Using PIP As A Generator

FYI, just glanced at Ebay and there are two SURT003 offered for $200 each (this is the transformer), a SURT3000 for $345, and a SURT6000 for $799 (ups's). Not quite the $250 you can find them for, but not bad for a one-day glance.

 

it requires taping into the HV ... and though completely reversible that's still a "mod" in most folk's book. Can a plugin work completely un-modded? maybe later. Who knows. But these do look really NICE!

Plug-Out Island kit Prius 5kva 240/120-60hz psw: Home





Match something similar to these 120v/240v setups with the "grid-to-home" (see prior post) configuration that Nissan has for the leaf (where all you have to do is plug into your car's J1772 port) and your backup system would truly be as simple as possible ... not requiring any monkeying with HV ... for those who are (rightfully so) faint of heart. And when your plugin hybrid runs low - the ICE kicks on. I saw a Volt thread, where there was fear of pulling more than 3KW's due to heat. But modern plugin's have excellent thermal management systems ... so I'm hard pressed to see why all the concern.

 

A factory-supplied home backup option would be the best and final option, its unfortunate manufacturers won't allow it. They know it is going on. Toyota itself modified a Prius to run a green show house about 7-8 years ago (which is where the 3 kw continuous limit comes from for Prii, it was mentioned by Toyota itself when they did it, and yes it is a thermal limit, I'm sure this is what you are thinking of... the cars need to be moving or lots of extra fans need to be added to bump that up to 6-8-10kw). More have been built since then for grid-intertie demonstration projects.

There's no reason they couldn't charge an extra $2-3k to enable the functionality if you want it as an option. That $2k would then fund additional warranty claims that will arise from the extra drivetrain wear, and otherwise be a nice profit margin. They could even cover themselves and only allow let's say 100 hours a year in "generator mode", after which it would shut down. That would be fine for 99% of customers, and the other 1% that get caught in the next big hurricane would be on notice to ration their use and use other backup options too. Maybe they could allow it to run for an hour at a time for another 10 hours after the first 100, as a warning you need to find another generator. The auto makers could build in security which would prevent it from being driven at all when in generator mode, unless it is turned off and then restarted with a key present. That's one downside to the Converdant and APC options... not a problem for me out in the country but a no-go for anyone in an urban area unless you sleep in your car or take all of the tires off and then nail it to the ground.

I'm sure the only thing holding them back at this point is their legal department. OSHA and NEC rules for portable generators may not apply for some reason. Or there is some worry about liability, not that it would make sense since it obviously isn't a problem for all of the generator manufacturers.

 

Anyone that owns one of the split-phase versions of the Converdant, I would love to see some pics of the inside if you don't mind. I'd like to see the overall layout and component quality and whether they pulled together off-the-shelf macrocomponents or if it is mostly a home-built design.

 

I may have missed it but how do you trick the Pip to energise the charging socket so the HV battery may be tapped?

Converting the DC HV power to supply the house is no great trick but I have not seen how to tap into the power in the first place as the socket is by default unenergised.

 

None of these solutions do that, they all connect to the traction battery directly with wiring.
Also, Toyota does offer an adapter for the PiP in Japan. Surprised no one is importing it.

 

Humm, I'm unaware of this tailored adapter for the PiP. Could you provide us a reference for investigation/inquiring? I do not recall anything on the C2H (car2 home) information.
Thanks

 

it's pretty simple why we haven't attempted to import this appliance .... most of Japan's is on 50 megahertz
..... ie incompatible with US electricity
.

 

lol come on, that's the first post in this entire thread

 

If you don't mind getting 100V at 50Hz, then I guess one can use this adapter. Japan uses either 50 or 60 Hz depending on which island you are talking about, so I wonder which one that appliance generates

 

As always, is nice to have a friendly reminder from twenty pages before this one, thank you

 

The Converdant 1KW Pure Sine Wave Inverter occasionally has Hurricane sales, $100 off. I saw one last year, and waiting for another one. It will handle the surge of a refrigerator (twice its rating), and more including computers, small TVs, CFL lamps. You just have to attach positive and negative clamps to the 12V battery in the rear hatch. It's some peace of mind in an emergency.

 

I just noticed the price of the AIMS 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter for Prius on ebay where I bought mine is down to $395.00.
items in AutomationTech Inc store on eBay!

Converdant seems to be selling the same AIMS inverter now also:
Plug-Out Kits

 

Converdant seems to be selling the same AIMS inverter now also:
Plug-Out Kits

Still, the Coverdant product is an expensive piece of equipment

 

The battery gets installed onto the Prius hybrid battery terminals directly. A trained-experience is recommended for this job. Takes about an hour or so to get in, install cable and put Prius panels back together.

 

Even for the best of tinkers, whom I applaud, I advise caution when adapting an inverter not designed for the Prius such as the APC SURT models to be used with a Prius. You can easily cause more harm than initial savings.

 

You need to cite an actual reason. The input DC voltages supplied by the Prius are compatible with the APC models I've mentioned (roughly 190-244). The AC output wattages are compatible with what the Prius can supply - the Prius can supply 3-4 kw continuous and several multiples of that in surge, which matches up with the largest compatible APC (4 kw continuous and 6 kw surge). The operation of the parked Prius itself is identical whether you are just running its A/C system, or a Converdant inverter, or one of the APCs. That covers all of the possible failure modes. Have you actually read all the info on the priups.com site, or in the link in my signature?

 

Ah, now it is all clear. A quick Google search reveals that Converdant is owned by.... Randy Bryan. It is amazing how facts (like the ones in my last post) can be quickly dismissed when personal gain/profit is at stake.

 

I must be missing what facts are getting dismissed. I read to use caution ... I read that having the install done by someone 'trained' is recommended (not esential). What seller/manufacturer doesn't give a word of caution ... stuff like that is on boilerplate of most any product now days that you can manage to hurt your self with.
.