clear instructions for running 110v AC from prius and inverter

Can you give an idea of your requirements?

• Emergency house power only
• Light on the road only
• Both

If you need only emergency power, power plugs can be used and the inverter plugged in when needed. But this tends not work when the vehicle is moving as parts are moving about. Worse, there is a risk that if the car is parked without disconnecting the inverter, it will discharge the 12 VDC battery and leave the car immobile.

For light duty, the 120 W from the cigarette lighter plug works nicely with 50-100W inverters. This is enough to power a laptop or small lights. The normal cigarette lighter plug takes the 12 VDC off when the car is turned off.

Now if you need both, the inverter needs to be fixed and the wiring installed securely with provisions to deal with vibration and chafing. Also, it is important to turn off the inverter when not in use and the car is turned off. Otherwise the inverter could discharge the 12 VDC battery leaving the car immobile.

As for inverter, there is a tradeoff in price, quality and efficiency. It really depends upon what you plan to do with the power:

• incandescent lights - square wave, cheapest (what is power?)
• florescent lights, consumer electronics - modified square wave, affordable (~900-1,000 W)
• synchronous motors, premium electronics - sine wave, priciest but lower efficiency (~800-850 W)

So if you are willing to give up some options, a less complex inverter can be used. In fact, our first inverter installation was my wife's Echo. Designed for emergency power, it required the hood to be raised so we could not drive and use it for power at the same time. However, a smaller 80W, cigarette adapter inverter provided 'on the road' power for a laptop.

Bob Wilson

 

I use a 12 volt to 18 volt laptop transformer to run my laptop in the car, it is way more efficient than an inverter, it barely gets warm and has no fan.

 

It's 2018 and I'd still like to know:
1. What's the best 12V inverter set-up for a Prius?
2. Is there a traction battery inverter option, with either reliable instructions or reliable installers?
I'd love to make my Prius V an emergency source of AC, but also for camping and travel. I have a small cigarette lighter plug-in inverter, that is 'worth what I paid for it' (makes my computer trackpad go crazy).
I'd also like to be able to use my Prius' battery power and minimal car features without the car turning on every 5-10 minutes. (Even if I don't use any power but just leave the car On, it starts the gasoline motor every 5-10 minutes)
Does anyone use their Prius as an off grid power source for carpentry power tools?
I usually post something like this and then stumble right into an answer that's been available for years. Thanks.

 

1) there are a few installation threads, but no decided 'best'.

2) there used to be a company (island inverters?) that tapped off the hybrid battery, (thread here on that too) but i think they might be oob.

3) you can't do anything without leaving it in ready, you'll either kill the 12v, or the hybrid battery.