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My Fiance and I put together a video this afternoon showing how we've been able to use our Model 3 as a makeshift generator to power our woodstove blower, computers, internet router, and cell phones during natural disasters and/or power outages. This method made all of the difference for us through the 2019 Blizzard and horrendous 2020 wildfire season.
Please feel free to share with anyone who could benefit from it. We made it with all of the folks across the southern US without power right now in mind.
This is the type of system that I am considering to build,
to run my refrigerator during the day while charging the battery at night using ToU rate.
Seems like a real waste of an opportunity, almost negligent, for Tesla not to allow this during emergencies. If you could run your gas furnace fan with a Tesla that could make a huge difference for some people. Most Tesla's have like 10x the energy as that Ford.cool I came here with this https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/18/som...hybrids-to-power-homes-amid-winter-storm.html and hoping TSLA will do something similar.
I think you looked a a different thread.Seems like a ridiculous waste of time and money and risk to your $50K+ car
to shift load for a few pennies per day (what a fridge costs to run).
I think you looked a a different thread
(moderator note: moved post to existing master thread on this topic)The point of this thread is to examine how a Tesla can be used in a practical manner to run a home fridge, home freezer, camping fridge and other comparable devices that tend to draw fairly low, semi-continuous power.
Summary of terms:
Watt is a unit of power. A kilowatt is 1000 Watts.
Kilowatt hour (kWh) is a unit of energy. A long-range model 3 battery holds about 75 kWh.
A home fridge uses about 1 kWh per day or about 1 to 2% of the capacity of a Tesla battery. (It does that by being “on” about 50% of the time and drawing 80 Watts when on, roughly.) A camping fridge such as the Dometic DZ65DZ uses about half that much energy per day. They key to running any refrigerator or cooler using energy from your Tesla battery is an intermediate battery in my opinion. The battery in your frunk is not well-suited to this task (too small). An additional 12 volt lead-acid battery is an option, however, a better and more practical choice is a lithium-ion battery system such as a Goal Zero Yeti, a Jackery or an Eco-Flow, to mention a few. These provide a useful buffer and can improve efficiency considerably in some scenarios. For brevity, I will call these “jacket batteries”: they include a battery made with cells like those in your Tesla, as well as built in inverters and converters that can supply 110 volt, 12 volt and 5 volt power fro your use. Let’s examine some specific scenarios here.
Scenario 1. Using a Jackery 1000 to run your home fridge and freezer: A Jackery 1000 can run your home fridge and freezer. It can handle to starting surges; it works fine and it is small, quiet and lightweight. (I am sure the Goal Zero, EcoFlow and other would work as well.) About 8 or 10 hours into a power outage you will need to charge your “jacket battery”. Here is where things get less than ideal. You can plug it into the 12 volt port in your Tesla and put the car in camp mode, however, the Jackery charges slowly (at about 100 Watts) and the overhead associated with keeping your car in camp mode is about 300 to 400 Watts, so this is extremely inefficient. Charging more rapidly is possible, but may involve tapping into power intended for your stereo system speakers. Maybe people would like to discuss this below? Overall, this is doable and helpful for shorter power outages, but tends to be inefficient in the long run due to the slow charging speeds of the jacket batteries. Efficiency could be improved by finding faster ways to charge jacket batteries and figuring out camping or dog modes with the least overhead. Suggestions are welcome!
Scenario 2. Using a small jacket battery as an interface to a portable Dometic fridge for travel or camping. Traveling with a Dometic fridge in a Tesla is fairly common. A small jacket battery can really improve the efficiency and practicality of this. I use a Jackery 250 (0.25 kWh capacity), which is small, light-weight and quiet, to run a Dometic 65DZ. While driving one can either charge the Jackery or run the Dometic fridge directly from the 12 volt power of your Tesla. When you are not driving, you won’t need to use camp mode because the jacket battery can run your fridge for up to about 24 hours. You could go with a 0.5 kWh battery if you want more power. These cost roughly $1 per Watt-hour, that is, about $250 for the smaller battery, $500 for the 0.5 kWh one. Overall, this works great and is a big improvement, in my opinion, in terms of not having to keep your car in camp mode overnight and some other machination when you are not driving.
Scenario 1, running a home fridge, is limited by charging speed issues. These could be less of an issue with the CyberTruck, which will presumably have 110 volt outlets capable of about 1500 Watts which are active in camp mode. This would enable charging a 1 kWh jacket battery in an hour or so, which would be much more efficient. However, I don’t see any fundamental reason why a Tesla sedan cannot, in principle, be used to fast-charge a jacket battery. This would involve developing a practical way to tap into a roughly a 1000 Watt source on the Tesla, as well as developing a fast charger for a jacket battery. Suggestions are welcome and encouraged. I am hoping to develop a compendium of practical ideas for use of Tesla car energy for refrigeration during power outages and while traveling. (Yes, I do realize this is not the first thread on this topic and I would like to acknowledge that I have learned a lot from reading other threads on this topic.)
The point of this thread is to examine how a Tesla can be used in a practical manner to run a home fridge, home freezer, camping fridge and other comparable devices that tend to draw fairly low, semi-continuous power.
Summary of terms:
Watt is a unit of power. A kilowatt is 1000 Watts.
Kilowatt hour (kWh) is a unit of energy. A long-range model 3 battery holds about 75 kWh.
A home fridge uses about 1 kWh per day or about 1 to 2% of the capacity of a Tesla battery. (It does that by being “on” about 50% of the time and drawing 80 Watts when on, roughly.) A camping fridge such as the Dometic DZ65DZ uses about half that much energy per day. They key to running any refrigerator or cooler using energy from your Tesla battery is an intermediate battery in my opinion. The battery in your frunk is not well-suited to this task (too small). An additional 12 volt lead-acid battery is an option, however, a better and more practical choice is a lithium-ion battery system such as a Goal Zero Yeti, a Jackery or an Eco-Flow, to mention a few. These provide a useful buffer and can improve efficiency considerably in some scenarios. For brevity, I will call these “jacket batteries”: they include a battery made with cells like those in your Tesla, as well as built in inverters and converters that can supply 110 volt, 12 volt and 5 volt power fro your use. Let’s examine some specific scenarios here.
Scenario 1. Using a Jackery 1000 to run your home fridge and freezer: A Jackery 1000 can run your home fridge and freezer. It can handle to starting surges; it works fine and it is small, quiet and lightweight. (I am sure the Goal Zero, EcoFlow and other would work as well.) About 8 or 10 hours into a power outage you will need to charge your “jacket battery”. Here is where things get less than ideal. You can plug it into the 12 volt port in your Tesla and put the car in camp mode, however, the Jackery charges slowly (at about 100 Watts) and the overhead associated with keeping your car in camp mode is about 300 to 400 Watts, so this is extremely inefficient. Charging more rapidly is possible, but may involve tapping into power intended for your stereo system speakers. Maybe people would like to discuss this below? Overall, this is doable and helpful for shorter power outages, but tends to be inefficient in the long run due to the slow charging speeds of the jacket batteries. Efficiency could be improved by finding faster ways to charge jacket batteries and figuring out camping or dog modes with the least overhead. Suggestions are welcome!
Scenario 2. Using a small jacket battery as an interface to a portable Dometic fridge for travel or camping. Traveling with a Dometic fridge in a Tesla is fairly common. A small jacket battery can really improve the efficiency and practicality of this. I use a Jackery 250 (0.25 kWh capacity), which is small, light-weight and quiet, to run a Dometic 65DZ. While driving one can either charge the Jackery or run the Dometic fridge directly from the 12 volt power of your Tesla. When you are not driving, you won’t need to use camp mode because the jacket battery can run your fridge for up to about 24 hours. You could go with a 0.5 kWh battery if you want more power. These cost roughly $1 per Watt-hour, that is, about $250 for the smaller battery, $500 for the 0.5 kWh one. Overall, this works great and is a big improvement, in my opinion, in terms of not having to keep your car in camp mode overnight and some other machination when you are not driving.
Scenario 1, running a home fridge, is limited by charging speed issues. These could be less of an issue with the CyberTruck, which will presumably have 110 volt outlets capable of about 1500 Watts which are active in camp mode. This would enable charging a 1 kWh jacket battery in an hour or so, which would be much more efficient. However, I don’t see any fundamental reason why a Tesla sedan cannot, in principle, be used to fast-charge a jacket battery. This would involve developing a practical way to tap into a roughly a 1000 Watt source on the Tesla, as well as developing a fast charger for a jacket battery. Suggestions are welcome and encouraged. I am hoping to develop a compendium of practical ideas for use of Tesla car energy for refrigeration during power outages and while traveling. (Yes, I do realize this is not the first thread on this topic and I would like to acknowledge that I have learned a lot from reading other threads on this topic.)
I haven't personally done it, but as I understand it, the car will not complain about a continuous draw of 100A from the PCS terminals while the car is kept awake.Thank you Cali84! I did go back and reread everything. Really interesting discussions!
So if I understand correctly, you are saying that I can wire, for example, a panel mount housing for 45 amp Anderson connectors (pic attached) somewhere near the DC-DC converter under the rear seat (with say 8 AWG wire) and I can then draw up to 45 + 45 = 90 amps with the car in Sentinel Mode, and the computer won't even mind? As long as I don't surge the current, the car will not complain or shut down or rat me out? Because that would be ideal for charging an Ecoflow Delta or the new Jackery 1500, which each accept about a 600 Watt charge rate.
Thank you Cali84! I did go back and reread everything. Really interesting discussions!
So if I understand correctly, you are saying that I can wire, for example, a panel mount housing for 45 amp Anderson connectors (pic attached) somewhere near the DC-DC converter under the rear seat (with say 8 AWG wire) and I can then draw up to 45 + 45 = 90 amps with the car in Sentinel Mode, and the computer won't even mind? As long as I don't surge the current, the car will not complain or shut down or rat me out? Because that would be ideal for charging an Ecoflow Delta or the new Jackery 1500, which each accept about a 600 Watt charge rate.
Just for those looking to use their Model 3 battery but are maybe nervous about lifting the seats and wiring a solution that may void warranty, another option to power a fridge over night is something like the Goal Zero Yeti 1000X, 1400X, 1500X (models constantly change), and get the "Yeti 12V charging cable" that they also offer. This 12V charging cable is rated for 120W output continuously, and can charge the Yeti even while it's providing power to AC devices.
This allows you to have enough surge and immediate power for a full size Fridge, Freezer, etc via the Yeti.. and also 'trickle charge' the Yeti constantly from the Model 3 battery.
If you take a full size fridge that uses 1.5-2.0 kWh per day (i.e. you open/close it, use it, etc), on average that Fridge is using 63-83W continuously, which is less than the 120W the 12V charging cable can provide.
It's not *super* efficient because as others have pointed out you have to run Sentry mode for another 200W draw, so worse case you're looking at 320W draw (* 24 hours = 7.7 kWh/day) if you're pulling at full tilt. Though for a LR Model 3 that's only a little more than 10% (assuming some other losses) per day.
Benefits:
- Doesn't void warranty (you're just pulling power from the 12V lighter socket)
- No custom wiring - just buy the Power station and the 12V adapter
- Using off the shelf hardware that has been around for some years
Cons:
- More expensive than some other solutions/DIY
- Less efficient than other solutions/DIY
Tesla is voiding your warranty if you try to power your home with your electric car battery pack – something that more people have been looking into following power outages in some areas in the US. While Tesla vehicles are not equipped with bidirectional charging enabling vehicle-to-grid or vehicle-to-home features, there’s actually a way to power some devices using your Tesla vehicles. It’s as simple has plugging a 2,000-watt inverter to your car’s 12-volt battery. Update: As Tesla hacker green points out, it is better to connect to the 12-volt system through the penthouse under the backseat.
“So if you are out of power from the storm you can power parts of your home from your car. here I’m using a 2,000 watt inverter from Harbour Freight for $170. Connect to your battery, the shorter the wires the better. Then I have an extension chord to my gas furnace to power the blower and furnace computer. That alone draws about 1,100 watts. Then I still have enough for my refrigerator and a few lights.” A setup like that on a Tesla vehicle can provide hours of power, but Schatz found out that Tesla doesn’t like it.
Beware- Tesla is now monitoring social media sites... Tesla voids your warranty if you try to power your home with your electric car battery pack - Electrek
Tesla owner Bob Schatz described his own setup in a post on the Tesla Owners Club Portland Facebook group (via Green on Twitter):
Over the next few days, the vehicle started sending alerts that the 12-volt battery needed replacing despite the shop saying that the battery seemed strong.
The Tesla service center said that the battery needed replacing, but they actually found this post on the Facebook group and said that his setup voided the warranty.
The subject header is from Electrek as cited... not so sure about your interpretation of the warranty.Tesla has been watching social media sites for a long time, just like every other company does. According to your quote, they voided the warranty on his 12 volt battery (which is a roughly 80 dollar part) while your header makes it sound like they voided his entire car warranty, or his high voltage battery warranty.
The subject header is from Electrek as cited... not so sure about your interpretation of the warranty.
Tesla could always claim additional limitations to warranty coverage on all electronic systems... YMMV.
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