Power station for running accessory lighting, camp and offroad lighting. (1 Viewer)

[SteadfastRocky]

So I am a weirdo about electrical systems, I don't care to integrate my non vehicle electrical accessories with my vehicle. I know there are lots of ways to accomplish this but one I have been thinking about is using a "Battery power generator" for running things like offroad lights, camp lighting, phone charging while the trucks are keyed off, so on.

In my mind it protects the factory systems. Allows for those systems to be where it is easy and convenient and makes removal if selling the vehicle easier.

Is there anyone who as done this floating around in here?

 

[jgranthevagrant]

I run a house battery powered off a second alternator. Not what you are proposing, but keeps everything separate from the vehicle system.

 

[SteadfastRocky]

I run a house battery powered off a second alternator. Not what you are proposing, but keeps everything separate from the vehicle system.

That seems to be the way most have done it in the past and the way I would do it if I had too.

I think we would charge it the power station while the truck is running, and maybe also through solar and then ensure its isolated when the truck is off.

 

[FrazzledHunter]

That seems to be the way most have done it in the past and the way I would do it if I had too.

I think we would charge it the power station while the truck is running, and maybe also through solar and then ensure its isolated when the truck is off.

This is what I'm doing. I went with Goal Zero and would recommend them again.
One of the main things about the Goal Zero power stations is that they can charge at the highest wattage (600W) from AC, Solar or from a vehicle if you get their vehicle hard-wire charger. I have never seen a power station that could charge from a vehicle at that wattage. This is a huge discriminator for me and not one that is touted in the sales literature or online discussions AFAIK.
There was a thread on fridges that derailed a bit to how one powers the fridge:

Here's what I'm doing:
Opinions on fridges - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/opinions-on-fridges.1313113/post-14976112

 

[LandLocked93]

If the power for your mods is removable, how can you be sure that you'll always have the power unit in the vehicle when you need it? There's always the first time.
I agree the OEM harness should be treated as sacred and not to be fettled in any way. lol

I ran a separate layer of circuitry with storage to power all non-OEM devices.
The only interconnect between the alt and the second layer is a manually switched relay (note not an ACR or DVSR or similar).
This ensures all mods are with and/or w/o power when I want them to be.

 

[TomEf]

It seems pretty reasonable to me to run camp lights, device charging, etc off a portable battery station. Depending on how big the capacity and how big the draw would be, my only real concern would be your charging capability. The factory AC inverters tend to have pretty low amperage limits. DC charging would be more efficient but probably still slow. Solar capability would definitely help with that.

 

[SteadfastRocky]

If the power for your mods is removable, how can you be sure that you'll always have the power unit in the vehicle when you need it? There's always the first time.
I agree the OEM harness should be treated as sacred and not to be fettled in any way. lol

I ran a separate layer of circuitry with storage to power all non-OEM devices.
The only interconnect between the alt and the second layer is a manually switched relay (note not an ACR or DVSR or similar).
This ensures all mods are with and/or w/o power when I want them to be.

You make a good point, we are pretty simple getting out wise, and do most of our camping so on without any sort of truck born accessories, so not the end of the world.

This would be for Nice to haves not need to haves.

 

[SteadfastRocky]

It seems pretty reasonable to me to run camp lights, device charging, etc off a portable battery station. Depending on how big the capacity and how big the draw would be, my only real concern would be your charging capability. The factory AC inverters tend to have pretty low amperage limits. DC charging would be more efficient but probably still slow. Solar capability would definitely help with that.

I am thinking the same thing, as we have the ability to mount solar, I wondered if we could create enough of a storage surplus that the long term depletion ~1 week is about our max time window right now.

 

[SteadfastRocky]

This is what I'm doing. I went with Goal Zero and would recommend them again.
One of the main things about the Goal Zero power stations is that they can charge at the highest wattage (600W) from AC, Solar or from a vehicle if you get their vehicle hard-wire charger. I have never seen a power station that could charge from a vehicle at that wattage. This is a huge discriminator for me and not one that is touted in the sales literature or online discussions AFAIK.
There was a thread on fridges that derailed a bit to how one powers the fridge:

Here's what I'm doing:
Opinions on fridges - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/opinions-on-fridges.1313113/post-14976112

Didn't know they had a hardwire charger. That seems like it could be the ticket when paired with a relay for key on only power.

 

[menancyandsam]

If I was to set up a dc2dc charger, say an Orion 12/24 -15A and run it to a portable power station. Does that mean I've only increase the input watts by 50% over just pluging into the cigarette lighters 10A?

 

[FrazzledHunter]

Didn't know they had a hardwire charger. That seems like it could be the ticket when paired with a relay for key on only power.

I'm probably sounding like a Goal Zero shill but I'm not intending to be LOL! These power stations made by different brands have their quirks - I just know Goal Zero's the best so I'm trying to help with questions that are maybe pretty deep in the weeds.

Goal Zero makes a module that mounts nicely in the lid of the Solar station called the Yeti Link Expansion Module. It runs in 2 modes: car and tank mode. The same unit can be used to charge from the vehicle in "car mode" or to charge an add-on battery in "tank mode". Car mode has battery protection so that it won't kill your battery. They sell 2 kits that share the same core unit depending on what you're doing. Note that it can charge at very high wattage - the highest I've seen from a vehicle. I would have bought this but it was not available when I bought my Yeti 1500X so I made a vehicle charger from a Victron Orion 12-14/15 running in power supply mode which gives me max 360-380 watts of charging. I get battery protection with the Victron by simply telling the Victron to turn off at 12.5V which shuts the thing off the instant I turn off the engine. But I wish I could charge at a higher wattage like 600W.

This is Goal Zero's hard-wire car charger - I wish I could have gotten it:
Yeti Link Vehicle Integration Kit - https://www.goalzero.com/collections/power-station-accessories/products/yeti-link-vehicle-integration-kit

This is the same unit used to charge a 2nd add-on battery which would double your capacity:
Yeti Link Expansion Module - https://www.goalzero.com/collections/power-station-accessories/products/yeti-link-expansion-module

There's also a cigarette lighter adapter to charge with it but I'd bet the farm you wouldn't be happy with how long it takes to go from 10% to a full charge.
Yeti 12V Car Charging Cable - https://www.goalzero.com/products/yeti-12v-car-charging-cable

 

[FrazzledHunter]

If I was to set up a dc2dc charger, say an Orion 12/24 -15A and run it to a portable power station. Does that mean I've only increase the input watts by 50% over just pluging into the cigarette lighters 10A?

Well we know in simple circuits that P=IxE where P is watts, I is current and E is voltage.
That will help in cable sizing but that's only part of the story and won't NECESSARILY lead to the correct charger.

What you need to understand your power station's charging requirements. The one I use, a Goal Zero Yeti 1500X, charges via the port used for solar panels and is connected to a MPPT solar controller inside the unit. That means any charger, including the AC wall chargers sold by Goal Zero, needs to have an output profile that mimics the output from a solar panel and not a typical battery charger. A typical battery charger outputs voltage and current that follows a profile depending on a battery's chemistry; this will not work on a Goal Zero 1500X. For mine, a Goal Zero 1500X, that means a charging voltage of 14V-50V with a max. power of 600W. This is pretty sneaky of Goal Zero and is not what most people assume. This simplifies the design I assume and Goal Zero is the only one that's playing this trick AFAIK.

This is why I had to use a Victron Orion 12-24/15 (set at 24V out, running in power supply mode NOT battery charger mode) vs. a 12-12/30 unit.
One other good outcome is that I can run my Dometic fridge at 24V so I can connect the Victron to ANY 12V battery source and have regulated 24V power.

So, you need understand your power station's charging requirements and find a matching charger. It can be very tricky.

 

[e9999]

^ that is an interesting point. I imagine a typical MPPT controller uses a max-chasing algorithm to change the perceived impedance seen by the panel to run it at its MPP. But if you use a constant voltage input, there is no true local max power, the power just increases linearly with increasing current. So, I guess the MPPT will just immediately increase the current to the max value that can be produced by the Orion and stay there. Fortunately, in your case the max power that the Orion can deliver is likely much less than the 600W you mentioned. So, likely OK for the Yeti. However, if you used a bigger "power supply", that could become sketchy, depending on the MPPT ability to handle anything above the 600W. Neat stuff!