THIS
Earlier this year, my dad passed away. We got to spend the last few days together. It taught me what is MOST important in life: time spent with loved ones.
We went back home to visit for a week in August. Had more fun in Chicago one week than we did in over a year in a “tourist mecca” (Orlando).
Silly question: since a hybrid like a Prius is MEANT to be a generator (of sorts), would an old Prius be a better choice for a stationary generator? Lord knows they are pretty abundant and fairly cheap now.
Having lived 5 days without power in the wake of the Iowa derecho in August 2020, I now fully appreciate having an emergency source of electricity. Generators were not to be found, and many were stolen from people's yards, including one from an animal shelter. Gas and ice were hard to come by. Cooking was challenging for us since our stove was electric. My pellet grill was/is electric so we were unable to cook. After 3 days, we had to toss everything from the fridge and freezer.
Yes, because it's an Atkinson cycle engine so the engine efficiency is much better, and also because normal car alternators are absurdly inefficient; about 50% or so, I think. The Prius's motor-generator is more like 90%+ efficient.
The Prius's motor-generator might not be able to run at 100% duty cycle, but they're tens of kilowatts max output so you'd need a pretty big load.
Many car alternators also won't run at full load for very long, and can only do about 2kW, so definitely a risk. Either the windings overheat, or the voltage regulator will. They're sometimes thermally regulated, but not always. You can sort of band-aid it with forced cooling to supplement the centrifugal fan on them.
I have an 1800 watt 12v inverter in the trunk of my Prius and have pre-wired AMP cables to the battery for easy hookup for any family member not as technically inclined. This is limited, but I was able to run the oil heat and Internet for a few days when a winter storm took out power. The engine only runs when it needs to recharge the hybrid battery, so it is very efficient compare to a standard generator.
You could probably get more power out with a custom inverter tied to the 140v hybrid battery, but this was quick and easy.
I tried to swap in the refrigerator for the heat, but I had grounding issues that was tripping the inverter. Fortunately it was cold out so I was able to manage. Just remember a DR plan isn't done until you have tested it all the way.
If you tapped the traction batteries' output to an inverter there wouldn't be a way for the Prius to realize it wasn't operating normally with its strategy to keep the pack voltage in a ~30%-80% state of charge. It doesn't have a particularly large battery for the traction battery so I'd imagine it would run a lot unless you tie it to a larger pack. There are some folks retrofitting LiFePO4 cells with individual charge controllers to trick the NiMH hybrid system into using them. All the car controls look at is cell voltage.
I believe that the Japanese version of Prius (not sure if the regular one or PHEV) comes from the factory with this option - it can work as a full house generator as long as there is gas in the tank.
If I recall correctly, the prius ICE and EV systems are totally isolated and only connected by the road in between the front and rear tires. The ICE runs the front tires and the EV system is hooked up to the rear tires. You mostly charge the battery up by slowing the car down with the rear tires, so you'd need to modify the car with some belts or linkage between the front and rear drives.
In Toyota's hybrid synergy drive, the electric motor system is inputting to the same transmission as the ICE engine, and is an integral part of the casing. You can see a cutaway of it here to get an idea of what it looks like in practice: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_vehicle_drivetrain#/med... What you're describing is indeed how the E-Four system works for the rear wheels on the AWD versions of the Prius
Not a budget option now, but this is a factory supported application on properly equipped F-150s. 240v@30A, available on the hybrid or EV only model (IMHO, more useful with the hybrid, cause you can probably drive to get more gas, or store some onsite, where it might be hard to find somewhere to drive to charge)
So, fun fact, in the USA state of Illinois , cannabis dispensaries are cash only. This is probably because cannabis is still illegal at the federal level. Of course, being such a potentially lucrative target for thieves, each dispensary has security personnel who will only grant admission after ID is shown.
Interestingly, every one I have seen has an ATM on site.
In MA, they'll take debit for a fairly small transaction fee. I don't think they did initially when they started opening up.
>Of course, being such a potentially lucrative target for thieves, each dispensary has security personnel who will only grant admission after ID is shown.
I assume the state law just doesn't allow anyone under 21 to be admitted.
I want to say yes, that you must be over 21, but I am not certain.
I do know that you can purchase with out of state ID, but you have a lower limit as to how much you can buy than if you are an Illinois resident.
A friend is a regular customer and he shared that he qualified for a discount after purchasing so much over time.
Personally, I rarely use cash much. I actually forgot the PIN to my debit card. Had the same $20 in my billfold for months.
Here in the USA, flying is rather expensive. I am told it is largely due to insurance costs. I am curious, what are common rates to fly a Cessna 172 wet/dry around the world?
I have a PPL in the US, and live in Germany. Essentially, the problem here is that there aren’t really any small airports or flight schools here in the same way, because their largely isn’t any recreational flying. There are gliders, and that’s about it. Even if I could rent here (I looked and it basically didn’t exist), my license is only good for US registered aircraft, so it would need to be converted into a EASA license. That process isn’t so worth pursuing unless I could afford my own aircraft, since recreational flying doesn’t exist.
There is actually a movement in the US dairy industry to only allow milk extracted from mammals to be called milk. Calling it almond "milk" would be illegal.
Let's not pretend that's driven by anything except protectionism of an existing industry. They simply don't want almond milk anywhere near cow milk in the grocery store.
I, for one, worry about what will happen to the once prestigious PBS in the streaming age. Yes, there are half-hearted efforts to present shows, but I have never seen a promotion. Thankfully, the quality of the content tends to remain high. Yes, I am a subscriber.
We subscribe to A LOT of streaming services. I probably watch 2-3 hours of video content a day. But, probably the most edifying, enriching content I watch comes from PBS.
If you are interested in Sears homes, and near Chicago, I suggest you pay a visit to Downers Grove. I took them for granted growing up. There are quite a few Sears homes, and even a walking tour.
https://www.architecture.org/news/happening-caf/sears-homes-...
