HOW TO TURN YOUR CAR INTO A GENERATOR IN 30 SECONDS USING AN INVERTER

[@ericwootton2]

You forgot to mention the biggest advantage of this method. You probably already own a vehicle, even if you don’t own a generator!! Love it :-)

[@NickC9545]

Great point!!

[@fake734]

Only if you are not making payments!🤭🤣

[@Masterlowen21]

This idea is the best, now I don't have to buy an expensive generator that is noisy and heavy!!! Thanks a lot for this video, save myself hundreds of dollars!!!!

[@NickC9545]

Glad it was helpful!

[@oneloveboob]

These days a good generator is 1,000s of $$$

[@sierraecho884]

You already have an expensive and noisy generator which is your car ^^

[@yemarican]

cool video dude .. I dont understand why so many people buy generators and spend so much money .. I did what you showed here .. we had a power outage during a storm, so I bout a 1000 watts inverter .. it did a pretty good job.. we had lights, tv, internet and fans going.. then I bought a second one .. a 5000 watts and I can run basically anything with it. and yes it much more quite than an actual generator.

[@NickC9545]

That's awesome! Did your internet still work with the power down though?

[@yemarican]

@@NickC9545
yes.. i guess the the internet provider didnt lose power wherever they were located.. i just connected the modem and router and all worked.

[@dustydawson8977]

I don't know what your driving but 5000w ÷14v =357 amps.Good luck with that

[@davecrupel2817]

​@@dustydawson8977 that's what I'm saying 😂😂😂 I would have to be running one monster of an alternator/generator off that thing😂

[@chocolategravyandbiscuits8418]

I have several generators and am about to also have this in my diesel at all times. Thanks!

[@NickC9545]

Good choice!

[@robertkubrick3738]

Your average car alternator doesn't put out much power at idle. To get more than 800w-1000w you need to at least Fast idle. If you aren't going to sit with your foot on the pedal holding 2000 RPM or make a block to hold the throttle open on modern fuel injected vehicles? Then at most you need a small inverter, just large enough to handle your surge load. As an example, my Cobra 800w (880 surge) inverter would just run my 6 amp 1HP shop vac. Inverters are sometimes useful but they aren't the answer. A use case I could see would be running a small 700w window unit AC to get that load off a small generator. If you really need AC, you need it all day, the fridge or freezers can probably go 3-4 hours between running if you aren't opening the doors all the time. Suppose you wanted to run a window AC low power computer/modem OR TV/ cable box, maybe 1000w running watts(at fast idle) would get you there. You won't get 2000 watts at idle, you will get a low battery shutdown of the inverter if you are lucky. 2000w of 120v will cost your battery and charging system dearly. A good inverter is about 88% efficient so if you are producing 2000w you are pulling 2240w out of the 12v system. 2240w divided by 12 (volts) is 186 amps. That's why the leads to his inverter melted. Edit. The leads that came with the inverter, as short as they are would probably work at 1000w at 13.25v = 75 amps.

[@NickC9545]

Very good info. I always go with figure gauge leads now. By the way, do you think there's any problem going with an oversized gauge for the leads and extension cords? I feel like the only downside is that they are heavier and more expensive.

[@bobgillis1137]

In electrical school, I was taught that wore gauge is analogous to pipe diameter. The large the diameter, the more amps it will draw. Not sure if that would be a problem or not. @@NickC9545

[@bobgillis1137]

Typo. It should have read "wire":gauge.

[@sierraecho884]

I am not sure if this will damage the battery or not. Generally speaking with old battery tech ( lead acid) you will kill it for sure by pulling 800W or something, but if the car runs the alternator provides the bulk of power not the battery, the battery is only buffering in that case, it should be fine.

[@GO.D.]

If you leave you vehicle idling for long periods of time, over time the top end of the engine doesn't always get enough oil and that will create problems. Buy a few more deep draw batteries and charge them one at a time with them hooked up to the alternator in the vehicle and drive around while charging them

[@NickC9545]

Very good suggestion. What I am showing in the video is designed for very infrequent emergency use only.

[@sierraecho884]

Don´t need to drive around it will charge them either way and why should the top not get enough oil all of the sudden ? Did some engineer miss this ?

[@bobgillis1137]

Thanks for this. I bought something similar, but I'd like to note that sleeping in your car while running it is not a good plan, due to incremental carbon monoxide poisoning.
Your body can't break it down, so it accumulates over time. At least when we are driving, we have more ventilation.

[@NickC9545]

Yes! Definitely do not sleep in your car while running your engine for more than just a couple of hours - even outside.

[@davegiles2120]

You do have to watch your power draw. On 4x4's that have a dual battery set up and an inverter, it is often the case that the alternator will not be able to handle large current draws and will quickly fail. (Especially when a winch is hooked up to the vehicle as well) When using a vehicle with an inverter, it is a good idea to upgrade the alternator as well....unfortunately the cost of a heavy duty alternator and a powerful inverter is much more than a comparable generator......but being able to plug fridges and lights into your car is great for camping!

[@NickC9545]

Hey Dave, you're absolutely right, excellent points. This inverter has a fail safe in that if the amp draw reaches a certain threshold it will shut off the inverter so as to avoid alternator damage. Do you think this is decent enough to handle occasional, emergency, usage?

[@cynthiaayers7696]

Just buy an old car or a wrecked new one and you can make it a generator. Use a three to four cylinder car and you'll have air conditioning and heat. All you need is the front from the dash to the engine compartment throw the rest of the car away. Build a shed around it and you can have all the power you want for 20 years or more for less than the cost of a brand new Honda generator. Put it all inside of a little shed with the exhaust pipe straight up, talk about quiet.Then you can add a couple solar panels/used for cheap and you're off and running no more worries mate. Been there done that. know what I'm talking about. One must use their head for more than a hat rack. 💡🛠Age 65.

[@NickC9545]

That is genius! Would love to see a video of your set up. Please link to it if you have uploaded one

[@cynthiaayers7696]

@@NickC9545 well thanks for reading my comment but, I don't do videos and I think you can figure out how to make one on your own by just following my description. I had fun learning to put mine together it works great. 🛠💡

[@jonasstahl9826]

Way to complex, just connect an alternator to a lawn mower engine

[@letsgobrandon136]

​@@jonasstahl9826 or a couple of alternators to charge multiple batteries

[@bobgillis1137]

I considered this as well, but note that its handy to be able to drive your de facto generator to the gas station for easy refilling.

[@taylorle1206]

Great video thank you - would love a bit more detail on how to attach it - and which one to buy - I am a moron and no nothing about this - thanks again

[@NickC9545]

Haha! I'm sure you're not a moron. I will put an Amazon link to the one I use in the description.

[@johntuel2375]

BRILLIANT!
-Guiness beer commercials

[@drrobotnikmeanbeanma]

If your car battery is 800cc or 850cc can you use a 1,500w power inverter to use a electric oven that's 1,500w leaving the car running ?

[@letsgobrandon136]

What are you calling 800cc? Also if your oven pulls 1,500 at maximum you'll need at least a 2,000 watt inverter to provide sustainable electricity. You can buy off brand inverters and save a few bucks too. A cheaper brand 2,500 watt would cost about the same as a name brand 1,500 watt and do a better job

[@robertkubrick3738]

@@letsgobrandon136 800 Cold Cranking. The answer is probably no unless they can get the engine to fast idle.

[@divineoracle4809]

Can you safely run a portable A/C like this? It it hard on the car or the battery while its running? This is very interesting and useful information!

[@NickC9545]

Look at the wattage of the portable AC unit. As long as it is no more than 80% of the maximum inverter output, you should be okay. This isn't something you want to do multiple times a month every month. Rather, this is intended for occasional emergencies or off-grid camping

[@davesi56]

What kind of inverter are you using? Can I run a fridge or freezer? Can I run my gas furnace?

[@NickC9545]

It's a 1kW pure sinewave inverter. I'll have to go check the brand. If your fridge/freezer/furnace require over 1kW to startup or operate, you'll need a larger inverter that can output more than the max wattage required.

[@CJGfarm]

We just bought an expensive generator which is a pain in the ass to maintain and start
I took a vacation a few years ago to Maine with off grid cabins. I saw a guy temporarily powering his cabin using his car. This is what he must have been doing. Thanks for posting this. So stupid I didn't think about doing this for myself!

[@NickC9545]

@@CJGfarm The next best time to do something you should have been already doing is today!

[@NickC9545]

Oh man, I hope I didn't sound like Kamala Harris with that last comment.

[@2trntbls469]

😂

[@richardjeun]

I save all my good car batteries in case of an emergency. I have ways to hook all my batteries with the car battery, all in parallel, with 1/0 or thicker copper so that I can use at least two large inverters off if it. In emergency situations, one will not use a large amount of power for a long period of time; the many batteries I hook up in parallel acts like a buffer or power bank, while the car’s engine constantly insures all the batteries are at good levels. If one wants to draw a lot of power, one can use another vehicle to hook up to the same bank to provide more juice temporarily, which is the same concept of leaving two vehicles in a jump starting configuration.

[@NickC9545]

Very interesting strategy. I never thought of that. I definitely agree with using the 1/0 or thicker copper. Do you think there is ever a downside other than the cost or weight to using oversized copper than is necessary?

[@richardjeun]

@@NickC9545 Finding the correct connector is the only downside. Breathing from a larger diameter straw is always better than trying to breath from a coffee straw, especially when you’re jogging. In obvious cases, there will be no benefit and it would be highly impractical or superfluous to use 1/0 copper wire for a tiny solar panel for a calculator, instead of using a thin 30 AWG wire. Thicker wire is advantageous where high currents exist. The higher the current gets, the thicker the wire you’re going to need, maybe bumping it up a size or two is good for efficiency, safety, and save in cost in the long run. The higher in voltage you go, the better quality insulation you’re going to need on your wire.

[@richardjeun]

Also, when dealing with thicker wires, solder with a large plumbers torch are handy to make reliable connections fast.

[@logandoubleyou2549]

Should you get a carbon monoxide alarm if you plan on sleeping in your car while idling?

[@NickC9545]

Definitely you should.

[@shootingbricks8554]

Yeah or crack the windows open

[@sierraecho884]

100% you should.

[@sierraecho884]

I wonder if this still kills the battery. I talked about this today with 2 of my co workers (we are all engineers, mech and electrical) there was no consensus if this kills the battery or not. It will kill the battery 100% if you run it while the engine is off but will it still kill it while the engine is on ?

[@NickC9545]

If you had a large enough inverter that was capable of overdraw from the battery while the engine is running you will have problems. But an inverter like this would trip its safety switch well in advance of that happening.

[@sierraecho884]

@@NickC9545 Hmm no it does not have to trip the safety to damage it. I don´t mean damage like right away I mean shorten it´s life span. A typical car battery is good for say 4 years. When you abuse it like that it will probably only work for say 1 year or so.
The thing is though the battery and the alternator are in parallel which means you will draw most the power from the alternator unless you get energy spikes this will hit the battery but it´s made for this kind of scenario. So I think it should be fine as long as you run the car before hooking anything up. Otherwise if you discharge your battery with a higher C level you will shorten it´s life span by a lot. Typically those batterie are made for about C0,02.

[@90thHeavyBG]

Worked like a Champ !!
Thank you !!🫡🇺🇸

[@NickC9545]

Great to hear! Wasn't sure if people would find this helpful, so I'm glad to hear that at least somebody did

[@joek81981]

So I've been kicking the idea of pure sine wave inverter around for like five years. No one would answer if I could just run my engine and the battery will just constantly be recharged by the alt. Like, my little Crosstrek can idle for 4 hours on a gallon and half of gas so why can't I just park my car on the edge of the field, run my 22w tube amp and the PA off the inverter and rock the hell out?

[@sierraecho884]

It´s not an easy thing to answer, I debated that topic today with 2 of my co-wokers. We all have different view points and I am not sure what´s right.
The only consensus was if you run all that power from the battery alone you will kill it really quick. But we were not sure if the alternator will supply the power and the battery will survive in this case. What you can do is you can get one of those cheap car alternators to monitor your battery from the cigarette plug and run the thing with engine on, you will see if the battery will be recharged or not over time. I will be doing the same experiment soon, I want to use my small vacuum to clean my car in the driveway, I don´t have any access to an outlet whatsoever, so I would either have to use one of those 12V vaccums (i rather kill myself) or I can do the whle inverter thing with my small shop vac. What puts me off are the huuuge loads. 1000W output will need at least 1100W input probably even more which means 1100W/12V= 92A. This is a huge load which can meld all sorts of things, kill your battery and start a fire.

[@sierraecho884]

Emergency electric vehicle. You can charge it via wind, solar, creek nearby, an oven or whatever else. You can directly use 230V or in the US 110V from the vehicles battery, it´s completely silent.
You need less stuff everything is electric you don´t need any gas and your car is a huge battery storage.

[@NickC9545]

I have an EV but it doesn't charge fast enough from solar to be a viable backup option. I would like to know about your wind power and if a portable windmill could be a viable charging option. If it could I would definitely be surprised.

[@sierraecho884]

@@NickC9545 You will have to trickle charge it. Wind power would work but just like solar it will take a while. Same goes for the creek, hydro electric is probably the best solution because it´s way more powerful and works day and night and gives you water as well. You can also use thermoelectric components to charge it but those are very very inefficient. Or you can use a Stirling engine instead but those are very expensive but fascinating tech. They als also very quiet.
My main point is you are way more versatile in regard to power input with electric vehicles. Electric power is the highest form of energy. And you are not limited to just one fuel source which let´s be real will not be always available.

[@willieneilson9185]

Well sir. It's very bad on any engine to idle it for hrs and u will use about a gallon an hour

[@NickC9545]

You're right! I wouldn't recommend doing this more than necessary for emergencies and only for as long as is necessary. The two main advantages are that the fuel in your car will likely be fresher than what's in your generator or gas cans and you have a larger gas tank in your vehicle than most standalone generators do

[@sierraecho884]

WTF type of engine do you have ? I use less than 0,5l/h. And why should it be so bas ? There is almost no load, it´s even less load than simply driving on a highway with constant speed.
This is basically what your car is made for.

[@wtdiaeemergency8996]

YOU CAN ALSWO COOK AND PUREFY WATER BUY BOILING IN TINFOIL ON YOUR ENEGINE BLOCK

[@NickC9545]

Haha, anytime someone mentions tin foil people immediately assume they're some kind of kooky conspiracy theorist. But what you're suggesting using engine block heat for thermal water purification actually has legitimacy

[@red2965]

Too long winded

[@NickC9545]

I must do better next time.

[@red2965]

@@NickC9545 Not to say your content isn't worth while just takes too long getting to the point

[@oldtimetinfoilhatwearer]

You can always change the speed if you can listen faster. More information in less time

[@andrewkennedy2103]

Holy crap this guy talks slow

[@NickC9545]

w u t
?

[@sierraecho884]

I watch that stuff with 1.5x-2x speed