One clarification.Is the traction battery or the smaller 12v battery being used?
Good question.
Lots of people have different answer on this question. I don't remember in which thread instantly, I loaded up my questions on this issue. Nobody gave me concreate answer on this as scientific background. Someone(Danie77) did a tremendously good job and provided enough information on positive result by connecting 2500w inverter to Aux battery connecter
Before we listen to somebody's opinion, i hope it should be supported by engineering data sheet because it is related 100% electric circuit design based on electric science. if not we cannot predict what will happen after long use, disregarding experiential installation success.
So please provide good information on this issue.
GT model has 1500w 120/240v AC outlet. It is designed to supply power directly from Drive battery. It is fact. But the limit is 1500w according to manual. It is running only the vehicle is ready mode. Once drive battery reaches at a certain % (some say 30% other say 25%, it does not important) ICE starts to generate energy for charging. That's why it should be "Ready" mode.
Here arouse one scientific question. Why it limits to 1500W. Drive Battery has 13.8 kwh with 300vDC. When it transferred to 120v ac, it can be reached up to over 5,000w. In addition to that, if the system has maximum power of 1500w, electric engineers never describe 1500w as maximum capacity. They always put margin on this kind of job. This outlet is controlled by the On/Off switch. They try to prevent any accident in circuit by cutting this line in case of worst scenario. Engineer assumes that in case user use all 12v accessories in maximum condition and in such severe condition including weather and so on, user can use 120 AC up to 1500w. So, 1500w is most stable and safe line when engineer designed this circuit considering worst case. No data sheet I have.
When Japan experienced Tsunami disaster in 2011, they provide to Government i-MiEV to support disaster area to transport necessity. Leaf did the same job. It was very successful. Charge during night and use this without gas. At that time, Mitsubishi learned that EV will be a good source of power supply to emergency equipment in no power area in case of power down. So, when they produce Outlander PHEV, they included CHAdeMO port and it is used for charge and discharge purpose. They also invented 3000W CHAdeMO inverter of 100v supply for emergency equipment. But it is existing only on media in Japan and nobody see actual inverter in US.
Australian guy introduces on You Tube this CHAdeMO connect cable to connect Home Emergency System for using PHEV battery as a source of power. SETEC in China factory once they have CHAdeMO connect inverter 3000w but I can't find it anymore in US Market. They have EU market product quite a time ago.
Considering such information and imagination, Drive battery is capable to 3000w as per engineer, but they prevent to use over 1500w by owner, they insert On/Off switch without any reason. I am sure that they did not changed whole circuit in order to minimize Drive battery use. Just add switch only. So you cannot go over 1500w theoretically. May be 10% more in case, but still 3000w from Drive battery is capable as it is designed so, I believe.
Let's talk about another situation. Lots of people add inverter to 12v battery connector. There are many examples of connecting inverter to Aux battery in You Tube. Some with multiple battery, and some with charging from Solar panel. Also, in RV world, connecting inverter to 12v battery becomes common senses. There are many safety way to do so, and there are so many convenient way, pay not too much safety issues.
Naturally, another question is that is it safe to connect AC inverter to Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV?. There is clear answer to this question. Daniel77 installed 2500w AC inverter to his car and successful to run in over 10 hrs. He even tried most high wattage Heater and it went on. Wow. What a great job. He wants to use average 2100w but install 2500w inverter for safety. Good thinking.
But can it be permanently safe to this car?. Actually we do not know, because engineer did not answer this question. This may affect the life of Drive Battey, or, converter module will be affected somehow, or some damage on some portion of the circuit part will be damaged. Nobody knows. Only the circuit engineer knows this answer.
But we are not stupid to stop here. There are may EV cars our there. Not only the Mitsubishi but also Toyota, Ford, Nissan, Hyundai, all the EV manufacturers are using Drive battery. So we can get information from them. Most probably, Prius is the famous car using inverters as AC power source. There are no significant failure by installing inverter to 12v battery for a few days of using in camping over and over. The rest of the cars have same trend. No need to say RV's. Hyundai already started to use drive battery as a source of AC by connecting J1772 with AC plug to use directly from drive battery. No need inverter to use it. Just plug proper J1772 plug into the charging port and it recognize as a discharger and switch to battery as a power source by its own program. The days will come soon as this will be the selling point of EV car and it will be spread to all other manufacturer. So be patient.
If I intend to PHEV as emergency power source, it will be OK to use inverter for short period of use, when it is not used every day for work or hobby. I think.
You don have to rush to install it to the car. Just buy a 2500w inverter and thick cable and fuse of 120A, referring You Tube. Assemble them ready to connect to the car when you lose grid power. It will take only less than 30 min to connect cables to battery. Don't connect black/ ground line to battery. This line will be connected to chassis.
I welcome data sheets how much DC-DC converter can supply to Aux battery to charge, and how much DC-DC converter supply 12V to car accessories when the car is in Ready Mode. I need to be confirmed that even though inverter is connected to Aux battery, the power source is DC-DC converter 12v. What I mean is that Inverter is not getting the power from Aux battery.