Emergency Power Wiring Kit (for Nissan Leaf)

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So, using the EVExtend, or one of the alternatives to hook up the 12V battery to the engine system battery, how many miles should I expect to get, assuming I have already totally exhausted the engine battery. BTW, how big is the system battery?
 
bgarr33434 said:
So, using the EVExtend, or one of the alternatives to hook up the 12V battery to the engine system battery, how many miles should I expect to get, assuming I have already totally exhausted the engine battery. BTW, how big is the system battery?
Your question makes no sense.
Please restate.

There is no engine.
There is a traction motor pack.
24 kWh but only ~21.5 kWh available when new.

The topic is about using that battery for other uses when electric power is out.
If the traction pack battery is fully empty, the LEAF will not move at all until you charge it back to above 7%.
And as I learned the other day the LEAF will likely deplete the 12V battery after the traction motor pack is empty.
My 12V was down around 7V and had to use jumper cables from ICE to even be able to charge the traction pack.
 
Allow me to restate. I believe that the purpose of the evextend is to use the 12V Battery as an emergency battery to get you extra miles too get you to a charging location. Assuming the 12V is fully charged, what is the extended range? What is the calculation?
 
bgarr33434 said:
Allow me to restate. I believe that the purpose of the evextend is to use the 12V Battery as an emergency battery to get you extra miles too get you to a charging location. Assuming the 12V is fully charged, what is the extended range? What is the calculation?

No, the 12 volt battery cannot be used to power the vehicle. If it could, the distance would be measured in inches, not miles.
 
The purpose of the EV Extend kit is to provide household 120v AC current for your home when the power is out. It will connect to (any) vehicle's 12volt DC power and step up the voltage for use outside of the vehicle. It wouldn't be used to propel, or charge an EV.
 
RePo said:
The purpose of the EV Extend kit is to provide household 120v AC current for your home when the power is out. It will connect to (any) vehicle's 12volt DC power and step up the voltage for use outside of the vehicle. It wouldn't be used to propel, or charge an EV.
Correct.
In an ICE vehicle it will not last long.
But in a fully charged 21.5 kWH available for use LEAF it would keep your refrigerator cold and the air moving fan on your gas furnace working for a long time.
On a 48 kWH battery Gen 2 LEAF or Bolt or other electric vehicle it would last twice as long.
With a Tesla S you might muddle along for weeks without grid power.
 
True, the idea is to idle the ICE to supply long(er) term power to the inverter. My Toyota 4cyl will idle at .15 gallons per hour. Idled it for 2 weeks after Hurricane Ike. Just like the Leaf- needs the ignition on.
 
RePo said:
True, the idea is to idle the ICE to supply long(er) term power to the inverter. My Toyota 4cyl will idle at .15 gallons per hour. ...
I am surprised it only burns .15 gallons per hour.

Have to be mighty careful about carbon monoxide poisoning idling an ICE or running a generator in proximity of a house.
Been quite a few people die doing that.

There is much more air movement between attached garages and homes than people recognize.
The vehicle or generator must be well away from the house with garage doors fully closed.
 
Good thing to keep in mind Tim.

I have done this in the past as well with our diesel VW Jetta, it consumes about .25 gallons an hour with a 1000w load and has a 120 amp alternator as well. I put it outside the 3rd stall nose in and ran the wire under the garage door.
 
This wiring kit is pretty slick for a permanent clean installation, but if all I want to do is occasionally use a 1000W inverter when there is a power blackout (i.e. 1x or 2x/yr), is there anything wrong with just connecting my inverter to the 12v battery with jumper cables?
 
It is fine to hook up temporary. Just connect the negative side to the "engine" block or someplace other than directly on the battery. Also make sure you have heavy enough wires to feed the inverter and they have a good connection. You can tell if they start to get warm at all they have a poor connection at that point. That is the way I use mine now since I can move it between vehicles.
 
BrockWI said:
ALF said:
This wiring kit is pretty slick for a permanent clean installation, but if all I want to do is occasionally use a 1000W inverter when there is a power blackout (i.e. 1x or 2x/yr), is there anything wrong with just connecting my inverter to the 12v battery with jumper cables?

It is fine to hook up temporary. Just connect the negative side to the "engine" block or someplace other than directly on the battery. Also make sure you have heavy enough wires to feed the inverter and they have a good connection. You can tell if they start to get warm at all they have a poor connection at that point. That is the way I use mine now since I can move it between vehicles.
Since EVExtend is currently sold out, I'm planning on doing this, but I'm nervous about just using the inverter alone without anything else from the kit.

The EVExtend kit has a fuse. I don't know a lot about electricity but I would think having a fuse is a good idea. What voltage (do you measure fuses in voltage?) fuse would you need for the leaf, and where would you put it? (I'd also like to be able to use this on my Prius Plug-in, I assume the same fuse would work for both cars.)

The EVExtend kit also says it has:
EVEX-1000L Brochure said:
High current DC connector for quick inverter connect when emergency power is needed
What is that? Is that just a description of the 4AWG and 8AWG wiring for the positive and negative connections, or is there an additional connector to somewhere else?
 
If your inverter fails, could it damage your car? If so, a fuse is a good safety feature. Select fuse current to match your inverter.

Anderson SB50 connectors are inexpensive and rated up to 50A. These would be a good choice for a quick-connect port. Buy two identical connectors. Wire one inside the car with 4 gauge stranded wire and a suitable fuse, Wire the other to your inverter. Use cable ties to hold the car connector in place so it doesn't vibrate when driving.

Here is one vendor, but many people sell these connectors:
http://www.newark.com/anderson-power-products/6319/connector-kit-housing-contacts/dp/96F6194
If you buy SB50 connectors, you must either buy the housing and pins separately or buy the kit with both housing and pins. Don't get fooled if you see housings for sale cheap without pins.

It's recommended to crimp the pins with a fancy tool, but you can also solder them. Just be careful to avoid getting solder on the contact end of the pin.

Bob
 
I would just build my own.
It's only a power inverter, some wires and hopefully a fuse.
 
I've decided to use a 100AH AGM battery as a buffer between the car and the inverter. What I can't figure out is if I'd actually be able to draw more power from that battery than the Leaf can provide, for short periods, because of all the battery + and - connections of like polarity being connected at the battery terminals. Will the inverter draw from the buffer battery, or directly from the car, via the heavy jumper cables...?
 
Yes you can draw more than the Leaf can supply without much issue as long as it isn't for long periods. The AGM and then the Leaf's battery will act as a buffer. The inverter will draw power from the least resistant source, being the AGM in this case. So if you connect the inverter to the AGM and then use jumper cables between the Leaf battery and the AGM, the inverter will draw more from the AGM becasue the jumper cable will slightly reduce the voltage and thus reduce the draw from the Leaf. Adding a battery/inverter and then jumping it to the Leaf (or any vehicle) is really the way to go.
 
That was how I saw it, but I appreciate the confirmation. The plan is to use battery cables for the inverter-AGM connection, and heavy jumper cables to go from the AGM to the car's + and PDM stack grounding bolt or a similar ground. The inverter has a 2kw rating with a 4kw surge rating. It's square wave so I'd only be using the circuits powered by the Leaf for lights and non-sensitive devices like heaters and maybe the fridge. If I end up using it regularly I'll get a pure sine wave unit like the one I installed in the cellar for the fridge and freezer.
 
I suggest you have a fuse in the positive connection between the batteries and also fuse the input to the inverter (sized as recommended by the inverter manufacturer). If you make the negative connection to ground, the DC-DC converter will run at float voltage (about 13 volts) unless there is charging current above 2 to 6 amperes (depending upon LEAF model) flowing into the LEAF's 12-volt battery. The DC-DC converter will run at bulk charging voltage (about 14.0 to 14.5 volts, depending upon ambient temperature) if you connect the negative cable directly to the LEAF's 12-volt battery. The higher voltage would probably be better for the input side of the inverter, but might overcharge the batteries during extended use.
 
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