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Hurricane Sandy - I love my Prius!

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by FirstFlight, Nov 2, 2012.

  1. Randy Bauer

    Randy Bauer New Member

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    so..help me out... i understand that it is better to connect an inverter directly to the battery in order to eliminate the possibility of blowing a fuse in the Prius.. and I understand that connecting an inverter to the traction battery will produce even greater power.. what I want to do is have a moderate emergency source of power.. where I can charge a laptop, a phone, a modem and maybe run a TV.. I just want to have communication to the outside world if we are snowed in.. I don't need to power a fridge, or a bank of lights... I have a mountain home with stoves and fireplaces and plenty of lamps.. but we have been in situations where we have lost power for 2-3 days... I really don't need to invest in a generator.. what should I buy to satisfy my emergeny needs in this case?
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    a small inverter that plugs into the cigarette lighter would probably work. 500w maybe?
     
  3. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    You cannot get 500W out of the 12V outlet. If you are lucky, 140W is about all you will realize (14V x 10A).
     
  4. techntrek

    techntrek Member

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    Randy, a 500-1000 watt inverter properly attached directly to the 12 volt battery. The Prius supplies the 12 volt battery from the traction battery via a ~1300 watt power supply. Would be perfect in your situation.
     
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  5. zenMachine

    zenMachine Just another Onionhead

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    Sounds like an inverter connected directly to the 12V battery would make an ideal camping solution as well.
     
  6. CaliforniaPrius

    CaliforniaPrius Active Member

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    if something's wrong with this configuration, you are talking about a dead car and stranded in the wild.
     
  7. zenMachine

    zenMachine Just another Onionhead

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    I think the risks are pretty low, given the Prius' lack of off-road capabilities. Based on what I've read so far, it appears to be a pretty simple configuration. Of course, running out of gas is a possibilty if you're not a good planner.
     
  8. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    Yeah, if you forget to turn the car ON, or let it run out of gas, you'd be boned. So don't do that :_>
     
  9. FirstFlight

    FirstFlight Member

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    My guess is that the undervoltage trip on some inverters would save enough battery capactiy to start the Prius. I have one inverter that trips at 11V and another that trips at 10.5V. It seems as if the 11V may work but the 10.5V I'm not so sure. I haven't tested myself but I'm curious if that would be the case.

    Running out of gas is another story. Given the small amount of fuel consumption by the Prius using 1kW of power from the 12V system, the fuel burn shouldn't be more than 1.5 gallons a day. If the Prius is used in this configuration, I'd hope that it has more than 1/8 of a tank of fuel. If the Prius does run out of gas while someone is camping, they deserve to be stranded.
     
  10. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    My experience has been 2 gallons a day is a better estimate but as always, your burn rate will vary with load and temperature:
    • ~6.3 gal/day @1 kW maximum load
    • ~2.0 gal/day - April 2011 power outage, 4.25 days
    • ~1.5 gal/day - idle, overhead
    I do not have a Prius configured for fuel exhaustion testing when in generator mode. With the engine out of fuel, it risks draining the traction battery to the low limit, 40% SOC, and hopefully that would shutdown the car. But this is one of the 'forbidden experiments' as recovery might require a tow to a Toyota service center for traction battery recharging. In 2005, there were discussions in "Prius Technical Stuff" indicating there are only one or two such chargers in North America.

    Bob Wilson
     
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  11. vertex

    vertex Active Member

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    Bob:
    You can make a very inexpensive charger. I built a simple voltage doubler, 2 diodes and a capacitor. I got a few amps out of it and charged the battery up for a few hours.
     
  12. vertex

    vertex Active Member

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    the doubler schematic.
     

    Attached Files:

  13. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    It isn't the power supply, it is the connectors to the traction battery. Remember, not only do I need the ends but also a bridge between the two banks. This means pulling the traction battery and installing the wiring and connectors. I may eventually get around to it but it will be part of parallel effort to see if a 'topping charge' on the traction battery gives an expected MPG boost.

    Bob Wilson
     
  14. vertex

    vertex Active Member

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    Bob:
    I don't know about the Gen 1 and Gen 3, but on Gen 2, there is no need to pull the battery. Anyway, I was making the comment because of the need to find the 2 dealers that have chargers, when that seems not to be the primary issue.
     
  15. techntrek

    techntrek Member

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    I figure if I ever ran my traction battery down I would use my traction battery-to-UPS connection in reverse, using the UPS's charger to put enough into the traction battery to get the Prius started. Then I would let it recharge itself. I don't see this ever happening, I can run most of my house for 2 1/2 days on one tank of gas.
     
  16. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Power flows only one way, not in the reverse direction.

    Bob Wilson
     
  17. techntrek

    techntrek Member

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    Not in my setup, take a look at the links I posted earlier. The traction battery is attached directly to a 4 kw UPS, which can backfeed using its built-in charger.
     
  18. Flying White Dutchman

    Flying White Dutchman Senior Member

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    with al the DIY plugins on this planet this is pretty mutch covered right now ;-)
     
  19. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    I understand.the plug-ins are not charging the traction batteries but they only provide power from the external batteries to prevent discharge of the traction battery. But it is an interesting question as there are risks charging NiMH without battery management to prevent overcharge and battery heating.
     
  20. techntrek

    techntrek Member

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    Just saw this post, I'm not sure that I did. Someone emailed me with questions about the APC UPS line, but I don't think I saw anything about your system.