Wiring a Chevy Volt for AC power in the field

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I don't understand electricity. It's kind of terrifying. Sure, I rocked AP Physics, but plugging in equations is nothing compared to the prospect of touching a live battery terminal.

But if you want to run your telescope gear off of your EV, the easiest way to do it is to connect an inverter that converts the car's DC power into AC.

So I was happy to find this Volt wiring kit at EVExtend.com and, most importantly, the detailed instructions that come with it!

Doesn't look like much. Just high-quality 4ga wires, a quick coupler, and a fuse.

The car has a small traditional 12V car battery under the hatchback floor instead of up front (no room for it up there with the electric motor next to the gas engine). It's primarily used as a starter for the gas engine and to run the accessories.

As the 12V battery depletes, it gets back-charged by the 800lb/17.1kWh high voltage EV batteries (the car must be on). This kit taps into the 12V battery and draws power off while the car does its thing to keep resupplying the 12V with more power.

Kit includes a pretty awesome looking inline fuse

Guessing the squiggle snaps when overloaded

When the EV batteries are exhausted it'll run the gas engine for a few minutes to generate more power and store it in the EV batts. Those few minutes generate enough charge to continue in pure battery mode for at least another hour, depending on load.

It's just like an emergency power generator, except the batteries allow it to be insanely more efficient so the gas engine doesn't have to run all the time. In a power outage people have supplied (limited) power to their home via their Volt. A single gas tank will supply power for DAYS!!! So cool!!

Installation

First you do a bit of simple wire routing and the fuse gets velcro-taped to the side of the battery. The wires are thick so it's a little challenging to bend them into place, but so far, so good.

But now.. gahhh... the first scary part. Attaching the supply line to the terminal. Just to be safe I wore my safety glasses and heavy leather work gloves--especially for the part where you have to finish unscrewing the nut with your fingers! I don't understand electricity. Scary!!

No sparks!! No death!! The wire is running up and to the left, then down to the fuse box.

Working with that nut was like handling any other piece of inert metal. Because I wasn't grounded to anything, there was no impetus for an electric current to move when I came in contact with the terminal. The electricity stayed put, I received no shocks.

However, when the car is powered off there is still some downstream current going to the array of fuses below (bottom row, the four lines running off the flat metal bar) presumably for various accessories that never completely power off (e.g. the remote fob sensing system, OnStar status connection, etc).

Before I received the EVExtend kit I did try to just wire the inverter in myself. I started loosening the nut higher up in the chain (top row, left--the nut that connects the flat plate to the battery terminal's cylindrical collar). That caused sparks as the connection plate's contact loosened. Terrifying. I stopped, retightened it, and abandoned my effort. Better to wait for the EVExtend kit and detailed instructions from people who know what they're doing.

Notice that the nut you work with for the EVExtend kit (middle of the three across the top) won't break the downstream connection to those four live fuses; the two outside nuts will, in all likelihood, hold the plates in contact with one another even with the middle nut loose. Thus no sparks.

So far, so good

Next you connect the return wire. The negative terminal didn't have the same screw that was in the directions, but this, too, turned out fine. No sparks. No death.

It's the brownish line going from the nut off to the right and then looping around the battery

The cables get fed along the rear inside wall under the hatchback floor and up through a side access panel where it ends in the quick coupler.

Bolt the hatchback floor back into place and wire up the other end of the quick coupler to the inverter's terminals.

There's also a green ground line that connects to the car chassis

The quick coupler is the same type that were used to charge the electric forklifts I used to drive for my summer job when I was in high school. Simple design but robust and reliable. A bit stiff but will wear in over time.

Then I cut up a pool noodle from the dollar store to run the extension cord out of my back window. I wanted a little protection for the extension cord and I didn't want bugs to be able to fly in during the summer.

I'm so fancy

Inverter Selection

Make sure you get a "pure sine wave" inverter. Cheaper inverters generate a "modified sine wave" which creates a choppy AC oscillation that can damage sensitive electronics. The price difference isn't prohibitive.

My inverter is modest. I got a PowerBright APS600-12 from Amazon for $167. It can supply up to 600W/120VAC and handle a 1000W peak. It's a gorgeous unit. The blue aluminum housing nicely compliments the silver topaz blue of my Volt!

The EVExtend kit's wiring is rated for a 1000W inverter but they also have a 1500W option if you want to power your house during an outage.

Battery Implications

I still don't understand electricity, but I suspect that once the EV batteries start back-charging the 12V battery, most of that charge instead gets sucked into the inverter which is still drawing power. So at that point you are effectively running the inverter off of the main 17.1kWh EV battery pack. Then once you're done the EV batts will top off the 12V. So, in theory, you're only incurring one partial charge cycle on the small 12V battery.

Wrap Up

I was pretty scared to work on the 12V battery and I took every precaution I could, but there were no sparks, no shocks, nothing exploded, and I didn't die installing this! It really could not have been any easier. The whole install only took about 40 minutes. Now that I know what I'm doing, I could wire another one in probably 10 minutes.

The instructions and the kit itself were so well thought-out. Mega props to EVExtend!

And now I have the freedom to take my rig anywhere my Volt can go! It's also awesomely cool that my two huge geek obsessions--EVs and astrophotography--can come together like this.