Project Pi-Pri-RV, household power

25 February, 2024 kctschida 0 Comments 1 category

The front passenger seat was disassembled and the back cut-off. The front passenger seat does end up taking up a lot of space for camping and traveling, so I made it take up less space. Then I used the space to install a 2500 watt inverter. I don’t know if my car can supply enough power to get to 2500 watts, but I should be able access more wattage then in the past with the addition of a household battery.

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The power from the household battery passes through this 200 amp circuit breaker, which might not protect that much because from the 12 volt battery, it passes through a 140 amp fuse. The cables are from parted out Priuses.
The red cable, isn’t a stock Prius cable, but it was parted out from a Prius, along with the 200 amp circuit breaker used at the battery box. It is hooked onto the positive terminal, runs under the high voltage battery, under the back seat, under the carpet, to the center console.
Just behind the passenger seat, I made a cut to poke the power cable out from under the rug so I could install a voltage isolator, so the household battery can be charged by the starting battery, but can’t discharge the starter battery so I will still be able to start the car if I use too much juice. I grounded out the isolator to a bolt just behind the console.
The car starts, the voltage isolator engages, LED turns on, and we have 14.1 volts at the inverter.
I thought I took a better picture of putting the interior back together, but no. The voltage isolator I decided to just stuff into the unused cavity of the center console, but that means I can’t just look and see the LED light being on telling me everything is working. Maybe I’ll be happy with that, maybe I will cut-out a hole in the console so I more easily confirm operation. With my power center put back together, I tested the system with a very powerful light; it works.
Unrelated to household power, but this shows my household water and sink. There isn’t a grey water tank , I simply routed a heater hose through the hole the oxygen sensor goes through. Eventually I may want something better, but for now , this works.

There is still so much more to do with household wiring. For one thing, I need to grab a heat gun to heat shrink some insulation around the cable ends. I also plan on wiring in an additional 12 volt circuit as well. That will use my 20 amp circuit breaker, because I love switches.

For now I am using a stock Prius battery as my household battery, which isn’t ideal. This isn’t the duty they are designed for, and the one I am using happens to be weak, at the very end of its usability. For now it will do, and I will decide later if I want to upgrade to a deep-cycle battery. I have heard that it tends to be better to use two 6-volt golf cart batteries, that will take up considerably more space.

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Category: Pi-Pri-RV

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