Online Forum for the 2012 Rav4 EV

Has anyone used a Pursine inverter connected to the HV (High Voltage) traction battery?
If so, where did you tap the pack for the (+) and (-) and what type/model puresine inverter did you use?

I'm going to be at a location/building (Barn) where it's not feasible to run an extension cord.

The DC-DC Converter has a convenient location to tap HV, but I have no idea of that circuit's ampacity, so you'd want to research your inverter's input spec and do more digging as to the capacity of that circuit.

The location I'm thinking of is under the silver rectangular cover in the center of this picture:



(other pictures that give its location context are in this post of Tony's.)

Pretty much anywhere you tap you'll be downstream of the main contactor, so you'll have to have the car ON to power your inverter.

First time I hear of tapping the HV Battery like this.

How much power are we talking about here?

The most common approach I hear is just tapping the 12v directly. This new spot seems interesting.

Did you guys know there is a grommet right under the driver's feet? Right in front of the brake pedal. I have not checked if it leads out, but on a youtube video someone used it to run wires for a trailer brake controller. There is another grommet behind the fuse box under the driver inside the cabin on the far left, but that one has a ton of wires going through it with out any space extra. The one under the feet by the brake pedal (You have to lift the carpet and foam cover so you can see it) Doesn't have any cables coming out of it. I have not checked if it leads out the rav4. There is the aerodynamic panel so I am unsure if the opening is coming inside the aero panel or outside before the panel joins the body

Anyone know?

I would like to hear what inverter is to be used. Otherwise you should be able to get 600 to 800 watts off the 12v accessory battery with the vehicle in ready mode. Enough to run a medium fridge and tv.

OK, I was afraid of that. I wanted to have the car powered off while we work in the barn but have some juice.

The high voltage puresines cost way too much ~$3K (big an heavy, over 50lbs) and they are either 5-15kW or only 300-600W........lol

Load will be in the 1200W to 1500W running planers and routers etc.

My alternate option is to get one of these....
https://www.electricmotorsport.com/ev-p ... erter.html

and just use my existing 12vdc 2500W (5KW surge) puresine, but it's kind of old and big also. maybe just scoop up a 1500w one on ebay. They've gotten more compact.

I really wanted just one device to just keep the inverter bolted in the car but oh well.

When I start the project I'll post picks.

How do you get the car in ready mode? Or is it just in the On state?

It just means ON with READY indicator showing at the top of the instrument panel. There are some situations where the car can appear to be ON but not READY, like turning it on without pressing the brake pedal.

I'm not sure that you need the external DC-to-DC, the one in the car is pretty powerful. Someone around here should have the specs for it.

It is supposedly 2,500W, but I don't know if that is peak or continuous. I would have no qualms drawing 1,000W continuous. I even put an Anerson type connector with 100A breaker and shunt meter on my car for 12VDC power export. I have yet to put a powerful inverter on it yet even though that was the plan.

The consumer-class inverters are a lot cheaper than anything you can buy for HVDC. Though that ElCon TDC-320-12 1500W DC-DC Converter is pretty cute, and a decent price . . . I'd like to see real reviews, though.



Those don't need pure sine wave, they'll be happy with approximated (stair-stepped) sine wave.



Have you done the math on the input current requirement of a 1500W @ 120v inverter? You're going to need ~150A @ 12v continuous. I used to do that, but with paralleled batteries, and you don't do it for very long without something charging in the circuit.

If you want to use your RAV4EV instead of a jobsite generator or Tesla Powerwall, your idea of a HVDC input inverter is a good one. But the car will have to be ON to tap the traction pack in any safe way. The car ON in Park and HVAC OFF would work. You wouldn't save much power by trying to bypass that, IMO, though it could be done.