12v to 240v car inverter to charge leaf from ice vehicle?

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

foolios

Well-known member
Joined
May 1, 2014
Messages
95
Just wondering if that could be a way to help a leaf that needed a few more miles to get to a charger or home.
lets say my son gets stranded 10 miles from home. Plug into the inverter on gas car and charge it for a bit. Could the ice's running car battery keep up?

Err 120v. Do they make a 12-240?
 
After all the various losses, you would be lucky to get 50 amps which is about 600 watts at 12 volts... It would be a long slow charge compared to the roughly 1400 watts the L1 normally charges at...

foolios said:
Just wondering if that could be a way to help a leaf that needed a few more miles to get to a charger or home.
lets say my son gets stranded 10 miles from home. Plug into the inverter on gas car and charge it for a bit. Could the ice's running car battery keep up?
 
You'd probably burn more gas getting your 10 mile charge than a tow truck would driving to you, towing you home and driving back to wherever it came from. :roll:

Using 12VDC converted to AC is about the least efficient way possible to charge...
 
Unless your ICE is one of those modified with tons of lights and high power speakers. I believe they can have up to a 200A alternator. That will be 2400W, better than L1.
 
I have tried this, just to see if it would work. Our VW diesel has a 120amp alternator and I used our xantrex prowatt 1800w sine wave inverter. While idling the diesel it can power the inverter and maintain the voltage on the battery while powering up the stock trickle evse and charging the leaf. Not efficient, but it can work. I tried it with the van that has a 90amp alternator and the 12 volt battery voltage was slowly dropping at idle and even dropping when I bumped up the rpm on the engine, so that wouldn't cut it for long before it ran the battery dead.
 
Nissan provides free roadside assistance for a few years with Leafs. Just call 1-800-NOGASEV. They'll tow you for free to a Nissan dealer where you can charge. You may be able to talk them into towing you home if you're very close.

Also, you can keep the 120V EVSE in your trunk and use it wherever you can find an outlet. If you also want to have a high capacity extension cord you could add that on to extend the distance from the outlet. Make sure it's rated for at least 15A continuous draw (20A preferred). You can get one 100 feet long rated for that load for about $70. I don't recommend charging with an extension cord as a routine practice, but in an emergency it will work.
 
If you have one of those PHEV trucks by Via Motors, maybe you could do this. They have 120V plugs in the car and I think may even have 240V.
 
Not stock from the factory unless it is one VERY large truck... And with increasing fuel efficiency standards, they are trying to make the alternators on vehicles as small as possible to reduce parasitic loads...

camasleaf said:
Unless your ICE is one of those modified with tons of lights and high power speakers. I believe they can have up to a 200A alternator. That will be 2400W, better than L1.
 
Back
Top