re-charging a big power station while driving

[Aifer]

I was just about to reply. You beat me to it!

Many thanks for your thorough reply.
Let me be more specific.
I have a EcoFlow Max unit that runs a Snowmaster dc fridge.
The EcoFlow is charge by its dc input from a cable connected hot to the car battery with a "smart" switch that kicks in on 12.8v (alternator working).

Cons for this setting:
Charging is only 8A 12V
And the smart switch started to melt....

What I'm looking for is a dc booster to connect to the EcoFlow DC input to simulate a solar charging and hopefully achieve faster charging of the unit.

The Victron looks like the right solution for me assuming it can kicks in when the alternator is working (voltage sensing?) and boost the DC input to the EcoFlow unit.

Appreciate your inputs.

Many thanks
Aifer

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[Dave in AZ]

Many thanks for your thorough reply.
Let me be more specific.
I have a EcoFlow Max unit that runs a Snowmaster dc fridge.
The EcoFlow is charge by its dc input from a cable connected hot to the car battery with a "smart" switch that kicks in on 12.8v (alternator working).

Cons for this setting:
Charging is only 8A 12V
And the smart switch started to melt....

What I'm looking for is a dc booster to connect to the EcoFlow DC input to simulate a solar charging and hopefully achieve faster charging of the unit.

The Victron looks like the right solution for me assuming it can kicks in when the alternator is working (voltage sensing?) and boost the DC input to the EcoFlow unit.

Appreciate your inputs.

Many thanks
Aifer

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Ok. Read my thread on doing exactly this. Basically, buy the Pecron for $130 or the victron at end of thread for $200

Who makes a 12v to 48v (56v) converter?

Victron only has 12v to 24v. For running a powerstation in a truck bed, there is no need for a full dcdc smart charger, as the powerstation already has its own "smart input" in all cases. Rather, all that is needed is a 12v to ??? Converter, where the ??? Matches the powerstation dc input...

diysolarforum.com

 

[andy_b]

Many thanks for your thorough reply.
Let me be more specific.
I have a EcoFlow Max unit that runs a Snowmaster dc fridge.
The EcoFlow is charge by its dc input from a cable connected hot to the car battery with a "smart" switch that kicks in on 12.8v (alternator working).

Cons for this setting:
Charging is only 8A 12V
And the smart switch started to melt....

What I'm looking for is a dc booster to connect to the EcoFlow DC input to simulate a solar charging and hopefully achieve faster charging of the unit.

The Victron looks like the right solution for me assuming it can kicks in when the alternator is working (voltage sensing?) and boost the DC input to the EcoFlow unit.

Appreciate your inputs.

Many thanks
Aifer

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The issue is that your EcoFlow limits how much power it will accept so it doesn’t matter how much power you’re able to generate via the alternator:

https://websiteoss.ecoflow.com/cms/upload/2024/5/23/EcoFlow%20DELTA%20Max%201600-User%20Manual%20V1.0%20(EN%2BFR)_1716448305170.pdf

The battery management system (BMS) of the EcoFlow is going to limit the input power regardless of what you throw at it or you’ll melt parts (as you have already experienced). Because they don’t intend for this unit to be used the way you’re hoping, they’ve set up the BMS to favor AC charging (at a wimpy 15A!). Save the money on a Orion XS until you’re ready to upgrade to a different energy storage system.

 

[Dave in AZ]

@andy_b , 400W to 500W is a realworld upper limit usually of what excess alternator power is usable without burning up your alternator. For instance, my Tacoma with their large alternator is only 130A, car uses 35 to 60 depending ( night, rain, airco), want to keep alternator to 65% of max really. That just leaves me 20A to 35A really.

His thing, 42v at 13A would be 546W for the Pecron charger, which is really 500W, so its all close anyways.

 

[Aifer]

@andy_b , 400W to 500W is a realworld upper limit usually of what excess alternator power is usable without burning up your alternator. For instance, my Tacoma with their large alternator is only 130A, car uses 35 to 60 depending ( night, rain, airco), want to keep alternator to 65% of max really. That just leaves me 20A to 35A really.

His thing, 42v at 13A would be 546W for the Pecron charger, which is really 500W, so its all close anyways.

All I need is to double the input amps to 16-20 by using higher voltage that simulates solar input

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[Aifer]

@andy_b , 400W to 500W is a realworld upper limit usually of what excess alternator power is usable without burning up your alternator. For instance, my Tacoma with their large alternator is only 130A, car uses 35 to 60 depending ( night, rain, airco), want to keep alternator to 65% of max really. That just leaves me 20A to 35A really.

His thing, 42v at 13A would be 546W for the Pecron charger, which is really 500W, so its all close anyways.

Check this out l

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[Dave in AZ]

All I need is to double the input amps to 16-20 by using higher voltage that simulates solar input

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You missed the point of the powerstation specs posted above... there is a 13A or 800W limit. There is also a limit on what your alternator puts out without burning it up, and its probably less than 500W.

Also, good reliable devices to boost alternator 12v up to 48v with at least 350W output are very few, just 3 found so far. The ecoflow, the Pecron, and the Victron.

I have several videos exploring using power supplies to get up to 60v, using truckbed inverters.

 

[Aifer]

You missed the point of the powerstation specs posted above... there is a 13A or 800W limit. There is also a limit on what your alternator puts out without burning it up, and its probably less than 500W.

Also, good reliable devices to boost alternator 12v up to 48v with at least 350W output are very few, just 3 found so far. The ecoflow, the Pecron, and the Victron.

I have several videos exploring using power supplies to get up to 60v, using truckbed inverters.

Thx,
13A is about 60% more than the 8A input that I have now

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[andy_b]

Thx,
13A is about 60% more than the 8A input that I have now

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I think you are not understanding how this works.

The DC car charger input you are currently using is limited to 8A - doesn’t matter how much power you supply, the EcoFlow will limit input to 8A.

When it comes to electricity, it is easier to compare wattage rather than amperage. Watts = amps x voltage. Just increasing amperage alone won’t make anything work out better - in fact, it will probably damage the existing wiring. Likewise, just increasing the voltage won’t help, either, without some method of converting that voltage back to whatever the EcoFlow wants.

This means at 12 volts, the max the EcoFlow will accept (not what you supply) at the car charging port is 96 watts. If you did what the video suggests, without knowing exactly how the EcoFlow BMS behaves, the maximum amount of continuous power the EcoFlow will accept is 896W (800w max solar input + 96W max car input). That is a pretty good bump and maybe all you need.

If you want to charge it was quickly as possible, your best bet is cobbling together some sort of AC power source from the alternator (alternator -> batteries -> inverter -> EcoFlow). Even including conversion losses, that would probably still be a decent amount of input wattage when compared to either DC alone or DC + solar.

It is surprising to me how popular these things are given their substantial limitations and cost.

 

[HWY395ghost]

It is surprising to me how popular these things are given their substantial limitations and cost.

Agree.

 

[Aifer]

I think you are not understanding how this works.

The DC car charger input you are currently using is limited to 8A - doesn’t matter how much power you supply, the EcoFlow will limit input to 8A.

When it comes to electricity, it is easier to compare wattage rather than amperage. Watts = amps x voltage. Just increasing amperage alone won’t make anything work out better - in fact, it will probably damage the existing wiring. Likewise, just increasing the voltage won’t help, either, without some method of converting that voltage back to whatever the EcoFlow wants.

This means at 12 volts, the max the EcoFlow will accept (not what you supply) at the car charging port is 96 watts. If you did what the video suggests, without knowing exactly how the EcoFlow BMS behaves, the maximum amount of continuous power the EcoFlow will accept is 896W (800w max solar input + 96W max car input). That is a pretty good bump and maybe all you need.

This is exactly what I mean.
The EcoFlow has only one DC input. Car or Solar, automatically detected and limited to 8A.
When imitating Solar charge by boosting the voltage , let's say 24V, you can get a 100% improvement in the charging wattage. Still limited but twice as fast. This is all I need.



If you want to charge it was quickly as possible, your best bet is cobbling together some sort of AC power source from the alternator (alternator -> batteries -> inverter -> EcoFlow). Even including conversion losses, that would probably still be a decent amount of input wattage when compared to either DC alone or DC + solar.

DC to AC to DC is too much energy loss for my humble opinion.

It is surprising to me how popular these things are given their substantial limitations and cost.

The main consumer on my EcoFlow is the fridge. Max 5A.
The charging is min 8A so even when the fridge compressor is on I still have a positive energy equation.
The idea is to start a trip with. Full EcoFlow and get to a camp full , drain it to 50% overnight and on the next day charge it as much as I can.

Hope it's clearer now.

Another link to fast EcoFlow car charging.



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