I Used Our Leaf for Power During Outage

[LeftieBiker]

If you are going to run an inverter directly off the battery here's a few things I have seen mentioned in various places:

1. Connect the negative terminal to frame ground. The negative battery terminal has a shunt for something.. (anyone know?)
2. Don't pull more than 1.2 kW or so continuous. The power is being supplied by the DC-DC converter but it's not limitless.
3. Probably obvious but don't run the traction battery to 0%.

Otherwise go for it. It's an awesome bonus to an EV and can be safely used in a closed garage.

I would add to the above: use a "buffer battery" if at all possible. It can be a usable car battery, or better yet a deep cycle 12 volt battery of at least 50AH. The idea is to hardwire the inverter to the buffer battery, and then use heavy duty jumper cables to connect the buffer battery to the Leaf's battery + and frame. This smooths out the load on the Leaf, and if the buffer battery is large enough, it should let you draw a bit more amperage for short periods of time - if the inverter can handle it. That would make it easier to use loads with high startup draws from large electric motors.

[Dougie]

Sorry, newbie. When you say "connect directly to the battery," you mean you are connecting the inverter to the 12 volt battery, right?

What is the operating scenario? Does the car charge the 12 volt battery from the traction battery if it sees the voltage go below 11 volts? Does the car have to be turned on for that to work?

[LeftieBiker]

Sorry, newbie. When you say "connect directly to the battery," you mean you are connecting the inverter to the 12 volt battery, right?

What is the operating scenario? Does the car charge the 12 volt battery from the traction battery if it sees the voltage go below 11 volts? Does the car have to be turned on for that to work?

If you aren't using a buffer battery, you connect the inverter's Positive directly to the 12 volt battery's Positive terminal, and Negative to a metal ground, using heavy jumper cables as you would if jumping an ICE car, but I strongly suggest hard-wiring the inverter end of the jumper cables. If you are using a buffer battery, you hardwire the inverter to the buffer battery and use heavy jumper cables to connect the buffer battery to the car's 12 volt battery as above.