OK, camping season approaches, and I am pondering whether to maybe consider camping at a place with no electric hookups. We camp with tents but usually look for electricity to pump up our air mattresses and, more importantly, to plug in a little cooler-sized "fridge" we have (actually I'd call it an electric, ice-less cooler). It has an adapter for the car power point/cig lighter, which we use while driving, and a standard power cord for 110V AC.

So, here's the question. If we don't have power at the campsite, can I plug this into my 110V outlet in the FEH and run it all night, and still have the car start in the morning? Once we tried that with the DC adapter and the non-hybrid Escape, and had one start in the morning, but after only a very brief drive (i.e., not enough to recharge the battery, maybe only a half mile or so), it was too dead to start the car. Had to call AAA - bummer!

So the fridge can take up whatever a standard 12V battery has, or close to it, overnight (it doesn't always do so, we were lucky on a few occasions before our one unlucky one - and of course, haven't pushed our luck since!). So, I'm thinking, with the big hybrid battery, we should be good for at least an overnight, and probably substantially longer. Any flaws in my thinking here? Does the 110V outlet get power from the big battery, or the small (12V) one?

Last summer I used an electric cooler overnight in my FEH (plugged into the 12V battery) and it would not start.

After a few minutes of the key being on (and possiable power coming from the HV battery to charge the 12V) the FEH did start. I would not recomend relying on this. After this experiance we only left it plugged in part of the night (2 hours or so) and then relied on the insulation and our freezer packs to get us though.

Good luck.

Chris Brown

Do you have the optional 110V outlet? Is that what you used? Or just the regular power point?

Good advice from cdbrow1.

The power point runs off 12V from fuse #14 (30A) and according to the manual only operates with the ignition in the run position. It also has a maximum of 150W capability or about 1.3A, check your cooler to see if it will even run off this low power.

Most automotive 12V batteries only have about 80 Ampere Hours and to protect the battery should never be drained more that about half of their capacity. So take the Amperes your cooler needs at 12V and divide that into 40Ah to get how long you can run the cooler also at colder ambient temperatures you can only get about 25%.

Good Luck, Don

That's interesting. The ICE starts using the HV battery, so it's not 12V cranking amps you need to worry about. It's probably the 12V running down too much to operate whatever other systems are needed to start it.

Bummer - I checked the manual, and sure enough, both power points (the 110 VAC and the other one) run down the 12V. The 110V has a 150W capacity, and has no juice unless the ignition is on. The other one is live all the time, and can handle up to a 180W load, but we're advised not to leave things plugged in when the car's not running, lest we run down the battery.
Seems like a waste to me, all those volts/watts/whatever just sitting there, and I can't even use them to chill my brewski.

Here's the REAL answer(s).

If the key is off, all your power for accessories ( radio, windows, powerpoints, etc. )
comes from the 12v under hood battery.

If the key is ON, all your power for accessories ( incl. 110 AC now ) comes from the HV battery pack first, until drained, then, the power reverts to the 12v under hood battery.

The HV battery can give you about 400 watt hours on a full charge before cutting out. ( It will cut out and leave enough in reserve to start the car )

12v Under-hood batteries vary, but assume it can give you 300 watt hours.

So with both, you can use up to 700 watt-hours and 'should' still be able to start without a jump. ( Under 'ideal' conditions. What if you park with a partially charged battery? Then you get far less. )

I have a 12v small fridge ( 6-pak size ) that draws 4A so about 50 watts.
In theory, this should run for 12 hours, but in my non-hybrid car, I needed a jump-start after I left it on for 6 hours.

If you run the gas engine for 5-10 minutes each hour, you could go on for days... just a thought!

I'm a bit confused - if the key is OFF, there is NO power to the accessories (with the exception of one "cigarette lighter"-style power point; the other things, and the 110VAC, have no power). Could you please clarify what you mean by "ON" and "OFF"? And what about the other settings, like "Acc" (or what used to be called that, the setting where the accessories work but the powerplant is not "ready" to drive)?

With no key in, or with key in position "0" ( no turn ) you can run the lamps, and this will be off 12v battery only.

With key in, turned one click forward to position "1" you can run the lamps, radio, and windows, etc. This is "ACC" and runs off 12v battery only.

With key in, turned two clicks forward to position "2" you can now run everything in the entire car. This is "RUN" position, and this now draws power from the HV battery pack in the rear of the car. The car icon will not be lit unless you turn the key once more to "start" the car. With car icon off, the gas engine will never run.

If you leave your headlamps ( or radio, or whatever ) on with key in position 1 (ACC) you will only draw down the 12v battery.

If you leave your headlamps on with key in position 2 ( RUN ) you will draw down the HV battery first, and then the 12v battery second.

-John E

Thanks John, this is really helpful! Just curious, where did you find this information?