I have been thinking about a Mitsubishi inverter running from the CHAdeMo Socket, but Mitsubishi are not bringing them in yet.
I thought how could I get round this and thought why not do like I do for electric hedge trimming on jobs where no power is available...I use my 2.5 Kw inverter and run it off my car batteries or a big Gell battery of 100 amp hour capacity, note though I am only drawing 500 watts which is about 42 amps, plus the hedge trimmer is on trimming then and off as I clear the debrie, so an hour of hedge trimming is often only on for say 30 minutes. Thats only 20 amps out of the battery, about the same as leaving the headlights on for an hour.
The car has two 70 amp hour batteries, Hilux car, so only 10 amps out of each battery during the hour hedge trimming which is well within ok draw.
Plus the motor is often running on the car to keep the battery charge up.
Thinking the same way with the iMiEV, I note the car battery, the 12 volt one for lights and accessories is recharged when the car is switched to on, via the main battery charging the 12 volt battery. This 12 volt battery could then be wired to a inverter to provide mains power, and even at 240 volts say 1, 500 watts like the one that mitsubishi make for the CHAdeMo socket, The draw off the 12 volt battery would be 125 amps, andI guess one wouldn't be drawing that all the time.
Say hooking it up for say making toast and coffee, it would be only on for say 20 minutes tops. That is about 42 amp / hrs. THat would be about the full capacity of the iMiEV 12 battery, but if the Main battery was charging the 12 volt one, that would be only a 504 watt draw or about half a bar.
Thing is, what is the max current supplied to the iMiEV 12 battery by the charger circuit from the main battery when the power is set to key on ?
If it is similar to a petrol car, then it would be around 55 amps at about 13.8 volts. That is 759 watts, so could supply the inverter load periodically, but not continuously.
If they have a bigger charge rate available say 150 amps, then a 1, 500 watt inverter could be run continuously, until the main pack was flat which would be about 10 hours.
Anyone know the charge rate to the 12 volt battery from the main battery when the key is on ?
allowing for headlights at 100 watts each, thats 200 watts, wiper, say averages 50 watts, radio, navigation and fan are together say 100 watts, and de-mister and heated seats are together, say 200 watts, I am not sure as I haven't checked, but say about that much, in total if all were on at once, it would be 550 watts which at 13.8 volts is about 40 amps.
So I would guess that Mitsubishi have allowed for that and fitted a 12 volt charging circuit to around 50 amps.
I saw a minicab iMiEV video on youtube that showed a guy with not less than four 12 volt sockets fitted and an inverter, he was running foot warmers, phone chargers, gps, an electric blanket, a ceramic heater ! and other bits...