Interesting use of alternator charger with EV. EcoFlow had told me that this could not be done with an EV but clearly it can. In two minds to try it with mine. Some of the Korean brands have a poor reputation for 12v batteries. I guess, in effect a similar result/outcome could be achieved if your EV has V2L capability in that you can charge a portable battery with the car as a generator?
EF sells a Delta 1300 with the alternator charger but everything I’ve read says it won’t work with the original delta’s. Do they make an adapter that you know of? Or would I have to make my own through the xt60 port
Nice I got the whole line up too I got x2 ecoflow delta 2 + 2 extender batteries and the alternator too can’t wait to used it over landing or camping total 4kw total 🎉 and nice staking with the xt60 Hopefully they make that xt60 connector to the alternator system that would be great I can charge up some other generators in a pinch
EVs often have a problem with their 12Volt Battery draining after a longer time or in winter after years of use. So the Alternator charger could easily revive the 12Volt Battery if it couldnt power up the car. Very neat product.
I was told that: Drawing 800W from your alternator in stationairy will burn out your alternator prematurely. The alternator needs to be aircooled which happens when you drive. At least lower the output wattage when stationairy.
This car is a hybrid so it has a higher voltage Battery and usually no alternator. The Drive Battery is powered by large electric motors which will either propel the car or charge the battery. The car also has a 12 Volt Battery for all the systems and accessories which gets powered by a DC to DC converter.
The RAV4 Prime's DC to DC converter is under the rear, right, passenger seat, and obviously gets no benefit cooling from vehicle motion. It is fan cooled and, in fact, has a small dust filter at the front of the seat with instructions to check it for cleaning every so often.
I just purchased the Alternator Charger (currently on sale for $239 at ecoflow) to try on my Bolt EUV. Do you plan to do a permanent/hardwire install in the Bolt? Would be awesome to see a video tutorial if you do!
RU-vid recommendations actually recommended something useful! I have a Bolt and I just bought an EcoFlow Delta 2, but I didn't even consider the alternator charger because... no alternator. I'm interested in learning how you connected it to your house. It probably won't work for me, but worth learning about it.
I have a 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid . I just hooked up a XT60 right straight to the 12 V battery and plugged it into my Delta pro two and I’m only getting about 180 W just straight into the battery.
Excellent video, I'm going to connect one of these to my non plugin hybrid Gen 3 Prius. Like the RAV4 the 12v battery is in the back of the car. Did you cut the cable to make it shorter as it comes with a long length of cable? Thank you.
Alternator will charge the starter battery, increasing the voltage. Nothing special happens other than normal operation and possibly slightly more load on the alternator /fuel consumption depending on watt output.
I have seen a couple of reviews of Newpowa where new panels actually caught on fire. I suppose it's rare, but these were credible reviews I saw in different review situations. I wouldn't want to risk it. Werchtay are the cheapest glass 100 watt 12 volts on Ebay. Higher VOC and diodes make panels perform better in the shade. Werchtay has the voltage. Newpowa has one more diode. I had a cheap plastic panel that didn't last a year and then I managed to score a Renology glass 50 watt panel on sale that pumps so hard, I put it in the shade when I want more of a trickle on my car battery. It goes in the sun for charging 5 volt devices. I am so psyched with the quality of that panel. HQST (supposedly made by Renology, quality, either way) has square shaped 100 watt 12 volt panels on sale right now on thier website. Rich panels are good. It doesn't seem worth it to buy really cheap panels.
May sound like s dumb question (but not wanting to make a huge misstake)- What are he battery clamps you are using? Looks a bit like Spartan Power (Amazon) Do you have any recommendations on what to look for?
Looking at doing this with my subaru solterra but I think my hood has to be closed for "ready" to show up and the traction battery be turned on. That cord looks a little thicc for the hood to close.
Neat! Would love to see them release an official cable one day. (... Admittedly, i just want to charge my DPU from it. Not for a full charge, but certainly would help going into a long outage as I can't use Solar Panels at my dwelling)
I have two Newpowa bifacial 100w panels connected to my Delta 2. I am planning to add more. Low voltage and max 5A per panel is actually excellent for Delta 2. I think 2s3p (6panels) is very safe config. Amp goes 15A max and voltage stays well below 60V limit.
I'm trying the same thing with my Delta 2, but I'm running into issues with 2s4p. The voltage hovers around 31v under load, so at the 15 amps max input of the Delta 2 I'm only able to get ~465W with 800W of panels.
Thanks for the vid and explanation! Any input or information on doing this in a Tesla? Model Y specifically. I have not seen a video yet for that car/application surprisingly.
I have a Model Y. Tesla keeps tight control of power out on their cars, unfortunately. It's very hard to tap into the 12V (now 15V) system as all the power from the DC to DC converter is monitored and controlled by MOSFET-gated branch circuits, which don't take kindly to large power taps. The 12V/15V battery is also very small and can be drained quickly if the DC converter is not on. Tesla has some V2L on the Cybertruck, but really is lagging on all other models. Even many gas cars have on-board 120V inverters nowadays.
I have a Model Y. Tesla keeps tight control of power out on their cars, unfortunately. It's very hard to tap into the 12V (now 15V) system as all the power from the DC to DC converter is monitored and controlled by MOSFET-gated branch circuits, which don't take kindly to large power taps. The 12V/15V battery is also very small and can be drained quickly if the DC converter is not on. Tesla has some V2L on the Cybertruck, but really is lagging on all other models. Even many gas cars have on-board 120V inverters nowadays.
Thanks for putting this video together. I have 2 Delta Pros and a Model S P90. Looking to get the EcoFlow DCDC when its on sale. For now my inverter is working okay for how I utilize it, but this is so much better with double DCDC.
It looks like the manual on EcoFlow's website (dated April 23rd, 2024) differs from the one in your hand :( They removed items number 4 and 11 Which is butts, because I'd love to charge my DPU at 500w from the alternator charger. Hopefully they clarify the discrepancy soon!
You're going to smoke your home's appliances using that Ecoflow high frequency, transformerless inverter. All it's going to take is for one of the MOSFETs in the H-Bridge circuit to short to ground, and because there is no transformer, there's no galvanic isolation between its DC boost stage and its AC output.No thanks.
I'm thinking of buying the new Segway Cube power station which has Solar Input: Maximum Voltage: 60V DC so I think should work with the EcoFlow 500w charger? You mention a custom cable to connect - could you give more information on that please? What connections/cable etc. Thank you
@@thepatternforms859 I think the 500 watts is a limitation of the XT60 connector and the thin gauge wire they use! If you want 800 watts out of this then you would need to use a thicker gauge wire and a different connection on this unit! But correct me if I'm wrong in this assumption!
Thanks however I would be careful pulling 800 watts from the down converter they are not made for that type of continuous load.Most draw on EV's in intermittent there is nothing in that car that would come even close to what your drawing. If you smoke the down converter you'll pay 3-4 times what that charger cost you. My self I would limit it to 300-400 watts tops. Regards Mike
@@MtnXfreeride, the heat pump compressors in EVs and hybrids are driven directly from the HV battery pack via a variable frequency drive (VFD), not the 12V system.
YMMV But this is just pulling from the 12v battery and not from the traction battery. Unless your car will keep the 12v battery charged while it's off, which many don't, this will kill the 12v battery
You run this while your car is on and configure the Alternator Charger to turn off when your car turns off, so the 12v battery is never tapped for power. It's all purely from the DC to DC converter.
Seems cool, but also seems over complicated with the DC to DC conversions? Does the Rav4 Prime not have a dedicated V2L socket? We don't get this model in Australia. In Australia we can just plug the car's V2L port straight into the generator socket of the house, don't need any "middle man" power generator as such. Car has a 15A output socket and house can have 15A Input socket so thatls a max of 3600w for the house. Cars like Kia EV6 etc can output the full 3600 as V2L.
Another great video. After your Bolt video I glanced over the Tesla forums if it can be done on Teslas. Some people say the in-car computer monitors every typical draw from 12V (such as AC, usb-C, infotainment etc). If it detects unusual draw, it has means to prevent such things. It would be shame if it cannot be done on Teslas, but I wouldn’t be surprised. I couldn’t find anyone tried this on a Tesla. Would be nice if somebody does it. Thanks again!
This is an excellent idea. I was in search for a relatively cheap battery powered home backup solution and I also do want to leverage our large EV battery! I actually purchased Delta 2 in Dec2023, just for backup purpose. But the including car charger draws only 8amp from the cigarette socket from my Model Y, But only gets around 113watts input. Alternator charging would be great to implement to Model Y. Do you know if anyone tried it on a Tesla? It would be great to see a video for people like me. Thanks again and I am a new subscriber now!
Does this device .... make the car's 12 volt system look like a 20 volt solar panel to the Ecoflow Power Station? Does it limit the power to 800 watts max for over current protection? Does it have high temp shut down protection? low voltage protection? I think it does. Ecoflow engineers must have thought its not a good idea to connect directly from car to power station without some protection. The 12 volt "system" sees the attached EcoFlow dc to dc converter as "just another load" and sends the electrons down to it the same way it sees the AC/heater/heatpump/lights//stereo system so its not going to discharge the 12 volt battery if the electric car is "on". Right? Knowing the max power delivery of a dc to dc converter in a car seems useful these days. The VW ID4 dc to dc can produce 3000 watts from the traction battery while the car is on. The AC/Heater consumes around 1000 watts. It looks like a useful cheaper way to do Vehicle to Load to run stuff during a power outage or camping. For EV owners, its weird to see the word Alternator in the model name because we don't have one!
The Alternator Charger monitors the incoming voltage and shuts down if it drops between a certain threshold, which you can configure. Typically, setting that to 13v ensures it only operates while your car is on.
Glad to see the Rav4 also has a larger enough DC to DC converter to keep that 12v battery fully charged while running the 800w. Maybe one day I'll have a hybrid or electric car I can mess around with stuff like this.
