WHEN BUYING XT60I CONNECTORS ON AMAZON! Please check the description or reviews to see if center pin is connected to the negative. Most of xt60i connector including mine was listed as xt60i but center pin was not connected. But there are some out there!
@@ThanksForTheLaugh Yes. Did four just yesterday in fact. Messed up the first time and swapped male for female, so unsoldered and put them on correctly.
I highly recommend fuses to prevent damage to your vehicle and wiring. The EcoFlo units with the Orange (not yellow) XT60i connectors charge at 8A with the i pin open or shorted to positive and 15A when shorted to negative. This can be confirmed with the XT60i car cable and MC4 cable.
Very creative approach. Doubling the wires helps handling the current as well. I believe the XT60i is exclusive to Ecoflow, so the charger will recognize the cables as "solar" and not automotive. Otherwise the Ecoflow will protect the automobile voltage and limit the charge current. I have the Anker C1000 which does not use the xt60i. For that I had to pop for the Pecron DC-DC charger (not bad at $130) to give me 500w of charging with a 30a draw on my alternator.
@@gunwiththewind I did not know about the connectors! I just got a small EcoFlow recently and a solar panel. Also bought some extra cables. The 12V cig lighter cable, no center conductor. The cable for the panel, center conductor. I also now realize to NOT jump that center pin to ground on the cig lighter cable as that would cause too much current draw from the lighter socket. Would probably blow the fuse but the wires just can't handle the current anyway. Also, people, please don't jump the center conductor and try to bypass (the cig lighter fuse) with a higher rated fuse as this could result in a fire. If you go for the faster charge, only do this diectly from the battery and with an inline fuse that is the FIRST thing the current goes through after leaving the battery post. Thanks GWTW!! You've got my Sub! 👍
Very clever. I am going to get the pecron car charger it can be used on any power station. It charges up to 500watts which is enough. You can lower it as well and its 142 bucks with the discount out the door. I would do this I just don't trust myself. Lol great video!!!
@@johnmal5975 yeah they are on backorder. Shipping sometime in August if they were ordered before July 15. If not they have no idea when they will be available again.
Thanks for the comment. As long as powerstation is rated for solar panel input I think it should work no problem. If your Pecron power station uses XT60 for solar input you don't need to buy xt60i connectors. and if it does use xt60i cable check if center pin is connected to the negative. Because my connector was listed as xt60i connector but it did not have connection between negative and center pin.
@@gunwiththewind On the pecron car charger they have mc4 connectors just like a solar panel has. So whatever you connect solar with normally you use as if you were using a solar panel.
You are trying something that you want to save money on and you have found the way around name brand chargers. It is a good idea to save $$$ ! I am sure others will follow your lead to defeat high cost of name brand chargers. The name brands must learn smart people like you will do what they need to make the Top brands lower their cost for these chargers. Your brain power is on OVERDRIVE ! Thanks I will try this if I buy one.
Best to use a 24 Volt 100ah Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery and 10 Gauge Leads to an XT60i connector to Your Solar Port and that 2,560 watt hours at 24 volts and twice at 12 Volts which equals allot more Bang for the Buck as opposed to the Xtra Battery Cost or an Alternator DC to DC Charger and Portable as well
@@1GREATDANE Agreed. Using a 24v battery with two set of leads to the EcoFlow should deliver close to 800 watts (25.6 x 15A x 2) of charging. You will still need some way to charge the 24v battery. The EcoFlow Alternator Charger is actually kind of tempting when it is priced at $200 as part of a bundle deal since that is not much more than the cost of a 24v charger but it offers two way charging.
@@stephen_LaserLuster Many have Posted this Hack / Go Around Solution for All Power Stations that Offer Expensive Xtra Batteries - a Simple Bateria 20amp MPPT Charge Controller and a 200 - 400 watt Solar Array will Tidy up that 24 Volt Slave Battery each Day unattended Mind You - For The SUN Shines for EVERYONE 👌
Smart thinking. I've been looking to do something similar, except i have the Delta 2 and the River 2 Pro that only have one XT60i so i will need a 12-24 converter to make it work. I would advise checking the temperature of your alternater after charging for a while to make sure it doesn't overheat, it may reduce its lifespan.
My oe alternator was 80 amps. I upgraded to 140amps and only pulling 30 more amps from charging the battery. I haven’t checked the temperature but i think it should be fine. But i will take your word and check it before my next roadtrip next month
Guys!!! With so much power in a 12 volt car system you have to be careful with the thickness of the cable. With 400 watts and only 12v, the cable has to be a certain thickness depending on how long the cable is!! Please always use a cable thickness calculator from the internet!! Otherwise, if the cables are too thin, a cable fire will start!! And your car could burn down!!
Yes. I did use online calculator. Each cable transfers 200w to each port not 400w. I got two set of cables connected to ecoflow each port receiving 15amps. Calculation shows OFC 12gauge wire thickness. Ran test for couples weeks now everytime i drive. Wire temperature is barely over ambient temperature. On most newer cars, cigarette jack can roughly output 150w-200w and i know for sure those wires are not 12gauge.
@@gunwiththewindCould you plug in the cigarette lighter charger as well as the two ‘solar’ ones? To get a bit more (although I think this solution gives more than enough for most use cases anyway).
Here is my solution to connect my 30A DC charger to alternator w/o pulling wires through the firewall. I install two fuse tap on the two fuses for lighter sockets, each of them originally has 20A fuse, and I install 2x15A fuse to the tap because I know the fuse holder can handle 30A. Pulling two 1.5mm2 (18A rated) to the charger. I believe this is a safe solution even if i use the lighter sockets to it’s max and charging my batt simultaneously, but I don’t plan/need to .
I have the same Lithium battery but i connect it to a Solar Panel on my car roof tracks. i would like to see how you run the cables through the car. Thank you so much
I would add an inline fuse to those lines for safety. Size the Fuse to the wire size. if the keep popping then you will need bigger wire for bigger fuses.
Great video! I am so doing this!!! Would I get more watts if I had a heavy dutier alternator? In other words the alternator is the key to the most watts, right?
Do you have to monitor the Delta 2 max not to overcharge it? Once it’s fully charged if you’re not aware it’s fully charged. Do you immediately have to remove the xt60i once fully charged? Thanks
Yes for final installation i did install inline fuse near the battery. After putting in wiring information into online calculator 12gauge was sufficient.
That was my set up previously but with 1000 watt inverter. I chose 1000watt over 300-500watt because i didnt want my inverter to overheat when running at max capacity. But one thing i hated about the inverter set up other than efficiency was the fan noise in the cab.
@@gunwiththewindshould you use a pure sine inverter with this set up? Or can it be modified since it is just transferring power to your unit? What is the best set up in your mind? The 800 watts alternator charger or is there another setup or unit out there that will give you more Watts?
Yes you can. However Delta max only has 1 DC charging port. If you use this cable you can bump up your charging capacity from 8amp to 15amp. Which will only give you 180-200watts. Only way to increase charging capacity using DC is to use the xt60i cable with voltage changer.
This is my test run. Just to see if i am getting 30 amps between two lines. For the final installation i did use relay to isolate two batteries. I did not use automatic battery isolation because i want to turn it off when i am using other accessories. There are some that can be by passed using a switch but couldnt find the information about duration of the bypass.
Good video. I already purchased the EcoFlow 800 charger, so I am behind the curve. I was wondering if you could show how you can daisy chain the ecoflow battery to another solar generator while being charged from your alternator. In other words, charge two solar generators at the same time. Thanks. I subscribed!!.
Thanks for subscribing to my channel. Currently ecoflow is my only powerstation. But if you want to charge two powerstation using same cable, i would splice into my current charging cable and put connector on it. Since xt60 is rated for 60 amps and i am only using 15, i dont see any problem doing it this way.
Hello thanks for the comment. I checked the temp of the alternator on my testing video. Came out to be fine. I drove my car about 17000 miles this road trip cycles the battery more than 40 cycles past 2.5 months. Still working good.👍
No matter how you wire it the source is the alternator. It is certainly more efficient to charge DC with a DC source. Im curious how does one determine how much spare capacity a vehicle alternator has to be able to allocate to accessory loads like this without overloading the alternator? Car manuals are typically rather lame… lacking in technical info.
Thanks for the comment. First i check the maximum amp that my alternator could generate. Afterwards i checked amp draw using DC clamp meter with everything turned on AC, high beams, audio, and etc to see how much difference there are. My original alternator was rated for 80amps and i was drawing max 60amps. Since charging ecoflow will draw 30 extra amps i decided to upgrade my alternator to 140amps.
You can do this exactly the same way. Sadly delta pro only has one solar connector with 15amp max and it will take forever to charge delta pro. You want to incorporate voltage changer to make this work more efficiently.
Wow price on jackery 2000v2 is insanely good! It also has 400watt max solar input. I dont know which cables you will need for jackery but it will work with some tinkering!
I just bought the new Jackery 2000 v2 and it has two 8mm ports on the side. So I’m wondering if I just need to buy a couple of XT 60i to 8mm cables for this to work
No it did not. I will make another video of my install. xt60 is rated for 60 amps. I am only running 15amps on each connectors and my wires are full copper and thick enough for 60 amps.
Mmmmm im confused. Ive seem someone on here charge their ecoflow delta with the eco 800w charger from a battery with no alternator ,, so just a battery and still get 800w
Your cars alternator is controlled by ECU to produce amount of charge depending on the load you are putting in the system. If the load goes over the amount that alternator can produce you will probably blow fusible link between alternator and the battery to prevent your car from burning down or damaging electrical components. Without alternator you don’t have to worry about producing charge for your battery and your car burning down from overloading alternator. So it can run as long as battery has enough power and keep up the voltage. Most of the car starter battery can’t run 800w for long time without proper alternator because voltage will drop under 12v and ecoflow alternator charger will shut off. It makes more sense to use if you use deep cycle battery.
There are ways to run full 800w with small alternator but it will cost more money. 1. Buy auxiliary deep cycle battery. 2. Buy DC to DC charger to control the charge into auxiliary battery. But it will only work until your auxiliary battery has power. Since 800w 12v is 66amp and most of the deep cycle battery is 100amp. With 20amp dc to dc charger your system will work for about 2 hours or less while your car is on. Or Just lower the charging speed on ecoflow app according to what your alternator can produce. And at that point is alternator charger really worth it?
I'm concerned about the massive added draw you're pulling from that alternator if you're wanting to drive and charge at the same time, as that charging system is rated to handle the electrical demands of the trucks accessories like the A/C system, the defrost, lights, computers etc... Trying this on a newer vehicle with way more power demands can cause some serious damage to your cars electrical systems. I don't recommend doing this
Yes you are right. Many people don’t realize how much their alternators can handle before installing other accessories. My OE alternator was rated for 80amps and checked draw with clamp meter showing ~50amps, 60amps with everything on. In order for me to do this i did upgrade my alternator to 140amps ahead of time. Also i used manual isolator so i could charge my battery when i am not using other accessories.
I know you said an inverter has an efficiency problem but who cares if the truck is running. you can charge at 500w, 750w and so forth with an inverter. It's better than 400w
My old setup i had to install inverter in my cab and fan ran really loud and alternator I had i could only do 400-500watts on inverter anyways. If alternator can support bigger inverter i would have used inverter setup again. But point of this video is to do it cheap without purchasing other equipments.
Thanks for the comment. I made second video to show how everything is getting charged with amp meter. If what you are saying is correct, charging ecoflow with cigarette jack port or installing bigger sound system will kill your battery but it won’t. All your electronics are powered from your main car battery. Your cigarette jack port is connected to the battery same way as my set up.
I just want to make it clear, your ECU determines how much amp to generate from your alternator based on the voltage of your system. When running more electronics on your vehicle offroad lights, sound system, AC, inverters, etc will make your voltage drop. When ECU detects drop in voltage it will cause more resistance on the alternator to generate more amp to raise the voltage. As long as your alternator can supply the amp that is required it will keep your car battery around 14v.
Brother, you are not saving money doing this, idling your car like that for long periods of time will cause a lot more than 300 in wear, tear and maintenance cost, not to mention fuel costs. You're better off getting a generator, then leaving your car running for 5 hours to charge the battery...i have a battery like this, and will be grtting a generator soon, itll fill the battery in about an hour because it can charge at the full 1600 watts. The generator can run for 16 hours on a 4 gallon tank.
Thanks for the comment. 1. I am on a road trip and most of my days i am driving 6+ hours a day. I don’t really idle unless i have to. 2. I normally use about 500w - 700w per day. With my battery i can last about 3 days without charge. 3. I also stealth camp residential areas and using generator will get me kicked out. People have been charging dual battery setup using cars alternator for ages now. This is nothing new. But some companies like ecoflow and anker came out with “alternator charger” and selling them for ~$500 and i am not buying it. For sure if i need to stay in one place weeks at a time generator is the better option.
@gunwiththewind That's good! Was worried about that idle time, but sometimes you do what you have to with what you've got. I tend to avoid trying to camp in residential myself, commercial areas are the easiest to hang out in just because there are always unknown vehicles around so much. Also if there is a home depot nearby I have found that a lot of the time the light poles in the parking lot have 120v plugs you could use to charge, and they're usually okay with overnight parking. 500 for an alternator charger is obserd. You'd be better off getting 4 or 5 100 watt panels at that point, lol I recently found out harbor freight sells 100 watt panels and they actually put out just over that at around 104 watts, first panel I've found to output more than the rating, and they regularly go on sale for around 80 to 90 a panel.
WHEN BUYING XT60I CONNECTORS ON AMAZON! Please check the description or reviews to see if center pin is connected to the negative. Most of xt60i connector including mine was listed as xt60i but center pin was not connected. But there are some out there!
Or connect it yourself when you put the connector on the wires.
@@Sylvan_dB have done it? Good luck with that
@@ThanksForTheLaugh Yes. Did four just yesterday in fact. Messed up the first time and swapped male for female, so unsoldered and put them on correctly.
I highly recommend fuses to prevent damage to your vehicle and wiring. The EcoFlo units with the Orange (not yellow) XT60i connectors charge at 8A with the i pin open or shorted to positive and 15A when shorted to negative. This can be confirmed with the XT60i car cable and MC4 cable.
Thank you for the comment! And yes i did add the inline fuse to my final installation.
Thank You!! 😀
This also makes using external 12V batteries for capacity expansion 2x as practical. Nice!
Very creative approach. Doubling the wires helps handling the current as well. I believe the XT60i is exclusive to Ecoflow, so the charger will recognize the cables as "solar" and not automotive. Otherwise the Ecoflow will protect the automobile voltage and limit the charge current. I have the Anker C1000 which does not use the xt60i. For that I had to pop for the Pecron DC-DC charger (not bad at $130) to give me 500w of charging with a 30a draw on my alternator.
What a solid solution. The ‘solar’ charge controllers are DC/DC converters after all!
I had been thinking about this for weeks but you did it first! Great job, thanks for sharing
Thanks for your comment. I will try to upload update video sometime this week.
@@gunwiththewind I did not know about the connectors! I just got a small EcoFlow recently and a solar panel. Also bought some extra cables. The 12V cig lighter cable, no center conductor. The cable for the panel, center conductor. I also now realize to NOT jump that center pin to ground on the cig lighter cable as that would cause too much current draw from the lighter socket. Would probably blow the fuse but the wires just can't handle the current anyway. Also, people, please don't jump the center conductor and try to bypass (the cig lighter fuse) with a higher rated fuse as this could result in a fire. If you go for the faster charge, only do this diectly from the battery and with an inline fuse that is the FIRST thing the current goes through after leaving the battery post. Thanks GWTW!! You've got my Sub! 👍
Fantastic test my friend, thanks for sharing this! Great video.
Thank you for the compliment! Glad to hear my video helped.
That's crazy 70k views. Good video, you got the algorithm
Really appreciate your work on this! Thanks a ton.
Very clever. I am going to get the pecron car charger it can be used on any power station. It charges up to 500watts which is enough. You can lower it as well and its 142 bucks with the discount out the door. I would do this I just don't trust myself. Lol great video!!!
I'm having a hard time finding one.
@@NigelNaughton Go to their website.
@@johnmal5975 yeah they are on backorder. Shipping sometime in August if they were ordered before July 15. If not they have no idea when they will be available again.
Thanks for the comment. As long as powerstation is rated for solar panel input I think it should work no problem. If your Pecron power station uses XT60 for solar input you don't need to buy xt60i connectors. and if it does use xt60i cable check if center pin is connected to the negative. Because my connector was listed as xt60i connector but it did not have connection between negative and center pin.
@@gunwiththewind On the pecron car charger they have mc4 connectors just like a solar panel has. So whatever you connect solar with normally you use as if you were using a solar panel.
You are trying something that you want to save money on and you have
found the way around name brand chargers. It is a good idea to save $$$ !
I am sure others will follow your lead to defeat high cost of name brand
chargers. The name brands must learn smart people like you will do what
they need to make the Top brands lower their cost for these chargers.
Your brain power is on OVERDRIVE ! Thanks I will try this if I buy one.
I had been wondering if this would work since I’d like to do it with a standalone battery (not in a vehicle) so thanks for showing that it does work.
Best to use a 24 Volt 100ah Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery and 10 Gauge Leads to an XT60i connector to Your Solar Port and that 2,560 watt hours at 24 volts and twice at 12 Volts which equals allot more Bang for the Buck as opposed to the Xtra Battery Cost or an Alternator DC to DC Charger and Portable as well
@@1GREATDANE Agreed. Using a 24v battery with two set of leads to the EcoFlow should deliver close to 800 watts (25.6 x 15A x 2) of charging. You will still need some way to charge the 24v battery. The EcoFlow Alternator Charger is actually kind of tempting when it is priced at $200 as part of a bundle deal since that is not much more than the cost of a 24v charger but it offers two way charging.
@@stephen_LaserLuster Many have Posted this Hack / Go Around Solution for All Power Stations that Offer Expensive Xtra Batteries - a Simple Bateria 20amp MPPT Charge Controller and a 200 - 400 watt Solar Array will Tidy up that 24 Volt Slave Battery each Day unattended Mind You - For The SUN Shines for EVERYONE 👌
Smart thinking. I've been looking to do something similar, except i have the Delta 2 and the River 2 Pro that only have one XT60i so i will need a 12-24 converter to make it work. I would advise checking the temperature of your alternater after charging for a while to make sure it doesn't overheat, it may reduce its lifespan.
My oe alternator was 80 amps. I upgraded to 140amps and only pulling 30 more amps from charging the battery. I haven’t checked the temperature but i think it should be fine. But i will take your word and check it before my next roadtrip next month
Yep, and with a separate 12-24 on each input of the D2M we would see 800 watts total input/or same as the EF alternator charger.
Guys!!! With so much power in a 12 volt car system you have to be careful with the thickness of the cable. With 400 watts and only 12v, the cable has to be a certain thickness depending on how long the cable is!! Please always use a cable thickness calculator from the internet!! Otherwise, if the cables are too thin, a cable fire will start!! And your car could burn down!!
Yes. I did use online calculator. Each cable transfers 200w to each port not 400w. I got two set of cables connected to ecoflow each port receiving 15amps. Calculation shows OFC 12gauge wire thickness. Ran test for couples weeks now everytime i drive. Wire temperature is barely over ambient temperature. On most newer cars, cigarette jack can roughly output 150w-200w and i know for sure those wires are not 12gauge.
@gunwiththewind yep 12 ga is plenty you could even go with 14 ga. 12ga is good for 20a and 14ga is good for 15a in conduit.
Yeah voltage drop calculator would be handy not a bad idea to put an inline fuse on there either
@@gunwiththewindCould you plug in the cigarette lighter charger as well as the two ‘solar’ ones? To get a bit more (although I think this solution gives more than enough for most use cases anyway).
How about heat shrinks between wires! Car battery can supply lots of A if shorted!
Nicely Done! Thanks for doing the experiment.
Man, great job!
Hey, thanks!
"I 'believe' the square side is the positive..."
I guess you'll find out pretty quick.⚡
Here is my solution to connect my 30A DC charger to alternator w/o pulling wires through the firewall. I install two fuse tap on the two fuses for lighter sockets, each of them originally has 20A fuse, and I install 2x15A fuse to the tap because I know the fuse holder can handle 30A. Pulling two 1.5mm2 (18A rated) to the charger. I believe this is a safe solution even if i use the lighter sockets to it’s max and charging my batt simultaneously, but I don’t plan/need to .
This is BRILLIANT my brother!!! Wowwwww BRILLIANT!!! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽SUBSCRIBED!
Thank you so much for your support!
I have the same Lithium battery but i connect it to a Solar Panel on my car roof tracks. i would like to see how you run the cables through the car.
Thank you so much
I would add an inline fuse to those lines for safety. Size the Fuse to the wire size. if the keep popping then you will need bigger wire for bigger fuses.
Thanks for the comment. I did use inline 80amp fuse for the final installation. Thank you
Thx for this work around 💪🏽💪🏽
No problem!!
Awewsome video. i needed that info.
Nice and useful video.
But how to use the XT 150 connectors 👍🙏
Great video! I am so doing this!!! Would I get more watts if I had a heavy dutier alternator? In other words the alternator is the key to the most watts, right?
The BRUCE LEE of what he does ❤❤❤❤❤❤
Do you have to monitor the Delta 2 max not to overcharge it? Once it’s fully charged if you’re not aware it’s fully charged. Do you immediately have to remove the xt60i once fully charged? Thanks
Well done! Thank you for sharing.
Thanks. Good to know.
probably want to oversize cables of that length. and as others have mentioned, fuse the hot nearest the power source for safety
Yes for final installation i did install inline fuse near the battery. After putting in wiring information into online calculator 12gauge was sufficient.
Why not connect a Honda generator?
Subscriber #301 here. Thanks for the Ecoflow hack!
Thank you so much! I have it fully installed in my car now. I will try to make an update video this week. Thank you again.
I use that relay in my setup and have it wired so it only engages when the car is running so I don’t accidentally drain my battery. 🤓
I've been using $35 inverter with 4ga wire directly to battery, when running 14 volts.... 2-300 watts charge on jackery
That was my set up previously but with 1000 watt inverter. I chose 1000watt over 300-500watt because i didnt want my inverter to overheat when running at max capacity. But one thing i hated about the inverter set up other than efficiency was the fan noise in the cab.
@@gunwiththewindshould you use a pure sine inverter with this set up? Or can it be modified since it is just transferring power to your unit? What is the best set up in your mind? The 800 watts alternator charger or is there another setup or unit out there that will give you more Watts?
I bet your heart stopped for a second after the screen turned off when you were checking if it worked.
Awesome. Can I charge my Delta Max the same way as your Delta 2 Max? Thanks.
Yes you can. However Delta max only has 1 DC charging port. If you use this cable you can bump up your charging capacity from 8amp to 15amp. Which will only give you 180-200watts. Only way to increase charging capacity using DC is to use the xt60i cable with voltage changer.
Great video, does the ecoflow have a built in bms to manage a charging profile?
I wonder if I can do this on my Anker?
I don't see why not. If Anker uses regular xt60 instead of xt60i then there is no need to modify the cable.
If you use xt60 it depends on solar limits. Mine Delta mini uses 300w solar max and that’s what you get without the 60i
Hi can you explain why you didn’t use a battery isolated and then hook up the wires? I don’t really understand
This is my test run. Just to see if i am getting 30 amps between two lines. For the final installation i did use relay to isolate two batteries. I did not use automatic battery isolation because i want to turn it off when i am using other accessories. There are some that can be by passed using a switch but couldnt find the information about duration of the bypass.
@@gunwiththewindWhich relay did you end up using? Link? Thanks
search on amazon “irhapsody 200amp relay” i over sized the relay for safety reasons.
Next time, use red and Black wires, so you can tell Positive from Negative.
You know, the standard way, of doing things.
Good video. I already purchased the EcoFlow 800 charger, so I am behind the curve. I was wondering if you could show how you can daisy chain the ecoflow battery to another solar generator while being charged from your alternator. In other words, charge two solar generators at the same time. Thanks. I subscribed!!.
Thanks for subscribing to my channel. Currently ecoflow is my only powerstation. But if you want to charge two powerstation using same cable, i would splice into my current charging cable and put connector on it. Since xt60 is rated for 60 amps and i am only using 15, i dont see any problem doing it this way.
Check the alt. temp while idling.
Hello thanks for the comment. I checked the temp of the alternator on my testing video. Came out to be fine. I drove my car about 17000 miles this road trip cycles the battery more than 40 cycles past 2.5 months. Still working good.👍
No matter how you wire it the source is the alternator.
It is certainly more efficient to charge DC with a DC source.
Im curious how does one determine how much spare capacity a vehicle alternator has to be able to allocate to accessory loads like this without overloading the alternator?
Car manuals are typically rather lame… lacking in technical info.
Thanks for the comment. First i check the maximum amp that my alternator could generate. Afterwards i checked amp draw using DC clamp meter with everything turned on AC, high beams, audio, and etc to see how much difference there are. My original alternator was rated for 80amps and i was drawing max 60amps. Since charging ecoflow will draw 30 extra amps i decided to upgrade my alternator to 140amps.
It has a max input and output
That's a good video
That’s a good comment
Outstanding! How can I make this work on a Delta pro?
You can do this exactly the same way. Sadly delta pro only has one solar connector with 15amp max and it will take forever to charge delta pro. You want to incorporate voltage changer to make this work more efficiently.
@@gunwiththewind Yes, have 12v to 48vdc converter. Get 720W coming in to Delta Pro
What happens if you just connect one xt60i plug?
Since ecoflow limit each solar input at 15amps. I will only average around 200watts with single connector.
Very sweet!! Glad you gave this a try and shared with us. I have a 4Runner and am looking at ways to get more power to charge Jackery 2000 v2.
Wow price on jackery 2000v2 is insanely good! It also has 400watt max solar input. I dont know which cables you will need for jackery but it will work with some tinkering!
I just bought the new Jackery 2000 v2 and it has two 8mm ports on the side. So I’m wondering if I just need to buy a couple of XT 60i to 8mm cables for this to work
Great idea. By any chance did either the cables or the converter emit sufficient heat to be concerned?
No it did not. I will make another video of my install. xt60 is rated for 60 amps. I am only running 15amps on each connectors and my wires are full copper and thick enough for 60 amps.
Etaker will do 500w of alternator and 500w of solar simultaneously.
Mmmmm im confused. Ive seem someone on here charge their ecoflow delta with the eco 800w charger from a battery with no alternator ,, so just a battery and still get 800w
Your cars alternator is controlled by ECU to produce amount of charge depending on the load you are putting in the system. If the load goes over the amount that alternator can produce you will probably blow fusible link between alternator and the battery to prevent your car from burning down or damaging electrical components.
Without alternator you don’t have to worry about producing charge for your battery and your car burning down from overloading alternator. So it can run as long as battery has enough power and keep up the voltage.
Most of the car starter battery can’t run 800w for long time without proper alternator because voltage will drop under 12v and ecoflow alternator charger will shut off. It makes more sense to use if you use deep cycle battery.
There are ways to run full 800w with small alternator but it will cost more money.
1. Buy auxiliary deep cycle battery.
2. Buy DC to DC charger to control the charge into auxiliary battery.
But it will only work until your auxiliary battery has power. Since 800w 12v is 66amp and most of the deep cycle battery is 100amp. With 20amp dc to dc charger your system will work for about 2 hours or less while your car is on.
Or
Just lower the charging speed on ecoflow app according to what your alternator can produce. And at that point is alternator charger really worth it?
The Ecoflow Alternator Charger can deliver 800 watts because it is connected to the extra battery port not the solar input port.
I'm concerned about the massive added draw you're pulling from that alternator if you're wanting to drive and charge at the same time, as that charging system is rated to handle the electrical demands of the trucks accessories like the A/C system, the defrost, lights, computers etc... Trying this on a newer vehicle with way more power demands can cause some serious damage to your cars electrical systems. I don't recommend doing this
Yes you are right. Many people don’t realize how much their alternators can handle before installing other accessories.
My OE alternator was rated for 80amps and checked draw with clamp meter showing ~50amps, 60amps with everything on. In order for me to do this i did upgrade my alternator to 140amps ahead of time. Also i used manual isolator so i could charge my battery when i am not using other accessories.
Simple genius
Now find out what that ticking in you engine is,
I know you said an inverter has an efficiency problem but who cares if the truck is running. you can charge at 500w, 750w and so forth with an inverter. It's better than 400w
My old setup i had to install inverter in my cab and fan ran really loud and alternator I had i could only do 400-500watts on inverter anyways. If alternator can support bigger inverter i would have used inverter setup again. But point of this video is to do it cheap without purchasing other equipments.
What you’re doing with work but your alternator is no longer charging your car battery only the EcoFlow so eventually your car battery will go dead
Thanks for the comment. I made second video to show how everything is getting charged with amp meter. If what you are saying is correct, charging ecoflow with cigarette jack port or installing bigger sound system will kill your battery but it won’t. All your electronics are powered from your main car battery. Your cigarette jack port is connected to the battery same way as my set up.
I just want to make it clear, your ECU determines how much amp to generate from your alternator based on the voltage of your system. When running more electronics on your vehicle offroad lights, sound system, AC, inverters, etc will make your voltage drop. When ECU detects drop in voltage it will cause more resistance on the alternator to generate more amp to raise the voltage. As long as your alternator can supply the amp that is required it will keep your car battery around 14v.
Etaker 1000w dc-dc alternator charger.
I would suggest watching Gadget John's experience with ecoflow in his van build before buying/ installing anything
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You should use 8awg wire. 12 is to small. Be carefull!
Maximum wire gauge thickness for xt60 cable is 10 gauge. After doing calculation 12gauge wire was sufficient for my install.
Brother, you are not saving money doing this, idling your car like that for long periods of time will cause a lot more than 300 in wear, tear and maintenance cost, not to mention fuel costs. You're better off getting a generator, then leaving your car running for 5 hours to charge the battery...i have a battery like this, and will be grtting a generator soon, itll fill the battery in about an hour because it can charge at the full 1600 watts. The generator can run for 16 hours on a 4 gallon tank.
Thanks for the comment.
1. I am on a road trip and most of my days i am driving 6+ hours a day. I don’t really idle unless i have to.
2. I normally use about 500w - 700w per day. With my battery i can last about 3 days without charge.
3. I also stealth camp residential areas and using generator will get me kicked out.
People have been charging dual battery setup using cars alternator for ages now. This is nothing new. But some companies like ecoflow and anker came out with “alternator charger” and selling them for ~$500 and i am not buying it. For sure if i need to stay in one place weeks at a time generator is the better option.
@gunwiththewind That's good! Was worried about that idle time, but sometimes you do what you have to with what you've got. I tend to avoid trying to camp in residential myself, commercial areas are the easiest to hang out in just because there are always unknown vehicles around so much. Also if there is a home depot nearby I have found that a lot of the time the light poles in the parking lot have 120v plugs you could use to charge, and they're usually okay with overnight parking.
500 for an alternator charger is obserd. You'd be better off getting 4 or 5 100 watt panels at that point, lol
I recently found out harbor freight sells 100 watt panels and they actually put out just over that at around 104 watts, first panel I've found to output more than the rating, and they regularly go on sale for around 80 to 90 a panel.
@@willdrivesu7914 absurd vs obserd
Leaving metal tools on top of your battery? C'mon man.
Tuats great but the Toyota soinds like its going to grenade
Yup. Waiting for that to happen. Lol dealer told me nothing to worry about. I doubt it.
Considering that you use 2 cables, you only increased charge rate per cable from 12v 8A to 24v 8A
That’s why he added the specially wired XT60i connector, that allowed it to go to 15 amps.
Lol just plug in the cigarette adapter
Can you run 400watt through your cigarette jack and make a video about it? I am very interested!
Sounds like a lifter is taping
Dealer told me it’s not lifters. They said its the pitting on the cylinder walls. But i have hard time believing them.
@@gunwiththewind yeah, don't believe them.
Umm charge it from your outlet at home, 120V. Come on now
Thats way too easy haha
What if you have a power outage?
Iota makes nice small chargers
You can buy stronger alternators. 220,280,300,350, even 400 amps.
You can, but they get expensive really fast.