Ever since I started crossing the country in my Prius, I’ve wished I could have the luxuries of home on the road. Luxuries like a cup of tea, or a hot meal in minutes. Yes, you can buy tea at Starbucks or microwaveable meals at the grocery store, but the tea might not be your favorite brand, and there might not be a microwave where you can heat your meal. And if your goal is to cross the country as quickly as possible because there’s a job waiting for you on the other coast, time is literally money you don’t want to waste.
Fortunately, there’s a way to make your Prius deliver as much of a power punch as any RV, with the help of a device called a power inverter. This device will take power from your battery and send it to your 110v AC appliances. Depending on the size of the inverter, you can power a phone, a laptop, a refrigerator, a microwave, or a whole house. Using an inverter turns your car into a generator that can keep running as long as you have gas. So aside from making car camping easier, it can be a godsend in a power outage.
The 12v Prius battery is located in the back of the car, under your cargo area. The large high voltage battery packs underneath (not accessible to you) send power to the smaller 12v battery while the car is running. They recharge the battery through regenerative breaking, or by using your gas engine once the large cells are low.
Since the high voltage battery has a much higher voltage (200+ volts) than the 12-volt battery, it takes fewer amps at a higher voltage to equal the same amount of energy. ….
At 12 volts, that 200 watts require 16.67 amps of current (200 watts divided by 12 volts = 16.67 amps). Therefore, we aren’t draining any more power from the vehicle than it can provide at that level since what the DC-DC converter does is reduce voltage and increase current to compensate.
Axle Addict
Installing the inverter isn’t difficult, but if you’re afraid of damaging your battery or engine, go to an RV service shop, a mechanic, or a stereo shop. Make sure you take all necessary parts like circuit breakers and cables with you. The larger the inverter, the thicker the cables, and the greater the amperage of your circuit breaker. Also keep in mind where you intend to mount the inverter, and get cables long enough to cover that area.
For more information on installing inverters, see Axle Addict’s article, Installing and Using a Power Inverter in a Prius.
Last but not least, choose appliances that don’t exceed the wattage of your inverter. Microwaves and coffee makers usually draw at least 700 watts, so you probably want at least a 1000w inverter for those. If you plan to power your laptop using an inverter, consider a pure sine wave inverter. They cost twice as much, but are safer for your laptop.
And if you want your tiny microwave to speak to you and obey your voice commands, I recommend the Alexa microwave, because of the smaller size, wattage, and geek factor!
Happy trails!
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