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  • Prius saves the day (again)

    From Kurt Weiske@1:218/700 to All on Mon Mar 13 08:22:27 2023

    Here on the California coast, we've had a chain of winter storms and we've lost power three times. The most recent outage was 36 hours.

    My 2014 Plug-in Prius is essentially a big backup battery. I bought an AC inverter, connect it to the Prius 12v battery, and run a heavy-duty extension cord from my refrigerator to the Prius.

    The gas engine cuts in every 5-10 minutes to charge the battery.

    I was able to keep my freezer below freezing and keep my refrigerator below 40 degrees, while switching out the cord to my tankless water heater for showering and washing dishes.

    My inverter also has 2 USB ports for charging phones and a LED camping lantern I used.
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  • From Mike Dippel@3:712/1321.5 to Kurt Weiske on Mon Mar 13 17:16:54 2023
    On 3/13/2023 8:29 AM, Kurt Weiske wrote to All:

    Here on the California coast, we've had a chain of winter storms and we've lost
    power three times. The most recent outage was 36 hours.

    My 2014 Plug-in Prius is essentially a big backup battery. I bought an AC inverter, connect it to the Prius 12v battery, and run a heavy-duty extension
    cord from my refrigerator to the Prius.

    The gas engine cuts in every 5-10 minutes to charge the battery.

    I was able to keep my freezer below freezing and keep my refrigerator below 40
    degrees, while switching out the cord to my tankless water heater for showering
    and washing dishes.

    My inverter also has 2 USB ports for charging phones and a LED camping lantern
    I used.

    Very ingenious! Congrats.

    Mike Dippel

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