1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

12V charger capacity

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Technical Discussion' started by sciguy125, Aug 9, 2009.

  1. sciguy125

    sciguy125 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 18, 2009
    90
    22
    0
    Location:
    CA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Does anyone know the output capacity of the 12V battery charger? After reading the stories about guys hooking up an inverter to use their Prii as generators, I wanted to look into it.

    My understanding is that the 12V is charged off of the traction battery. When the traction battery gets low, the engine turns on. However, I haven't been able to find any definite answer about the spec on the 12V charger.

    I realize that the system should allow for fairly large surges, but I want to know how much the maximum continuous average is.
     
    #1 sciguy125, Aug 9, 2009
  2. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

    Joined:
    Nov 25, 2005
    27,660
    15,661
    0
    Location:
    Huntsville AL
    Vehicle:
    2018 Tesla Model 3
    Model:
    Prime Plus
    To the best of my knowledge, no one has these specs. The best I've been able to do is measure the NHW11, 12 VDC inverter output, and it seems to be ~1 Kw in addition providing power for the vehicle electronics. I haven't started on my wife's ZVW30.

    Bob Wilson
     
    #2 bwilson4web, Aug 9, 2009
  3. a64pilot

    a64pilot Active Member

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2008
    771
    62
    0
    Location:
    Albany Ga.
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Wouldn't it be far more effective to tap into the traction battery directly? You may not be able to buy an off the shelf inverter, but I believe the power output would be much greater.
     
    #3 a64pilot, Aug 18, 2009
  4. rcf@eventide.com

    [email protected] Member

    Joined:
    May 18, 2006
    173
    85
    0
    Location:
    Sedona
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    Bob Wilson (above) has the 12V answer: ~1KW. He's done the experiments and the measurements. The traction battery, with suitable voltage conversion, will give you 3kW continuously, and much more for peak motor starting loads. More info at PriUPS.com

    Richard
     
    #4 [email protected], Aug 18, 2009
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)