Power Station For Your Car? You Need This!

How to properly DC fast charge your power station from your car alternator, using a DC converter.

Links to all items mentioned (affiliate links):
(This is an updated cable with ring terminals, which directly bolts on to the Victron converter! No splicing required)

[Campr]

It worked! I was able to charge my Delta 2 at 410W while driving and running my refrigerator at the same time. I tested the hotplate and the electric kettle while parked. The hot plate boiled water in 2 minutes and the electric kettle took 4 minutes. The hotplate drew 1500W, and the kettle drew about 900W. The hotplate used 10% of power, and the kettle used about 8%. Recharged in 20 minutes. Amazon sold out of the Victron 12/24-20A converters (no surprise) so I bought mine from NAZ Solar. Ditching all of my propane gas, cook stoves, etc. Thanks Kai!

[adventuresofmathiasandmarie]

After watching your first video I hooked my delta 2 up to my truck using a 500W pure sine inverter and a relay connected to ignition power. I set the AC charging to 400W through the app. It's been running perfectly since then and charging at 400W as long as the truck is on. 👍 Great videos.

[miniharez]

Ecoflow alternator charger is now $399, Ive been using it for almost a month in my van for my ecoflow pro. 800w when driving, 5-600w when parked. also if you left your lights on and you battery dies, you can jump start it through the generator. this thing is a game changer!

[abe]

Please make a “how to” wiring video for this setup! I have a 5th Gen 4Runner and Ecoflow Delta 2. I am very interested in your charging setup, but don’t want to mess up my factory electronics.

[gregandrews]

Great video...loved it. Nice to watch a video without any fluff AND full of technical details with full explanations. I'm guessing you're an engineer. Keep up the good work.

[ChocolateManInThailand]

This video was pure precision. I purchased the exact same setup, but my installer swayed me towards 4 guage wire. Probably overkill, but I get 410 to 415 watts into my Delta Max 2 set up. Thanks for posting this!

[Vigo]

Late here but great video. I took my house 100% off grid last May and started doing some serious electrical mods to my 23' rv at the same time. I've gone through a lot of what you cover here and definitely think you did a good job offering detailed info within the scope of what you were trying to accomplish. With a topic like this the hard part is stopping yourself from branching out too far.. gotta draw the line somewhere! I guess the main thing i would reinforce is the value of using DC inputs vs AC inputs. As you point out, AC inputs are 'picky', have unintuitive traits (ie ac passthrough behaviour) and often have limited adjustability (such as you may be able to set a max battery charge current but probably not set an AC load limit, so there would be no hard and fast way to prevent exceeding your 400w truck limit even if it worked at all). I have done some experimentation with simply rectifying 60hz AC and feeding it to 'solar' inputs and have yet to have a failure. It seems to have a ton of benefits (adjustability, reliability, independence from other functions, etc) and i plan to continue my experiments past the ~1kw level i've already done and see if i can get up to 2-3kw (this is house and RV context, doubt youd need that in a truck camper). Anyway, if you are still learning/experimenting along these lines i highly recommend diysolarforum.com, im Vigo over there as well. Keep up the great videos.

[KLucero]

Love this at 9:29
“They actually specialize in advanced leather products and also….dumpling makers??? It was at this point I decided it was not worth the risk to save $100 bucks”

Perfectly said

[brianbrown]

Buddy there nothing i can say some one else hasn't said. Liked and subbed. Thank you. This is gold. Your going places

[davidlu]

Use the below information at your own risk. For what it's worth. I just put in this Victron 12/24-20A to a Ecoflow Delta 2 in my 1999 Toyota Land Cruiser 100 series

I was worried about the load on the factory alternator so I did the following test:
1. placed current clamp on alternator positive lead to battery
2. turned on all accessories in the vehicle (hvac blower to high, seat heaters on, stereo on, defrosters on, rear HVAC fan on, head lights etc.)
3. found that with everything running the alternator was putting out ~92 amps

I conclude from this that my land cruiser would be able to run at 92 amps continuous. With the nominal accessory load drawing ~60 amps (stereo, front HVAC fan) this means that so long as I don't run the rear HVAC fan, seat heaters, defrosters etc) I have ~30 amps continuous of head room to give to the Victron.

I therefore conclude that Kai (Tinkerer) is correct that there is sufficient head room on my Land Cruiser to handle his proposed setup with no alternator changes.

[bradenb]

Another great video. I've been kind of working through a similar problem. I have a 100W mounted solar panel and a Delta 2, but just finished a trip that was cloudy nearly the entire time. The main reason I am still considering a custom dual battery setup is for my other DC accessories. I feel like this is the biggest weakness of the power station type units - they lack DC output capabilities. I like the idea of being able to wire my lights and compressor and all that to a battery that can easily output 100a at 12.8V or more.

[underourrock]

I wonder if the Toyota inverter could have been upgraded to a higher quality one.

I'm glad you broke down the cheap inverter spec questionability. They are usually good for about 1/2 of what they claim at most. I wouldn't ever use them for more than 50% of their capacity in "cheap projects" because it just isn't worth it.

Really appreciate your video. Great job with the info!

[rchiggs]

Great video as always. I've watched a decent amount of power station and more general solar power-related videos, and this still offered new information and ideas. This approach seems to be absolutely perfect for my needs when I decide to start this type of project on my FJ.

[jeffmcclain]

Finally! A well informed person with LOTS of great information (like the orange XT60i trickery) that is accurate and applicable on these power generators!

[dkkpollock]

So pragmatic! Busted a gut at only one FJ to burn.
Sadly, I have had the equipment to install a dual battery setup with the Blue Sea Systems 7622 ML-ACR 12V DC 500A Automatic Charging Relay with Manual Control for longer than I care to admit. I am cutting up and crimping a pair of jumper cables for wiring. One day, I will go this power station route when I can afford it. It is so versatile.

[stuartstuart]

Would love to see a video on replacing the Toyota modified sine wave inverter to a pure sine inverter of the same capacity. This would be a nice clean “invisible” upgrade

[jeepncj]

Just wanted to follow-up with an appreciation post for the research done here. I have been using a renogy 1k inverter to charge my D2 in emergencies, but that passthrough is what made me decide to switch. I have a use case where this will go in my prius for extended blackouts, or in my overland rig for fast charging. The spikes from home use on the passthrough made the decision easy. Thanks for all the legwork on this one.

[Jasonoid]

Lots of great stuff in this video! Thanks for sharing your experiences. I was on the look for a decent voltage converter for this type of project as well. I've also used the Amazon boost converters with passive cooling. I wish they had one with active cooling. A decent 12v to 36v 30 amp option would be great if it had active cooling. Then you'd only be running it at a 50% load and it wouldn't get very warm.

[archoncompsys]

Just FYI, using the Victron Orion-TR Smart 12/24-15 works quite nicely. Once you connect to it via bluetooth you can put it in "Power Supply" mode @30V and adjust the input voltage lockout/restart values such that it isn't active until your battery voltage is above the named value. Yes a little more expensive, but no trigger wire needed and it basically detects when your engine is on so no worries about draining your starter battery.

[tj_offroad]

Man you and Engineering Explained should team up for some videos. I really appreciate all the work and thought you put into them. I had a Iron Man Foamcell Pro suspension installed on my 100 series based off your analysis and I love it so far. Thanks again!