Car as Emergency Generator

[thstone]

I have always wondered if I could use a car as an emergency generator.

I bought all of the components a few months ago and this morning when I found that the power was out, it gave me a reason to give it a try - it seemed to work perfectly!

Here are the components that I used;

1. PowerBright DC-AC Invertor Model APS1000-12 (1000W continuous/2000W surge) PowerBright APS1000-12 Inverter
2. Cobra Heavy Duty Invertor Cable Kit Heavy Duty Inverter Cable Kit
3. 19mm and 11mm socket with extender
4. Mop
5. Long extension cord + power strip (not shown)



Hey, hey hey! Before you start hitting the keyboard to hammer me about "How in the world could I use a fine instrument like a Porsche for use as a home generator?", I want to say that you guys/gals know me better than this! I would NEVER use a Porsche for such a thing - that is what BMW's are made for!

Cable and fuse installation took 20-30 mins, but this is only a one-time need.

Here is how this setup hooked up to my wife's BMW 325i (in less than 10 mins);

1. Inverter power ground (black) to the ground battery lug (in the engine compartment on this car)
2. Inverter ground (green) to the front engine bracket
3. Inverter power positive (red) to the positive battery lug (in the engine compartment on this car)







I used the mop to hold the RPM's at 1,500 and turned on the inverter. From there, just run the extension cord into the house and use a power strip to plug in the items of your choice (up to the inverter's limit).

I ran our internet router (50w), two laptops (90W ea), two LCD computer screens (100w ea), and a few other minor computer accessories (50w) (total = 480w).

The RPM's on the engine remained constant regardless of load (up to this amount anyway) and the engine warmed up but never got over normal temp during the 1.2 hour run.

This seems to be a relatively easy way to generate emergency short-term power.