Hey great conversion images, thanks for posting them.
Yes the gas engine restarts when the main (traction its called) battery drops down to about 20% (according to the number of bars on the scale) and then it only runs to get the battery up to about 5 bars. Then the process cycles over.
No, it’s not realistic to presume that 2 people could occupy the back of a Prius, not if you had any belongings anyway.
I only carry a minimum amount of clothing and foodstuffs, sufficient for about a week. Also a small (maybe 12 liter) cooler, a backpack and rollie suitcase which stay on the seat and the floor in front of the ft passenger seat. At night the excess items from the back end (any extra items like a cookstove, propane fuel, blanket or sleeping bag if not needed) are transferred to the drivers seat and floor, then switched back the next day. The bed stays made unless I’m crossing the border, then everything reverts back to “car mode”.
There would be more room to stretch out if both back seats were folded down however that would make entry/exit more difficult and also remove the sitting area which is used for daily hygene, eating and dressing. Leaving one side or the other down is pretty much required. There is a space between the back of the ft seat (when it is pushed fully forward) that can be filled with a box or suitcase on end, and that lengthens the sleeping area to just under 6’.
I found that most self-inflating pads are too long (75” usually) so I bought a thicker (thats a problem) childs air mattress thats 5’ long by about 30” wide off Amazon. It works well except for the height. I had tried using rolled-out 3” foamies however the bulk, when in “car mode”, is excessive as compared to an air mattress or self-inflating pad.
I am wanting to switch to a minivan so that should give you an idea of the longer-term viability of just having a Prius. Look on YT for Prius camper videos, you’ll see they are all for solo travelers and do not have room for much in the way of contents.
Lastly there are posts on different forums that talk about wiring an inverter (I’ve seen up to 1,500 continous watts) directly to the main hybrid battery, or using smaller sub-600 watt inverters onto the small 35 amp AGM that is under the rear well. I don’t recommend that as the small AGM battery isn’t really meant for a lot of load and unload cycles.
Reference Priuschat.com, Nov 5, 2012, post entitled: “Inverters”.
Also, here’s a cut from a 2013 post talking about using an 800 watt inverter cabled to the aforementioned 35 amp AGM battery:
“You will be drawing around 70 Amps from the battery/12V system. There is a 100 or 150 Amp fuse in line with the inverter/charger, but if your battery is good most of the current will come from it. If the car isn't running (I don't recommend running it that way) all current will come from the battery and the fuse won't be impacted. I don't recommend running it that way because in roughly 30 min of use at full power the battery will be fully discharged.”. End of quote.
Another Priuschat question asked about parallelling a larger rv style battery to the existing AGM for increased capacity. Here’s the answer:
“I wouldn't wire a deep-cycle battery in parallel with the Prius 12V battery. The behavior of the high voltage to 12V inverter in the Prius isn't fully known (except by Toyota engineers), so I could forsee the batteries getting a different charge over time or the inverter getting confused. I would just replace the (rather wimpy) Prius battery with something larger if needed.
However, with the car on, the Prius inverter can supply around 60A (~80A minus the 20A to run the car's electronics). So you won't tap into the battery really at all unless you pull over 800W. However running a microwave or similar is only going to pull about 1500W, which wouldn't be a major stress on the battery for only a few minutes (and will just quickly recharge after). End of quote.
Hope the above info helps you.
Yes the gas engine restarts when the main (traction its called) battery drops down to about 20% (according to the number of bars on the scale) and then it only runs to get the battery up to about 5 bars. Then the process cycles over.
No, it’s not realistic to presume that 2 people could occupy the back of a Prius, not if you had any belongings anyway.
I only carry a minimum amount of clothing and foodstuffs, sufficient for about a week. Also a small (maybe 12 liter) cooler, a backpack and rollie suitcase which stay on the seat and the floor in front of the ft passenger seat. At night the excess items from the back end (any extra items like a cookstove, propane fuel, blanket or sleeping bag if not needed) are transferred to the drivers seat and floor, then switched back the next day. The bed stays made unless I’m crossing the border, then everything reverts back to “car mode”.
There would be more room to stretch out if both back seats were folded down however that would make entry/exit more difficult and also remove the sitting area which is used for daily hygene, eating and dressing. Leaving one side or the other down is pretty much required. There is a space between the back of the ft seat (when it is pushed fully forward) that can be filled with a box or suitcase on end, and that lengthens the sleeping area to just under 6’.
I found that most self-inflating pads are too long (75” usually) so I bought a thicker (thats a problem) childs air mattress thats 5’ long by about 30” wide off Amazon. It works well except for the height. I had tried using rolled-out 3” foamies however the bulk, when in “car mode”, is excessive as compared to an air mattress or self-inflating pad.
I am wanting to switch to a minivan so that should give you an idea of the longer-term viability of just having a Prius. Look on YT for Prius camper videos, you’ll see they are all for solo travelers and do not have room for much in the way of contents.
Lastly there are posts on different forums that talk about wiring an inverter (I’ve seen up to 1,500 continous watts) directly to the main hybrid battery, or using smaller sub-600 watt inverters onto the small 35 amp AGM that is under the rear well. I don’t recommend that as the small AGM battery isn’t really meant for a lot of load and unload cycles.
Reference Priuschat.com, Nov 5, 2012, post entitled: “Inverters”.
Also, here’s a cut from a 2013 post talking about using an 800 watt inverter cabled to the aforementioned 35 amp AGM battery:
“You will be drawing around 70 Amps from the battery/12V system. There is a 100 or 150 Amp fuse in line with the inverter/charger, but if your battery is good most of the current will come from it. If the car isn't running (I don't recommend running it that way) all current will come from the battery and the fuse won't be impacted. I don't recommend running it that way because in roughly 30 min of use at full power the battery will be fully discharged.”. End of quote.
Another Priuschat question asked about parallelling a larger rv style battery to the existing AGM for increased capacity. Here’s the answer:
“I wouldn't wire a deep-cycle battery in parallel with the Prius 12V battery. The behavior of the high voltage to 12V inverter in the Prius isn't fully known (except by Toyota engineers), so I could forsee the batteries getting a different charge over time or the inverter getting confused. I would just replace the (rather wimpy) Prius battery with something larger if needed.
However, with the car on, the Prius inverter can supply around 60A (~80A minus the 20A to run the car's electronics). So you won't tap into the battery really at all unless you pull over 800W. However running a microwave or similar is only going to pull about 1500W, which wouldn't be a major stress on the battery for only a few minutes (and will just quickly recharge after). End of quote.
Hope the above info helps you.
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