How I Prepared My 2012 Prius Hybrid For Use As An Emergency Generator To Run My Refrigerator In A Power Outage. (Long)

[CrankyMa]

7. Yes---

The fridge says

Electrical Rating
Amps 3.30
Volts 115

If Amps times Volts equals Watts, then 3.30 Amps x 115 Volts = 379.5 Watts.

I expected the refrigerator to use 379.5 Watts at rest and twice that when the compressor was on. It actually only used 60 or 120 Watts for the duration of the 4 hour test which surprised me.

I added a 40 Watt lamp to check that the inverter was reading properly and the inverter registered the additional 40 Watts accurately so I feel confident the inverter is measuring the Wattage the fridge is using accurately as well.

Another person told me that they thought the large Wattage was needed to initially cool a new cabinet or to re-cool a cabinet that has been allowed to get too warm.

I actually sent someone in to open the fridge doors and the freezer door to trigger a cooling cycle but the fridge still just used 120 Watts.