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Hurricane Florence and the Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by jdcollins5, Sep 16, 2018.

  1. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    Thursday afternoon I pulled the cable from my garage to my Utility Room and connected it to an open breaker in my house electrical panel. Friday morning at 5:30 we lost power and by 5:45 I had a refrigerator, some lights and some receptacles back on. The Prius saves the day again!

    Neighbors have been running generators but are running out of gas with no refill available. I have been running the Prius off and on during the day and off at night since I am not sure how long power will be off. I have used just two bars so far. Adjoining neighborhoods are getting power so we should have power back soon.

    Wilmington has a lot of trees down but we fared much better than coastal neighbors north of us. We were lucky and stayed on the south side of the storm. It is still raining but should clear up this afternoon. All of the inland areas are getting the rain now so flooding will be our problem now for days. I saw where I-95 is flooded and HP is recommending detours around NC.

    I have a Tesla Model 3 on order and scheduled for delivery the end of the month. I am going to hate to sell the Prius. The Model 3 has a 75kWH battery but does not have an ICE to charge it back up! I could probably get a couple of days with it. I guess I will be buying a generator now.
     
  2. fgp

    fgp Active Member

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    glad you made it thru ok. im hearing that the prius can be helpful during power interruptions. continued good luck
     
  3. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    Thank you.
     
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  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    congrats on the hook up. what size inverter are you running?

    hope the damage isn't too bad!(y)
     
  5. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    You forgot about the part where you're buying enough gas cans to replicate the run-time you're getting out of the Prius. Take note of how much power you actually use. You probably won't match the fuel efficiency you're getting now, but you will want "enough" gas on hand and now is your opportunity to figure out how much that really is.

    Also, please please make very certain you've opened your main breaker so that there's no chance you are sending power back out the line where it can hurt a utility lineman trying to fix your neighborhood wires. You've probably got that covered but I felt others should read it public service style etc...
     
  6. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Glad you're weathering the storm OK. I hope you remembered to open the main breaker so you're not energizing the outside lines. The voltage will step up on the other side of the transformer and be really dangerous unless it's disconnected.

    And, being in hurricane country myself, I'm also curious about which inverter you have.
     
  7. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Sound like you are riding the tide OK. Generator is a necessity in an emergency like this.
    If you are going to get portable generator, I strongly suggest dual fuel model that can use both gasoline and propane. 25lb tank of propane will store better than 6 gal on gasoline and it is likely that you run out of gas because everyone wants them but you are more likely to be able to find Propane refill station. Best of luck to you.

    When I got Prime and found out Japanese version of PRIME (called Prius PHV) has on board inverter for supplying household 100v electricity from the traction battery, I did calculation. I can't find the information Toyota published, but IIRC, my portable 7500 Watt dual fuel generator was more economical than using Prius as generator.
     
  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i went with propane because we already had it. i'd do the same with natural gas. gasoline? nope
     
  9. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    It's still a question of planning for the runtime though. A 25lb bottle sounds like a lot but a medium-sized generator can burn that in less than 12 hours.... so how many do you need?

    What if it's winter? At low ambient temperatures small propane bottles can't maintain full pressure when they get low. Once the pressure drops past a certain threshold, the engine can't run anymore. So when it is cold out you can't count on using all the gas in each bottle.

    I'm not knocking propane as a fuel source- there are many benefits as well, and if you can handle multiple fuel types that will help overall.

    The bigger point is that a 25lb propane bottle or a 5 gallon gas can isn't going to cut it. A multi-day grid disruption is going to need more provisions, and there's no time like the present to get at least a rough idea what you might need. Do you need power 24 hours a day for medical devices? Just an hour a day to recharge some batteries? It's different for every household. We can run our place pretty close to normal with 8 hours of power per 24 hours, and that will cost me 3-4 gallons of gas per day. And it's pretty useful knowing that up front.

    I keep a few gallons of stabilized gasoline in the genny all the time. I also have another 5-10 gallons of fresh gas on hand all the time. This goes into one of the cars and gets refilled at the end of each month, so it's always cycled fresh. That's enough that I can handle a couple days without power with zero further prep.

    When (if) we get advance warning of a longer outage/major storm etc, I'll fill more jugs.
     
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  10. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Yap, the runtime is the biggest problem with any portable generator. When full, they usually run 6-8 hours. When I was looking for a generator for our house, I was first thinking of automatic backup generator, but our area not being served by natural gas service, that meant to store large propane tank. We use to have 200lb propane tank used for space heaters for rooms that was not connected to central heat, but I managed to replace them with wood burning stove and get rid of the leased tank. 25 lb tank is the most popular portable propane tanks used for grilles, but you can always buy bigger tank if you need to. A 50 lb propane tank can be still portable, but anything bigger has to be stational. In the end, I decided on portable dual fuel 7500 W generator and had an electrician install outside generator hook-up with transfer switch on our main panel. 7500W is the minimum we needed for whole house, but it cost far less than what would have cost us for the smallest automatic back-up generator. I have 25 lb and 50 lb propane tanks for a long term storage, and also keep two 5 gal fresh gas just like you. And yes, my generator always have some gas in it. With this setup we are good for about 1 week without refuel. That said, I used it only once since I purchased the generator 3 years ago.

    I found the information on Prius PHV which has the same size traction battery as US PRIME. Toyota Global Site | PHV Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle
    According to Toyota, "When the battery is at maximum charge and the gasoline tank is full, the vehicle can supply the owner with as much electricity as would provide four days worth of power to an average household (40kWh)." Unfortunately, even if my PRIME is equipped with this option, 1500W inverter is not big enough for whole house hook-up. Maybe good for a few lights and some kitchen appliances, but without 240V with enough power, our water pump and heat will not run. Claimed 40kWh will be used up in ~1 day in our household.
     
    #10 Salamander_King, Sep 16, 2018
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2018
  11. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    Yep, gotta work out what you really need to run. Our beach house in MA is built for an extremely lean energy budget because there is no alternative- no grid available. So we can run the whole property off a 2kW inverter under everyday conditions because it was all planned to work with very little electricity.

    Meanwhile my primary residence requires 240V for water pumping, so a simple inverter won't cut it. Even with the 4kW genny everything has to take turns. I can run the well pump and the oil burner at the same time for hot showers assuming nothing else is on. Or run the septic pumps. Or the fridge + sump pump etc etc.

    I installed current transformers and meters right at my breaker panel so I can "steer" the loads but if we ever hit an extended outage it's still going to be a drag going down there to reconfigure it 6 times a day. At least I'll be able to.
     
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  12. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Very nice! When I retire, I would like to move to off grid Tiny House, that's if my wife let me. LOL:LOL:
     
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  13. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    if she's anything like my wife, she'll not only let you, she'll help you:cool:
     
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  14. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    She might let you, but will she join:whistle:?

    I know what the answer would be in my situation and that will never change:cool:.
     
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  15. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    Mine is an Aim Power 2000W, 240VDC input-120VAC pure sine wave. There was a guy on eBay several years ago that was modifying these inverters to match the Prius HV battery. The input range is 90-240VDC.

    Oh yes, house panel is isolated from utility. Thanks for reminding everyone.
     
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  16. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    We are fortunate with only some broken limbs and yard debris. Several neighbors have lost trees and two knocked holes in the roof. Both were repaired quickly.

    Downtown historic district has lost a lot of the old, old oak trees! Lots of trees down area wide. The saturated grounds were just too much for the wind.

    Flooding is and will be the main issue for several days now. All roads to Wilmington are flooded and the water will not crest for another couple of days.

    Floyd was a 500 year flood in 1999 and Florence may come close.
     
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  17. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    so you're tapped into the hv battery?
     
  18. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    Yes. Tapped off of the load side of the HV contactor and pulled wires in 12V battery compartment. DC quick disconnects on cable ends with rubber caps. Same thing on short jumper cables on Inverter.

    Input side is rated 90-240VDC to match HV battery SOC range.
     
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  19. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    LOVE to see a write-up on that whenever you get time!!!

    I've been noodling getting a PHEV someday, and adding an inverter like yours and an exhaust hose sounds like a great alternative to a genset.
    PLUS.....there are going to be some off-fleece Primes in the market soon......

    Glad you made it through the storm OK!
     
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  20. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    sweet! maybe you should weigh parting out the prius vs sell price.:cool:
     
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