Easy & Safe Home Power Inverter System for Prius… Good Idea?

Discussion in 'Prius v Main Forum' started by Gregg chappell, Oct 7, 2017.

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  1. Gregg chappell

    Gregg chappell New Member

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    We recently lost our power for several days at our home in South Florida due to Hurricane Irma.

    I was able to power my TV, computers, lights and fans using an inverter system powered by the starter battery on my 2010 Prius. Before the storm hit, I spend half a day gathering materials to make the power system including a 1000 watt pure sine wave inverter, beefed up connection cables, inline fuse system, quick disconnects and terminal connectors. All of this took several hours to assemble.

    When done, the system worked great. Besides the time involved in the purchase and assembly, the only other drawback was I had to leave my Prius running for 3 days, which my research concluded was no problem for the car. But I still wanted to be able to monitor the engine temperature, oil pressure, inverter heat, whether the battery was being charged and how many watts of AC power the house was pulling.

    In spite of knowing it was not an issue, I still wanted to keep an eye on my gauges. After several trips to the car in the pouring rain to check my dashboard, I realized there needed to be a better way. So I started to design an app that would feed me all the vital information. Once I had all of that on paper, I went a step further and designed a no-hassle, easy to install, 1000 watt pure sine wave kit for Prius owners.

    Is this system a product that Prius drivers would be interested in owning?

    I would greatly appreciate your input…..

    Thank you,
     
    #1 Gregg chappell, Oct 7, 2017
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  2. bat4255

    bat4255 2017 Prius v #2 and 2008 Gen II #2

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    Yup
     
    #2 bat4255, Oct 7, 2017
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    yep.
     
    #3 bisco, Oct 7, 2017
  4. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    Probably would be a better idea to use the 201v battery to a high efficiency inverter and provide much better efficiency and more power capability
     
    #4 rjparker, Oct 7, 2017
  5. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    #5 Tideland Prius, Oct 7, 2017
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  6. Sam Spade

    Sam Spade Senior Member

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    You were not actually getting that power from the starter battery, partly because there is NO 12 V starter in the Prius and thus no "starter" battery.

    Your power was coming from the Converter/charger attached to the HV battery.....and ultimately from the gas engine.

    But yes a lot of Prius owners seem to be tech junkies and probably a lot of them would be interested in something like this.

    I personally think that an actual stand-alone dedicated generator is a MUCH better solution overall, especially if you have natural gas service at your house.
     
    #6 Sam Spade, Oct 8, 2017
  7. Sam Spade

    Sam Spade Senior Member

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    I think probably not a better idea.
    The onboard computer systems might be "confused" by power going out of the HV battery that it can't account for.
     
    #7 Sam Spade, Oct 8, 2017
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