Portable Power Devices aka Solar Generator

[djkeev]

Just an update, my ECO Flow River has proven itself to be a very capable portable power pack.

Dave
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Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[dieseltdi]

Must plug panels directly into the Ecoflow. It has a built in solar controller. I have been reading ALOT about these things over the last couple of days. Hayden

[dieseltdi]

Spent the last two days doing some testing on my Ecoflow Delta. First day I tested it on my small chest freezer. After 5 hours the battery was still showing 88% capacity. Today, I plugged in my side by side refrigerator/freezer. After 7 hours, the battery was down to 50%. I am impressed at the performance. Tomorrow, I am going attach it to my truck fridge and just let it go to see what kind of usage I can get. Hayden

[DuncanS]

The Delta at a K plus seems like a lot. However a 100AH LiPo4 is 650 plus by the time you get all the necessary accessories and do the wiring, perhaps not so much. It is truly plug and play...............unless you do something like:

[dieseltdi]

I purchased this not just for the Vanagon but to have for emergencies. I live in Texas and well let’s just say that our stupid elected officials care more about keeping the electric companies making tons of money than keeping the electricity on.

[djkeev]

[DuncanS]

Thank you Mr. Moderator for keeping things OT.

Another reason to have a Voltagon. Fully charged before the storm and it keeps the refrigerator going so the food won't spoil.

Duncan

[dieseltdi]

Sorry, we had about 300 people freeze to death in February. It is kind of a sore subject. In terms of the device. It has been plugged in to my truck fridge for 24 hours now and is down to 72%. I tried to make this test hard by leaving the fridge empty (makes it harder to maintain temp) and I set it on the lowest setting. Essentially my fridge is a freezer. Of course, if I was using this at a remote campsite, I would have my 100 watt solar panels attached to constantly recharge. I am pleased and actually surprised at how well it works.

[dieseltdi]

Well I ended my test today at 48 hours of running the truck fridge on full freeze mode. It still had 32% left for at least one more day of running that fridge. I also discovered that the wiring on my portable solar kit (Harbor Freight 100w Thunderbolt) I BACKWARDS from the wiring that plugs into the box for recharging. I ended up buying a reversing plug that swapped male and female plug ends around and then it worked. SO......if you have tried to use solar with your Ecoflow, two things to remember: 1) check the polarity of your plugs and 2) don't try to recharge it through your solar charge controller, it simply won't work. You have to plug directly into the Ecoflow charge socket.

[TO Rooster]

This thread is just what I was looking for! I need to replace the house battery in my '77 Westy. The current setup is a Group 27 Marine 100 Amp hours standard lead acid battery. It's dead. Replacement cost is around $150CDN for a similar low-end quality battery.

So I am starting to think that removing it and going straight to a portable power station is the way to go. However, I have some concerns/questions for you.

First of my intended use...

lights (mostly LED) minimal draw,
radio - minimal use,
kitchen faucet pump - minimal use,
recharging cell phones USB 5v 1.5A, nightly
recharging laptop - rarely need my laptop while camping - no USB-C, uses 120V 1.5A
Coleman 40 Quart PowerChill Hot/Cold Thermoelectric Cooler - 12V 5A / 60W
CPAP machine 120V 90W power supply "Typical power consumption: 53W (57VA), Peak power consumption: 104W (108VA)"

The cooler will run continuously and the CPAP for 6-8hours/night.

1. Noise: Most of my camping is in campgrounds. Whenever I camp in a serviced sections of campgrounds, I end up hearing the air conditioners from the big RVs/trailers nearby. Not the great outdoors experience I want. I want peace and quiet. Someday I hope to boondock! The cooler fan is too noisy to keep in the Westy so I usually leave it outside and tie it shut to keep the critters out. These portable power stations have their own fans. Do the fans run continuously? or only during peak power demand?

2. Location: The late-bay Westy has a batter tray on the left side on the engine compartment (opposite the starter battery). Would you temporarily (i.e. while camping) use that spot for the power station to keep the noise out of the camper and to keep the power station out of the elements and locked up?

3. Battery Capacity: For weekend (2-3 nights) camping, how much battery capacity would you recommend?

Thanks in advance!

[DuncanS]

Your cooler and CPAC machine are BIG DRAWS. If the 100AH LA battery did the job, then that's what you need, although for boon docking, my guess is 3 times that coupled with solar. Upgrading to a LiPo4 is going to cost some serious wampum.

I'd do a bunch of research--there are great threads here on LiPo batteries and all the gear needed to interface with them and the loads used by the various devices. In the mean time, the $150 is going to be the cheapest way to go. I haven't seen that price for 100AH deep cycle in quite a while. Everything is going up at significant levels. For example this item delivers half of your old group 27 battery and it's a kilobuck. https://www.jackery.com/products/explorer-1000-por...nc&utm

Your cooler is known to be horribly inefficient. Most people have dumped them. And they are useless in the summer sun when the interior goes to 110º. They cool 40º below ambient, so in this case the thing is trashing your battery in return for keeping your beer at 70º.

Duncan

[vanagonjr]

I’d look into reducing that CPAP power demand.
Some interesting reading @ https://www.cpap.com/blog/cpap-camping/
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FAQ thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=525798

[fxr]

[dieseltdi]

I was going to day the same thing about the cooler. I still have one and we use it on Car trips to keep drinks cool in the car but it almost never holds food. Very innovative for their time but with compressor technology what it is now, not what you would want to keep food actually good. As I said in my post, I ran my T49 Fridge on its lowest setting with nothing in it, the hardest possible condition to keep cold, for 48 hours on my power station and it still had 32% left at the end of that time. I actually ran my house fridge on it for several hours also. As far as the fan on the power station, I have only heard it run when it is recharging. I don't think I have ever heard the cooling fans run during normal use. BTW I also ran my exterior Christmas light on it this year, using the daytime sun and my house solar panels to recharge it about every 4 days or so charge status never fell below 60% or so.. I would guess that I was running about 275 "C" LED bulbs for about 6-7 hours each night.