Make Your Power Station Last Longer! Power Queen 200AH LiFePO4 - DIY Expansion Battery!

Make your own DIY expansion battery to get longer run times on your power stations! This will work for any power station that accepts up to 40volts charging input. The larger Bluetti and EcoFlow power stations will work with this mod. DO NOT do this will your smaller power stations, they can't accept 36volts charging input (most of them).

In this video I took Power Queen's 200ah LFP battery and charged up my Bluetti AC200p and extended the runtime from 18 hours running my full sized fridge to 36 hours. I would call that a success!

Check out iPowerQueen LFP Batteries HERE:
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PARTS LIST I used in this Project:

BATTERY CHARGERS that I have used with great results:

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#jasonoid #diy #PowerStations

[livingitup]

I'm just finding this video in early Dec. 2022 and I'm inspired to find there are options for creating one's own auxiliary battery supply for these large power stations! I just ordered a Bluetti AC200P and started digging around to see if I could expand its capacity without having to spend $1, 300 or more for one of Bluetti's auxiliary batteries, i.e. the B230 or the B300. I'm so glad to find this explanation showing there are many options for making this happen, at a lower price, IF you have the skills to do all those calculations. I don't have the skills, but I could find someone to help, now that I know it's possible. I also want to say I think you do excellent presentations, Jasonoid! I've watched a couple of your videos so far, and I don't know why you don't have a larger Subscriber base by now. You are clear, articulate and know how to present information in a methodical, step by step process, with great demos and videography. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge with all of us who need it! I hope your Subscriber base continues to grow, and that it will help compensate you for all your efforts. Cheers!

[ackattacker]

I use a similar voltage booster to charge my power station from a running vehicle. However for this application, I would recommend using 2 100AH batteries in series for 25.6V instead of one 200AH 12.8V battery. You are losing efficiency with the boost converter, and adding expense. And, as you've noted, when you pull 40Amps things tend to get warm unless you are careful.

[robertlueke]

I have a Bluetti AC200P connected to a 6 circuit transfer switch. I run a few circuits every day to take advantage of the unit rather than have it sit waiting to be used during a power outage. I decided I needed more capacity so I bought two of the Power Queen 12V LFP batteries and hooked them up in series. I was using the Bluetti D050S enhancer to connect the batteries to the AC200P and this setup was supplying 250W. I saw this video and decided to try a DC to DC converter like yours. Since the AC200P requires at least 36V input, I actually purchased a 24V to 48V converter and just got it hooked up and running this morning. It is supplying 322W input to the AC200P, drawing 13.2A from the battery and outputting 7.1A to the AC200P which means it is outputting around 45V. The converter was getting a bit hot so I will need to attach a fan. Wires were barely warm. Overall I am very pleased with the setup. Thanks for the video. I always look forward to watching your videos. Keep up the good work.

[ziggy]

I've seen yours and some other videos on these Power Queens and if I were in the market to add capacity to my systems right now, I'd consider picking up a couple of these for extra capacity. Right now the 190 Ah models (over 2400 Wh) are just over $600 or about a quarter per watt-hour. That's getting pretty insane, in a good way.

[johntate]

This is really a great and timely idea! Might as well add the 12/24 VDC converter as well. Then this battery system can pretty much be used to charge up any of the current solar generators from small to large, plus you get the ability to charge more than one solar generator at a time. Put all the electronics in a case or box, with some good 4 gauge wire with some alligator clips and you can use any 12 volt battery as a source. Definitely my next project:)

[todd.parker]

This is a great idea! I bought a similar boost converter a while back to do this but your setup is really slick. Good call on the fans - those get hot!

[OUFan]

I have a couple of 200 ah Ampere Time batteries that I use the same way with the 12 volt method you were showing. It trickle charges my Bluetti AC200 when running a refrigerator. The 130 watts keeps up with the wattage used by the refrigerator. When I need to charge the Bluetti faster from the battery, I just use a cheap Bestek 1000 watt pure sine wave 110 volt inverter and use the Bluetti AC 200 charging brick and it charges at a little over 400 watts. Using the inverter method you can charge any of your power stations by using their AC charging brick or the AC charging method that your Power Station uses. If you try to charge a large EcoFlow power station or any other power station that pulls over 800 watts, you will need a larger DC to AC inverter. I built a charging station that has another brand of 200 ah LIPO battery with a 3000 watt pure sine wave inverter that I charge all my larger power stations. This way I can charge the larger power stations with solar and AC at the same time.. Jasonoid, I really liked the dc to dc booster you built.

[gsp]

Yes, I've been using LiFePO4 batteries to refill my little Bluetti EB3A, cheapest way to be happy.

[piconano]

You can also parallel 2 batteries and charge them using a high amps 12V charger on the AC output. Or better yet use a 24V charger and keep the batteries in series.
When the batteries are full, switch them to series configuration if not a 24V setup, and use them to charge the Bluetti when the Sun or whatever is not available.
You are losing a lot of power using a boost converter and are limited in the 100 Wattish charging limit without a boost converter.
I bought the new EB3A. I love it and that's one way I found I can extend the capacity, short of opening it up and paralleling the internal 24V battery with an external one.

[jakeliujakeliu]

This is great I being looking for this video for past 6 months. I think you are the first one! Make sure you have good SEO tag, so lots people will discover this! Thank you

[thetechieprepper]

Looks like a fun project! I'm just not a big fan of transferring energy from one large (discrete) storage source to another. You're going to lose energy twice. First during the transfer from the battery to the power station and then again when you convert it within in the main station to power your items (inverter loss, etc.). By the time you get it from the external battery to whatever appliance you are actually powering, you might only have 75-80% usable energy from the Power Queen battery. If it were a modular or expansion battery pack built specifically for the existing unit, I could see value in it as it would be designed to integrate directly into the circuitry of the power station with no conversion loss.

I'd rather use the time and money to build a power station around the Power Queen battery and then I'd have TWO large power stations to offer myself some redundancy and ability to use them in multiple locations. If you've got to carry two big/heavy battery packs around, they may as well both be able to power appliances on their own. Redundancy is a good thing! In my videos, you'll see that I built solar pergolas to provide power to landscape/pool lights. I have also built several portable power stations. I can pull power off of any of these to use around the house/yard in emergencies when necessary. I'm sure there are use cases for this out there somewhere though. I do like the battery. I might have to build another portable power station with these and make another video!

Keep experimenting for sure!

[PWoods-cdtk]

Good idea. I like videos like this because they make me think of how I am going to keep my small system going at night. The simplest probably is a cheap modified sine wave inverter that's over 500 watts. For the PV input at night, you can have a setup like this on a two-way battery switch and just switch off your panels and switch on your battery. For one battery you could run a 10 or 20 amp charge controller and one or two panels and just slowly charge it up during the day.

[lesliehunter]

Im finding you a very good resource to help me understand! The comment section of this video is outstanding!

[jerrytalley]

Jasonoid, I agree that your channel is so thorough and you do a great job, yiu should have 500, 000 subscribers

[MattLesak]

If I was going to do it, I would just get the 24v battery they have listed and simply the entire setup. I realize they sent you the 12V and you had to work with what they sent. Great video!

[jaimeskiebel]

I've been using two 12-volt LifePO4 batteries connected in series to become one 24-volt battery. I plug this directly into my Ugreen 1200W PowerRoam's car/solar charging input (one XT-60 connector) and get about 380 watts charging power. No converter needed. 15 amp pull/15 amp draw. It's been working well.

[michaelm.]

Hi Jason, can you do a video of charging a 48v 200ah stand alone battery with pv and charge controller? I'm sure many beginners like me would like to see for expanding storage for their power station. Your videos are so clear to understand. Thank you!!

[Theedgecrusher]

I have the Power Queen 50 Ah battery, and have used it to expand the capacity of EB55 once the sun goes down. I just connect them straight up at 12v. I haven't tried boosting the voltage. I'm not usually running large loads on the EB55, so 12v charging has been fine.

[toejamr]

Man… I was looking for a video like this and you nailed every question I had. I really appreciate it.

[notslim]

Imagine with AC200L and D40 you could charge these types batteries in the day then switch them over to the DC input on the 200L at night. Very cool.