So, after the last week long power outage in Seattle, I bought 1250w Power Inverter. I decided I should probably figure out how to use the thing - anybody have one of these? - Where do you hook it up on your prius - under hood where you normally jump it? - back at the battery? - How thick gauge of wire shoud I run to the inverter? (suppose the instructions might tell me, but its funner to ask here ) - My furnace is gas, but obviously needs electric power for the whole has fan. It possible to run that bad boy? Any other good info appreciated
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sillyboy @ Apr 10 2007, 03:43 PM) [snapback]420963[/snapback]</div> Many inverters have car power adapters and could connect to either of the interior power outlets inside the car; others come with battery style clips and would need to be connected to suitable spots - under the hood in the spots used for jumping the car would seem reasonable but keep the cables away from moving parts. The car would need to run if you plan on power more than brief periods. A 1250W inverter may put out 10 Amps at 120 Volts if it can draw something over 100 Amps at 12 Volts (the fuses on the Prius are unlikely to support this). This inverter when run from a Prius (as opposed to directly from a normal car battery) is suitable for running typical electronic equipment (radio, computer) or a reasonable set of lights that add up to 200 or 300 Watts. Your furnace likely has a 20 Amp breaker devoted to it in your power box. The blower motor draws heavy current, the current is drawn very unevenly (surges), and will be seen as an inductive load, so the blower motor would make for a short life for your inverter when powered properly unless it is built for inductive (heavy electric motor) loads.
Last year, I took my 2005 Prius to Burning Man, along with a 39 foot RV. I hooked up a small Radio Shack style inverter to the 12V power socket, and hooked that up (with an extension cord) to a power strip. The power strip fed four 110V flourescent bulb lamps put in the four peaks of our shared camp 20x20 shade structure (essentially just a big tent). The Prius was parked directly behind the shade structure. I left the Prius powered on, but locked the door with the emergency key. I also turned off everything electrical in the car (climate system, display, radio, etc...) The ICE would go on every few hours for five or so minutes, and the inverter powered the lights constantly. Worked pretty well. Dan
Ya, I have seen the priups site, but its sooooo far over the top that I am not sure what to take away from it My inverter came w/ no cables, so I will have to figure something out. And it sounds like my inverter is likely large enough to cause fuse issues if hooked up front. Sounds like I need to build something to connect directly to the back battery w/ my own reasonable sized fuse.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sillyboy @ Apr 11 2007, 08:17 AM) [snapback]421476[/snapback]</div> During or shortly after our December power outage a Seattle area Prius owner posted his use of a Prius and inverter to power his home complete with pictures. I have not been able to find it with the search feature. It looked simple. He mounted the inverter in the cargo space near the battery. I'll keep searching and try to find his post.
Couuldn't find the post I mentioned but here are some links that may help you. Inverter info http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=22487&hl= http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=1...emergency+power With diagram http://hiwaay.net/~bzwilson/prius/priups.html
