Toyota starts testing vehicle-to-home power system

A power inverter is sitting in my garage now, waiting for the next power outage.

 

that is will be interesting if a plug-in can be the back-up gernerator for the home. save some money to buy another one.

 

I welcome this change but do not like the architecture. I would prefer every Prius inverter have a mode that generates two, 120 VAC, 60 Hz, circuits. Still, Japan Inc's tsunami brought new emphasis on making Prius into mobile, emergency generators. But we don't have wait.

Last year, a string of tornadoes tore up the TVA transmission lines and several million homes were without power. Our area went four and a half days but our home had 1 kW of power available from our 2003 Prius. We burned about two gallons per day and I even ran an extension cord to our neighbor.

Adding a 1 kW inverter was my first Prius modification and we have used it at least once each year since 2005. Some years, nothing and other years twice. The most recent was two weeks ago when a substation failed and we were on Prius power just under six hours.

Bob Wilson

 

great. How can I get the power out from my Prius C?

I am not very good at that.

 

How much power can the regular gen III prius supply? Did you just plug things into your inverter, or did you attach it to your electrical panel?

 

I just did a little research. the easiest way is use a 12v DC to 110 AC inverter.

just connect it to the 12V outlet or connect to the 12V battery directly. I still looking for the spec of the Max output of the 12V.

 

The easiest approach is to get the electrical diagram for your car and identify all fuses/fusible links between the 12 V, DC-to-DC inverter, and the battery. This establishes the highest possible current draw to size the inverter. Take 80% of the lowest fuse times 12 V and the inverter should be no larger than this value because it could blow a fuse before the overload circuit protects the inverter and the car.

Next you need to decide if you'll go with a less-expensive, modified sine-wave inverter or a pure sign-wave inverter but less power. If you feel uncomfortable with your understanding of AC power, I would recommend going with the more expensive but easier to handle, pure sine-wave inverter. They tend to work better with motors such as fans, refrigerators, and small air conditioners.

Now the next phase is to figure out where you'll mount the inverter and/or make it removable. It needs to be close to the 12 V battery to minimize loss of power from the heavy cables. It also needs to be in a place with air flow (it will generate heat) say near a window or door. One option is to have it be removable but this means you'll need heavy-amp connectors to the battery.

Installation means disconnecting the battery ground. Then connect the B+ cable making sure it is throughly connected and there will be no chaffing. I recommend getting some electrical 'hose' to further insulate the B+ cable. Take your time, use lots of tie-wraps, and make it secure because IF you ever get a short on this cable, it won't go out until the 12 V battery is kaput. Once the B+ cable is installed and secured, attach the ground wire and connect the inverter.

IF you feel uncomfortable, find an RV center and see if they have a technician who will handle the installation.

Testing begins with starting the Prius and turning off every possible electrical load. Then with a VOM monitoring the 12 V bus, turn on the inverter without any AC load. Let it sit and run for a couple of minutes and feel where any heat is generated.

Now you'll want to add a controlled, electrical load. I recommend an adjustable, space heater. With the load on the lowest setting, slowly add load while monitoring the DC voltage. If it drops below 13 V., stop! You are drawing the maximum load the DC-to-DC inverter should ever see. Back off the load until you see between 13.0-13.25 V and treat that as your target load.

Keeping the load on, feel around the inverter and make sure there is plenty of airflow. Run it for at least 30 minutes recording how often the engine starts and runs. The goal is to make sure nothing is over heating and the car behaves normally. Testing needs to be done in nice weather with no rush other than doing the job right. It is also giving you confidence in the setup.

Modern inverters will have power and voltage readouts. However, I am fond of using a 'Killowatt' power monitor because it allows you to measure specific household loads.

Get the heaviest duty, contractor cable (aka., three outlets) to run power into the house. Then I recommend:

• pull out the fridge, install a short, heavy duty extension cord and route the power cable and extension to the front where it is easy to reach. Use the kilowatt to measure the fridge load.
• if you have a gas or oil heater, see if you can route the 120 VAC power to a single socket and measure the the load.
• measure TV load
• make sure your lamps have CFL lights of known load
• have extension cords to carry the load from the contractor cable plugs to the loads you'll live with
• keep at least a one gallon or larger, spare can of gas (for the car)

Put everything away and know where your LED flashlight is kept. Then wait for the inevitable.

Bob Wilson

 

*blinks*

Bob, is that really you?

 

I've been racking my brain trying to figure out how to get power to a 220v 3/4hp well pump I am using for an irrigation system at a restoration project. Do you think I can power the pump from my GenIII with the right inverter? I only need to run it for 20min at a time before the well needs to recharge.

 

I don't know the model of inverter but 3/4 hp is well within the Prius capability. In your case, I would try to go with pure sine-wave inverter because it tends to handle power cable loss and motors better than a modified sine-wave inverter.

Our gas furnace has an 800 W fan and runs quite happily on the 1 kW inverter in our 2003 Prius.

Bob Wilson

 

Thanks, Bob!

 

I've been a lurker here for many years and never posted anything... but now I'm glad to exclaim "Yay, Bob is back!"

 

Sweet!

Thank you, Bob.

Now, how to go about building a Prius-sized Faraday cage to prepare for the potential of a coronal mass ejection (CME) causing a Carrington Event?

 

I've got a 1.5 kW inverter I need to install in my wife's ZVW30. I was waiting for the 3/36,000 mile warranty to expire and it did June 1st. I've already got the parts and just need to do the installation, integration and test.

What I'll do is document it in one of the ZVW30 technical forum with photos and technical details. That way folks who have an interest can follow along and see how it works.

Bob Wilson

 

A very interesting article. I will be following it as it develops.

DBCassidy