Mach E to power your home.

dtbaker61

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Dark for days? The Mustang battery won't last for days powering much of anything, especially if you want to drive somewhere too. What you want is a gas generator.


the LAST thing I want is a gas/propane generator.....

My house consumes about 10 kWhr/day under 'normal' use. 68 kWhr in a SR battery gets me probably 5+ days with complete Grid outage and zero solar. I happen to have solar, which could stretch that out as long as need be....

what I am trying to put out there is that for the afternoon 'rolling brownout', or an emergency day here and there, our MME or any EV for that matter, are a big part of 'grid backup' in emergency situations without having to spend thousands of dollars.... just $350 or so for an inverter, and maybe $100 for a male-male cord to backfeed your charge outlet, or even a 'regular' 120vAC outlet in a pinch.
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dtbaker61

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Please do not connect your Mach-E to your house, the DC/DC is rated for 160A PEAK meaning continuous output is 1500W or less. Way too little for your house, it was not designed to power anything like that.

Buy a generator instead, it will be cheaper than burning out your DC/DC module.

Use a 2000W max inverter and just run extension cords if you must...

my house (gas heat, and no A/C) typically consumes 150w - 400w most of the time with normal stuff running lights, 1 refrigerator, TV, computer. Occasional 900w spike if the microwave or toaster is used....

no need to buy standalone batteries, or generator for a couples hours... or even days... of outage in emergency. This could be extended with stand-alone solar+battery of course... but I am talking about the lowest possible cost for short-term 'backup'.

our EVs are a big part of 'grid resiliency' if we understand how to use them....
 

dtbaker61

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Must-have feature for me. After seeing Texas go dark for days this past February, it has changed my perspective on my family's needs for energy. No sense in have a 99 kWh lithium-ion battery sitting in my garage and we can't tap into it somehow.
exactly.

under $500, and you have access to your MME battery capacity.... not hard, or too complicated.

You just want to be sure to 'isolate' from the grid before back-feeding any generator or course. You never want a backup generator to backfeed to the Grid, ever.
 
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HOFMACHFE

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great timing... I was messing today around, and wired up a simple solution for using any existing 240v outlet to back feed energy from your MME, thru an inexpensive ($350) pure sine inverter 120vAC output, and Energize ALL your 'regular' loads.

I have NG heat, and no well pump, so my usual loads are 150 watts - 2500 watts

I used a 120v inverter as an example since they are less expensive, and eliminate the temptation for people to run the big 240v loads like hot tubs, a/c, oven, etc.....

basically, all you need at a minimum is:
- 120vAV pure-sine inverter (about $350)
- 120v -> 240v Plug cord to energize both legs (<$100 for matls+ labor to fabricate)
- (optional) circuit breaker to prevent more than 2000 watts thru inverter
- jumper cables from MME LVB to inverter 12v input
- instructions.... you MUST turn off your Grid 'main' , and all 240v circuits besides the plug you are backfeeding before backfeeding power from inverter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


you *could* get a 12v->240vAC inverter, and have 240v power.... but probably not a great idea with a small inverter under 'emergency' conditions to run big 240v loads.

My home 'background load' for refrigeratior, lights, etc is 200-400 watts, with only the occasional spike when running microwave, etc. so in an emergency backup situation the average load is well below what the MME can keep up with.... if you leave it 'on', and disable 'auto-off' setting so the HV battery keeps the LVB charged. The cool thing is that my SR battery *could* run my house for about a week without any additional (solar) input in emergency situation.

EV to 12v to invertor.jpg


bbu backfeed house.jpg


120v-240v plug wiring.jpg
DTBaker solution is almost identical to what the company Car Generator is selling as a kit. Well done with your install. Very informative.

To be safe and to my local electrical building code, I will have my system installed by a licensed electrician to ensure it is safe and I don't void any home insurance or building code.
 
 




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