Charging off a solar panel

No - not possible. The 12v lighter socket is not connected when you turn off the car. Some people have used one that has clips and connected directly to the 12v battery.

 

Your 12V battery is only used to power the ecu and connect the HSD system, then the traction battery takes over. So it gets recharged and so on while in normal operation. That's why it lasts about 6 years.

You shouldn't worry about the 12V battery unless you are leaving the car unused for an extended period of time without being driven.

 

Now had you asked if there were folks with solar panels on their house who charge more into the grid than their Prius uses from the grid, you would have gotten a 'better' answer.

You need WAY more area than any of the little cells that plug into 12 volts. Even the solar roof that Toyota sells does not recharge anything.
"The Solar Powered Ventilation System uses an electric fan to draw outside air into, through, and out of the cabin once the inside temperature reaches 68° Fahrenheit. It will lower the cabin temperature to near the outside ambient temperature to help make the cabin more comfortable when reentering the vehicle. It must be turned on prior to leaving the vehicle and cannot perform cooling such as with an air conditioner."

 

Ok, thread hijack! How about 'has anyone charged the HV battery off of a solar panel (array)?'

I have done a HV battery repair and rebalance and am pretty familiar with the unit in the NiMH cars. In at least Gen II and III the battery is 28 modules of 7.2 nominal or about 202v. So, how about connecting DC solar panels producing an open circuit voltage above that (maybe 5 or 6 48V series panels? For the regular non-plugin cars, this would be of limited use maybe, but in a plug-in hybrid that doesn't travel that much, wouldn't it be of some use?

More prosaically, the 12v aux battery doesn't always get a full charge from the car, so a small 5w panel in a side window hooked across the terminals (for Gen II the battery is inside) might top the aux battery up, if the car is parked regularly with good sun exposure on that window.

 

Just when emergency responders figured it was safe to work on a powered-off Prius because they know there's no high voltage present outside the traction battery when the car's powered off....

 

Actually I have the factory solar roof hacked and charging the 12 volt battery, it does a perfect job keeping the battery from dying during this plandemic.

https://plugoutpower.com/ Hybrid battery diagnostic and repair tool for Toyota and Lexus

Home - Pulstar Spark Plugs

 

Can you tell more about what you are concerned about? I agree that in a situation where someone has a house AC circuit backfed by an inverter or generator, this is incredibly dangerous to line workers etc, but with a 5W or so solar panel connected to a 12v aux battery, how is the battery any more dangerous than a regular 12v battery... which no emergency responder should be touching even without a small solar panel connected?

 

This is really neat! I have no solar roof on my 2004, but I have one of those Vw suction-cup-equipped solar panels that they attached to the windows of their cars from the factory to the dealership so they batteries would stay charged.

 

I was about to meekly remind you that the post I was replying to, #7, was one where someone had said:

Then I looked again and noticed the someone was you.

 

I have a Generac Inverter and Battery, and the solar panels can charge the batteries DC to DC but to make AC, you need to convert.

Generac Power Systems - Clean Energy


A Level 2 EVSE for a Prime is AC, so you will have some conversion issues there. A BEV car that charges DC might more efficient, but all the technical and safety issues will be on you! I find no pre-made EVSEs for that.

FaceBook images of my install
https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p526x296/151792793_3602858789835195_8916482845474762349_o.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=3&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=-yR4KTYzJwgAX9MiEZn&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.xx&tp=6&oh=fd60ecfce831e0a88243d72b085e6e91&oe=605C9DB2

https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/118076351_3098836786904067_45826714882064142_o.jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=3&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=gkIQGs09RmAAX9WPyBH&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.xx&oh=333ee2df8777f0939d4ea28f09b2678d&oe=605CF461

 

[This is the Generac party line, so if you use another system, the components vary]
As you see above, I have 24 solar panels, each panel has a Snap RS to safely remove power in an emergency.
https://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com/manuals/generac-pwrcell-3a36f6b938d7a44cf1af7a535aa7e3d1.pdf
My panels are grouped into 3 groups of 8 panels controlled by a PV Link
https://sunwatts.com/content/specs/Generac-datasheet-PV-Link-string-optimizer.pdf
So it is all DC right to my 7 kW Inverter
https://www.generac.com/generaccorporate/media/library/content/all-products/clean-energy/pwrcell_inverter_specsheet_v5.pdf?ext=.pdf
The battery also attaches via DC to the inverter, so charging the battery requires no conversion, and does not count toward the total load on the inverter.
https://www.pika-energy.com/files/datasheets/pwrcell_smart-battery_datasheet.pdf

Other vendors may use a micro inverter to get AC at the panel, and the battery may attach via AC.

https://enphase.com/sites/default/files/downloads/support/IQ7-IQ7plus-DS-EN-US.pdf

https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/powerwall/Powerwall%202_AC_Datasheet_en_northamerica.pdf

There will be more electrical conversions in such a system

 

Far older threads here indicated that disconnecting the 12V battery is one of the first things that such responders do, before extrication of patients.

 

Anyway, that was a reply, to a reply, to a one-off post that was about connecting solar to the 200+ volt traction battery, not the 12 volt battery.

 

Yeah, I was a bit 'out of phase' trying to put it in context, but thanks for the post and your set up looks enviable! I'm still working on a non OEM connection and sourcing a battery for little money locally -- which will come when Harbor Freight 20% coupons appear in my email box.

 

Nice! Looks like 24 panels? We'll be getting 20 panels (6.8 kW) once the county coughs up the permit. No battery, though, and it's the Enphase system you linked to.

 

I hope you have Net Metering available. I only have batteries because I can't get Net Metering.

 

Yes, we do. Crazy thing is, as I just wrote in another thread, the electric company just put in a new meter Wednesday. It doesn't look like it does net metering so they'll have to change it again soon.

I figure that if we have a major power outage, I can run the house on solar in the daytime and at night hook up my 1kW inverter to the Prime to keep the refrigerator, going along with a fan and some lights.