Used Prius as a generator for off-grid property?

[Badfish740]

No Prius and no off grid property, but subscribing because this is a brilliant idea.

I don't have either at the moment, but I'm trying to plan for the future. Peakbagger turned me onto a community of folks who can probably advise on the inverter idea I posted above. In the near term, I would love to have this setup as an emergency generator. I see that you're in Central NJ (I'm in NW Hunterdon County) so you would know what I'm talking about. In the last six years we've lost power (Sandy included) for more than a week three times. I did have a generator so my food didn't spoil and my basement didn't flood, but it was an awful, grueling, seven to eight days each time, getting fuel, starting the thing, cycling it every four hours, etc...

The off-grid cabin is a nice dream for down the line, but the hybrid as an emergency power source beats the pants off of anything else out there in terms of efficiency and convenience. How many generators can you hop into and drive to the gas station when they're low on fuel?

 

[Badfish740]

OK, trying again, any of you solar gurus on the forum I could really use your expertise here-the SMA inverter I cited a while back is actually not suitable for this purpose. This one, however, might be:

(broken link removed)

Input range is 180-360 VDC and output is up to 4800W continuous - 220VAC/26A. From what it looks like (It's tough to tell because the product description is in that awkwardly translated English), its meant to power irrigation equipment with no battery storage, so it's an "all or nothing" affair-either PV or AC from the grid/a generator. I would think that I could connect the DC inputs to the car/AC outputs to the transfer switch, and simply never use the AC inputs?

 

[begreen]

Hmm, looks like it might work.

 

[Badfish740]

Hmm, looks like it might work.

We'll see-they are Chinese made and I'm not even sure you can get them in the U.S.-I emailed them-will report on what I hear back.

 

[dougstove]

Yes, please!

 

[begreen]

There have been several threads on this topic over on the PriusChat forums. Here's a couple:
http://priuschat.com/threads/using-car-as-generator-for-house-power.117507/#axzz3QQeD7WMS
http://priuschat.com/threads/anybod...nstalled-on-their-prius.119798/#axzz3QQeRiWzL

and this is if one just wants to inverter connect to the 12v system:
(broken link removed to http://www.peakprosperity.com/wsidblog/79974/running-inverter-prius-backup-power)