Installed inverter 400w

I put my 1500w inverter back in the rear covered 'storage'. Screwed it into the plastic so it would run around.

Nice thing - battery is close (1500w potential means big wires), and easy to get at. I ran a basic extension cord under the seats to the front area.

It stays 'on' 24/7, with no power issues. As a bonus, I know I could hard wire it into a house circuit in case power goes out You can also bring along a toaster for those long drives...

The 400w is $24 (Amazon), 800w versions are $43 (that's the minimum I would go to support a wide range of computers etc). 1500w is $95 - very linear curve - $$$ per watt...

EDIT: Of course, anyone doing this needs to put a fuse in-line - rated for your inverter...

 

Rrolff, can you provide a bit more information or pics on this idea to use the Prius as a mobile emergency generator. I'd like to do it too. Do you think there are any warantee issues?

 

A

Ok ~ I'll put up pics at some point ~ but they just show an inverter mounted in the below back compartment.

Mine is 3" x 9" x 14".

If you ever wanted to do this for security, you need real electrical knowledge ~ I won't go there ~ but in general
~ wires MUST match power
~ you *MUST* have a fuse less than what you think
~ before ever running things into a house, you must disconnect service breaker main house fuses at the panel
~ you then should shut down each circuit
~ everything inside the house connected to the circuit to be used must be shut off
In theory you could then plug in power to a house single circuit ~ but you need to understand that ~ and the cord, its ratings etc, well go to next paragraph

This is not something for anyone that has not swapped/added a home circuit (pretty much an electrician).

If done incorrectly, you can expect any given wire at the Prius to burn ~ and take with it......... Done OK, you can expect the wire from Prius to house to burn ~ and take with it.......

In the end, if you are not sure, you will burn down San Bruno.

But a basic install ~ you could in theory ~ run an extension cord, and if not wired right, you could then burn down your car, setting fire to...........

 

The best solution is to go to ebay and buy all the chargers with 12v inputs for dirt cheap. Most are sub $10 with free shipping.

An inverter is horribly inefficient. Going from 12V to 110V back to 3.3/5.0/12V is a huge waste of energy. It goes against owning a Prius.

90% of phones and accessories use mini or micro USB, most others have adapters to use USB to charge and power the device.

 

I'm now just curious.... Why are you worried about an inverter that is not as efficient as direct 12VDC??? Are you seriously saying that running an inverter affects mileage / "the Prius image"???

We have run countless tests at a lab (cannot name its source) - showing that running a constant 3.14 Amp current (~41 watt) - while driving (average 31.42 MPH), actually increased the mileage by 2.72 %.

This likely due to the 'e' factor (economy mode).

PLEASE.......

 

I don't think Judgeless was saying it would hurt the Prius mileage, but was looking at energy lost between the Prius and the appliance. If you're doing all this work just to get a powered USB or a charger for a portable DVD player or whatever, there are converters you can plug into the cigarette lighter outlet (or whatever they call it nowadays), to do the conversion more directly and at lower $ cost.

If you want to run things that only use A/C or use more power (like a toaster or PS3), then an inverter is what you need, but it's unlikely that you need that on all the time.

Also, I have a 600Watt pure-sine inverter, largely for emergency purposes. At the sub 1KW level (which can be wired directly to the 12 v battery, not the high voltage battery on the Prius), in the event of a power outage I would recommend just bringing in an extension cord to the house and running individual appliances (the fridge, a couple floor lamps, etc.), not bothering with the hassle and safety concerns of going into the house wiring. That's a whole different ball game with the issues you pointed out.

I've used the kill-a-watt to measure different appliances which I put on a spreadsheet (on my computer...maybe a printed copy would make sense...) so I know what I can plug in and what I can't. Like the portable space heater, that uses too many watts.

 

If not hurting mileage - then I'm wondering about the purpose of the statement... Maybe someone has better insight.

I stand by my statements regarding out laboratory proven data...

And for the record, energy is never lost...