Overland Power (7 Viewers)

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FrazzledHunter said:
"Part of the challenge with additional loads is that it all starts adding up fast as it's rarely just the additional battery bank charging that we're talking about. "

Tell me about it LOL!
I just added a Starlink antenna. What's another 60W...:rofl:
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Must resist another doodad! But you're so right that having solid data could make for less time fumbling to get information and decisions when off-grid. Experienced that first hand in Death Valley two weeks ago and practically no cellular coverage. A buddy quickly turned on his Starlink, and we were off to the races once armed with key information.
 
TeCKis300 said:
Must resist another doodad! But you're so right that having solid data could make for less time fumbling to get information and decisions when off-grid. Experienced that first hand in Death Valley two weeks ago and practically no cellular coverage. A buddy quickly turned on his Starlink, and we were off to the races once armed with key information.
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Now now...there are no "bad" gadgets only "better" gadgets. ;)

With gadgets, especially when one has a skeptical spousal unit, it always helps to justify it's acquisition by referencing a safety concern. :nailbiting:

Seriously, Starlink started with us with concern over issues, a few of which are:
  • We have consecutive campsite reservations lined up. We could lose a 10 day reservation if we're delayed a day and can't get in touch with NPS.
  • We are going to be camping in dispersed areas for the first time and wanted to be able to be reachable for the reasons you mentioned and to deal with those pesky emails that have "pay now" buttons. We do have a Garmin inreach 66i but that is for a SOS needing rescue.
  • Payment of June's estimated income taxes from our bank account. Payment can be scheduled and funds transferred in advance I suppose but we'll worry about it a lot less if we can see it happen.
  • Weather emergencies. This is supposedly partially covered by the Garmin but we've never seen it actually work or be activated.
We did this to ourselves by automating everything and relying on notifications. All in an attemp to make life easier and less stressful. The same was once said of the telephone.
 
TeCKis300 said:
Get that Mr. Heater yet? :)
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Someone may or may not have bought several of them via the convenience of my passenger seat on the drive home this weekend 😂👍🏼

#doodadaddict
 
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FrazzledHunter said:
With gadgets, especially when one has a skeptical spousal unit, it always helps to justify its acquisition by referencing a safety concern. :nailbiting:
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This is the way
 
FrazzledHunter said:
We have a Mr Heater Portable buddy we used for tenting. Not sure we need it now that we have the trailer.

Portable Buddy® Heater - https://www.mrheater.com/portable-buddy-heater.html
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Yup, those are great for tent camping.

I use the 540 propane heater is a stand-in for open wood campfires, as CA is fire prone and has lots of wood fire restrictions and burn bans. It's also far far better in creating usable warmth and heat when it's cold and/or windy, with its radiant infrared heat output. In contrast to flame based heaters that look pretty but doesn't generate much usable heat and can't handle wind.

Look at it as a much more effective Howl R4 heater, but at a fraction the cost.
 
TeCKis300 said:
Yup, those are great for tent camping.

I use the 540 propane heater is a stand-in for open wood campfires, as CA is fire prone and has lots of wood fire restrictions and burn bans. It's also far far better in creating usable warmth and heat when it's cold and/or windy, with its radiant infrared heat output. In contrast to flame based heaters that look pretty but doesn't generate much usable heat and can't handle wind.

Look at it as a much more effective Howl R4 heater, but at a fraction the cost.
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Another incoming gadget. Dang. Need the safety angle though...
If one of us is holding a knife in cold weather, the heater will prevent shivering making it less likely to drop the knife or to get cut. 😈
 
The REI anniversary sale finally convinced me to jump on an Ecoflow Delta 3 Plus. My "overland" interior storage/sleeping setup was developed enough that finding room for the thing was going to be very difficult, but then the Iceco VL35 pro S had a different footprint than the Pelican cooler I had been using for a decade, so things are going to get shuffled around anyway.

My use for it will be really basic.. without solar, power that fridge mostly at cooler SWCO mountain temps, plus help with faster charging of LiPo batteries for FPV things in the mountains. The dual 140W USB-C outlets will be nice for the latter, though I'm looking into a 12/24 setup to charge the EcoFlow and expedite charging the larger LiPos I use on these trips. I don't know what the actual voltage of the LiFePo cells in the Ecoflow are, but a direct DC output of up to 30V would sure make charging those convenient/efficient.

I have a LiIon pack over 200Wh, but the current delivery limitations of that one mean I don't use it much. Far more frequent are my 100 and ~70Wh LiPos.. using them 3-4 times per day depending on where I'm flying. Those have me a bit nervous about keeping the EcoFlow charged.. I was leaning 12/24 Victron but now that I think through the demands of these batteries I'm wondering if fishing the giant plugs of the Alternator charger into the cabin and finding room for the unit itself wouldn't be a lot smarter...

@kcjaz did it seem like the larger connectors could be depinned to make fishing things through easier?
 
bloc said:
@kcjaz did it seem like the larger connectors could be depinned to make fishing things through easier?
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The end that that connects to the starter battery doesn’t have that giant plugs.
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Depinning the proprietary plugs doesn’t seem possible to me as there is no way to open them. I think you’d just have to cut them off and then splice the wires back together or use a terminal block or something.

I’m liking my set up, but the wiring of the charger needs some improvement. The big ass proprietary plugs I dislike.

I also wish my delta two had more direct DC outputs. I just added an ExoFlow 500 wh River 2. I want daisy chain it to the Delta via DC but I can’t because I need the DC out for my fridge. I can’t daisy chain it with that AC plug though.
 
kcjaz said:
The end that that connects to the starter battery doesn’t have that giant plugs.
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Depinning the proprietary plugs doesn’t seem possible to me as there is no way to open them. I think you’d just have to cut them off and then splice the wires back together or use a terminal block or something.

I’m liking my set up, but the wiring of the charger needs some improvement. The big ass proprietary plugs I dislike.

I also wish my delta two had more direct DC outputs. I just added an ExoFlow 500 wh River 2. I want daisy chain it to the Delta via DC but I can’t because I need the DC out for my fridge. I can’t daisy chain it with that AC plug though.
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Ah.. then I’ll probably find a Victron 12/24 setup that works for me, and figure out how to run my LiPo charger off the 24v as well.

And yes, more direct DC out would be really nice.
 
lx200inAR said:
I saw and advertisement that Ecoflow now has a 500w version of the alternator charger. Don't know if it's smaller, but it's a little cheaper. So maybe a better option for most people who are just now looking.
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I decided to look into this a little, between the cost of the Victron units that don't over or undershoot the Delta 3's DC in capacity, and packaging/airflow in my case.. I don't and won't have the drawer system so many people use to mount their electronics.. so it'll need to go under a seat or somewhere else out of the way.

Turns out it's the same dimensions as the 800w unit, so no advantage there. Comes with XT60 cable vs the XT150 of the 800w.. that could be a plus or minus depending on the person's packaging situation. And for now at least, it's actually more expensive than the deals available on the 800w units on ebay. I'm seeing those new down to $315 shipped, but EF is out of stock on 500W's, so (for now) amazon is the only source at about $390.

Since I'll need this in a couple weeks I'm leaning toward the 800W unit and just reducing its output in the app to mitigate strain on the alternator.
 
bloc said:
I decided to look into this a little, between the cost of the Victron units that don't over or undershoot the Delta 3's DC in capacity, and packaging/airflow in my case.. I don't and won't have the drawer system so many people use to mount their electronics.. so it'll need to go under a seat or somewhere else out of the way.

Turns out it's the same dimensions as the 800w unit, so no advantage there. Comes with XT60 cable vs the XT150 of the 800w.. that could be a plus or minus depending on the person's packaging situation. And for now at least, it's actually more expensive than the deals available on the 800w units on ebay. I'm seeing those new down to $315 shipped, but EF is out of stock on 500W's, so (for now) amazon is the only source at about $390.

Since I'll need this in a couple weeks I'm leaning toward the 800W unit and just reducing its output in the app to mitigate strain on the alternator.
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Yeah,seems like the biggest win here is the XT60 connectors. And i 2nd the 500w being a better fit for the stock charging system.
 
I ended up with an EcoFlow Delta 3 Plus and installed their 800w alternator charger. Between the 500 not being any smaller, and my use case, I figured just go with the higher capacity.

Part of what convinced me to do that was checking whether the HV/HC input on the EcoFlow Delta 3 Plus were wired directly to the battery. If so I'd hope to run a plug there that could provide DC to my LiPo charger. Turns out those terminals don't show anything with a multimeter, which means they are metered/controlled somehow, and that hack wasn't going to work.

Turns out the Delta 3 inverter is really efficient anyway, using less total Wh to charge my LiPos a given mAh than the same charge cycle on the Delta 3's USB-C outlets. I was really surprised to see this.

So the question was where to put it.. I don't have drawers like so many here, and having the brick be out of the way is very important for my *drive, shuffle a few things around in the truck to sleep on the road, drive* method of traveling. The fridge already can't go in the semi-permanent spot for my old cooler, so that has to get moved. Which slows me down.

Plus between trips the whole thing will get removed, so mods to the vehicle to get it to mount solidly aren't as acceptable.

I settled on a chunk of decent plywood cut to fit behind the passenger seat to act as a base. Strap the Delta 3 unit and alternator charger to that board as far rearward as possible to minimize the impact to positions of the co-driver seat, it has a floor vent pointed at it, and it turns out the cable run to the battery is within 2 inches of being absolutely perfect.

I used a battery pad from my FPV drones called Ummagrip between the charger and delta to prevent rattling/shifting. It's remarkably stable.. I'll probably switch to a 2" cam buckle or ratchet strap eventually for more security in the event of an accident.

The noise attenuators or whatever the lugs near the ends of the big cable are HUGE. For some people's installs things would be vastly simpler if those things were smaller or absent. No you shouldn't need to string that end through bulkheads or grommets or whatever, but if trying to maximize packaging they could be a problem for some.

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And not sure if the size of the alternator charger overall comes across. You can watch install vids online.. it's not small.

I wanted to minimize mods to the vehicle.. Between one new hole in the passenger side firewall harness grommet, and this one cut-away from the small removable portion of the B pillar trim, I can put things back together in the future very easily.

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It didn't move at all over a ~3k mile trip last week. I'll find something to put on the plywood to protect it. And need to speak with EcoFlow about why the charger routinely won't start saying "voltage below limit" when I've got that limit set to 12.9 and the app will sit there and display 13.2 or whatever. When that happens the only way I can get it to turn on is to go into settings and run the start voltage down to 11.5 or something, it will start, then I can raise it to 12.9. I do think if I wait long enough it'll eventually start without intervention.. but it's odd behavior and I intend to see what EcoFlow has to say about it.

The unit itself was invaluable for this trip.. running my fridge, and charging a few LiPos a day depending on what I found to fly. The previous trip I had to pop the hood and use clamps on the battery to charge them at any reasonable rate. Which meant being stationary. Huge advantage here. I'm really happy with it overall.

I will say though.. anyone getting one of these needs to go in and tweak the auto shut down parameters. My fridge shut off 3 nights in a row as various parts of the system timed out due to the fridge not drawing current for X time as ambient temps were so low. I settled on a 24Hr global timeout.. after that no issues. And the 12v socket adapter for the IceCo fridge did great for all of that mileage.

Last thing.. charge current. For AC charging you can just tell the app X watts, but when using the Alt charger you have to set it up in Amps. I didn't want to hammer my alternator by using the default 800w, even though ours is in a peak Amp category that it's technically allowed. 500w sounded like a nice balance between fast charging and not leaning on the alternator too much, so I went with 40A. This ran around 530w and did great for my trip. I could probably have lowered that to around 300w and my driving during the trip easily kept the bank topped up.. I'll probaby do that next trip. Either way it's very easy to configure this stuff in the app, and needless to say the 800w capacity of the alt charger means you have a ton of overhead if you need it.
 
I found the DC supply to the alt charger laid in to the rocker trim perfectly. Then pulled it through the main PS wiring grommet, along the inner fender under the airbox, then I brought it across the front of the radiator under the core support. Then around the front of the battery.. the + cable is nearly perfect.. I may take an inch or two off. The - cable needs a few inches cut off. Super happy with this all being out of the way.

All in all it's a high quality system, and I'm glad to be done thinking about power on trips.

IMG_5790.JPG
 
bloc said:
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Turns out the Delta 3 inverter is really efficient anyway, using less total Wh to charge my LiPos a given mAh than the same charge cycle on the Delta 3's USB-C outlets. I was really surprised to see this.
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And need to speak with EcoFlow about why the charger routinely won't start saying "voltage below limit" when I've got that limit set to 12.9 and the app will sit there and display 13.2 or whatever. When that happens the only way I can get it to turn on is to go into settings and run the start voltage down to 11.5 or something, it will start, then I can raise it to 12.9. I do think if I wait long enough it'll eventually start without intervention.. but it's odd behavior and I intend to see what EcoFlow has to say about it.
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I will say though.. anyone getting one of these needs to go in and tweak the auto shut down parameters. My fridge shut off 3 nights in a row as various parts of the system timed out due to the fridge not drawing current for X time as ambient temps were so low. I settled on a 24Hr global timeout.. after that no issues. And the 12v socket adapter for the IceCo fridge did great for all of that mileage.
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Last thing.. charge current. For AC charging you can just tell the app X watts, but when using the Alt charger you have to set it up in Amps. I didn't want to hammer my alternator by using the default 800w, even though ours is in a peak Amp category that it's technically allowed.
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The inverter efficiency comment is interesting. Hopefully my Delta 2 is the same. I'm going to connect a Ecoflow River (300 WH) to the Delta 2 but the only way to do that is with the AC plug plugged into the Delta 2 inverter. No way to DC/DC charge the River from the Delta 2 with DC. There is a solar input so maybe something could be hacked. We'll see how the AC daisy chain works to charge the River.

Not sure what's up with the cutoff voltage setting. My ALT charger doesn't do that. I'm set at 13V and have not noticed it not starting right away.

I recall reading somewhere (maybe the manual) that you needed to shut off the auto shut off when powering a refrigerator. I think my app just have an on/off button for this feature rather that a settable time limit.

Tell me more about our alternators " in a peak Amp category". Can I really add 40 amp load at idle w/o worry? That would be great because I am worried about pulling too many amps at idle and frying the alternator. My app lets me limit the charger watts (not amps) but as I'm worried about amps so I do the math. My conclusion (really my guess) was similar to yours in that in that decided to never do more than 500W ~40 amps) but 300 to 400 if I'm trying to charge the Delta 2 and River plu keep the fridge going. 200-250 W was all I needed at Cruise Moab when it was really just keeping the fridge going and pull into camp with a fully charge Delta 2.
 
kcjaz said:
Tell me more about our alternators " in a peak Amp category". Can I really add 40 amp load at idle w/o worry?
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I consider “category” the over or under 150A threshold that Ecoflow cites for the 500 or 800W model. Ours are 180A alternators IIRC, and given that my gut says a little over 25% of that capacity at idle should be ok. Especially considering it won’t be drawing that all the time.

But yes 250W would probably get the job done as well. I will most likely tweak this over time as my understanding and needs evolve.
 
Getting ready for COTR. Driving the 200 as a daily this week until we leave have the EcoFlow flow all set up and just running it to see how goes. Well today didn’t go very well. It’s 90+ degrees here in Kansas City and today I let the fridge go with the Delta 2 hooked to it while the truck was parked in a parking lot at work all day. Black truck, hot sun on black asphalt. I probably should’ve realized this wasn’t gonna be a recipe for success essentially the delta 2 shuts itself down if it gets too hot and you can’t charge it or do anything with it until it cools down, which is hard to do when it’s 90°. The good news is the fridge kept running and is still running on its own battery, but if I was camping somewhere without access to Power, I’d be in trouble right now. The fridge is about done and my Delta 2 is at 7% with the temp light blinking. If I were camping, I’d have to hook the fridge to the cigarette lighter of the truck and just turn the truck on to keep the fridge going.

It’s 84° now with a low of like 73 tonight I’m trying to decide if I just let the battery sit in the closed up truck and see how it is in the morning as an experiment or if I should bring the thing inside and cool it down.

Edit: decided to take it into the house to cool it down. Took a while, but eventually the high temp and battery failure lights went out and it’s charging now. I’m very relieved. I was worried I fried it three days before I leave for Colorado.

Am I try to see if I can either borrow or buy 100 W solar panel or something just as a back up. I think the other thing I need to keep in mind is that in my normal Overlanding scenario I would be driving most of the day and I would have the AC running in the truck in which case I wouldn’t probably have overheated the battery. Letting it sit all day in the sun in a parking lot was not a great idea.
 
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