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Prius VS generators

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by ukulelegeek, Oct 15, 2024 at 8:45 PM.

  1. ukulelegeek

    ukulelegeek Active Member

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    We were just slammed with nasty old hurricane Milton. I drove about a half hour away to Tampa to hide, we used my Prius and its inverter to power the fridge, a lamp, and a coffee maker, while charging cell phones and a spotlight intermittently for two days when the power went out. Then I drove back to Pinellas county and hooked it up here and did the same thing for two more days.
    Total gas consumption, about 2/5 of a tank. Other people using noisy, smelly gas generators kept running out of gas. I also did not waste any fuel driving around looking for fuel, when there wasn't any to be had, like a lot of people did.
    Has anyone else had a similar experience?
     
    #1 ukulelegeek, Oct 15, 2024 at 8:45 PM
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  2. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    I used a 400 watt inverter running of the 12v battery to charge things and to
    run a fan. It wasn't enough to run the fridge or anything else.
    It ran off the New sodium hybrid battery I recently got.
    But I need to larger inverter!

    I'm still in Sarasota.

     
    #2 ASRDogman, Oct 15, 2024 at 9:25 PM
  3. ForestBeekeeper

    ForestBeekeeper Active Member

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    Do you mean a 12vdc outlet in the cabin?
     
    #3 ForestBeekeeper, Oct 15, 2024 at 9:42 PM
  4. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    No, I connect with clamps to the possitve fitting in the fuse box then grounded it on a bolt.
    I've have that inverter for about 30 years....
     
    #4 ASRDogman, Oct 15, 2024 at 9:58 PM
  5. ForestBeekeeper

    ForestBeekeeper Active Member

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    Ooops
     
    #5 ForestBeekeeper, Oct 15, 2024 at 10:22 PM
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  6. douglasjre

    douglasjre Senior Member

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    That's what I do. I'm in polk. I use 2 gal/24h. PXL_20241008_203730833.jpg PXL_20241008_203826902.jpg
     
    #6 douglasjre, Oct 16, 2024 at 3:15 AM
  7. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    Newbie question: how do you connect this to your house, or do you just run a heavy duty extension cord in?

    is powering the fridge and stove practical?
     
    #7 Mendel Leisk, Oct 16, 2024 at 7:14 AM
  8. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Electric stove powered by a Prius, probably not practical. (A single cooker, Instant Pot, or induction hot plate, easy).

    Gas stove that only uses electricity for the controls and oven light, easy.

    Recently in another thread there was a link to somebody marketing a standard-sized induction cooktop containing its own Li battery, charged by plugging into a standard household outlet, and able to give some hours of full-power cooking time. Several thousand dollars, though.
     
    #8 ChapmanF, Oct 16, 2024 at 11:33 AM
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  9. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    As always, a reminder to connect your appliances directly to your inverter.

    If you attempt to feed power into your home load center, please use a real inlet and interlock switch.
     
    #9 Leadfoot J. McCoalroller, Oct 16, 2024 at 2:38 PM
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  10. douglasjre

    douglasjre Senior Member

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    two extension cords, two power strips. load 1200w is typical w few peaks around 2500 for short durations. just running tv microwave, lights. at night I ran one small ac, 900w.
     
    #10 douglasjre, Oct 17, 2024 at 9:16 PM
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  11. Carall

    Carall Member

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    Isn't that too much load for the Prius inverter?
    The best inverter would be a pure sine wave toroidal inverter, which has less quiescent current than the others.
    To charge cell phones without killing its battery, the inverter must have a pure sine wave, like in a home outlet. I guess everyone knows that.
    I would connect a capacitor of several farads in parallel to the 12V battery so that it absorbs current surges, which are fatal to the battery, and I think to the Prius inverter too.
     
    #11 Carall, Oct 17, 2024 at 10:37 PM
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