials during a just-ended five-day outage.

I parked the car behind the house right up at the kitchen door with my wife's car blocking it in and ran an extension cord through the passenger-side window. I ran the window up tight enough to trap the cord without crushing it, then put the car in Ready mode and locked it with the key.

After the power came back on this evening, the C reported being on for 54 hours and had used about 0.5 gallons of gas to run an 80-watt inverter plugged into the accessory (lighter) socket. I estimate that the average draw was about 40 watts for the period, based on readings from a Kill A Watt meter.