BrockWI
Well-known member
The chassis ground should to to an earth ground ie buried pipe or copper rod driven in to the ground, not to the vehicle. A vehicle is not grounded since it has 4 nice insulating tires on each corner 
Using the Leaf for power in a Blackout: MY "Leaf to Home"
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Nubo
Well-known member
That's why I found the instructions confusing. Would it be safe to run ground to a garage outlet's ground connection? Or could that be dangerous to line workers during an outage. Not much discussion of ground handling in this thread.BrockWI said:The chassis ground should to to an earth ground ie buried pipe or copper rod driven in to the ground, not to the vehicle. A vehicle is not grounded since it has 4 nice insulating tires on each corner
BrockWI
Well-known member
That is fine to connect to any real electrical ground, often metal conduit is easy access and should be grounded if it was installed correctly.
Just don't connect your inverters "hot" or "neutral" to any house electrical lines.
Just don't connect your inverters "hot" or "neutral" to any house electrical lines.
wwhitney
Well-known member
Make/model?Nubo said:
Cheers, Wayne
Nubo
Well-known member
Go-Power gp-sw300, 300w pure sine-wave inverter.wwhitney said:
wwhitney
Well-known member
See section 4.4 of the user manual. What are you planning to power using the inverter? (Edit: and does it have a 2-wire or 3-wire plug?) I assume the DC side will be the 12V battery of your Leaf?Nubo said:
Cheers, Wayne
alozzy
Well-known member
Does anyone own one of these inverters?
http://a.co/hroy9Us MicroSolar 12V 1000W (Peak 2000W) Pure Sine Wave Inverter
http://a.co/6pZQjBZ AIMS Power PWRIX120012S 1200W Pure Sine Inverter with Transfer Switch
They are both reasonably priced, have received decent reviews on Amazon, and claim to output 1000W continuous pure sine
http://a.co/hroy9Us MicroSolar 12V 1000W (Peak 2000W) Pure Sine Wave Inverter
http://a.co/6pZQjBZ AIMS Power PWRIX120012S 1200W Pure Sine Inverter with Transfer Switch
They are both reasonably priced, have received decent reviews on Amazon, and claim to output 1000W continuous pure sine
Nubo
Well-known member
wwhitney said:
Thanks Wayne, but I read the manual before posting my inquiry. You're probably overestimating my level of comprehension
wwhitney
Well-known member
OK, the Go-Power gp-sw300 manual says that the following points are internally connected together in the inverter:Nubo said:
The inverter chassis
The 12V DC negative input
The 120V "neutral" output
The 120V ground pin
The extra grounding terminal
You can basically ignore the extra grounding terminal, I can think of only a few corner cases where it would be useful.
Cheers, Wayne
Reagle
Well-known member
Has anybody done this with a 2018 Leaf?
Looking for a good grounding point to tie too. Looks like there are plenty of threaded holes in the inverter housing, but it'd be nice to know their size..
Looking for a good grounding point to tie too. Looks like there are plenty of threaded holes in the inverter housing, but it'd be nice to know their size..
Reagle
Well-known member
Answering my own question- the threaded holes are M8x1.25 . A 12mm long bolt fits nicely and has enough length to grab a cable lug
RustyShackleford
Well-known member
Even with 240v breakers off, the panel is drawing juice from both "hot" rails (depending upon which slot the 1-pole/120v breakers are attached to. How did you handle this ? Did you use a 240vac inverter ?woodgeek said:
I'm a little confused about this. Merely turning off the main breakers on your load center disconnects you from the grid. Is the interlock necessary simply because you might forget to do this ?
RustyShackleford
Well-known member
So having just acquired a barely-used Leaf (40kwh), and loving it BTW, I am intrigued by this thread. I have one complication, and that is that I get my water from a well, so that's one of my most essential loads (along with fridge). Apparently a 1/2HP pump draws about 2100watts startup surge and 1000watts running. Sounds like this rig can probably handle this, with one big problem; the well pump is a 240v load (to minimize losses in the wiring from the house and then down the bore). Obviously 240v inverters exist, as that's what most solar systems use, but they tend to be very expensive and have features we don't need and often expect DC inputs in the hundreds of volts (series strings of solar panels). Has anyone here had the need to power their well during outages, and found a reasonably priced 2000watt or so inverter ? Another issue: I've also read that inverters HATE big inductive loads like motors, so is this even practical, is it addressed by way over-sizing the inverter, or what ?
You can get big, cheap inverters from places like Harbor Freight, but the power they produce won't be especially "clean." The wave profile will be more square than sine wave, and this can cause problems with electronics that plug in directly (no "wall wart") and with some motors. Given the well load, if you can't find a decent priced 240 volt 3000/4000 watt inverter, you might want to consider a store brand dual fuel generator that will run on propane and produce 240 volts. That's what I have, and just used during a 15 hour outage.
I'm pretty sure the DC-DC charger from the main battery to the 12V has a certain power output maximum (4 kW?). If you find a 240V inverter with sufficient power for the well, you may need to ensure it doesn't exceed max 3 kW on the safe side. Of course the 240v inverter will be significantly more expensive than a 120V inverter...but could be still cheaper than a gas generator (and no maintenance).
This was my experience with a 120V: http://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=25623&p=536383&hilit=Leaf+backup+power#p536383
This was my experience with a 120V: http://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=25623&p=536383&hilit=Leaf+backup+power#p536383
RustyShackleford said:
More like 1.8kwh. He would have to use at least a modest battery bank, charged from the Leaf, to power a 240 volt inverter. In many cases it's simpler and cleaner to use the Leaf. In this case I'd suggest either a dual fuel generator or a larger, grid-charged battery bank. To use the Leaf a Chademo port 'reverse QC' unit would probably work best.
RustyShackleford
Well-known member
There is already such a heavy-duty switch, it's the main breakers in the main panel. My question is, what does this transfer switch do that the main breaker can't ? Is it simply that it's automatic, in case one forgets to turn off main breakers when energizing backup system ?jdcbomb said:
RustyShackleford
Well-known member
You know, this actually occurred to me. This outfit (https://invertersrus.com/product-category/power-inverters/240-vac-60hz/) sells inverters that output 240v (as well as split phase 120v for some) which they claim can power well pumps. With some batteries, this rig could power my essential loads (including the pump) and then use the Leaf to charge those batteries; seems like an excellent solution.LeftieBiker said:
Many of these inverters seem to have built-in battery chargers too.
Indeed there is a main breaker switch, but often these switches are on the outside of a home, and it's certainly possible that someone could inadvertently turn it back on, without fully disconnecting any backfeed, hence the interlock to prevent this.
RustyShackleford said:
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