[icharry]

Could I use something like this to power low wattage items for a long time (weeks?) with a volt and a full tank of gas?
https://www.amazon.com/STANLEY-FATM...s=Stanley+FatMax+140W+Power+Inverter+with+USB

 

[longflare]

The link you provided doesn't shed much light on the operation of this inverter, so I'd assume that it uses a bit less than half of its stated output to idle, (approximately 100w), which would take 40 - 60 hours to flatten your car's 12v AGM battery.
Of course, you'd be using the car some of the time, and this would mean that it could be left on indefinitely, providing you didn't run the battery down to less than half charge, (perhaps 20 hours, depending on the load applied to your inverter)
Caution is always the best approach, and small inverters do tend towards optimism, so perhaps a bigger one?
Try to investigate the overhead specification that the inverter has, a better one may not boast as much, might do a better and more efficient job.
Consider also, the age of the AGM battery, it could be getting ready for replacement, and this exercise might help reveal that, (this might be good or bad, depending on how you look at it)

My experience with a high quality 100w pure sine wave inverter is limited and recent.
I'm able to pull 800-900w before the unit starts complaining, so it is doing what it is advertised for.
A cheap one might not cope so well.
The overhead I've got to contend with is about 6%, so idling uses about 60w. It comes with a remote control and a long cable, so this isn't likely to be a problem.
A small 12v portable battery would be good to keep handy in case you overdo it, then you can jump start your car with it.
Using an inverter connected to the car's battery while it is not charging or running, isn't recommended.
The car's AGM is charged anytime the car is plugged in or, 'ignition', power is on.

 

[Steverino]

And there is a trick to over ride the car's automatic 150 minute shutoff: continually pressing the gear shift lever. See a list of methods in this FAQ: Items #10 and #11.

Also see this extensive discussion in our FAQ's for using the Volt as a power source: https://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?8835-Volt-as-Emergency-Power-Generator

The FAQ index is in the Newcomer's forum: https://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?127506-A-Newcomers-Guide-Chevy-Volt-Tips-amp-FAQ-Index

 

[edk-austin]

Anytime you're powering something external to Volt, you'll need to leave the car on. The Volt 12V AGM is only 60AH or so (720WH), and being lead acid, you don't want to discharge it deeply. But with the car on, no problem, especially only 100W or so. But to tie up a car 24/7 for weeks? That's an expensive generator!

For low power applications under 100W, it's not hard, nor super expensive, to use a separate 12V battery and solar charge controller with a typical residential 250W solar panel. Depending on location, you can calculate the long term average solar power available. For example, in LA, you can probably count on the single 250W solar panel providing about 1000WH per day on average. Or about 35W continuously 24/7, accounting for conversion losses. To ride through dark days (and nights!), you'll need 2-4 Volt sized deep cycle 12V batteries.

 

[porcupine]

Anytime you're powering something external to Volt, you'll need to leave the car on. The Volt 12V AGM is only 60AH or so (720WH), and being lead acid, you don't want to discharge it deeply. But with the car on, no problem, especially only 100W or so. But to tie up a car 24/7 for weeks? That's an expensive generator!

I'm curious. To do this, doesn't that mean you have to leave your keys inside the car, opening the door to potential theft?

Also (I read one of the generator posts, but it was ancient), how are people getting the extension cords/etc. out of the volt, assuming they locked a second keyfob or something inside (assuming that's even necessary)?! Is there some spot to snake it out of the trunk that I simply haven't noticed yet?

 

[jcanoe]

You can exit the Volt with the key fob on your person and the Volt will triple honk the horn in protest but will remaining powered on for 2.5 hours, then shut down. You can hack this so the Volt does not shut down by using an elastic band to depress the shift lever. Be sure to set your parking brake.

 

[porcupine]

You can exit the Volt with the key fob on your person and the Volt will triple honk the horn in protest but will remaining powered on for 2.5 hours, then shut down. You can hack this so the Volt does not shut down by using an elastic band to depress the shift lever. Be sure to set your parking brake.

I ended up finding that thread later in the evening (and spotting the same), thanks for the heads up though!

Any idea how people are routing the cables outside of their volt though? Surely they don't leave the trunk open all night if using it for emergency power, etc.? Do they just crush the cables in the trunk (IE: like car dealers do with their plate holders)? That seems to be like it'd be a terrible idea (pinch point on cables doing a lot of amperage [relative to cable spec, IE: > 50% of rated capacity])... Any idea?!

 

[Fred_B]

Don't know about the Gen 2, but with my Gen 1, I could lay a cable across the bottom of the hatch opening and gently close the hatch until it clicks once. Avoiding the latch area of course. When my Volt was new I was living in a hotel and would lock the EVSE in the hatch area, running an extension cord and the other end of the charging cable out through the closed hatch.

In the Gen 1, there is a small light on the left side of the interior hatch area that remained on but since I was plugged in and charging it didn't matter much.

 

[porcupine]

Don't know about the Gen 2, but with my Gen 1, I could lay a cable across the bottom of the hatch opening and gently close the hatch until it clicks once. Avoiding the latch area of course. When my Volt was new I was living in a hotel and would lock the EVSE in the hatch area, running an extension cord and the other end of the charging cable out through the closed hatch.

In the Gen 1, there is a small light on the left side of the interior hatch area that remained on but since I was plugged in and charging it didn't matter much.

Thanks for the insight. I'll try looping a 10-12 gauge extension cord across the threshold, and see if I can get it to click at all without forcing/excessively pinching things.

 

[porcupine]

Verified the trunk closes with a 10 gauge extension cord in the threshold, no drama, not even feeling forced/too tight, all good!

Picked up a 2kw/4kw peak inverter from BangGood for $186 CAD shipped after coupon (~$140 USD):

https://www.banggood.com/Intelligen...wer-Converter-p-1291037.html?cur_warehouse=CN

Could have gotten the 1.5kw/3kw peak, but I figure it's probably safer to over-size and under-utilize (don't trust the cheap Chinese stuff *too* far after all). Going to couple that up with a 200A DC breaker (they don't have a 175A, and 150A looks like it might be a bit small to handle peaks), and hopefully that gives me a solid power option! Not sure if it'll fit under the mat in the trunk, but it looks like it might with some cutting of the foam... Not sure if I'll fancy-route the wires, or just leave 'em coiled and capped, given you're not going to operate the inverter setup with it *below* the trunk liner (maybe some people do...? but that seems like a *really* bad idea to me).