jeffy1021 wrote:
REM wrote:
Well this is crazy. We lost power again. Our town is in a state of emergency due to high winds (recorded at 81 mph). With so many people without power it's going to be a while. We are yet again running our main refrigerator using my car and power inverter. It used ten miles (one bar on CarNet) to run the fridge and some LED lights for about 12 hours so far. Now I'm talking with an electrician friend about installing a connect to run our gas furance in the future. With the growth of battery pack size, I don't see why some company won't develop an inverter that plugs into the quick charge port to power a house the way people use generators. 60 kwh will last a long time running critical items.
Just curious, are you using a modified or pure sine wave inverter? I have a cheaper modified sine wave inverter and from what I've read some devices may not work at all and inductive loads such as refrigerator compressors will work a bit harder which is ok if we're just using the inverter for emergencies.
I have a modified sine wave inverter and would recommend a pure sine wave. We are still without power (estimated resortation is Monday by 11:59 pm), and because it's 17 degrees we are staying with friends, so I gave up on the refrigerator days ago.
Because we lose power a lot, although usually for shorter periods, I am tempted to get a better inverter and work with my electrician friend to wire a disconnect to our furnace. The inverter worked well, even for higher wattage uses like my coffee maker (it draws nearly 1 kw). I just wonder how the 12v would keep up with the sustained draw of a gas furnace fan on a cold day.
I know that the easy answer is to get a generator, but I don't want a noisy, polluting gasoline powered thing to take care of. I don't even own a gas can. I just wish there was a product in the US that connects right to the traction battery.