[Guest]

Ok, I've done my best to search through past articles about using the Prius as a power generator..however, I still have a few questiosns...

I have a power 1500 power invertor, which I used in my old car to get AC (a standard household jack) power out of the 12V battery. It connected through the cigarette lighter...can't I just plug this into the two cigarette lighter-esque jacks and get all my power that way? Or, is it really necessary to construct the system mentioned in previous posts?

Whether I have to build the system or not, what will be the max amount of amps/watts/whatevers I can run off of the car? I heard a refrigerator and some lights were once run off the car, but I am curious to know if I can get the car to run one or two oxygen concentrators (I have yet to dig up the power needs on those...but maybe somebody out there knows if they are comparable to a refrigerator).

Thanks! I am sorry for my extreme lack of car knowledge or terminology. I'm about to go out and turn off the seat-belt beep..let's see if I can even handle THAT much technical instruction.

-Greg
Black 04
#9 - Doin' Fine

 

[RSnyder]

If you're tapping off the 12V "ligher plug", you can draw up to 15 Amps at 12 V which will allow somewhat less than 1.5 amps at 120 V. That's a bit more than 1 100W lightbulb. If you tap off the battery terminals you can draw up to 100 Amps at 12 V (minus whatever the car is using, so turn all the lights, fans and other accessories off). That will let you run a 10 Amp circuit at 120 V. (Reduced some because most inverters aren't all that efficient).

You would need to tap off the HV battery to get serious power out of the Prius, but that's really dangerous and is likely to void the warranty, so you shouldn't do it unless you're a qualified electrician and very rich. Even so, it will be very hard to figure out how to do it without tripping up the GFI protection and shutting the whole thing down.