e-Golf Forum and Electric Vehicle News

That was timely. It's windy and my power went out. Power inverter, extension cords, car on, park break on, car lights off. Works like a charm.

I'd like to hear how long you run it this way and how much power you pull.

I ran two extension cords to power lights and charge cell phones all night. Then I ran my coffee maker tbis morning. I should have used my watt meter to measure how much power I used, but I didn't think of it. I'm thinking about plugging one of my refrigerators, but I don't think my inverter can handle it.

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.

As I understand it (not sure though) the charge port and wiring leading to the onboard charger is specifically designed so you can't get power out of it. It's a safety thing.

A properly designed device could safely take power directly from the traction battery. These devices exist in Japan for CHAdeMO equipped vehicles. I have not yet seen one for CCS vehicles, but they are basically the same, just with a different protocol. The problem is that there are not a lot of inverters available for the battery voltages present in electric vehicles. So, these power export devices are expensive right now.

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.

You should look at the electrical specifications for the furnace. I have a high efficiency condensing natural gas furnace and it does not draw more than 7 amps on 120VAC (840VA). It has a blower for the house air and a separate one for the combustion air. I have one of these for each floor of the house. In an emergency, I would only power the downstairs unit since the heat naturally goes upstairs. Keeping one of these running along with a refrigerator is within the capabilities of the 12V system in the e-Golf. You just have to choose an appropriate inverter and fuse it properly on the AC and DC sides.

Sorry to hear you have been without power for so long.

I tried to run my fridge off a 1000w (2000w) peak inverter and it was a no go. The sticker inside my fridge said 7.2A @ 120V which is 864 watts. In theory it should have worked, but I guess there is probably some inefficiency within the inverter and the "peak wattage" is good for a second so it's pretty useless for motor/compressor loads that take up to a few seconds when the first power up. Once the compressor is running, the fridge draws less than 200W. I would probably need to try a 1500W or 2000W continuous. When you get into the higher watt range, pure sine gets expensive. I may just stick with modified sine since I would just use it for emergency purposes.