I've worked with UPS systems over the years as an electrician, I recently purchased an Anker system and have been thinking about trying this, you proved to me I can ! thank you for your service to our country !!
LOL when responding on my phone that often happens - typos galore! th-cam.com/video/X3h79xLQXBE/w-d-xo.html Is a video I did to answer the charging questions :D
I think some don't realize the idea here is that you can extend the time your power station runs something this way but that it is not an end all be all solution.
Part of the issue is too many people try to maintain access to substantially high levels of available power in situations that require a mental switch to camping/backpacking mode. While it’s understandable to want to save meats stored in refrigerators & deep freezers, modest people can strategically consume those items &/or share them with neighbors so they don’t go to waste. The biggest lesson I leaned during Hurricane Hugo was it’s better to have a multitude of impromptu cookouts than to waste time & energy fighting hopelessly to preserve a frozen food storehouse for a week or more without power. Use reasonably sized & portable power stations. Use USB devices that have low energy needs. Pair that with a decently powerful solar panel suitcase product. Supplement these with whatever trove of power bricks you may have accumulated. Make sure everything is topped off pre-storm. Once the storm event has passed, use power as if you expect to be without shore power for weeks. Do the same thing with potable water. DO NOT TRY TO RUN YOUR 85” FLAT SCREEN TV ALL DAY & INTO THE NIGHT. FORGET ABOUT THE WILLIAM SONOMA CHEF’S KITCHEN-GRADE ESPRESSO COFFEE MAKER.
Exactly! That is what we do. I do want to get my batteries connected to an electrical panel for the convenience of wall outlets. My priority is food but I use a smaller chest freezer. It uses 1/4 the power of my full size upright freezer.
It's great to see you prioritizing efficiency! Connecting your batteries to an electrical panel will definitely make things easier. Smaller chest freezers are such a smart choice for conserving energy!
@@PhilCherry3 keeping the food good does NOT use much energy. 200-300w for a fridge and chest freezer. If you use a battery generator and recharge it with a small LP 2 hours a day. You will pay for that battery generator after the first power outage and use like 5 gal a week of fuel. (A BBQ lp tank)
@davidarnold344 Yup. I have a Predator 2000 that sips gas. I can easily recharge my solar generator in a couple of hours and run my fridge, small chest freezer, lights, fans, internet, etc 24/7. If the sun is shining I have 1200 watts of portable solar panels, no genny needed.
Neat trick. I have two 13 volt 20 ah LiFePO4 batteries wired in parallel. Last week I tried plugging them into the Aferiy. It charged at 110 watts. Works for me. Barry
It’s because this unit allows up to 25 amps, your Bluetti will only allow 8 amps with a 12-24v battery…. That’s why this unit will charge at 500, which is max, so if you have a Bluetti and use this 24v battery, it should give you 24x8 or around 200 watts if charged,,, now if you move to a 32v battery or above, the Bluetti will allow 10 amps, so 32x10 will be your new charge rate
First of all, thank you for your service. I am a veteran as well. US Army. Second, the best video about charging your power station with a battery. Straight to the point like a soldier would tell it. Now I know what to do. I have the same kind of power station. Thank you so much for the help
I have the first generation EcoFlow delta max 2000, two of them. I don't believe in buying expansion batteries, instead I'll buy 2 and daisy chain them together. I like doing it this way for when we are out of town because I'll connect my fridge to the ecoflow and the ecoflows are connected to each other and one of them to the a/c outlet. Because of the pass through charging and the EPS, the ecoflows are 100% charged and if I happen to have an outage both ecoflows will run my fridge for over 30 hours and I don't worry if I happen to be out of town because normally by that time power is back on and the ecoflows will begin to charge from the wall outlet while still running the fridge. I have a 48V battery that I have also used for when there is no power or sunlight, it works great. Also as you stated it is a lot less expensive than those expansion batteries. For $1299.00 , buying the 51.2V battery gives me 5120 watts that is 25¢ a watt. Great video and great job.
The main downside to a setup like that is you're losing twice as much power running multiple inverters, but there are quite a few upsides to having multiple units like that.
I also Have Two Delta Max 2500w Continiuous,5000 watt peak.×(2) of giving Me now more than(2) 20 amp Circuits! & Actually 45amps at Continiued at 120volt.Way,way more than Needed to Run anything. I also Have the Eco-Flow portable 600watt 51.2volt D.C.Solar Panels. Will Charge each Station in 3-4 hrs.
@@michaelmorrison5280 If they are daisy-chained, the secondary unit detects the first unit as being "line voltage" and doesn't kick in until the first unit hits the low mark cut-off and shuts down...so both inverters are not operating simultaneously.
I'm not sure what you did for a living but you like a very knowledgeable electrician. I know that because I was an electrician for 38 years at a electric utility. My team was responsible for the backup batteries. You made a lot of since and will save people a lot of money!
Sir, just wanted to add another thanks for the knowledge I get from your videos. My P210 arrived yesterday and today I fully charged it. Then connected one 12v 100ah battery which pushed 112w in. Then two batteries in series and exactly like you showed, just over 500w going into the power station. I love it when a thing works 😊
I know the feeling! But what's the 'Solar Play version?' Is that just a smaller unit with a solar panel? I'll have to go look. I will say, the Aferiy has been a good unit for me :D But today's video is on a MONSTER of a power station (so you might not want to watch it LOL).....
Since the charge controller on the power station in this case has a 20a max it will only draw 256w off the 12.8v batteries but in series you get 25.6v so it can draw 512w :D
@@TheOldJarheadok Cool, guess I'll just use one for my home built portable and the others will be available to supplement the aferiy. My primary goal is to keep freezers going so I don't lose thousands of $ worth of meat and to run the blower on my wood furnace if commercial power goes out. I like the idea of quiet also so my distant neighbors don't hear and get any ideas
Yes, as long as the battery voltage you are feeding in is within the range supported by the power station on its "solar" input, you can do this. Since power stations usually also support car-charging, they don't get confused by the source being a battery rather than a solar panel and will charge at their maximum amperage. In this regard, both 12.8V LiFePO4 and 25.6V LiFePO4 batteires generally work. But double check. Since the power station is amperage-limited, using a higher voltage (25.6V.. which can be as high as 29.2V by the way) battery will allow it to charge more quickly. As long as it's within the range the power station can handle that is. For safety, you should always fuse the external battery connection going into the power station to roughly 150% the power station's maximum input amperage on that port. The external battery is capable of pushing an enormous amount of power and you don't want a short or failure in the power station to cause a fire. This isn't perfect, in that the power station is still limited by its AC output... so you might need a medium or large power station anyway depending on what you are running with that AC output. But you can avoid buying expensive proprietary power station expansion batteries by using an external battery or battery bank to feed into the power station. -Matt
I've done this with small power stations as well but yes, you must fit within the Power Stations input parameters but batteries don't 'push' amperage, they just allow it to be drawn off. If the max input is 10amps then it's 10amps. If it's 20amps then that's what it is. The battery could care less :)
@@TheOldJarhead The power station regulates the input to a maximum amperage, to be clear. The batteries are typically capable of an order of magnitude more amperage than the power station could actually handle.
I saved even more money by building my own power station. The 2,000 watt inverter is powered by a 200 amp hour battery. Charging the system can be done easily while powering the refrigeration units. If I can't find shore power I charge with solar. Upgrading is no problem. I bought some flexable 200 watt solar panels which I want to connect in series. The input voltage will be over 100 volts. I looked for a charge controller which can have the total volts delivered from the series connected solar panels. So now I can have two different solar panel arrangements at the same time. I am also building a system that uses a 24 volt 300 amp hour battery which has a 4,000 watt inverter. I plan to add another 300 amp hours in parallel for a total of 14,400 watt hours of power.
Looks Great . What would you have to do to hook up 2X 12V in tandem Deep cycle to Rv Batteries up in this Way ? to the Portable power station . In "detail if you would oblige "For us Laymen > LOL Thx
You could take, for example, two Deep Cycle Marine batteries and run them in series (positive to negative) and then run (via a fused connection -- I'd put in a 25-30 fuse off the battery terminal) to the solar input to do the same thing. However, I WOULD NOT do this because those batteries are not really 'Deep Cycle' in the way we think. Their limit is a max of 50% which will give you only 200 cycles or say, 20% that will give you about 300-400 cycles (at most). You'd have to get something to monitor the batteries closely or you would ruin them. That's why I use LiFePo4 batteries. They can cycle 4000-5000 times at 100% discharge :D
Just went though Milton here in Tampa and while we were extremely fortunate, we didn't have power for 4 days and I have since become obsessed (maybe a little dramatic) with solar generators as I'm in an apartment. I'm trying to select the one I'm going to get but this video certainly alters what I was going to do. Awesome information, thank you 🙏🏾
Hi there, I ended up ordering the Ecoflow Delta 3 Plus. To run the setup you have in this video, can you tell me exactly the converter I'd need? You talk about in the video but I'm illiterate in these kind of things and need a little help specifying exactly the one to get. Thanks in advance!
This is a point I have made many times, especially to newbies But .... most solar generators use a combo inverter/ charge controller system which works fine though if you are running that inverter to the max and charging/ inputting power it might get an overload or thermal protection could trip unlike if it was just the extension batteries. Furthermore several extension batteries have a few features such as a solar input and USB and 12V outputs. But still a good idea for cheaper capacity 👍🏻
Why didn’t I think about this? I have a couple of large capacity power stations linked to a home integration panel to power up my critical loads panel. I had been considering buying more of the manufacturers expensive expansion capacity batteries however I do have multiple 100Ah 12 volt batteries that are not being used and now I have your video of what I can do with these batteries. I could also connect solar to the main batteries but if I don’t have a sunny day after the hurricane passes this is a great work around to expand my capacity without spending more money. Thanks again for this proof of concept video.
Here and i was thinking i wasted money on my eco flow, because i want to expand the capacity bit those extra batteries are just too expensive. What an awesome idea. Thanks for sharing this!
That's a very budget-friendly and logical way to store additional energy. 🤠 However, I would not have so easily discounted an independent D/C to A/C Inverter. For example... with a 3000-watt pure sine wave inverter, you can connect multiple batteries (in parallel) as long as the voltage remains the same. Then, charge your Power Station via the "A/C input", generally 2-3 Times faster than the D/C input. You can also connect your inverter to a vehicle to charge your Power Station, appliances, battery charger, etc. directly when you have little or no sunlight.
@@Step-n-Wolf ~ Yes, that's true. However, I believe a D/C to A/C inverter is a great "optional" power source to recharge your power station(s), battery banks, and run appliances, lights, etc. When the grid is down, it's dark outside or there is no sunlight, and your food is thawing in the freezer, etc., calculating efficiency is the last thing on your mind.
4:40 For the same reason I don't build my own computer anymore. I can buy parts and assemble my own, but chasing a half dozen warranties from multiple Chinese manufacturers when a part acts up is different than making a call to Jackery or EcoFlow
10:25 it's certainly a money saver. Have to pull it apart to recharge the external battery. I wonder if we'll see Chinesium battery packs for the big brand power stations like we do for DeWalt and Milwaukee tools
I still build mine but generally research components to make sure what I put in will run a long time. My main case is 23 years old! Still running but the guts have been changed many times as things get more power hungry.
Hi I agree you can add a battery to what is intended for the solar array. I often use a 48 volt power supply to check my solar input for testing. The problem is it is not going directly to the inverter but goes to the solar controller. I believe this path will not charge the external battery if you want to use wall socket power to charge your station.
If solar is hooked up to the port, and the external charger is hooked up to the AC side of the power station it can charge the battery. Is it ideal? No, Ideally you'd have a charge controller and solar panels for the battery and the power station. Or just a full blown DIY solar setup.
I bought a ecoflow delta 3 plus while on pre-order. They start shipping out tomorrow. It has 2 xt60i solar connentions each provide up to 500w each max is 60v and apparently the max amperage doesn't matter it will reduce it. I also got the alternator charger. Together costed $950
Thanks for the video. I have bluetti and was thinking of connecting to another battery . My bluetti is in my truck camper so there is limited room for additional batteries.
About the expansion batteries you mentioned in your video ... I have the Bluetti B230 expansion. The B230 can be used as a separate power station. The B230 has a separate MPPT controller, so you can charge it directly from solar panels. It also has several USB ports and a 12v cigarette lighter port, so you get some flexibility for your $950. That being said, I often top off my Bluetti AC200 MAX from an Epoch 300ah 12v LiFePo battery using the same cabling system you have. The difference is that I found a 12v to 36V step-up converter, so I can charge with 525w from the Epoch.
That's what I do for smaller power stations like my Jackery 550. It can take 24v in so I use a step up converter to go 12v to 24v (at the time I didn't have a spare 24v battery). That's also what I'd do if I wanted to run the power into a unit that can take more voltage and I didn't have a battery to get me there, just use the converter and Bob's your Uncle! More power!
Me too, I'm new to solar but am assuming that we'd need a solar charge controller and another cable to charge the battery. Please do a follow-up video showing us how it's done. Much appreciated, new sub!
Excellent review and I like your practical project. I also use a 24v battery or 2x 12v 100ah Power Queen in series to extend my power station's during outages and camping. To recharge them in the field, I attach a Victron 30/100 controller attached to 3x220w Renogy bifacial panels to feed 500-600w on a mediocre day. Things I have found out during my prolonged emergencies: 1- the "old but still works" refrigerators can be a real pain as they are extremely inefficient. A new one will save the day 2. For some elder relatives, I use a small man cave fridge and keep it at 52F for the insulin and other medicines, 3- regular refrigerators should be kept at 37F, anything higher will prompt spoilage including baby formula. Again, important in long term outages (3+ days) 4- 12/24v refrigerators and other appliances prolong power, 5- Avoid the box fans unless you know they are very efficient. Many of these fans start at 68WHr vs 10WHr for a Costco minifan. Use 12v or USB fans. 6- Any devices that use BT can be consumption killers and should be disconnected when not in use. 7- Try to prepare food with propane based camping stoves 8- Keep a good inverter Gas/LNG/Propane generator to temporarily charge your batteries and power stations if the sun is not charging 9- When using the gas generator, DO NOT charge your power station past 80/85%, this eats a lot of fuel just to bring it to 100% 9a- this includes charging your power station with the 24v battery, you get a lot more miles not charging the power station to 100% Thank you, you hit a very good spot in this community.
@@TheOldJarhead Thank you, taking care of family and figuring out the best way to prolong energy available. Videos like this one help a lot and validate some ideas. Thank you
Good video. I've been preaching this for a while. How are you planning on charging? 40 amp MPPT with 1200 watts of solar? If you go super budget, you can do 800 watts with a 30 amp PWM for $40 plus panels. The PWMs are about the same as MPPTs with a short run of cable (less than 20'). Whatever you do, it won't be hard to beat the 500 watts max of your power station.
The ONLY time you'll have an issue with this style expansion vs the "Factory" expansion batteries is with a continuous load over 500 watts, it will eventually run the powerstation battery down before completely exhausting the expansion battery, vs the factory batteries will run at 100% of the full rated load of the powerstation, but this is going to be a VERY rare occourance, something like an electric heater is about the only load that comes to mind
i do that with my bluetti EB3A and a 12,8v 50ah battery amazing. and i do it also with my bluetti AC180 runs my refrigerator freezer in the garage for close to 16 hrs. I will be bying a 24,6v 100 ah battery though specially for the AC 180 bluetti ( 12v to 60 v) . but i could use it also with EB3A (12v to 28v)
A 2650 watt hr battey is 220.83ah. The 1000 watt hr one is 83.3ah!! I just purchased the EGRETECT 1200w with 999wh witch is 83.25ah, battery portable unit for $310 delivered from Amazon. Max solar intake is 200w at 12v
Excuse my ignorance, how do you recharge the extra battery? Would plugging in the ac plug for the generator to home power recharge the extra battery too?
No. You could charge it with a charger and a 120v power source (generator/utility power), or via a solar panel and charge controller, or from a charger plugged into your power station with a big solar panel (of more power than the charger) to keep things going but understand, 2560wh of battery will take 4 hours of charging (from zero) at 640watts of solar!!! So, these big extra batteries increase the amount of solar needed to charge the entire unit up. However, if you run the battery to zero and just charge it while the power station rests or runs without the external battery you can get by with less solar. In truth, I'd have 500 watts for the battery and an additional 200-500w for the power station if I needed all that power all the time and I'd have a backup generator to assist on cloudy days or when I'm using more power than planned. I'll cover this in tomorrows video ;)
I had to keep a 12v fridge going for a week unattended. I had two 1000 Jackery's and a few of their 250's. I daisy chained them using the 12v sockets. It wasn't pretty but it worked (and was basically the same idea). One possible advantage of the factory 'add on' battery is some of them might have the ability to monitor remotely. But for the cost, I like this solution much more.
I presume the brand name battery would also recharge from the main unit, if we use an external battery we will need a separate charging arrangement - still worth doing though.
very interesting, so your saying it will use the backup battery before the battery in the solar generator? thks for the video i’m going to do this, way cheaper
The only problem I have is the solar input is usually a maximum, not the voltage required. Very few will have a requirement for voltage before it starts charging. Most are range like 12-24 or 48, not a 48 volt requirement… there are NO 12V, 24V, 36V OR 48V solar panels, what your biggest concern is what your controller will be able to handle. If your controller will only handle 12v, you’re limited to one of those panels (usually portable) with built in controllers… the panel is not 12v, the controller is.
Technically no panel is 12v ;) They are typically 18-20v as that's what's needed to convert to 12v for the battery (actually around 14.5v +/- ). The key is knowing the maximum amperage and voltage (they are always rated with a max voltage and amperage). So for example, the small Jackery 550 is set up with a max of about 24v input and 3.75amps so a 20v 5amp panel will give you only 86ish volts as the MPPT controller won't allow more than the 3.75amps. By hooking up the battery to the Jackery you can then charge the Jackery with it and hook up an MPPT controller that can handle MORE voltage/amperage to charge the battery up.
Interesting point. I hadn't thought it would be something I would be asked, but you are correct! It can be done with any standard battery charger with LiFePo4 setting or via a portable solar panel and a charge controller. Thanks fir mentioning!
@@TheOldJarhead How about a Pecron 500 watt car charger or a Weize 14.6 v 20 amp lithium battery charger? I am thinking about buying both and using them to charge my Li Time 12v 100Ah which i will x90 connect it to my Bluetti. The Weize charger i will use while my generator is running and the Pecron i will use when i am driving around away from the camp.
From what I can see this Aferiy P210 power station with a xt90 connection does DC to DC charging at 500 watts. That would make it the only Power Station I know of that does 12 volt or 24 volt direct charging to a power station that accepts up to 600 watts of solar!
I'm testing some others and I think most can do this as long as the MPPT controller will allow it. Just a matter of seeing which can do what but the Aferiy does this well for sure.
Great deal on the battery right now. How do I charge the battery and can I charge it while it's connected to my power station? My goal is to add capacity to my 1000-ish Whr power station when there's a blackout. I'd like to keep the "spare" fully charged and ready to go. I'd also like to charge both with a generator when there's an extended blackout.
With solar and a charge controller you could charge it while hooked up. With a charger (40A - 100A) and a generator you should also be able to do that, or run the gen to the power station and the battery at the same time (and disconnect) to get them back up to 100% and then reconnect if worried.
Since you are using the power station input to connect the deep cycle battery, if you were to connect the solar panels while the battery was connected to the system, would you connect the solar output to the deep cycle battery? I'm looking to create a backup power system for the house and prefer the idea of these over a generator.
The biggest advantage of building my own system is the available total output current is doubled for every battery connected in parallel. So with one battery the maximum output current will be 150 amps continues using a 200 amp hour 200 amp battery. Adding a second battery doubles the total continuous current output to 300 amps and 400 amp hours. A third parallel battery provides another 150 amps for a total of 450 amps. You can also connect another inverter to the battery for more output to the appliances. My AC unit and RV fridge use just under 2,000 watts. So to run the AC, fridge, and microwave oven I could have one inverter to power the AC and another to power the fridge or microwave. Might as well connect 3 inverters. Anything is possible as long as the battery can handle the load.
Hmmm... I have a Bluetti AC200L for camping and home backup, and a golfcart with a 51.8v 100ah lithium battery in it that I installed last summer. I might pull the battery for the winter and hook it to the Bluetti and give this a try! I think the Bluetti has a solar input voltage range between 12-120v. Certainly a cheaper alternative to the Bluetti`s expansion options.
@@TheOldJarhead This is working brilliantly with my 48v 100ah battery connected directly to my Bluetti AC200L thru the XT90 DC solar input! Input watts is about 780 watts. With both the 48v battery and the Bluetti fully charged, when an AC load is applied to the Bluetti, as long as the load is under the 780 watts it will drop the Bluetti to 99% and then the DC input from the 48v battery will start and essentially match the AC output to pull from the 48v battery and maintain the Bluetti charge!!! Brilliant!!! This adds a whopping 5120wh of expansion power at less than half the cost of a Bluetti expansion battery.
Great video, thank you for all your help. Just wondering- could I plug the charger for that battery into a gas powered generator? I have a Champion 3800w generator that I use for charging my Bluetti AC 200l. Thanks for the advice.
Great video and idea, my question is, how do you charge this extra battery? Im pretty sure that the solar inputs do not output any power. Theres probably a way it can be done that i dont know about, just asking! Good video my friend!
My next video was on that very thing but there are several ways from a solar panel (with charge controller), a AC charger and generator or even a DC to DC charger.
Hey Jar, I have the Oupes mega 2 and in front of the unit has its outward connections. I was curious and wondered that, if you look on the front, their's a red and black anderson connection - 12v/30a. Is it possible to run a anderson connect straight to a 36v or 48v lifepo4 battery. Would it be safe to do this to charge the battery? What do you think and Great videossss....Thx
I have an Oupes coming to check out so will know more then but if it's a solar of DC charging input I see no reason why not to use a 12v battery but not the higher voltage ones
I do the same for my Delta 3. The solar input needs an st60i. Not sure what the "i" stands for but it tells the Delta 3 that the power is coming from solar panels when the power is actually coming from a battery.
@@TheOldJarhead There is a small metal strip in a slot between the pos and neg wires that tells the unit that the power is coming from solar. Without that, using a st60 maxes out at 200w or less.
@@TheOldJarhead I can get almost 500w on the nose using st60i cables and charging from a bench power source. I connect the bench power and charge from one of my DIY battery setups that can take up to 150w solar at 10a. Not super efficient but charges my Delta 2 quickly. I also have two duel-fuel generators, 1700w running and 2800w running, on propane. Could get more on gasoline but do not want to hassle storing and rotating gasoline. Propane stores forever barring leaks. I use these on short sunlight/cloudy days
So when charging the unit one can leave the extra battery hooked up to recharge it also? Thank you for making this video I am learning as I explore power options.
Thanks - I recommend different things for different reason like someone not in a hurry using this as a backup when camping would be fine with a less expensive 10a/5a 12v/24v charger made for LiFePo4's (it's what I use) or if needing as backup off grid or in an emergency than as much solar as possible for the power station and a 500-1000w charger (match to solar) or a DC to DC charger, generator with charger or a solar panel with MPPT controller. th-cam.com/video/tZef-C1SWHw/w-d-xo.html
First of all, thank you for your service sir!! Ok, so I was inspired by your video on alternative ways to charge my Anker F2000. I purchased the XZNY 25.6V 100Ah battery you recommended, the cables you recommended and the charger you recommended. I charged the battery once I got it a couple days ago, got it all hooked up and I am only getting 290 watts input from the battery to the Anker? Any suggestions? Keep up the awesome videos they are very inspiring and educational. Thank you!!
Thank you! For that unit you will need a 24v to 48v step up converter to get the 20a max of the solar input. At 25.6v you can get 10A which puts you at 256w and by using a converter you can get a lot more with this: amzn.to/4i5I9nI It shows 720w but you may even get more. 48v*20a=960w though the converter may limit it to 15a or 720w
Thank you very much for the reply and the link that is very helpful! I am still trying to educate myself on this whole process. Do you happen to have any videos on how to wire that up correctly so I don’t burn down the neighborhood 😳
It's pretty straight forward. Mine (12-24v) was straight forward, one set of wires (it tells you which) to the supply battery (in my case 12v with smaller units that can take 24v solar) and the other to the correct pigtail for the power station. I have a video where I used a 12v LiFePo4 battery to power my Jackery 550 while running a 75l Smittybilt Fridge (worked awesome).
How do you charge the battery when it goes dead. I’m new at this. I just bought an Ecoflow Delta 2. What battery should I get and the type of wire to hook it up? Many thanks from this 85 year old newbie. We just need it for backup.
To charge: th-cam.com/video/tZef-C1SWHw/w-d-xo.html -- and since the Delta 2 has a 60V/15A Solar Controller you could get this battery amzn.to/48Yjygd for $360 that would give you 1536wh and weighs 28lbs. For me any heavier can be an issue but I could get multiple batteries and parallel them if needed or just use one at a time and charge the other once dead. You'd need the XT60 cable and I'd get a fuse to place between the battery and the EcoFlow as well.
I'm doing something similar and stuck a dedicated volt meter on the battery. Works great. But how are you charging the aux battery? Do you have a dedicated charger?
Interesting. It didn't occur to me that I could use a large, external battery to charge my two Delta 2 power stations using the XT 60 input on these power stations. Excellent video.
Remember if you get a 12 v only charges at 110 watts an hour while 24 v battery will charge at 250 watts on those power stations, also consider a dual fuel 2500 champion generator and run on propane to charge the battery fast in a grid down situation
@@zodaguado6655 If you use the XT60I connector on the Ecoflow, it "fools" the power station into thinking it has solar panels attached and charges at 15A = 500W instead of 8A if it thinks it is a 12V battery. There is also a resistor that can be wired in internally that accomplishes what the extra wire on the XT60I has.
I also think that manufacturer's expansion batteries are ridiculously expensive. A standard LiFeP04 battery on a power station's solar input works just fine I've done it.
Thank you so much for this video. I'm using an Ecoflow River 2 pro which takes a maximum 50 volts / 13 Amps / 220 watts. So as long as I connect any kind of battery and stay under 50 volts it will work? Do I need to worry about the Amps it draws? Or will it automatically adjust?
So then using solar or a generator during an outage, how do you charge your external battery? The advantage of the fancy batteries might be that you can charge them through the same plug with the same safeguards as the main unit?
th-cam.com/video/tZef-C1SWHw/w-d-xo.html I address some of the ways in this video. And yes, those $500 1048wh add on batteries can often be charged via the power station directly however for $500 I can get $2560wh and a MPPT controller to go with it and still be way ahead money wise.
Dual fuel champion generator or pulsar generator my friend,,,, I would get one if those before any external battery,,, I can charge my 1000 w Anker 22 times on a single propane tank
@@zodaguado6655 Yup, that's what I'm thinking. I've got a Honda eu2200 that I converted to run on propane. Plan would be to use the power station as a UPS for the home ent system. Then plug the house into the Bluetti (unplugged from the wall of course) during outages. When it's depleted, plug the Honda into the house to run everything & charge up the Bluetti from the wall outlet just like normal.
Great video. I have a golf cart that has 3/12V Lifepo4 100Ah batteries in series. (36V) I have an Ecoflow Delta 2 with an extra battery. 2048 Wh. Total. I like to extend that by attaching them to my Delta by XT60 solar inputs. Since they are in series, I don’t want to change them to parallel. Will it work? Would there be a difference if I use one battery or 2 or 3? How fast will it drain my golf cart batteries?
Since series, the 3x 12v batteries would make the voltage 36v (nominal), so it would work as long as the unit can take the voltage (the Aferiy would be fine). You'd have over 3600wh to add to the ecoflow
hi there,great vid,hold my hands up i did not know this,so if you rigged up solar charging on the battery and solar and battery on pig tails to xt60 to the power station solar,switch in line for night time no solar,this would work would it not,would save me a fortune,good luck,shane uk
Great video! So can I leave an extra battery connected to my ecoflow 24/7 even if the ecoflow is connected to the grid power by being plugged in to the wall? I ask because I use my ecoflow as a UPS backup for my frig. We lose power almost every week, so the ecoflow is always connected to the wall and my frig is plugged into the ecoflow. I would love to add more watt hours with an extra battery!
I am one of those idiots who got a Bluetti and their expansion batteries lol but it's OK thanks to you I can now use my 2x 100ah Renogy batteries to add even more power. I now have 10Kwh and 10Kwh battery storage going in soon - so thank you Sir :)
Not an idiot! Just either found that a good approach and/or didn't know you could do this. I think those batteries have their place, specially for those who can afford them or just want simplicity 😃
Can you do a video on this using a smaller system, maybe a Jackery 880? In that situation, could I use the same battery (selling for about $350 on Amazon today) and maybe connect an inverter to the battery and then plug the jackery into the inverter and recharge it? Or is there an easier way? This concept is new to me, but sounds interesting. What you are saying sounds amazing, I'm just trying to get my head around this new concept.
@@TheOldJarhead I just found your videos and love them so far. I am guessing you are an USMC guy. I was an army infantry guy. Not that it matters, but I like your brains and your practical sense of things. I am trying to learn about this stuff some.
Hey I love this setup. Once I have done this I just need a charge controller connected to the leisure battery, and the charge controller connected to a solar panel to maintain full power 24/7? I only want to run a Surface Pro 5 - 45w 15v 3a, some speakers - 50w (I assume 50v) 1a, an LED light 4w and my mobile phone. The fridge, shower, oven etc can run on the mains electricity but I will eventually try to get maybe the shower connected to this if it can handle it with just one solar panel. I would fully charge the portable power station once from the mains, and let the solar panel and leisure battery remain connected, hopefully giving a continual charge to the main unit during daylight. If I've gotten this wrong somebody please correct me. I really want to invest in off-grid power for my apartment.
Yes, if you set up a charge controller and solar panel and hook them to the battery and plug the battery into the power stations solar input you should be golden. Just remember, the input power max of the power station is what you need to stay under. So, if the power station can only take in 24v max than you don't want to run a 24v battery since it's 25.6v and charges at 29v. You can use a 12.8v battery with a solar panel (that would feed the battery with 14.4-14.6v) and be perfectly fine.
In this case the battery has replaced the solar panels so you'd either have to remove the battery and hook the panels up, or add an MPPT controller and hook the panels to the battery -- though if doing so it's best to make sure the voltage of charging the battery (s) doesn't go over the solar input on the power station. Note: this is meant to be a temporary solution to the issue of having too little reserve power in the event of an emergency. Charging the battery by generator or solar or eve DC to DC charger will give you extended range.
I'd need to know the specifics of the solar input (should be an MPPT controller rated at a maximum voltage and amperage). If it's capable of 30v you can use the 24v battery in this video, if 24v volts than the 12v version of this would work combined with a 12v to 24v buck converter. I have another video where I showed using that in my cabin series. Also would need to know the type of connection. I'm heading to the cabin so will check back on Sunday to see if you were able to get that info. Cheers!
Best way is to get a charger controller and some solar panels and set it up to charge the battery during the day. Of course, you have to make sure the incoming voltage doesn't go above the controller on the power station when doing that.
I've worked with UPS systems over the years as an electrician, I recently purchased an Anker system and have been thinking about trying this, you proved to me I can !
thank you for your service to our country !!
Glad you found it helpful! and thank you!
What do you think of the EcoFlow Alternator Charger?
@wolfenstein6676 Sounds like an awesome solution
Seems that the external battery is a substitute for a solar panel. Very nice. Not mentioned is how the external battery gets re-charged.
The next video I do just that 😉 Cheers
Thor ?
LOL when responding on my phone that often happens - typos galore! th-cam.com/video/X3h79xLQXBE/w-d-xo.html Is a video I did to answer the charging questions :D
External battery gets charged whatever way you want. DUH...😮
I think some don't realize the idea here is that you can extend the time your power station runs something this way but that it is not an end all be all solution.
Part of the issue is too many people try to maintain access to substantially high levels of available power in situations that require a mental switch to camping/backpacking mode. While it’s understandable to want to save meats stored in refrigerators & deep freezers, modest people can strategically consume those items &/or share them with neighbors so they don’t go to waste. The biggest lesson I leaned during Hurricane Hugo was it’s better to have a multitude of impromptu cookouts than to waste time & energy fighting hopelessly to preserve a frozen food storehouse for a week or more without power.
Use reasonably sized & portable power stations. Use USB devices that have low energy needs. Pair that with a decently powerful solar panel suitcase product. Supplement these with whatever trove of power bricks you may have accumulated. Make sure everything is topped off pre-storm. Once the storm event has passed, use power as if you expect to be without shore power for weeks. Do the same thing with potable water. DO NOT TRY TO RUN YOUR 85” FLAT SCREEN TV ALL DAY & INTO THE NIGHT. FORGET ABOUT THE WILLIAM SONOMA CHEF’S KITCHEN-GRADE ESPRESSO COFFEE MAKER.
Agreed! I was at Lejeune during Hugo
Exactly! That is what we do. I do want to get my batteries connected to an electrical panel for the convenience of wall outlets. My priority is food but I use a smaller chest freezer. It uses 1/4 the power of my full size upright freezer.
It's great to see you prioritizing efficiency! Connecting your batteries to an electrical panel will definitely make things easier. Smaller chest freezers are such a smart choice for conserving energy!
@@PhilCherry3 keeping the food good does NOT use much energy. 200-300w for a fridge and chest freezer. If you use a battery generator and recharge it with a small LP 2 hours a day. You will pay for that battery generator after the first power outage and use like 5 gal a week of fuel. (A BBQ lp tank)
@davidarnold344 Yup. I have a Predator 2000 that sips gas. I can easily recharge my solar generator in a couple of hours and run my fridge, small chest freezer, lights, fans, internet, etc 24/7. If the sun is shining I have 1200 watts of portable solar panels, no genny needed.
Neat trick. I have two 13 volt 20 ah LiFePO4 batteries wired in parallel. Last week I tried plugging them into the Aferiy. It charged at 110 watts. Works for me.
Barry
Nice!
When I plug my 12.8v 100ah battery into my Bluetti’s pv charging port, it charges about that rate too, which is perfect.
That's good to hear!
It’s because this unit allows up to 25 amps, your Bluetti will only allow 8 amps with a 12-24v battery…. That’s why this unit will charge at 500, which is max, so if you have a Bluetti and use this 24v battery, it should give you 24x8 or around 200 watts if charged,,, now if you move to a 32v battery or above, the Bluetti will allow 10 amps, so 32x10 will be your new charge rate
Great breakdown! It’s always important to understand how these units interact with each other to optimize performance.
First of all, thank you for your service. I am a veteran as well. US Army. Second, the best video about charging your power station with a battery. Straight to the point like a soldier would tell it. Now I know what to do. I have the same kind of power station. Thank you so much for the help
Thank you for your service! And glad I could help!
great tips for a beginner like my wife and myself thanks very much
Glad it was helpful!
I have the first generation EcoFlow delta max 2000, two of them. I don't believe in buying expansion batteries, instead I'll buy 2 and daisy chain them together. I like doing it this way for when we are out of town because I'll connect my fridge to the ecoflow and the ecoflows are connected to each other and one of them to the a/c outlet. Because of the pass through charging and the EPS, the ecoflows are 100% charged and if I happen to have an outage both ecoflows will run my fridge for over 30 hours and I don't worry if I happen to be out of town because normally by that time power is back on and the ecoflows will begin to charge from the wall outlet while still running the fridge. I have a 48V battery that I have also used for when there is no power or sunlight, it works great. Also as you stated it is a lot less expensive than those expansion batteries. For $1299.00 , buying the 51.2V battery gives me 5120 watts that is 25¢ a watt. Great video and great job.
The main downside to a setup like that is you're losing twice as much power running multiple inverters, but there are quite a few upsides to having multiple units like that.
@@michaelmorrison5280 You're right, I would rather have the expansion battery.
I also Have Two Delta Max 2500w Continiuous,5000 watt peak.×(2) of giving Me now more than(2) 20 amp Circuits! & Actually 45amps at Continiued at 120volt.Way,way more than Needed to Run anything. I also Have the Eco-Flow portable 600watt 51.2volt D.C.Solar Panels. Will Charge each Station in 3-4 hrs.
Sounds like you have a solid system!
@@michaelmorrison5280 If they are daisy-chained, the secondary unit detects the first unit as being "line voltage" and doesn't kick in until the first unit hits the low mark cut-off and shuts down...so both inverters are not operating simultaneously.
I love my Aferiy, it is an absolute beast. Built in 2400w pure sine inverter, tons of ports. Best investment I’ve made in my off grid system.
That’s a great unit to have!
I'm not sure what you did for a living but you like a very knowledgeable electrician. I know that because I was an electrician for 38 years at a electric utility. My team was responsible for the backup batteries. You made a lot of since and will save people a lot of money!
Thanks! I worked in Telecommunications for 30 years and worked on a lot of DC power systems from small remotes to large central offices 😉
Sir, just wanted to add another thanks for the knowledge I get from your videos. My P210 arrived yesterday and today I fully charged it. Then connected one 12v 100ah battery which pushed 112w in. Then two batteries in series and exactly like you showed, just over 500w going into the power station. I love it when a thing works 😊
Awesome to see it working! Nothing like getting a new piece of gear up and running 😉
@@TheOldJarhead I'm resisting the urge to buy the Solar Play version of this for $799. I hate wanting things that I truly don't need.
I know the feeling! But what's the 'Solar Play version?' Is that just a smaller unit with a solar panel? I'll have to go look. I will say, the Aferiy has been a good unit for me :D But today's video is on a MONSTER of a power station (so you might not want to watch it LOL).....
Two 12v x 100ah batteries could also be connected in series to get the 24 volts as well.
Yup
What is the advantage of using two 12 to make 24 vice just using one of the 12v at a time?
Since the charge controller on the power station in this case has a 20a max it will only draw 256w off the 12.8v batteries but in series you get 25.6v so it can draw 512w :D
@@TheOldJarheadok Cool, guess I'll just use one for my home built portable and the others will be available to supplement the aferiy. My primary goal is to keep freezers going so I don't lose thousands of $ worth of meat and to run the blower on my wood furnace if commercial power goes out. I like the idea of quiet also so my distant neighbors don't hear and get any ideas
I get that ;)
BEST OPTION EVER
Thanks for sharing 👍
You bet!
Yes, as long as the battery voltage you are feeding in is within the range supported by the power station on its "solar" input, you can do this. Since power stations usually also support car-charging, they don't get confused by the source being a battery rather than a solar panel and will charge at their maximum amperage. In this regard, both 12.8V LiFePO4 and 25.6V LiFePO4 batteires generally work. But double check. Since the power station is amperage-limited, using a higher voltage (25.6V.. which can be as high as 29.2V by the way) battery will allow it to charge more quickly. As long as it's within the range the power station can handle that is.
For safety, you should always fuse the external battery connection going into the power station to roughly 150% the power station's maximum input amperage on that port. The external battery is capable of pushing an enormous amount of power and you don't want a short or failure in the power station to cause a fire.
This isn't perfect, in that the power station is still limited by its AC output... so you might need a medium or large power station anyway depending on what you are running with that AC output. But you can avoid buying expensive proprietary power station expansion batteries by using an external battery or battery bank to feed into the power station.
-Matt
I've done this with small power stations as well but yes, you must fit within the Power Stations input parameters but batteries don't 'push' amperage, they just allow it to be drawn off. If the max input is 10amps then it's 10amps. If it's 20amps then that's what it is. The battery could care less :)
@@TheOldJarhead The power station regulates the input to a maximum amperage, to be clear. The batteries are typically capable of an order of magnitude more amperage than the power station could actually handle.
@@junkerzn7312 Correct
@@TheOldJarhead thank you that the information I was looking for. 👏👏
You bet!
THANK FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY ❤ Thank you for sharing this video.
You're very welcome! I'm glad you found the video helpful.
Been thinking about exactly this... Great video
Glad it was helpful!
I've done it a few years ago with a 12v bat and a 24v buck converter. It works ;)
Agreed.
I saved even more money by building my own power station.
The 2,000 watt inverter is powered by a 200 amp hour battery. Charging the system can be done easily while powering the refrigeration units. If I can't find shore power I charge with solar.
Upgrading is no problem. I bought some flexable 200 watt solar panels which I want to connect in series. The input voltage will be over 100 volts. I looked for a charge controller which can have the total volts delivered from the series connected solar panels. So now I can have two different solar panel arrangements at the same time. I am also building a system that uses a 24 volt 300 amp hour battery which has a 4,000 watt inverter. I plan to add another 300 amp hours in parallel for a total of 14,400 watt hours of power.
That's a great way to go!
@@RogueOntheRoad do you have a TH-cam channel?
He does but it looks inactive.
Good info. Boost converter or flyback are used to make 12v into 24v.
Yes, you are right
Looks Great . What would you have to do to hook up 2X 12V in tandem Deep cycle to Rv Batteries up in this Way ? to the Portable power station . In "detail if you would oblige "For us Laymen > LOL Thx
You could take, for example, two Deep Cycle Marine batteries and run them in series (positive to negative) and then run (via a fused connection -- I'd put in a 25-30 fuse off the battery terminal) to the solar input to do the same thing. However, I WOULD NOT do this because those batteries are not really 'Deep Cycle' in the way we think. Their limit is a max of 50% which will give you only 200 cycles or say, 20% that will give you about 300-400 cycles (at most). You'd have to get something to monitor the batteries closely or you would ruin them.
That's why I use LiFePo4 batteries. They can cycle 4000-5000 times at 100% discharge :D
Just went though Milton here in Tampa and while we were extremely fortunate, we didn't have power for 4 days and I have since become obsessed (maybe a little dramatic) with solar generators as I'm in an apartment. I'm trying to select the one I'm going to get but this video certainly alters what I was going to do. Awesome information, thank you 🙏🏾
Let me know if I can help you decide further!
@TheOldJarhead I truly appreciate that, thank you. I might actually take you up on that.
Feel free! I'm happy to help where I can and I do plan on testing more power stations, batteries and DC to DC chargers soon!
@@TheOldJarhead 👍🏾👍🏾
Hi there, I ended up ordering the Ecoflow Delta 3 Plus. To run the setup you have in this video, can you tell me exactly the converter I'd need? You talk about in the video but I'm illiterate in these kind of things and need a little help specifying exactly the one to get. Thanks in advance!
Great video. Thanks, i didn’t think of this less expensive way to get the added power.
Glad I could help!
This is a point I have made many times, especially to newbies
But .... most solar generators use a combo inverter/ charge controller system which works fine though if you are running that inverter to the max and charging/ inputting power it might get an overload or thermal protection could trip unlike if it was just the extension batteries.
Furthermore several extension batteries have a few features such as a solar input and USB and 12V outputs.
But still a good idea for cheaper capacity 👍🏻
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! It's always great to see knowledgeable viewers contributing valuable insights to the conversation.
I have two Anker f3800 and in the the process of connecting solar panels. Thanks for the knowledge.
Anker has good products!
Hey ! Thanks for this ! I'm going to give it a try ! 😊
Enjoy!
Thank you just saved me a ton of money!!
You bet!
Why didn’t I think about this? I have a couple of large capacity power stations linked to a home integration panel to power up my critical loads panel. I had been considering buying more of the manufacturers expensive expansion capacity batteries however I do have multiple 100Ah 12 volt batteries that are not being used and now I have your video of what I can do with these batteries. I could also connect solar to the main batteries but if I don’t have a sunny day after the hurricane passes this is a great work around to expand my capacity without spending more money. Thanks again for this proof of concept video.
You bet! And yes, in an Emergency thus is a cost saving measure that can extend your capabilities!
great job my friend veteran God bless you
Thanks for watching!
Here and i was thinking i wasted money on my eco flow, because i want to expand the capacity bit those extra batteries are just too expensive. What an awesome idea. Thanks for sharing this!
You bet!
Good information there Sir.
Great video. Thanks for sharing
Hey thanks bud!
That's a very budget-friendly and logical way to store additional energy. 🤠 However, I would not have so easily discounted an independent D/C to A/C Inverter. For example... with a 3000-watt pure sine wave inverter, you can connect multiple batteries (in parallel) as long as the voltage remains the same. Then, charge your Power Station via the "A/C input", generally 2-3 Times faster than the D/C input. You can also connect your inverter to a vehicle to charge your Power Station, appliances, battery charger, etc. directly when you have little or no sunlight.
You are converting DC to AC to DC. That wouldn't be as efficient as DC to DC.
@@Step-n-Wolf ~ Yes, that's true. However, I believe a D/C to A/C inverter is a great "optional" power source to recharge your power station(s), battery banks, and run appliances, lights, etc. When the grid is down, it's dark outside or there is no sunlight, and your food is thawing in the freezer, etc., calculating efficiency is the last thing on your mind.
Agreed
True but he's correct in that the AC would be faster.
4:40 For the same reason I don't build my own computer anymore. I can buy parts and assemble my own, but chasing a half dozen warranties from multiple Chinese manufacturers when a part acts up is different than making a call to Jackery or EcoFlow
10:25 it's certainly a money saver. Have to pull it apart to recharge the external battery. I wonder if we'll see Chinesium battery packs for the big brand power stations like we do for DeWalt and Milwaukee tools
I still build mine but generally research components to make sure what I put in will run a long time. My main case is 23 years old! Still running but the guts have been changed many times as things get more power hungry.
That would be cool -- what I'd like to see is the cables with adapters for standard LiFePo4 batteries instead of their proprietary batteries.
Hi I agree you can add a battery to what is intended for the solar array. I often use a 48 volt power supply to check my solar input for testing. The problem is it is not going directly to the inverter but goes to the solar controller. I believe this path will not charge the external battery if you want to use wall socket power to charge your station.
If solar is hooked up to the port, and the external charger is hooked up to the AC side of the power station it can charge the battery. Is it ideal? No, Ideally you'd have a charge controller and solar panels for the battery and the power station. Or just a full blown DIY solar setup.
I bought a ecoflow delta 3 plus while on pre-order. They start shipping out tomorrow. It has 2 xt60i solar connentions each provide up to 500w each max is 60v and apparently the max amperage doesn't matter it will reduce it. I also got the alternator charger. Together costed $950
They are having some great sales!
Very informative video! Thank You for your service Sir 🇺🇲‼️
Thank you!
Thanks for the video. I have bluetti and was thinking of connecting to another battery . My bluetti is in my truck camper so there is limited room for additional batteries.
You could convert the ca.per to LiFePo4 's 😉
i just put all 3 in my amazon cart and am now checkng out your other vids, HS! ty
Awesome!
Excellent presentation 👏 really enjoyed your explanation
Glad you liked it!
About the expansion batteries you mentioned in your video ... I have the Bluetti B230 expansion. The B230 can be used as a separate power station. The B230 has a separate MPPT controller, so you can charge it directly from solar panels. It also has several USB ports and a 12v cigarette lighter port, so you get some flexibility for your $950. That being said, I often top off my Bluetti AC200 MAX from an Epoch 300ah 12v LiFePo battery using the same cabling system you have. The difference is that I found a 12v to 36V step-up converter, so I can charge with 525w from the Epoch.
That's what I do for smaller power stations like my Jackery 550. It can take 24v in so I use a step up converter to go 12v to 24v (at the time I didn't have a spare 24v battery). That's also what I'd do if I wanted to run the power into a unit that can take more voltage and I didn't have a battery to get me there, just use the converter and Bob's your Uncle! More power!
Did miss something? how do,you charge that extra battery? What’s the easiest way? thx
I was wondering the same thing
I guess you just charge it off the solar battery? Yeah I don't get it either- Unless you have to eventually have a 120 wall outlet stashed somewhere
Just hook up a charger to it or a solar panekbwith a charge controller as needed.
Me too, I'm new to solar but am assuming that we'd need a solar charge controller and another cable to charge the battery. Please do a follow-up video showing us how it's done. Much appreciated, new sub!
@colsdebo9034 I'm editing that video now 😉
Done vertualy the same on my boat . Need to dispose of my rolls lead acid battery! Soooo heavy 😮
Yup, those lead batts get heavier as we get older too!
Awesome idea! Watching the next video on how to charge now (:
I'm glad it resonated with ya!
Excellent review and I like your practical project.
I also use a 24v battery or 2x 12v 100ah Power Queen in series to extend my power station's during outages and camping.
To recharge them in the field, I attach a Victron 30/100 controller attached to 3x220w Renogy bifacial panels to feed 500-600w on a mediocre day.
Things I have found out during my prolonged emergencies:
1- the "old but still works" refrigerators can be a real pain as they are extremely inefficient. A new one will save the day
2. For some elder relatives, I use a small man cave fridge and keep it at 52F for the insulin and other medicines,
3- regular refrigerators should be kept at 37F, anything higher will prompt spoilage including baby formula. Again, important in long term outages (3+ days)
4- 12/24v refrigerators and other appliances prolong power,
5- Avoid the box fans unless you know they are very efficient. Many of these fans start at 68WHr vs 10WHr for a Costco minifan. Use 12v or USB fans.
6- Any devices that use BT can be consumption killers and should be disconnected when not in use.
7- Try to prepare food with propane based camping stoves
8- Keep a good inverter Gas/LNG/Propane generator to temporarily charge your batteries and power stations if the sun is not charging
9- When using the gas generator, DO NOT charge your power station past 80/85%, this eats a lot of fuel just to bring it to 100%
9a- this includes charging your power station with the 24v battery, you get a lot more miles not charging the power station to 100%
Thank you, you hit a very good spot in this community.
Great points, you've obviously put a lot of thought into this!
@@TheOldJarhead Thank you, taking care of family and figuring out the best way to prolong energy available.
Videos like this one help a lot and validate some ideas.
Thank you
You bet! Family first!
Good video. I've been preaching this for a while. How are you planning on charging? 40 amp MPPT with 1200 watts of solar? If you go super budget, you can do 800 watts with a 30 amp PWM for $40 plus panels. The PWMs are about the same as MPPTs with a short run of cable (less than 20'). Whatever you do, it won't be hard to beat the 500 watts max of your power station.
Great suggestion!
Thanks for the video you got me thinking
Glad it got you thinking!
The ONLY time you'll have an issue with this style expansion vs the "Factory" expansion batteries is with a continuous load over 500 watts, it will eventually run the powerstation battery down before completely exhausting the expansion battery, vs the factory batteries will run at 100% of the full rated load of the powerstation, but this is going to be a VERY rare occourance, something like an electric heater is about the only load that comes to mind
Good point, those will be rare situations!
i do that with my bluetti EB3A and a 12,8v 50ah battery amazing. and i do it also with my bluetti AC180 runs my refrigerator freezer in the garage for close to 16 hrs. I will be bying a 24,6v 100 ah battery though specially for the AC 180 bluetti ( 12v to 60 v) . but i could use it also with EB3A (12v to 28v)
Awesome
A 2650 watt hr battey is 220.83ah. The 1000 watt hr one is 83.3ah!! I just purchased the EGRETECT 1200w with 999wh witch is 83.25ah, battery portable unit for $310 delivered from Amazon. Max solar intake is 200w at 12v
Nice find!
Excuse my ignorance, how do you recharge the extra battery? Would plugging in the ac plug for the generator to home power recharge the extra battery too?
New to all this and that was my question too…
You charge it with a separate 24v charger and/a solar panel.
@@TheOldJarhead Is that the only way to recharge it, via solar panel?
No. You could charge it with a charger and a 120v power source (generator/utility power), or via a solar panel and charge controller, or from a charger plugged into your power station with a big solar panel (of more power than the charger) to keep things going but understand, 2560wh of battery will take 4 hours of charging (from zero) at 640watts of solar!!! So, these big extra batteries increase the amount of solar needed to charge the entire unit up. However, if you run the battery to zero and just charge it while the power station rests or runs without the external battery you can get by with less solar. In truth, I'd have 500 watts for the battery and an additional 200-500w for the power station if I needed all that power all the time and I'd have a backup generator to assist on cloudy days or when I'm using more power than planned. I'll cover this in tomorrows video ;)
Awesome content. Just subscribed. What size fuse would you use with this set up and how would you calculate that? Thanks.
I always shoot for 25% above expected use, so for 20A MPPT, I would use 25A or 30A fuse
I had to keep a 12v fridge going for a week unattended. I had two 1000 Jackery's and a few of their 250's. I daisy chained them using the 12v sockets. It wasn't pretty but it worked (and was basically the same idea). One possible advantage of the factory 'add on' battery is some of them might have the ability to monitor remotely. But for the cost, I like this solution much more.
Thanks for sharing
You could use a shunt with Bluetooth to monitor
Yup
I presume the brand name battery would also recharge from the main unit, if we use an external battery we will need a separate charging arrangement - still worth doing though.
Yes you would need to charge the battery separately in this case though there are many ways you can do that.
Thanks for the education
Thanks for watching!
very interesting, so your saying it will use the backup battery before the battery in the solar generator? thks for the video i’m going to do this, way cheaper
Yup! Draws the extra down 1st
Thanks for the excellent information.
You are quite welcome!
The only problem I have is the solar input is usually a maximum, not the voltage required. Very few will have a requirement for voltage before it starts charging. Most are range like 12-24 or 48, not a 48 volt requirement… there are NO 12V, 24V, 36V OR 48V solar panels, what your biggest concern is what your controller will be able to handle. If your controller will only handle 12v, you’re limited to one of those panels (usually portable) with built in controllers… the panel is not 12v, the controller is.
Technically no panel is 12v ;) They are typically 18-20v as that's what's needed to convert to 12v for the battery (actually around 14.5v +/- ). The key is knowing the maximum amperage and voltage (they are always rated with a max voltage and amperage). So for example, the small Jackery 550 is set up with a max of about 24v input and 3.75amps so a 20v 5amp panel will give you only 86ish volts as the MPPT controller won't allow more than the 3.75amps. By hooking up the battery to the Jackery you can then charge the Jackery with it and hook up an MPPT controller that can handle MORE voltage/amperage to charge the battery up.
thank you so much,just catching up on your vids
You bet and thanks for watching! *warning* there are hundreds! 😆
I think for something like this you need to explain how to charge the battery back up
Interesting point. I hadn't thought it would be something I would be asked, but you are correct! It can be done with any standard battery charger with LiFePo4 setting or via a portable solar panel and a charge controller. Thanks fir mentioning!
@@TheOldJarhead How about a Pecron 500 watt car charger or a Weize 14.6 v 20 amp lithium battery charger? I am thinking about buying both and using them to charge my Li Time 12v 100Ah which i will x90 connect it to my Bluetti. The Weize charger i will use while my generator is running and the Pecron i will use when i am driving around away from the camp.
That should work well!
Thank you for the For the information I really appreciate it.
Glad to help!
From what I can see this Aferiy P210 power station with a xt90 connection does DC to DC charging at 500 watts. That would make it the only Power Station I know of that does 12 volt or 24 volt direct charging to a power station that accepts up to 600 watts of solar!
I'm testing some others and I think most can do this as long as the MPPT controller will allow it. Just a matter of seeing which can do what but the Aferiy does this well for sure.
Great deal on the battery right now. How do I charge the battery and can I charge it while it's connected to my power station?
My goal is to add capacity to my 1000-ish Whr power station when there's a blackout. I'd like to keep the "spare" fully charged and ready to go. I'd also like to charge both with a generator when there's an extended blackout.
With solar and a charge controller you could charge it while hooked up. With a charger (40A - 100A) and a generator you should also be able to do that, or run the gen to the power station and the battery at the same time (and disconnect) to get them back up to 100% and then reconnect if worried.
Since you are using the power station input to connect the deep cycle battery, if you were to connect the solar panels while the battery was connected to the system, would you connect the solar output to the deep cycle battery? I'm looking to create a backup power system for the house and prefer the idea of these over a generator.
you could add a charge controller and run the solar to the batteries and then the batteries to the ps
The biggest advantage of building my own system is the available total output current is doubled for every battery connected in parallel.
So with one battery the maximum output current will be 150 amps continues using a 200 amp hour 200 amp battery. Adding a second battery doubles the total continuous current output to 300 amps and 400 amp hours. A third parallel battery provides another 150 amps for a total of 450 amps.
You can also connect another inverter to the battery for more output to the appliances. My AC unit and RV fridge use just under 2,000 watts. So to run the AC, fridge, and microwave oven I could have one inverter to power the AC and another to power the fridge or microwave. Might as well connect 3 inverters. Anything is possible as long as the battery can handle the load.
Excellent ideas!
Good advice.
Appreciate it! We can get more out of these units than most people realize :D
Hmmm... I have a Bluetti AC200L for camping and home backup, and a golfcart with a 51.8v 100ah lithium battery in it that I installed last summer. I might pull the battery for the winter and hook it to the Bluetti and give this a try! I think the Bluetti has a solar input voltage range between 12-120v. Certainly a cheaper alternative to the Bluetti`s expansion options.
If it has that voltage then yes!! Just be sure to fuse it.
@@TheOldJarhead This is working brilliantly with my 48v 100ah battery connected directly to my Bluetti AC200L thru the XT90 DC solar input! Input watts is about 780 watts. With both the 48v battery and the Bluetti fully charged, when an AC load is applied to the Bluetti, as long as the load is under the 780 watts it will drop the Bluetti to 99% and then the DC input from the 48v battery will start and essentially match the AC output to pull from the 48v battery and maintain the Bluetti charge!!! Brilliant!!! This adds a whopping 5120wh of expansion power at less than half the cost of a Bluetti expansion battery.
Awesome
Great video, thank you for all your help. Just wondering- could I plug the charger for that battery into a gas powered generator? I have a Champion 3800w generator that I use for charging my Bluetti AC 200l. Thanks for the advice.
Yes you can!
Great video. Thanks.
Thanks
Thats great but how do you keep the 12v battery charged?
th-cam.com/video/tZef-C1SWHw/w-d-xo.html
👍do you still need controller to charge external battery
If you charge it via solar
Great video and idea, my question is, how do you charge this extra battery? Im pretty sure that the solar inputs do not output any power. Theres probably a way it can be done that i dont know about, just asking! Good video my friend!
My next video was on that very thing but there are several ways from a solar panel (with charge controller), a AC charger and generator or even a DC to DC charger.
Hey Jar, I have the Oupes mega 2 and in front of the unit has its outward connections. I was curious and wondered that, if you look on the front, their's a red and black anderson connection - 12v/30a. Is it possible to run a anderson connect straight to a 36v or 48v lifepo4 battery. Would it be safe to do this to charge the battery? What do you think and Great videossss....Thx
I have an Oupes coming to check out so will know more then but if it's a solar of DC charging input I see no reason why not to use a 12v battery but not the higher voltage ones
I do the same for my Delta 3. The solar input needs an st60i. Not sure what the "i" stands for but it tells the Delta 3 that the power is coming from solar panels when the power is actually coming from a battery.
Nice! I've seen a video comparing the st60 vs the I and there does seem to be a difference
@@TheOldJarhead There is a small metal strip in a slot between the pos and neg wires that tells the unit that the power is coming from solar. Without that, using a st60 maxes out at 200w or less.
Ahhh thanks for the note
@@TheOldJarhead I can get almost 500w on the nose using st60i cables and charging from a bench power source. I connect the bench power and charge from one of my DIY battery setups that can take up to 150w solar at 10a. Not super efficient but charges my Delta 2 quickly. I also have two duel-fuel generators, 1700w running and 2800w running, on propane. Could get more on gasoline but do not want to hassle storing and rotating gasoline. Propane stores forever barring leaks. I use these on short sunlight/cloudy days
Nice
Good explanation! Cheers
Cheers!
So when charging the unit one can leave the extra battery hooked up to recharge it also?
Thank you for making this video I am learning as I explore power options.
No. Not unless you have a charger on it as well.
th-cam.com/video/tZef-C1SWHw/w-d-xo.html
I gave you a thumbs up, good ideal. But how you going to charge the battery? You still have to buy solar panels, right?
th-cam.com/video/tZef-C1SWHw/w-d-xo.html glad you asked 😉
Great idea, what do you recommend to charge the external battery?
Thanks - I recommend different things for different reason like someone not in a hurry using this as a backup when camping would be fine with a less expensive 10a/5a 12v/24v charger made for LiFePo4's (it's what I use) or if needing as backup off grid or in an emergency than as much solar as possible for the power station and a 500-1000w charger (match to solar) or a DC to DC charger, generator with charger or a solar panel with MPPT controller. th-cam.com/video/tZef-C1SWHw/w-d-xo.html
I have a grid doctor 3300. Will this work on it.
Thank you for your service.
God bless.
Yes! The solar input on that Power Supply is an xt60
@TheOldJarhead Thank you. God bless
Thank you!
Great Information Thanks
You bet!
First of all, thank you for your service sir!! Ok, so I was inspired by your video on alternative ways to charge my Anker F2000. I purchased the XZNY 25.6V 100Ah battery you recommended, the cables you recommended and the charger you recommended. I charged the battery once I got it a couple days ago, got it all hooked up and I am only getting 290 watts input from the battery to the Anker? Any suggestions? Keep up the awesome videos they are very inspiring and educational. Thank you!!
Thank you! For that unit you will need a 24v to 48v step up converter to get the 20a max of the solar input. At 25.6v you can get 10A which puts you at 256w and by using a converter you can get a lot more with this: amzn.to/4i5I9nI It shows 720w but you may even get more. 48v*20a=960w though the converter may limit it to 15a or 720w
Thank you very much for the reply and the link that is very helpful! I am still trying to educate myself on this whole process. Do you happen to have any videos on how to wire that up correctly so I don’t burn down the neighborhood 😳
It's pretty straight forward. Mine (12-24v) was straight forward, one set of wires (it tells you which) to the supply battery (in my case 12v with smaller units that can take 24v solar) and the other to the correct pigtail for the power station. I have a video where I used a 12v LiFePo4 battery to power my Jackery 550 while running a 75l Smittybilt Fridge (worked awesome).
How do you charge the battery when it goes dead. I’m new at this. I just bought an Ecoflow Delta 2. What battery should I get and the type of wire to hook it up?
Many thanks from this 85 year old newbie. We just need it for backup.
To charge: th-cam.com/video/tZef-C1SWHw/w-d-xo.html -- and since the Delta 2 has a 60V/15A Solar Controller you could get this battery amzn.to/48Yjygd for $360 that would give you 1536wh and weighs 28lbs. For me any heavier can be an issue but I could get multiple batteries and parallel them if needed or just use one at a time and charge the other once dead. You'd need the XT60 cable and I'd get a fuse to place between the battery and the EcoFlow as well.
The next step is charging the Lifepo battery back up off grid? Is plugging the lifepo into the power station w/solar hooked in a viable route?
th-cam.com/video/tZef-C1SWHw/w-d-xo.html There are some other ways as well as some have pointed out, a DC to DC charger would work as well.
I'm doing something similar and stuck a dedicated volt meter on the battery. Works great. But how are you charging the aux battery?
Do you have a dedicated charger?
I like that idea - takes the guess work out. th-cam.com/video/tZef-C1SWHw/w-d-xo.html is the video I did on charging the extra battery up.
Thanks for your information
You bet! Glad you found it useful.
Interesting. It didn't occur to me that I could use a large, external battery to charge my two Delta 2 power stations using the XT 60 input on these power stations. Excellent video.
Be sure to get a XT60I connector as it charges faster than a XT60.
Thanks! And yes!! Great when you need the boost specially when the sun is down!
I will have to try that myself. I saw one video on it and seem to recall that's what he found.
Remember if you get a 12 v only charges at 110 watts an hour while 24 v battery will charge at 250 watts on those power stations, also consider a dual fuel 2500 champion generator and run on propane to charge the battery fast in a grid down situation
@@zodaguado6655 If you use the XT60I connector on the Ecoflow, it "fools" the power station into thinking it has solar panels attached and charges at 15A = 500W instead of 8A if it thinks it is a 12V battery. There is also a resistor that can be wired in internally that accomplishes what the extra wire on the XT60I has.
Great info, thanks.
Thanks
Good video. But you still have the cost of charging the battery. How do you charge the battery and how much does that cost?
Many ways to charge, all less expensive 😉 My next video I cover some of those ways
Nice suggestion
Thanks
Amazon also has 48V (51.2) 25Ah for $220 (and 48V 50Ah for $350)
Wow
I also think that manufacturer's expansion batteries are ridiculously expensive. A standard LiFeP04 battery on a power station's solar input works just fine I've done it.
Yup
Thank you so much for this video. I'm using an Ecoflow River 2 pro which takes a maximum 50 volts / 13 Amps / 220 watts. So as long as I connect any kind of battery and stay under 50 volts it will work? Do I need to worry about the Amps it draws? Or will it automatically adjust?
Yes. and 50v x 13amps is 650w so either way you would be good.
So then using solar or a generator during an outage, how do you charge your external battery? The advantage of the fancy batteries might be that you can charge them through the same plug with the same safeguards as the main unit?
th-cam.com/video/tZef-C1SWHw/w-d-xo.html I address some of the ways in this video. And yes, those $500 1048wh add on batteries can often be charged via the power station directly however for $500 I can get $2560wh and a MPPT controller to go with it and still be way ahead money wise.
Dual fuel champion generator or pulsar generator my friend,,,, I would get one if those before any external battery,,, I can charge my 1000 w Anker 22 times on a single propane tank
@@zodaguado6655 Yup, that's what I'm thinking. I've got a Honda eu2200 that I converted to run on propane. Plan would be to use the power station as a UPS for the home ent system. Then plug the house into the Bluetti (unplugged from the wall of course) during outages. When it's depleted, plug the Honda into the house to run everything & charge up the Bluetti from the wall outlet just like normal.
That would work for sure.
Not a bad setup -- but I prefer to have both ;)
Great video.
I have a golf cart that has 3/12V Lifepo4 100Ah batteries in series. (36V) I have an Ecoflow Delta 2
with an extra battery. 2048 Wh. Total. I like to extend
that by attaching them to my Delta by XT60 solar inputs. Since they are in series, I don’t want to change them to parallel. Will it work?
Would there be a difference if I use one battery or 2 or 3?
How fast will it drain my golf cart batteries?
Since series, the 3x 12v batteries would make the voltage 36v (nominal), so it would work as long as the unit can take the voltage (the Aferiy would be fine). You'd have over 3600wh to add to the ecoflow
It will take about 7 hours to drain your golf cart batteries.
LOL no way to figure that from his post. Would need to know the watt draw or amp draw before answering.
hi there,great vid,hold my hands up i did not know this,so if you rigged up solar charging on the battery and solar and battery on pig tails to xt60 to the power station solar,switch in line for night time no solar,this would work would it not,would save me a fortune,good luck,shane uk
If you mean a switch to divert from solar to battery at night, then yes!!
Great video! So can I leave an extra battery connected to my ecoflow 24/7 even if the ecoflow is connected to the grid power by being plugged in to the wall? I ask because I use my ecoflow as a UPS backup for my frig. We lose power almost every week, so the ecoflow is always connected to the wall and my frig is plugged into the ecoflow. I would love to add more watt hours with an extra battery!
In theory, it should be fine since the controller will only draw as needed.
I am one of those idiots who got a Bluetti and their expansion batteries lol but it's OK thanks to you I can now use my 2x 100ah Renogy batteries to add even more power. I now have 10Kwh and 10Kwh battery storage going in soon - so thank you Sir :)
Not an idiot! Just either found that a good approach and/or didn't know you could do this. I think those batteries have their place, specially for those who can afford them or just want simplicity 😃
Can you do a video on this using a smaller system, maybe a Jackery 880? In that situation, could I use the same battery (selling for about $350 on Amazon today) and maybe connect an inverter to the battery and then plug the jackery into the inverter and recharge it? Or is there an easier way? This concept is new to me, but sounds interesting. What you are saying sounds amazing, I'm just trying to get my head around this new concept.
th-cam.com/video/uhS69YQMijk/w-d-xo.html. Why yes 😉 Check this older video out! The Jackery loves 24v (maybe not 25.6 though)
@@TheOldJarhead I just found your videos and love them so far. I am guessing you are an USMC guy. I was an army infantry guy. Not that it matters, but I like your brains and your practical sense of things. I am trying to learn about this stuff some.
Welcome! I served over 5 years in the Corps but later got my Telecom training in the US Army ;)
Hey I love this setup. Once I have done this I just need a charge controller connected to the leisure battery, and the charge controller connected to a solar panel to maintain full power 24/7?
I only want to run a Surface Pro 5 - 45w 15v 3a, some speakers - 50w (I assume 50v) 1a, an LED light 4w and my mobile phone. The fridge, shower, oven etc can run on the mains electricity but I will eventually try to get maybe the shower connected to this if it can handle it with just one solar panel.
I would fully charge the portable power station once from the mains, and let the solar panel and leisure battery remain connected, hopefully giving a continual charge to the main unit during daylight.
If I've gotten this wrong somebody please correct me. I really want to invest in off-grid power for my apartment.
Yes, if you set up a charge controller and solar panel and hook them to the battery and plug the battery into the power stations solar input you should be golden. Just remember, the input power max of the power station is what you need to stay under. So, if the power station can only take in 24v max than you don't want to run a 24v battery since it's 25.6v and charges at 29v. You can use a 12.8v battery with a solar panel (that would feed the battery with 14.4-14.6v) and be perfectly fine.
So where do you connect the solar panels?
In this case the battery has replaced the solar panels so you'd either have to remove the battery and hook the panels up, or add an MPPT controller and hook the panels to the battery -- though if doing so it's best to make sure the voltage of charging the battery (s) doesn't go over the solar input on the power station. Note: this is meant to be a temporary solution to the issue of having too little reserve power in the event of an emergency. Charging the battery by generator or solar or eve DC to DC charger will give you extended range.
I just bought a vitamin 1500 x what regular battery would I plug in... It does have an expensive addition battery which I didn't purchase
I'd need to know the specifics of the solar input (should be an MPPT controller rated at a maximum voltage and amperage). If it's capable of 30v you can use the 24v battery in this video, if 24v volts than the 12v version of this would work combined with a 12v to 24v buck converter. I have another video where I showed using that in my cabin series. Also would need to know the type of connection. I'm heading to the cabin so will check back on Sunday to see if you were able to get that info. Cheers!
Any tricks to keeping the battery charged while charging the power station?
Best way is to get a charger controller and some solar panels and set it up to charge the battery during the day. Of course, you have to make sure the incoming voltage doesn't go above the controller on the power station when doing that.
Thank you so much 😮
Thank You!