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Sandy Victim Powers Home ... With Prius

Bob Sakala uses inverter to power lights, TV, computer

By Liam Carnahan,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 9, 2012 11:34 AM CST | Updated Nov 11, 2012 12:12 PM CST

(Newser) – Hey, turns out that the Prius is good for more than just saving on gas: Bob Sakala, a New Jersey resident who lost electricity during Hurricane Sandy, managed to power some of the lights in his home as well as his TV, laptop, and modem using only some heavy-duty extension cords and a 300-watt inverter plugged into his Prius, reports NBC 4 New York. He says he read about using the car as a power source years ago, and decided to give it a whirl; an entire week of power cost him just three-fourths of a tank of gas. "The neighbors kept saying, 'Does Bob have a generator?' No, it's the Prius. It's a spaceship," says Sakala. Let's hope he can still get gas for a while.

A 2011 Toyota Prius
A 2011 Toyota Prius   (?)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 49 comments
TessTalks
Nov 11, 2012 6:16 PM CST
You can make fun of Bob Sakala hooking into his Prius all you want, but the bottom line is he had power, and the rest of the town didn't.  
justme001
Nov 11, 2012 4:53 PM CST
Sounds like he has 12 volt tv and 12 volt adapter for the laptop  because he is only running 300 watts of 120 that is not that much current.  But at least he is not sitting in the dark and heat is not a problem if he has a furnace the motors do not require that many watts to run. The only problem is when he needs to go some where he has to unplug the house! Got to hand it to him pretty good idea!
Xavier_Thyme
Nov 11, 2012 3:28 PM CST
I sure hope he had that rig properly isolated from the power grid at his main fusebox.  If not, he risks giving nasty shocks to any linemen working on his main power circuit.
 

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