Anyone using car battery to power house ?

[Alb]

The car may give you enough data to enable a manual adjustment of your figures.

 

[TimothyN]

Well, top of the list, sadly, is the router. I get virtually no telephone signal on either Vodafone or O2 (yes, I have both) so I rely on Broadband.

I live on the top of a hill in a London Borough, not far from the M25. In what world would I expect a telephone signal?

But yes, the coffee machine beckons.

I do have a gennie in the garage, but I'll wait until it gets desperate. Indeed, I think I'll just take the car to a public charger and use it as a battery if e.On are as useless as they have been so far...

 

[Alb]

Funnily enough I just had a power cut myself but it only lasted 10 seconds! Not enough time to even get the lead out

 

[DaveIJ]

I live near Leeds Castle in Kent and have exactly the same issues with mobile single at home

 

[TimothyN]

Funnily enough I just had a power cut myself but it only lasted 10 seconds! Not enough time to even get the lead out

Thank you for that contribution, Jack

 

[TimothyN]

I live near Leeds Castle in Kent and have exactly the same issues with mobile single at home

Kent is awful for mobile signal.

Actually, Kent is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful parts of the country, especially Leeds Castle, but the infrastructure is generally awful. The mobile signals are worse than the Highlands of Scotland, the road system is as bad as Cornwall.

I once had a salesman who was dispatched to sell to Leeds Castle. He went to Leeds, and asked a passer by where the castle was.

 

[DaveIJ]

Hahah it’s big enough not to miss
I love where I live but the roads are awful
But we did get fiber last year

 

[TimothyN]

I live in Biggin Hill village and dream of fibre!

 

[TimothyN]

I mentioned in another thread, I have a power outage, and it would now seem that UK Power Networks have to dig up the road to fix it.

In the meantime, I am using V2L to run a cable into the house, which is fine to power a few essentials (router being top of the list) but I’d really like to power the house before evening sets in.

I thought in my innocence and ignorance that all I needed was a cable with a male 13A at each end, and I could just plug it in to a socket, and Bob would be my uncle, but that doesn’t work.

Does anyone know?

 

[Ian Key]

Unless you are prepared to pull the main fuse of the house to isolate it from the grid it's a big no because it's dangerous for the people working on the repair.

There is a thread about it on the MG4 forum

Thread 'Anyone using car battery to power house ?'

Nov 16, 2023

We were told that you could discharge the MG4 battery to power your home, has anyone successfully tried this ?
We have a Wallbox Pulsar MAX charger and Octopus GO tariff so using 9.5p/kwh power to power the house is quite attractive.

• BrianthatiscalledBrian
• battery charging house battery mg4 mgs5
• Replies: 127
• Forum: General Chat Forum

 

[TimothyN]

I can isolate using circuit breakers in the meter cabinet, and thank you!

 

[TimothyN]

I have a power cut which means that UK power networks have to dig up the road in front of my house, it might take a day or two.

Given that I can isolate the national grid using the circuit breakers in the meter cabinet (it's actually self isolating at the moment, anyway!), is there any way of plugging the car into the house, just to get the lighting circuits working and to enable me to start up the gas boiler?

At the moment I have no light, no hot water, nothing, it would be great if I could somehow plug the V2L into the house, is that possible as a short term non-electrician exercise?

 

[siteguru]

The circuit breakers don't isolate the earth ... that's the real problem as it means someone working upstream on the feed to your house may encounter voltage on the earth line, which could be a safety issue. (The V2L power has a floating earth).

 

[Everest]

In the meantime, I am using V2L to run a cable into the house, which is fine to power a few essentials (router being top of the list) but I’d really like to power the house before evening sets in.

I thought in my innocence and ignorance that all I needed was a cable with a male 13A at each end, and I could just plug it in to a socket, and Bob would be my uncle, but that doesn’t work.

Does anyone know?

Hmm.. the suicide cable!

The biggest issue you will have is earthing and RCD protection, unless you are lucky and have a TT earthing arrangement at your property. See my postings here about V2L powering the house...

Post in thread 'MG4 Discharge Cable'

Dec 16, 2024

My 2p's worth - though, please note, I'm not a sparky...

and also how successful was it as a supply of mains power for the house. (kettle, lights etc)

You can't use it as an alternative power supply the house unless you isolate the house from the grid.

Just to expand on @Ian Key's point.. connecting your V2L to the house, whilst the house is connected to the grid will most likely destroy your vehicles DC to AC inverter immediately.

And the onboard charger/converter is bidirectional, so will output 6kW+ if the V2L cable/plug has an appropriate resistor value...

• Everest

• 

and this one, specifically about boilers...

Post in thread 'MG4 powering other stuff (Vehicle to Load aka ‘V2L’)'

Jan 29, 2025

Does anyone know if having the boiler electrics supplied via a free plug is allowable? I assume earthing requirements would have to be met somehow, but other than that?

I'll give my 2p worth, though please note I'm not a Part-P qualified sparky.

Should all be possible, but there are a number of things that should be considered. IMHO these are:-

a) Does the boiler supply also power the central heating pump and central heating controller? They often do but if it doesn't supply the pump and controller, it won't run in the even of a power cut. More importantly is if the...

• Everest

• 
• 

 

[Geekice]

I have a power cut which means that UK power networks have to dig up the road in front of my house, it might take a day or two.

Given that I can isolate the national grid using the circuit breakers in the meter cabinet (it's actually self isolating at the moment, anyway!), is there any way of plugging the car into the house, just to get the lighting circuits working and to enable me to start up the gas boiler?

At the moment I have no light, no hot water, nothing, it would be great if I could somehow plug the V2L into the house, is that possible as a short term non-electrician exercise?

Personally, I’ve done it a couple of times and I was powering the whole house — so, for example, the fridge and other always-on appliances, plus the air conditioner since it was the middle of summer and really hot. Only the last time I tried it didn’t work, because the car cut the voltage as soon as I connected it to the house. I don’t know if this is due to some update that added a new safety feature, but the car didn’t show any errors, and all the previous times it had worked without issues.

 

[TimothyN]

May I check what "it" is? Just a pair of 13A plugs back to back, brown to brown, blue to blue, plugged into the car and any socket?

Because that doesn't work for me.

 

[TimothyN]

In conversation with the guys from UK Power, apparently the trick is to switch off the main circuit breaker in the consumer unit and then plug the feed from the car in and it all should just work.

They only told me this after they had restored power, so I haven't tested it, though I do now have the male to male 13A plugs ready for next time, if there is to be a next time.

 

[wattmatters]

Personally, I’ve done it a couple of times and I was powering the whole house — so, for example, the fridge and other always-on appliances, plus the air conditioner since it was the middle of summer and really hot. Only the last time I tried it didn’t work, because the car cut the voltage as soon as I connected it to the house. I don’t know if this is due to some update that added a new safety feature, but the car didn’t show any errors, and all the previous times it had worked without issues.

I suspect it's because the MG's V2L is expecting to supply power to isolated loads, not to a system with a main earth - neutral link.

The "L" in V2L matters. It is not designed for V2H.

You'd get the same problem using a regular generator which has an internal MEN link.

In conversation with the guys from UK Power, apparently the trick is to switch off the main circuit breaker in the consumer unit and then plug the feed from the car in and it all should just work.

That would not resolve the MEN link issue, it will likely still cause a fault and the car will shut down the discharge session.

Doing what you describe above would be illegal here.

You can have a proper isolation break before make transfer switch and a power INLET to use an alternate power supply, however this does not fix the MEN link issue.

though I do now have the male to male 13A plugs ready for next time, if there is to be a next time.

I don't know about a next time but it might be your last time. It's called a suicide cord for a reason.

Just don't.

If you want to use the MG4's V2L as a supply of emergency power, then use a good quality extension cord and plug in your devices directly to the car's V2L outlet/adapter.

 

[siteguru]

If you want to use the MG4's V2L as a supply of emergency power, then use a good quality extension cord and plug in your devices directly to the car's V2L outlet/adapter.

100% this ^^^

 

[TimothyN]

Well, I can report that I pumped about 8% of my battery into the house yesterday and it doesn't seem to have affected my mls/kWh figures at all. Apparently a bit cleverer than we feared.