prius camping and inverter questions

Hi there!

I bet you could find several threads describing inverters right here in this Life in a Prius forum (not to mention bunches more in other forums on PriusChat).

 

Great timing…I came here this morning to post that I’m leaving this morning on a double cross-country trip that will be at least 5,000 miles by the time I get back in October sometime.

I’ll be posting and streaming to my Twitter (@thepriusjames) and YouTube (priusjames) accounts as I go…both about the trip itself and about the work and modifications I’ve done to the car. Happy to answer questions, probably will be checking/posting to Twitter most often …but we’ll see how my time management skills balance with life enjoyment and take it from there.

There are some apps to help find places to sleep. In no particular order, here are the ones I’m currently using:
FreeRoam
IOverlander
Gaia
Avenza
InRoute
PublicLands

Each has strengths/weaknesses, internet searches and experience tells which are good for what. All have free options, for offline/multiple map use GaiaGPS is really considered one of the best to subscribe to. It’s $30/year, so using the free version is great until you’re stuck without cell coverage and realize you need it right then. That’s when I subscribed. Well, after I found my way back to civilization…

Regarding inverters, easy to do with real basic electric-working skills. Mine is a 2200w (4400 peak) unit from Amazon.

Feel free to ask questions/comment on the Twitter feed for fastest results (and to build followers to the account I set up for the trip!)

James

 

one thing about inverters, do not use the included cables. the prius has too much electricity flowing through it. After many sets of wires, 0 gauge wire for my inverter is what solved all of my issues.

 

When he was teaching me to swim and I would fret about how deep the water was, my dad would remind me the idea was to swim on the top.

The only electricity flowing that matters to your inverter cables is the electricity that flows in your inverter cables, not how much might be flowing anywhere else in the car.

I'm not questioning the issues you experienced or whether they improved with your 0 gauge wire, but only suggesting a real explanation for them might take a bit more work.

 

He was probably blowing fuses or melting wire as he tested out different gauges.

http://www.RedBullet.net

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http://www.Pulstar.com

http://www.PlugOutPower.com
Use code 7373

http://www.hybridpit.com
Use code azusa

http://CatStrap.net
Use code azusa

 

well, when I realized I couldn't jump-start a Prius with a V8 it let me know these cars have a lot of energy in them, or at least my Pip does.

on a 2kw inverter using included cables powering a 1700w air fryer, the wires would melt. I have two 85ah batteries with breakers and an isolater. It wasn't until 0 gauge wire could I use all of the power from the inverter without needing to flip a breaker. these days don't turn on the car until the batteries get to around 55% remaining power.

normal car electronic logic says only worry about "the electricity that flows in your inverter cables, not how much might be flowing anywhere else in the car." but in my experience, normal logic goes out the door with the Prius. It is not just the electricity flowing to the inverter, it's as if the car is smart, don't get me going on what happens when I use the plugin charger and the car appears to control the isolator at its leisure.

 

If you had drawn the same amount of power over the same gauge wires in any other car, they would have melted there too.

Prius is a very innovative car, but did not reinvent physics.

 

I don't claim to know it all, just that in my Tahoe or CL55, sure it wasn't 1700 airfryer but I've used 1500w heat guns without issues like on the Prius.

 

It's very hard to say what you were seeing without having been there, but it is definitely possible to say a few things:

1. whatever you saw, there is an explanation for it, and
2. the explanation isn't that "normal logic goes out the door with the Prius", and
3. it isn't that there is "too much electricity flowing" elsewhere than the wires themselves.

 

so in fewer words, you could've just said you don't think I know what I am talking about. since you'd like to play on words let me adjust.

"too much electricity flowing" = A Prius has high-voltage electrical systems
"normal logic goes out the door with the Prius" = the Prius has surprised me in regards to the amount of sleuthing I've done on the electrical systems of this car. Specifically, the PiP and my goal of a 50+ mile range battery and CANbus control rear motor. If not normal logic goes out the door, ill say Im still learning the intricacies of this car which are night and day different from what I am used to. I actually miss how my previous BMW's could all be tuned by me with my laptop and obd cable.

 

Nothing wrong with that—it's what we're all here to encourage it.

Very true. Your 12 volt inverter isn't exposed to them. But it does have them.

If I had wanted to say something that broad and personal, I would have said that. That's not what's going on here.

We've all had moments where something perplexes us, and then we settle on a first explanation that doesn't really hold water. In posts #4 and #7 it was your turn. That isn't any more personal than you want to make it. It happens.

 

gonna disagree here, #4 and #7 hold water. I take it you haven't hooked an inverter to your Prius using included cables then powered a device that's just shy in watts of the continuous wattage number by 200-300watts? Nothing perplexes me here, higher wattages require thicker cables. How does that not hold water?

#7 it sounds like we will agree to disagree because your continued use of "Your 12-volt inverter isn't exposed" to point out the obvious just comes across as nitpicking, never once stated... ahh nevermind. your assumptions clearly have you thinking deeper than my words were intended.

 

Well no, I haven't, because that would melt the included cables, trip the inverter's undervoltage shutdown, or both, as you'll normally find explained in the inverter's own instructions, where it will also have tables of recommended wire gauge by your intended current draw and length of run. I've always followed those tables, which has kept me on the happy side of wire-melting and shutdown-tripping experiences.

That's quite right, and we would have nothing to disagree about if you had stopped there.

You started in #4 with:

as if your cable-ampacity issue has to do with anything in the car besides the current flowing in your cables. It does not. You doubled down on that in #7:

There is still nothing about the Prius that makes your inverter cable ampacity be about anything besides the current flowing in your inverter cables.

In #11 you pretended I was playing on words, so you "adjusted" what you said in #4:

Whichever way you want to say it, the problem isn't with the words, it's with the idea that any extraneous fact about the car has some bearing on the ampacity of your 12 volt inverter supply cables, which depends only on the current through those cables and their ability to dissipate heat. (If you route them through an enclosed space with lousy heat dissipation, they will overheat at lower currents than they would in open air).