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Thread: using my little Mirage as a camping power source

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    using my little Mirage as a camping power source

    as I am finanlly end up tired of dealing with landlord and paying $$ for them, I plan to rent a uhaul cargo van and live off-gird by using Mirage as my power source

    I dont want a generator because its too noisey and could get stolen, not friendly to my neighbors

    today I tested to connected a inverter to 12v battery while Mirage is on, having a load of 500w did not cause any issue excpet I noticed some extra noise from engine.

    have anyone tried with a higher load? I am trying to get 1000 ~ 1500w just in case I need to run a something like hair dryer for short amount of time.

    is the gas consume affordable? how many gallons of gas per 100wh did you spent? is there anything do I need to aware for long term using?



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    This sounds like a bad idea. Small battery not made for this. Long term idling not good for engine. Maybe cut the hair and not have to deal with hair dryer lol?

    Isn't renting a truck expensive for a whole MONTH? Probably can bunk somewhere with room mates for less. I'm sure Fummins will have a good opinion on this.

    Here is a airBNB not sure how close to you near SF for $600 a month.
    Last edited by Mirageman38; 03-06-2020 at 04:19 AM.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2019 Mirage ES 1.2 automatic: 38.8 mpg (US) ... 16.5 km/L ... 6.1 L/100 km ... 46.5 mpg (Imp)


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    Quote Originally Posted by Mirageman38 View Post
    This sounds like a bad idea. Small battery not made for this. Long term idling not good for engine. Maybe cut the hair and not have to deal with hair dryer lol?

    Isn't renting a truck expensive for a whole MONTH? Probably can bunk somewhere with room mates for less. I'm sure Fummins will have a good opinion on this.

    Here is a airBNB not sure how close to you near SF for $600 a month.


    Thanks for advice! I am currently in a Airbnb and I can tell you normally you dont find any good room in 15mi of SF under $1400 per month. the one you refer is a shared room, I would choose to sleep in my Mirage for free..

    I wanted to have a adventure of urban stealth camping and excited about trying it out, having a portable priate room for myself, no more noisy from roommates, dirty kitchen and dirty bathroom(I can build those in my van) no more rules from host and I can save so much $$


    uhaul is just a start point to try it out, if it worked out then I should spent $5000 to get a old van and make it into a petty lovely home of my own and then I will save on the $600 per month on uhaul as well).

    shorten some life to the battery to me is acceptable, its only $40-50 for a new one , I can replace it every month!( maybe not everyday)

    do you think it will even damage the engine? how?

    some prius owner have done this to power their house for days, but I dont know if Mirage could done same:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NercMbUmXw

    what really worries me is the gas cost.. I still have no ieda it's gonna be 3 gallon a day or 30 gallon a day
    Last edited by Fozziekyu; 03-06-2020 at 04:48 AM.

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    Moderator Eggman's Avatar
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    Why not get a small camping trailer instead of a truck?

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 49.6 mpg (US) ... 21.1 km/L ... 4.7 L/100 km ... 59.5 mpg (Imp)


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    Business Up Front Johnny Mullet's Avatar
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    I built an off grid RV from a school bus...........

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    Fummins (03-06-2020),inuvik (03-06-2020)

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    You can do this. The Mirage alternator is rated for 80A and spits out 14.5V. This gives you a max output of 1160W. You can run a 1000W whatever, but it will probably drain your battery because inverters are not 100% efficient. You can replace your starting battery with a deep cycle (I did in my car) and it'll last longer.

    Is it efficient? Nope. Your engine is rated for 78hp, and you're running it at maybe about 15% load. Engines are usually most efficient at ~80% load.

    Idling for longer periods of time is not harmful to your engine. I see no issues there.

    I'm sure there are more factors to consider, but thats what I got off the top of my head.
    Custom Mirage products: Cruise control kit, Glove box light, MAF sensor housing, Rear sway bar, Upper grill block

    Current project: DIY Nitrous oxide setup for ~$100

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 47.2 mpg (US) ... 20.1 km/L ... 5.0 L/100 km ... 56.7 mpg (Imp)


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    Quote Originally Posted by Daox View Post
    Idling for longer periods of time is not harmful to your engine. I see no issues there.
    Owners manual explicitly says not to idle for long periods of time or use the vehicle as a stationary power source. I wouldn't do it if you cared about the warranty.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2019 Mirage ES 1.2 automatic: 38.8 mpg (US) ... 16.5 km/L ... 6.1 L/100 km ... 46.5 mpg (Imp)


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    Still Plays With Cars Loren's Avatar
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    I think you need to analyze and state your actual power needs. The way you stated it, people are thinking you need to run the car 24/7 to keep 1200 Watts available at all times. I doubt that is the case.

    What are your actual power needs? If you're living in the car... maybe you'll want or need AC or heat and the car will need to be idling for that. Will it hurt the car? Think of it as "taxi cab mode". Call it "severe service", and service the car accordingly. It's not stressing the engine in any way, should be fine at least for short term use.

    So, what are your actual power needs? Laptop charging? Phone charging? I'd say get a couple good large capacity Lithium battery packs. Charge your laptop, your phone and your battery packs while you're DRIVING as much as possible. But, if you need to charge them while you're stationary, letting the car idle for 30-45 minutes while you charge something isn't going to hurt anything.

    Won't that take up most of the needs of the modern "traveler"? What else do you need power for?

    And the hair dryer... as has been noted, the car should be able to support 1200W with a good invertor. (look at the rating of the fuse that the invertor requires... be sure that's not more than the 12V socket/lighter fuse on the car... if it is, then you might need to connect directly to the battery... if you do, DO IT WITH THE ENGINE RUNNING and you're not going to drain the battery a lot) Not talking about 1200W of hot plates cooking dinner for 3 hours or anything... but, 5 minutes of blow-drying shouldn't be a problem!

    I wouldn't plan on trying to run a refrigerator or anything like that. Get yourself a good cooler and keep it stocked daily with a couple $2 bags of ice.

    Minimize your power needs, shouldn't be a problem.

    How much fuel? You could do some research on how much fuel is used at idle and figure it out. But, just a lazy "worst case" guess:

    Let's assume that a talented hypermiler can get 60 mpg travelling an average of 30 mph. They're running the engine (at considerably more load than idle) for 2 hours on 1 gallon of fuel. That should be your absolutely worst case. Half gallon per hour. Realistically, probably way less than half that.
    Simplify and add lightness.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Eggman View Post
    Why not get a small camping trailer instead of a truck?


    in bar area we are having housing crisis, and there is so many RV an camper taking all the parking space in the city, they now already changed law, in SF sleeping in your car in the night in illegal, and in some other city they dont allow vehicle longer then 22ft to park anymore(oversized vehicle), and yes trailer is combined into length..

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    Quote Originally Posted by Johnny Mullet View Post
    I built an off grid RV from a school bus...........
    very cool!



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