Using the Leaf for power in a Blackout: MY "Leaf to Home"

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KillaWhat

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 23, 2012
Messages
866
Location
Southeast Pennsylvania
This is MY answer to the thread "What became of the "LEAF TO HOME" Power the house Kit?"

Here is my Leaf-to-Home setup.(NOT)


I know it's not really a Leaf-to-Home.
The Leaf to home uses the DCQC port in reverse, cost Big Big yen, and will put out higher current that my setup.

Mine however, WILL put out 8 Amps of continuous, true sine wave power, with surge loads up to 15 amps, quietly and efficiently for about 24 hours (depending on load).
It even has a USB output to charge my Cell Phone

It will keep my essential electrical needs operating in a power outage, and It also didn't cost an arm ¥ and a leg ¥.

This setup is NOT my original thought.
Phil (Ingineer) proved long time back that "The Leaf's DC-DC converter can supply up to about 1.7kW or 135a", which is enough current to easily power this configuration, and "NullPointer" proved that it would actually work using this equipment.

http://goo.gl/p5SY1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(My choice of inverter was a coincidence, but the circuit breaker was outright intellectual theft.)



If this were a different vehicle, or a larger vehicle, I would have buried it in the car somewhere, permanently mounted, remotely controlled, with only a GFCI outlet showing that looked like it came that way from the Factory. But in this vehicle, this was my solution.

I happened to have this inverter in the back of the Leaf when I went to my little guy's Cub Scout picnic a while back. They had rented a small pavilion thing in a park, and were setup to do spin-art and a couple other projects that required electricity. They had rented a generator, and had placed it under that pavilion and it was rattling away, making conversation difficult, and stinking up the place. Then it died.... and the silence was nice..... except is was rainy, and the kids couldn't do their projects.

Well, I pulled the Leaf up, borrowed a set of jumper cables, got one of my "paranoia" 100' 12gauge extension cords out of the back, and in 5 minutes we were back up and running without the noise and fumes. Plus the kids all thought it was very cool.

Leafy was a star!



Having proven its worth, I wanted a more "permanent" and a "looks like I meant it" solution, and this is what I came up with.
(I also have a 12VDC "Extension Cord made from a set of very nice 15' 2 gauge truck jumper cables fitted with the same Anderson connectors, so I can move the inverter to a more secure or weather resistant location, including the interior of the car in a pinch.)

I could have chosen a larger inverter, but it's the same compromise you make when picking a generator. More power = Less time.
(Yes, I know the responses are coming.... this is stoopid..... Generators are much better. Yeah Yeah...
I have a HUGE built-in Onan Diesel generator at home, with LOTS of diesel Fuel (that gets pumped into my TDI cars also) to handle the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse.
It doesn't make this setup any less interesting)



The first question those who have seen this ask is "what will it power and for how long?" Being an engineer, I sat down and started figuring. I made power consumption estimations, run-interval guesses, startup load approximations, and internal inverter loss guestimates. My son came along, and asked why didn't I just plug the fridge in and see how long it would work? Silly Child.... So..... I did.

Just for reference, I have a KitchenAid KFIS29PBMS 28.6 cu. ft. multi-door fridge, newish, energy star compliant, so it is fairly typical for 5+/- year old large fridges. I also have installed about 90% LED lighting in the house, and since I designed the electrical system, all my lighting circuits are not only separated and isolated from everything else, they are in a separate panel. The average LED bulb draws between 7 and 13 watts, so I could throw in an LED lighting load by tripping the main for the panel, and back feeding one side, and It wouldn't make THAT big a difference. For giggles, I plugged 2 of them into the cord as well.

Here is what I found:
I wish I had better concise data for you.
The only way I am sure it's working correctly is when the car is ON (ON ON, not READY or ACC)
I Started with 274GID
I opened the fridge door for 5 minutes, and watched to make sure the consumption registered the startup.
Just to mess with it, I went shopping, put away all the cold and frozen, including an Oven roaster chicken that was too hot to touch.
This fridge really ramps up when I do this, and it sounds like a turbine engine for a while until it gets the temperature rise under control.
I let it run 6 hours, operating as usual (maybe opening the door a little more than usual)
Then I had to stop, and go pick up a kid from soccer, and hook it back up
then I let it run all night, for a total of about 17 hours.
I still had 61 GID.

I have been told that at 12 GID The Leaf will Freak Out, shut down, go dark, and call it's momma.
So I used 15GID as Rock bottom last gasp gave it it's all, which works out, using the actual load as configured, of a run time of about 21 hours continuous.
Not good data, I'm sorry
The nice thing is this includes the Leaf's Idle load, the DC to DC converter's loss and the Inverters internal loss.

So, It's quick and dirty. Works well.
If I for some reason had to sustain it for a while, we have 1 DCQC unit 12 miles away, on the other side of the Delaware river in another State, so hopefully it wouldn't be down for the same reason as My power, and I could pop over there every 12 or so hours and recharge quickly.

Hope you like it.
If you get a second, check this out....
http://www.wusa9.com/Sandy/article/227657/474/Charge-It-One-Mans-Solution-To-Power-Outage" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Specs:
The inverter is a Xantrex PROWatt SW True Sine Wave Inverter model SW1000.
The breaker trips at 150 amps.
The Connectors are 175 Amp Anderson SB175-02-YEL (I wanted to go with Blue, to match the leaf, but the colors indicate voltage, will not work cross color, and yellow is the proper one for 12VDC, and I knew somebody out there would call me on it)
It's run on all true copper 2 gauge wire.
The ground is run to a CAST copper fitting, attached to the "spare" ground hole in the inverter housing with a 5/16" SS Nut/ Bolt/ Washer, with a "Holesaw Made" 3/4" X 1/8" lead crush washer and covered (tastefully) in electrical anti-corrosion goo.
(Never Never attach a ground to the Leaf's negative battery terminal. Phil's Law!)
The "exposed" positive terminals on the Breaker were covered with 3 coats of black "PlastiDip" to insulate them from any little tool-touchy Boo-Boo's in the future.
The Bracket is made from Scrap 3/16 6061 T6 aluminum plate from the "Adding a Brusa charger under the hood for '11/'12s" project, stuck together as practice in welding aluminum.
There is a piece of T6 1" angle in there as a battery hold down, and a spacer to clear the "stuff" sticking up from the top of the Battery.
All the screws are SS M6/1.0 and tapped into the Bracket.
It uses the original battery hold down hardware, just with a "new" top bracket.
(and you have to guess where the Genuine Blue Nissan Leaf emblem came from)

 
Very nice!

I bookmarked this thread, as I did want to do something similar once I am a little bit more comfortable with the LEAF (was only built 2 weeks ago).

Thanks for sharing!
 
very interesting! A science project with a purpose. what would it take to make this into something that is feasible for the less skilled crowd?
 
what would it take to make this into something that is feasible for the less skilled crowd?

Well, it will work with the inverter and jumper cables, and any amount of installation beyond that.

I built that battery hold down bracket as practice for the parts I'm making for the "Adding a Brusa charger under the hood for '11/'12s " project.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=12323&start=110" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I had never really welded or fabricated with aluminum before.
 
I did the same thing with the Xantrex inverter, but I ran a cable through the firewall
to the back seat floor on the passenger side and set it on a big marine battery.
Have not lost power at all in the house since I did this, so I have not had a chance
to test it out for real. I purchased a DC blue led voltmeter off ebay so I can monitor
the state of charge of the marine battery from the drivers seat. Also pluged in to the
cigarette lighter with another meter so I can monitor the 12 volts there and also on
the LEAF Android Battery App. When the car is not charging or ON, or running the
climate control, the DC/DC converter is off. Does anyone have the CAN BUS command
to turn on the DC/DC controller through the GID METER serial port?

I am really writing here to list this link to an article citing information about the
Nichicon "Leaf to Home", which it is calling by a new name I have not seen
anywhere else. Anyone know anything about this? Is this the same as the Nichicon
NRG EVGO Freedom Station quick chargers? Are they capable of V2G (vehicle to grid)?
If I run V2G in to a utility interactive battery inverter from my solar panels, they should
feed back to my home and my battery bank from my solar system, I am thinking. 6kW
110 VAC is not too much for the system to handle with paralleled 4Kw inverters.

http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2013/09/09/grid-vehicle-grid-electric-vehicle-charger-swings-ways-nichicon-corporation/#.UmvU9HazKp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nichicon’s “EV Power Station Socket Model” will be released next month for about $4,800. As an electric vehicle charger, it is CHAdeMO-compatible up to 30kW, which can charge the Nissan Leaf in less than an hour. As a vehicle-to-grid device, it is rated at 110V with a max output of 6kW.

Here is another link to more information on this grid to leaf to grid device:
http://insideevs.com/nichicons-ev-power-station-now-with-vehicle-to-socket/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Features

Ability to use an EV as an emergency power source makes EV Power Station Vehicle to Socket an effective part of a company’s BCP (business continuity plan).
Charges up to twice as fast as a conventional 200-V household power source.
Much more economical to introduce compared to conventional quick chargers.
Range of options expands possibilities for installation.
Contributes to peak-time shifts with a timer function that allows charging of the EV with less-expensive nighttime electricity.
Covered by subsidies offered by the Next Generation Vehicle Promotion Center’s Next-Generation Automobile Infrastructure Promotion Project.
Specifications

Model number : ZHTP1700R
<EV charging section>

Input voltage : Single-phase, 2-wire, 200-V AC, 50/60 Hz
Input current : less than 30A
Output capacity : Less than 6 kW

And another link:
http://www.nichicon.co.jp/english/product_news/new137.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nichicon Corporation has expanded its lineup of EV chargers with the development and release of the "Vehicle to Socket" model of the EV Power Station, the world’s first* double-speed EV charger with a waterproof socket that allows power to be supplied from an EV. This product gives new value to EVs by allowing their high-capacity storage batteries to be used as emergency power sources.


Thank you, for any information on this,
Jim
 
TonyWilliams said:
Do you have a link for the fuse assembly?
I ordered fuses and holder off Amazon, but I got the micro fuse and the
regular size holder. Would not work together. I studied the situation and
decided I could place the fuse directly on the battery terminal and connect
the cable to the inverter to the other end of the fuse. I will try to post a
picture of this, and find a link to the fuse on Amazon.
I only ran the positive wire from the fuse on the battery and I tied the
negative to the seat bolts on the rear of the passenger front seat. I actually
have fuses in the back between the marine battery and the terminal block and
between the inverter and the terminal block. So everything is separately
fused. I will try to post pictures.
According to Ingineer, Nissan LEAF senses current on the negative terminal,
so best not to connect directly to that.
"WARNING: NEVER connect anything directly to the negative post of the Leaf's 12v aux battery! This is a current sensor and doing so will disrupt the charging system! ..."
If you look closely at the negative terminal, you can see it is marked so
any changes to it can be detected. I will try to get a picture of this also.
Jim
 
DarthPuppy said:
This looks like an awesome backup capability. Thanks for designing/testing/posting!

I've done the same thing on my Leaf with the same Xantrex ProWatt 1000 Inverter. I just hope Nissan gets wind of the demonstrated interest in this topic and engineers it as an option for the Leaf. It's won't power your whole house, but it will power my fridge for at least three days. The Leaf-to-Home option connected to the L3 port is nice, but a 120V outlet on the car that John Q. Public would know how to use would be nice, too.
 
You know what else this would be good for it to tow behind an RV. If you camp out one night self contained you have a pretty big battery for lights and TV all night! You can run the generator to charge the battery for a couple hours if you need to but at least it won't be running all night!
 
Okay, I've got the inverter now. Read the manual and cross-compared with your specs section regarding parts. Thought a quick trip to Fry's would provide the remaining parts. But the best they could do was 4 gauge wire and an 80amp in-line breaker. Per the manual, the 4 gauge wire is the minimum to use. I see you went with 2 gauge. But you and the manual both stipulate a 150amp breaker. What was annoying is that Fry's carries competing inverters at that power level, but not the parts needed to make safe connections. Could that be the true source of their name?

Where do I need to go to get the right parts to make a safe and reliable connection from the battery to the inverter? Would a car parts store like Peppy Boys carry this stuff or would that be something I would find at a Home Despot? Or do I need to find an electrician's supply store or a marine supply store?
 
A real electrical supply store is your best bet. You might be able to find that wire gauge in truck jumper cables, but no guarantee. And you wouldn't find the breaker in a truck supply store.
 
You're right - Amazon did have quite a selection to choose from. Now I just have to wait about a week for the shipping and I will be able to put it all together - minus the permanent install components.
 
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