I've read a little about using the prius as generator for camping or power outages with a UPS or by using a simple off the shelf inverter but I've not found any easy to digest info about people doing this. I see there's one place on line that sells a few kits but once again.. not very clear on how involved instalation or what the options are. I'm sure there's some good threads here about it but my searching didn't yield much. Hook a brother up?
I was intrigued by the concept of using the Prius as an uninterruptable power supply for the home, and bookmarked a couple sites. They might give you the info you're looking for: Prius Generator Introduction to the PriUPS Concept News from Japan says such a system might even come standard with the Prius Plug-in: TMC Develops Mutual Power Supply System for Electric Vehicles and Homes | TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION GLOBAL WEBSITE
Here is mine. The black and red wires are #4 and the green (ground) is #8 IIRC. Do you have specific questions?
Well I guess I would wonder how much draw the prius can safely handle 1k watts? 1.5k? Should I get a 1k watt inverter like yours? Mine would just be for emergency use and possibly some festival style camping usage. I coils do that in an hour no sweat. If I where to use the UPS/traction battery style rig I could use it possibly for commercial use powering a small stage or festival vending booth. What kind of power would that offer?
Not having read the sites linked above: I have read the inverter feeding the 12V battery is fused at 100A, so I would suggest you keep the draw well under 100A. So a 1000W inverter would be about all I would hook up to it. If you are sure the draw is not continuous but has higher peaks, I would add a decent size battery and would be willing to go up to 1.5kW, possibly 2kW. But I am not sure of the inverter's design and if it e.g. is limited and will only supply 90A regardless of the draw (even when the currentdraw is 200A for the 2kW inverter). Edit: I have now read the second site and realise that speaks of tapping into the 200V battery! Then the sky's the limit (although his 6kVA system should suffice for most purposes it does immediately give me ideas for a house I'd like to buy that has no gas-connection (all our cookers are gaspowered) that needs its big 3 phase 63A connection due to its electrical waterheaters for the floor-heating (18kVA), but could go back to 3x25A if the Prius could help out The smaller connection saves 300$ in fixed cost a year!!!)
