MASTER THREAD: Powering house or other things with Model 3

[marcmerlin]

So, I have an half unsolved question: what is the most battery efficient way to keep the DC-DC converter running?
Camper mode with AC off, a low temperature, and fan on 1, seems to be the best I found so far.
Ideally there should be a way to keep the DC-DC on while having the computer screen off (which can happen if the internal 12V battery needs recharging, the car is smart enough to turn on DC-DC but leave the computers off)
Is there a way to do that on demand?

 

[israndy]

This is confusing to me too. How exactly does Camper mode differ from Climate On? I have slept in the car overnight (plugged into city power) with Climate On and my watch charged from the rear USB ports. So that means the DC-DC was on all night, no?

 

[CertLive]

Could it be done via a software update? Every Tesla for $99 software unlock can be a power wall of luxury just in case things go bad? Call it the new home power protection plan! Sold and built into every car. No?

Who's with me in this billion dollar home power security home insurance plan business empire an EV revolution in energy security! Beat the bi annual blackouts now!

A new charger box installed from the Tesla range that allows power to flow the other way in an isolated circuit all built in for a little extra. Cut the grid and on with the model 3 power! until its restored then switch back seamless.

 

[ebmcs03]

No

 

[Zcd1]

Soon: Wallbox Quasar Bidirectional Charger Will Power Your Car And Your Home

 

[CertLive]

Soon: Wallbox Quasar Bidirectional Charger Will Power Your Car And Your Home

Yes! Model 3 compatible?

 

[jjrandorin]

Yes! Model 3 compatible?

No

Wallbox Quasar: seems like a great power backup option

I'm in Vegas for CES. I spoke to these guys at their booth yesterday.

It's not shipping in the US yet. They told me that it still requires a connection to the grid. It won't help in an outage in its current form. I mentioned I'm PG&E-land and already experienced two "PSPS". The guy told me the reason is that if you have no grid power and let's say you turn on an oven. Suddenly, there's a huge jump in demand and CHAdeMO doesn't let you do have that sudden sharp increase. I don't recall if the words he used were that it has to be a ramp up or in steps.

It's something they want to work on addressing. I recall him saying that many folks either wanted the outage protection or mention PG&E PSPS.

So, for now, it's only useful cases where you might want to store power from the grid at cheaper rates or use during more expensive periods. Or, (IIRC), it can be useful for those who want to store excess solar energy.

 

[Avid]

Soon: Wallbox Quasar Bidirectional Charger Will Power Your Car And Your Home

$4k for the bidirectional wall unit is a bit much. Since evse chargers are what $500 average, I'd paid a additional $500 for the bidirectional capability.

 

[mswlogo]

Yes! Model 3 compatible?

Highly doubt it.

You can’t run the AC to DC converter in the car in reverse. I highly doubt Tesla will allow access to DC from a 3rd party. And that would require a large DC to AC converter (similar in size to a Solar inverter). Maybe their “quasar” is that big a unit.

There are warnings in the warranty and owners manual.

The company can say what ever they want to happen. Doesn’t mean Tesla will. Some day it may make sense for Tesla to support such a thing but they will likely want you to buy hardware and services from Tesla and will make it so.

You’d also need permits, metering and safeties like a Solar System or Power Wall has. And limit what circuits can be back fed (like PowerWall and Backup Generators do).

It’s not gonna happen with a little (or big) box you just plug in and done.

 

[jjrandorin]

$4k for the bidirectional wall unit is a bit much. Since evse chargers are what $500 average, I'd paid a additional $500 for the bidirectional capability.

And all the tesla owners with "free unlimited supercharging" RUSH to the superchargers to fill up their cars, to then power their houses...

Also, in an outage situation, im sure everyone that had something like this would absolutely remember to flip their main breakers off, to keep from sending power back down through the grid while linemen are working on it....

Anyway, back on thread topic, there are a couple of threads here about running your home from your car. Will see if I can dig up a couple for you OP.

edit:

here is one thread, OP

Using Tesla car as a Powerwall - Is it possible?

 

[Avid]

And all the tesla owners with "free unlimited supercharging" RUSH to the superchargers to fill up their cars, to then power their houses...

Also, in an outage situation, im sure everyone that had something like this would absolutely remember to flip their main breakers off, to keep from sending power back down through the grid while linemen are working on it....

Anyway, back on thread topic, there are a couple of threads here about running your home from your car. Will see if I can dig up a couple for you OP.

Yeah, didn't think this until reading some of the other threads.

 

[Avid]

My personal use for something like this would be for emergency power only, not for daily in house usage. Wear and tear of the battery would be an issue for me.

 

[jjrandorin]

What I could absolutely see happening sometime in the future is that those of us that already have tesla powerwalls might end up with the ability to connect the car and use the car as well as the powerwalls, in an outage. The switching hardware would already be there, and its all tesla products so they could communicate with each other for power flow, etc.

I dont see it happening with some $500 wall connector though. I could be wrong on this, for sure, but I dont see it happening. No matter what disclaimers tesla puts out, people would use their cars to supplement their house, and then want battery warranty coverage, etc.

would be a big nightmare, for almost no gain from tesla's end. There IS a gain if they enable it for powerwall owners, as it would push people to buy powerwalls for this feature.

shrug.. I dont see it happening except as part of powerwall, as I said.

 

[mswlogo]

And all the tesla owners with "free unlimited supercharging" RUSH to the superchargers to fill up their cars, to then power their houses...

Also, in an outage situation, im sure everyone that had something like this would absolutely remember to flip their main breakers off, to keep from sending power back down through the grid while linemen are working on it....

Anyway, back on thread topic, there are a couple of threads here about running your home from your car. Will see if I can dig up a couple for you OP.

edit:

here is one thread, OP

Using Tesla car as a Powerwall - Is it possible?

If such a system was sold it would have to automatically isolate (or manually detect the grid is disconnected) during power outage as Solar and a Power wall systems do. But this is why it’s not just a simple box you plug in. It would be as complex as getting a PowerWall installed.

 

[mswlogo]

What I could absolutely see happening sometime in the future is that those of us that already have tesla powerwalls might end up with the ability to connect the car and use the car as well as the powerwalls, in an outage. The switching hardware would already be there, and its all tesla products so they could communicate with each other for power flow, etc.

I dont see it happening with some $500 wall connector though. I could be wrong on this, for sure, but I dont see it happening. No matter what disclaimers tesla puts out, people would use their cars to supplement their house, and then want battery warranty coverage, etc.

would be a big nightmare, for almost no gain from tesla's end. There IS a gain if they enable it for powerwall owners, as it would push people to buy powerwalls for this feature.

shrug.. I dont see it happening except as part of powerwall, as I said.

Thats an interesting idea and possibly not that much added cost. It could still limit wattage so as not to exceed the standalone PowerWall and only “assist” when the PowerWalls are drained to set point.

Basically this company is selling a PowerWall without the battery. And tapping into the EV (Tesla’s) battery. As if Tesla would allow that.

Tesla could just as easily sell a battery-less PowerWall too. Bet you they have one on the bench. So easy for them to do. But they rather sell you more batteries.

 

[PianoAl]

I've been doing this for years with our (ex) Leaf. I only use it for a 20W woodstove fan and a 4W controller for a gas water heater. With the Leaf I had to leave it in drive mode, but apparently not so with the Tesla.

As I am burning the lamp oil for light, and hating the fumes I start to wonder why I'm sitting in the dark with 40 kWh in the battery sitting in my driveway.

Advice from someone who has frequent outages and used to use oil lamps: Throw those puppies away right now, and buy some of these (brighter, safer, more convenient):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XM8HTIS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

... and a headlamp like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002HMQ5BW

 

[marcmerlin]

i ended up doing a writeup of the work I did in case it's useful to others:
Marc's Blog: electronics - Using a Tesla Model 3 as Emergency Power Source In Case of Grid Failure

 

[Hyperion M3P-]

I have always thought this should have been built in with our cars. Why buy a powerwall when you can drive your battery around?

Bi directional power flow through electric cars would add a whole new dimension to grid stability.

I heard about this capability being tested on a small scale in the UK. Hopefully it gains traction and will be common in this decade.

 

[nimbuzz]

Who's with me in this-- I'm with ya cert-live!

 

[erniejenson]

Using an old Tesla battery as a power wall is an interessting idea. The Tesla 3 battery is thought to be a 365 VDC battery. That is interesting as the Model S and X batterys are thought to be 20 to 30 VDC higher. Do they have more cells? I wonder what the capacity / voltage curve looks like from full charge to depleted. I bet they drop off to nothing before 250 VDC. I think Jack Rickard at EVTV is the expert in this field.