You may remember that we already tried to use a Ford F-150 Hybrid and its 7,200 Watt inverter to power our friend Justin’s house. It was a fail. The truck refused to send power to the house even though Justin has a ‘Generator Interlock Kit’ (GIK) & a ‘Power Inlet Box’ (PIB) installed near his fuse box. After more research and investigation, we take another shot at it…
First, the GIK and the PIB are relatively inexpensive components. You can find these components for under $100 for both. There is an additional installation time or cost, and we recommend using a licensed electrician for all of these wiring jobs. However, the GIK and the PIB are not enough in order to connect your new F-150 Hybrid truck up to the house.
During this “will it power it?” episode, we figure out that the ‘Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter’ (GFCI) protection on the truck’s side did not play nice with the GFCI protection within the house’s wiring. In order to solve this problem, you need something like a ‘Generator Transfer Switch’ (GTS) that can reconcile the neutral, the ground, and the rest. I am not going into the specifics for a reason. The reason is – I am NOT a licensed electrician. However, I know that a GTS can cost between $300-$450.
Our experiment worked, and the truck successfully sent the power to the house. We were able to run a gas-powered furnace, house lights, a refrigerator, a separate freezer, a TV, and a convection cooktop. It was a success. We noticed several LED light bulbs flickering during our test, but the major appliances were running. However, once we added the microwave to the equation, it overwhelmed the truck and all power was lost. If you pick and choose your appliances, you can successfully run your house heat, refrigeration, and lights at the same time. This works great for an emergency situation. Assuming your F-150 Hybrid’s fuel tank is full, and you are pulling a maximum of 7,200 Watts, the truck will use about a gallon of fuel per hour and run out after about 30 hours. If you are not pulling maximum power, the fuel will last longer.
Ford and other manufacturers are planning to sell wall-mounted chargers for your home that will be able to automatically manage bi-directional power flow between your house and your electric vehicle (such as the upcoming F-150 Lightning). However, these automated units will cost significantly more than $450.
Join the video below to see how it all worked out.
