I bought the 12v 100ah mini and used 2 times. I use on my kayak for a trolling motor. My original battery was a 12v 55ah (I think agm, weighed 37 lbs. My new 12v 100ah mini weighs just under 20 lbs. So it’s saving me 17 lbs. I use my trolling motor for most of day and I’m good. My original 12v 55ah battery died on a few trips. Thus I upgraded. Good for me so far.
Ya, I think these Mini 100AH batteries would be perfect form electric trolling motors. Put 2 in parallel and you should be good for a fairly long day out on the water. Great for fishing. Silent!
I just purchased 2 Li Time 100AH batteries to replace my 2 100AH in my camper, save space and weight, now using the regular 100AH wired in series in home to back up my portable power stations. I was also not expecting how much more power I can transfer to the power stations at 26 volts compared to using 12 volts. Bought a BougeRV 40A MPPT solar charge controller, put quick connect plugs on it and can use it to charge my home and camper batteries directly form solar.
That's great to hear that you're enjoying the Li Time 100AH batteries in your camper! It's amazing how much space and weight you can save with those batteries. And the higher voltage definitely allows for more power transfer. If you're looking for more power capacity and versatility, you might want to check out the Segway Portable PowerStation Cube Series. It offers a massive expandable capacity of up to 5kWh, fast recharging, and a durable waterproof design. It's a great option for both outdoor adventures and home backup power. Happy camping!
These smaller LiFePO4 batteries are made using the soft, pouch type cells, rather than the aluminum prismatic cells that are typically found in drop in lithium batteries. They apparently have a greater energy density. I have two of them, of this brand, and they weight 19.5 lbs, which is over 5 lbs less than the standard battery by the same company. I know that using two of these batteries in parallel to provide 200 AH of power to a trolling motor sounds like a good idea, but, in a lightweight inflatable tender, that would give you more run time than you would probably ever use in a single day. In the same tender, you would think that two of these batteries, in series, running a 24 volt trolling motor, would get you from point A to point B much faster, but it won't. If you had a very heavy boat or if your inflatable was loaded down with 8 passengers, that might be the case, but in general, a couple of people in a light tender will be able to do entire day trips with a 12 volt motor and just one of these batteries. 24 volt motors have more thrust to move heavy boats, but the prop design and RPM limits the speed that you can get from them. I really like the idea of expanding the capacity of a solar power station/generator by putting two batteries in series. I knew that a boost converter could be utilized to get a single 12 volt battery to recharge a power station, but it never occurred to me to just series two 12 volt batteries to achieve the same result. I guess the magic of an MPPT solar charge controller is what accounts for the high input current you got with the series connected batteries. Demonstrating the inadequacy of the cig socket for this purpose was very informative, so thanks for that. Low temperatures don't affect the DISCHARGING of this battery chemistry. CHARGING them at temps below 32 F WILL ruin them. Starter batteries for cars can deliver hundreds of amps of current for 10 - 20 seconds, when needed, to start a large cold engine in a cold northern environment and these type batteries just can't do that. Lead acid and AGM starter batteries are specifically designed to deliver those huge amounts of Cold Cranking Amps, 600 - 800, in many cases, and then be immediately recharged by the car's alternator. Small gasoline engines on a boat, however, don't require that kind of amperage, so that's why, even though they say don't use them for starter batteries, you got away with doing it on your boat. I know from my own experience that the load tester that you used is basically limited to 10 amps. The rating on LiFePO4 batteries is based on draining them at .2 times their AH rating. That means a 100 AH battery needs to have a 20 amp load applied to test its capacity. A lesser load will give an inflated number, such as you got, and a higher load will reveal a capacity lower than advertised. I know that sounds nit picky, but I didn't make the rules. They are there to give accurate "apples to apples" criteria for meaningful comparison. Gave you some love and a thumbs up! Wish I knew how to sail!
Thanks for your exceptional summation. Your clear, concise writing style is very effective. I got more useful information from your reply than from most of the many You Tube video presentations I have watched on this subject. Your comments were a excellent complement to Craig's informative video. BTW, I would hazard to guess that you would find the pleasures and challenges of sailing rewarding. Safe sailing demands a consistent level of awareness and readiness even in the most seemingly benign of circumstances. You strike me as someone who does the homework before the test, and even enjoys doing it. 😊
LOL! From grade 8 onward, I never took a test that I didn't KNOW I was going to make an A on. I studied everything that I could think of before the test, partly because I thought there really was a "Permanent Record" somewhere out there that was going to come back and haunt me as an adult. 😆@@geobus3307
When I get around to this, my preference is to run solar directly to an mppt charger to my batteries. Then to power out from my batteries to my bluetti. I'm planning on using a 48 volt battery. I believe my first gen ac200 takes an input between 36 - 72 volts.
I use their 300ah LiFeP04 in the camper I live in with a 2000w inverter and 60 amp and 10 amp MPPT solar charge controllers. I use it with my solar and a 20 amp plug in charger to top it off before storms. If I set my air conditioner thermostat conservatively I can easily get over 12 hours of cooling or more if it`s connected to solar. My little air conditioner draws a max of 400 watts. When it`s only about 80 degrees it can run it for 24 hours. The big battery comes in handy for a lot of things during power outages. I also use 11 solar power stations between 250 and 700 watts for my dorm fridge (two 500w), freezer (two 700w), 12v rice cookers (several 300w ones), and the rest for lights, USB fans, WIFI, extra storage, etc. I have 680 watts of glass solar panels, 120w, 100w, 60w, and several 30w to 20w folding panels, plus three small glass panels for backup direct power for my best larger portable radio receivers that plug into their power ports. I also use rechargeable batteries for everything that have chargers that can use my folding panel ports or power stations. I`m in a hurricane zone.
Sarah's brother Mark needed reliable power for his off-grid cabin and after some research he discovered the LiTime lithium battery. Thanks to their high capacity and long life, he is now able to easily power his cabin. Later we also bought 4 batteries for our RV and they worked well.
This is definitely a fact, I purchased a 400am Litime LIPO4 battery for my travel trailer, Rockwood Geo Pro 20bhs. I also have 600 watts of solar on the roof as well as almost 400 to attach to the external solar panel port. I literally never turn the battery off and keep the fridge running full time. I plugged an electric heater to run the battery down, and it was back full I almost 2 hours before it was full again.
That's great to hear that the LiTime lithium battery has been working well for Sarah's brother's off-grid cabin and your RV! If you're looking for another reliable power solution, I highly recommend checking out the Segway Portable PowerStation Cube Series. It's packed with features like a massive capacity, fast recharging, waterproof technology, and versatile sockets. It's perfect for outdoor enthusiasts and RV lovers alike!
That's great to hear about Sarah's brother Mark finding reliable power for his off-grid cabin with the LiTime batteries! If you're looking for another reliable power solution, I highly recommend checking out the Segway Portable PowerStation Cube Series. It offers massive capacity, powerful output, and super fast recharging. Plus, it's built tough with an armor design and has comprehensive protections for long-lasting usage. Definitely worth considering for your outdoor adventures and home backup power needs!
After 3 carburetors, 1 fuel pump, spark plugs and air filters and still can't get my Onan 4000 running right in my RV so I bought a ALLPOWERS 4000W solar gen + 400W portable panels. I'll celebrate removing my Onan and loosing 300 lbs and gaining extra storage and running off the solar gen. I also have 600W panels fixed on my RV with MPPT controller and 1000W inverter connected to 2 LifePo4 batteries in parallel. So this video helps me better understand how I'll use the existing panels/batteries to charge my solar generator with the portable panels as backup, unless I'm missing something here. *RIP ONAN*
Keep in mind, old type of alternators on engines designed for lead acid that doesn't have internal control will burn out when connected to lithium battery, this is because it doesn't control the maximum current. Lithium battery has a very low charge resistance so if a power source does not have internal current control it will burn because of extreme current.
Maybe true, but, if anything I think the alternators stops too soon. LifePo4 only think they are full when they get up near 14V. Lead Acid tops out way before that. So an alternator will assume the batteries are full when they are really not. I usually keep my start battery turned off and if I want to charge it, when my house bank is full and the sun is still hot I turn on both banks (engine not running) and my LifePo4 start battery gets topped up from my house bank. The alternator on my engine is not that useful for charging past a certain level. Below what my LifePO4 can handle. The only time I have used my engine to top up my battery is when we have had a dark stormy couple of days and the batteries are getting low. If I need to get from A to B the alternator helps give some power back. Again, it never get the LifePO4s full. But it adds some to the bank.
@@Bowmans-Woods , There are alternator's setup directly for Lifepo4 battery, not only will they charge to the proper level they will limit the first charge current when the battery is low. It It is a small extra investment but you have perfect control, I am using alternators from Bosch. A friend used is original stock alternator and after draining the battery too low, he burned his alternator.
the BMS of lithium shut off the charging of the lithium. Alternator burns up. Solution- charge a lead acid and lithium at the same time.@@Bowmans-Woods
Thank you Craig, excellent video. 20:55, I have also discovered that delivering 24v to my solar generators is a game changer whether from a 24v battery or 2 panels in series. During an emergency this has pulled my family through several days of a power outage.
That's a great tip, Craig! Delivering 24v to your solar generators can definitely be a game changer during emergencies. Speaking of reliable power backup, I highly recommend the Segway Portable PowerStation Cube Series. With its massive capacity, fast recharging, and waterproof technology, it's perfect for outdoor adventures and home backup. Check it out!
Thank you for sharing your experience, Craig! It's great to hear that delivering 24v to your solar generators has been a game changer for you during emergencies. If you're looking for a reliable portable power station, I highly recommend checking out the Segway Portable PowerStation Cube Series. With its impressive capacity, waterproof technology, and fast recharging capabilities, it's perfect for outdoor enthusiasts like us. Happy camping!
I just replaced the Lead Acid battery in my Goal Zero Yeti 1250 with a Li Time 12.8V 100Ah battery w/5.0 Bluetooth. Since the MPPT charge controller will no longer show the correct information on the Yeti 1250, I used the battery bluetooth connection to the Li Time app to view SOC. Works great and my Yeti is half the weight while providing twice the amount of power.
Very informative. I just got the Anker c1000 and plan to use your info to hook up the same battery. I’m not really “electrical” but I’m starting to get it. Thanks
@@Bowmans-Woods I asked Anker. They agreed I could plug this into the generator for additional charge with a pure sine inverter and use the output plugs at the same time. This way, if I’m Solar charging the generator I will still have some juice off the inverter. Seemed to me to be more useful than their extender by itself.
Often those power stations will assume charging from 12v assumes a cig lighter socket good for only 120 watts or less. When they see more than 24v they assume charging from solar and will attempt to extract the maximum usable power. Instead of doing a 24v battery (whether purchased or wired up yourself) you can also use a DC to DC boost converter to step up a single battery to the solar input range specified. It will cost a little bit of efficiency, but usually a lot cheaper and smaller than two batteries and more flexible in the output voltage available to match the specs of the power station.
Yes. It is going through the MPPT controller which tries to max the charge. A boost converter will also help if you only have one 12.8V battery. Thanks
Hi Sylvan, I have a 12v 400ah LiTime lithium, iron phosphate battery I would like to hook up to my Bluetti AC 200 max power station/solar generator and run the two as one and also to keep the power station charged longer while it is in use. I am new to all this and was curious about your DC to DC boost converter. If I understand you correctly, that would take my 12 V battery and make it charge like a 24 V battery? If that is the case, and my Bluetti can receive that high of a voltage, how do I go about wiring a DC to DC charger up to my Bluetti? I was looking at a few on Amazon and these little grey boxes just have wires sticking out of them. How do I connect this to my Bluetti? Also, do I have to worry about the DC to DC converter getting too hot?
@@CuriousinNY you understand correctly and are asking all the right questions. I'm not familiar with bluetti, and my ecoflow is a bit more complex. Verify the input voltage and wire the DC:DC to a charge cable for your unit. It may require buying a solar charge cable and cutting off the end you don't need. You can use Wago wire connectors on the wires. There are many videos that go into this in more detail.
@@Sylvan_dB thank you. How do I know what size wires to use to connect to the DC to DC charger? 6 gauge? 8 gauge? BTW, how does wiring go anyway? The higher the number the bigger the cabling and the more power can go through it safely? The reason I ask is because I have only seen videos using 100ah batteries and not 400ah.
@@CuriousinNY This is going to get deep quickly. Probably this is too much for a comment thread on youtube. But here goes... If you are talking american wire gauge, awg or just gauge or abbreviated using "#" so #6 is 6 gauge is 6 awg. Bigger numbers are thinner wires. It is something like the number of wires of that size that will fit in a specific area like a square inch or something like that. So bigger numbers, more wires fit, so they must be smaller. Smaller wires can carry fewer amps. Other countries use a more sane system such as the cross sectional area of the wire in square mm. Bigger area, bigger wire, more amps. 400ah is 400 amp-hours (that's a hyphenated term). amp-hours is a measure of capacity. Wire sizing does not care about capacity, but only about the instantaneous (no time involved) flow, which is amps. I don't know how many amps your bluetti will draw. My ecoflow is limited to 15 amps. If connected directly to your 400ah battery (well, it should have a fuse, usually about 50% larger, so 20 amp fuse or maybe 30 amp fuse) and was drawing 15 amps, 400 amp-hours divided by 15 amps results in 26.66 hours. In other words, in an ideal world your battery can supply its 12-ish volts for 26.66 hours to something drawing 15 amps. I put the 12-ish volts in there, because volts multiplied by amps is power. 12v x 15a is 180 watts. My ecoflow can take up to 500 watts, up to 15 amps, up to 60 volts. Whichever limit is reached first, is the limit of the system. With 12v the limit is 180 watts. If I boost that to 36v, 36v x 15a is 540 watts, too much. The ecoflow cannot control the voltage, but it can draw less amps to limit to 500 watts. 500w / 36v is 13.888a into the ecoflow. But at the battery, before the DC booster, 500w / 12v is 41.6666a! So wire size... You size a wire so the fuse will protect the wire. In other words, if you have a 30amp fuse, you need a wire that can carry 30amps. You can look up a more complete chart on "wire ampacity" but as long as you keep the lengths reasonably short, #14-15amps, #12-20amps, #10-30amps, #8-40amps, #6-50-60amps. Because you are using fairly low voltage D.C. you cannot afford much loss in the wiring (we don't live in an ideal world) so if the wires are longer than about 20 feet, go to the next larger size. Sorry for the wall of text. It get complex pretty quickly.
Wow these batteries sure came down in price in the last year! I paid $289 Memorial Day weekend 24’ I have a Montgomery 17 pocket cruiser that I’ve been running a Amped 20ah and a 50W panel for over weekend cruises (Lake Erie) the Amped has been very reliable. I am upgrading to the 100ah mini and adding another 100W panel. Anyway good review!
Thanks for showing how to do something that the power station makers say you can’t do. I wondered why not since the stations allow AC input, solar input, etc. thanks
Nice video I think the idea of a battery charging another battery (power station) isn’t genius enough because you’re depleting the cycle counts of the two batteries in a redundant move. The best approach should be connecting an inverter into the extended battery and into ac input of Eb3a this will allow UPS of Eb3a to draw directly from the extended battery and later on from Bluetti itself this will maximize the usage of both batteries instead of depleting one to charge to other. I hope you would make a video showing and proving this idea
True. It was just giving you options to charge it. Not an every day solution. But, keep in mind you probably have 4000 cycles to 80%. So I doubt you would ever run out of cycles anyway.
I may do a video of my LifePO batteries and Sol Gens I have installed on my boat once I am on my 5 week sailing vacation. Right now my boat is being worked on so most of the stuff is still at home. Except my 2x 200AH LiFePO4 batteries I already have on the boat for my fridge. It is always nice to arrive at a boat and know there are cold drink waiting. :-)
No, use a 12 -> 24V converter and plug that into the solar charging power. Often times these batteries are limited at 12V 10A for DC charging but have a much larger MPPT. Or, run in series to get 24V so the MPPT is more efficient.
As a senior with back problems, I like the 100 ah size, and I think they can be wired in series to be a 24V system?? I don't understand all this stuff yet, but I am reading that a 24V system can be more useful in many cases, providing more flexibility. But I might start with just one battery and see if I actually will use it enough to buy a second.
This was great. I have a small power station that can’t take it more than 220Watts Solar, so I will get just one of these batteries for my van (for rainy days). Just need to relisten to the video about getting an inverter or Alternator charger to charge both station and LFPO battery. You have an essay going comprehensive delivery. Thanks
I like that I can stick 2 of them in a square milk crate and wire them in series and have an easily portable 24 battery bank. Better for charging my Sol Gens at around 210W vs 105W for a 12V battery. I can not fit 2 full size batteries in a regular sized crate.
@@Bowmans-Woods thanks! That’s what I was wondering if I kept charger on , the battery from classic car I bring inside in winter but if I had multiple batteries….plan to be somewhere warm but could see some Canadian cold
Sorry. The one I use is a generic Amazon one that is a 12V/24V 20A charger. There is no name on it and they are all made in the same Chinese factory. I have 3 of them. They have just slightly different writing on the front but generally all look the same. Just go to Amazon and look at the reviews. The ones I get never seem to have a brand name on it. Again. All made in the same factory is my guess but listed as different ads. Lots of reviews with close to 5 star rating is what I use to chose. Oh ya, and I look for the ones on sale, because Im cheap. LOL
Very true. If you had 3x100ah LifePo batteries in parallel you would have 300AH of 12.8V. That would give your little powerbank much much more capacity and the 12.8V would give you about 110W of charging. If you did 2x100AH in series you would then have a 25.6V battery and would charge your Power bank at about 210W. Or 200 if that is the max the MPPT will accept. The MPPT will be you max charge rate.
I wish they stopped calling them solar generators. A solar generator is the sun... the power supply bank is the battery ,,, the supply center is a power station. Call them what they are. Power Stations.
Sure lifepo not affected by heat, BS. Never gets cold on a boat, BS. Solar generator is the PV panel not the battery or power bank, blah blah. Half arsed.
When they say, solar generator, everyone knows what it means. I have no problem oth it. Same when a TV anchor says i will see you tomorrow. Will they actually see the viewers tomorrow? Absolutely not. But we all know what they mean.
I like your real world perspective. Specs are nice, but will the toys do the job is my bottom line. I hope your have a great sailing season. I used to sail on Lake Michigan as a kid.
Thanks. Yep. Specs are fine but can it handle my wife’s need for a hair dryer, electric kettle and microwave on my boat? If so I can see using it, if not, I’ll pass on it. Only so much space on a boat.
Thanks for the great video. I bought the BLUETTI EB3A as per your video and it’s great. How do you know what is left in your battery after you recharge you EB3A ? Thanks again.
Somehow I may have missed something, but can you explain the actual cables, adapters, etc to connect the battery to the power station? Is there a way to use max solar, plus use one or two batteries? I was also thinking use the station with solar once it is out, then spare batteries after sundown. Thanks so much for helping us do what we felt should be able to do, but the Company wants to sell us the equivalent of $250 of backup but charging $1,000 for it, lol
Sorry. The one I use is a generic Amazon one that is a 12V/24V 20A charger. There is no name on it and they are all made in the same Chinese factory. I have 3 of them. They have just slightly different writing on the front but generally all look the same. Just go to Amazon and look at the reviews. The ones I get never seem to have a brand name on it. Again. All made in the same factory is my guess but listed as different ads. Lots of reviews with close to 5 star rating is what I use to chose. Oh ya, and I look for the ones on sale, because Im cheap. LOL
That's surprising with the EB3A. It's rated up to 28v at the input. This means that the the regulator is not very sophisticated, because it should be able to current limit its own input current to its 8.5A rating. The larger Bluetttis can do this no problem.
Ok. Probably best to not be upside down. It said mounting in on any side was fine so I was just implying it does not need to be only mounted one way, like you do with led acid. Which always has to be mounted with the vent caps at the top.
Well, there is a lot to think about here really with combining lifepo4s with a solar generator. Youve got wxtra losses happening with the inverter and a lot of wear on the unit to constantly supply the much larger standalone batteries. Im thinking its a better situation to have more reliable power coming into the lifepo4s first, then supplying the Bluetti. Using rhe cigarette plug and dc charging would get around the inverter losses and where on that component. I may be wrong though. What do you guys think?
I keep my solar panels on the batteries and at the same time use the batteries to keep the solar generator charged you don't have to charge them separately
This was a very useful lesson. I am preparing a portable electrical package for delivery and cruising trips and the idea of a medium power station(I am thinking of the new Bluetti AC60P water resistant model) plus some Dr. Prepare PowerMax 100AH batteries) and this looks like a good cost effective package combined with perhaps a 200 watt solar panel. I love the sound of the new BougRV 200watt yuma cigs as they are better I think in partly shaded conditions which is a sure possibility on board a sail boat. Perhaps I could charge the batteries with the cigs and then charge the AC60P with the batteries? Anyway, thanks for another super review/lesson. SkipRay, Kerry, Ireland.
Unless bluetti changed the voltage limit on thr mppt from a lower number my EB3A takes 28v so two 12v batteries in series is fine. I assume it would do the full 200w limit.
Great video. Which smart charger are you using to charge the 12v batteries? What size cables are you using to connect the batteries in parallel? Do you recommend fusing the batteries when connected in parallel? The allpowers seems like a great device. Thanks for sharing.
The smart charger is linked in the description. It is a generic Chinese made Smart charger that autosenses 12V or 24V batteries for charging. I like it but I think there are a few listings that all look like the same charger, just with different band names. The wires between the batteries I believe are 10 Gauge ( I believe). You do not need fuses between two batteries. Now maybe if you were wiring 4S/4P then you might want a fuse set up between the large MPPT and the batteries or the batteries to the Inverter for those large installs. But the batteries have BMS that claim to protect the batteries from over charge rates or over draw rates, so you should be good with a small install or going from a battery to a Sol Gen.
@@Bowmans-Woods Maybe I am blind but I didn't see the link for the smart charger. Just found your channel last night and sent a link to my buddy who sails.
I like the idea of using two batteries to make it 24 volts. Many power stations work between 12 to 60 volts for the DC in. So my question is, what percentage of a 12 volt lithium battery could you use to charge a power station before it drops below 12 volts and the power station cuts off the charge coming from the lithium battery?
The MPPT built into the Sol Gen moves the volts and amps around to maximize charging. You will keep charging until the BMS of the battery finally says the battery is too low and shuts it off.
@@Bowmans-Woods it sure was. 😕 We had a couple of sparks that look like they would turn into something, but just couldn't pull it together. The team is looking really banged up this year 😖
Hi there, just joined your channel. Very good and interesting. So what you were doing was pretending that the Li Time 100 watt battery was a solar panel? The genny could not tell it was not solar because it was coming through the solar input plug so therefore had to be Solar??? Anyway, I will watch and like and comment on more of your posts and hopefully learn a bit more. | keep forgetting to read the comments which is bad because I and others can learn quite a lot from those as well. (sometimes!!!). I'm planning on buying a Bluetti AC60 (the waterproof model) as I do a lot of sailing sometimes in small boats and one of the 200w solar panels bluetti make( it's a bit disappointing, they don't seem to have the connection plugs on the panels for charging iphones and pads and stuff directly from the panels which is quite useful sometimes as you don't have to get out the solargenny. I''m also a bit "conflustracated" over 220v as opposed to 120volts that you have in the USA. We have a 220 volt electricity network using a 3 square pin plug. Does that cause further complications or do the gennys recognise the voltage difference or perhaps they can accept a range from 120 to 220 volts? I'm ignorant of the difficulties and dangers involved. Perhaps the best thing is to get the European model which would be 120 volt(only problem is most of my tools and gear is rated at 220w ) and I'm not sure 2 or 3 pin similar to the US plug. Anyway as you can surely tell, I'm confused!!! I'm also looking to get the DrPrepare ProMax 100amp/1280wh battery with the attachable smart box with the 100w solar input and several other outlet plugs on it as a (hopefully) a backup to the bluetti and also of course as a stand alone power source. The ProMax only takes 100 watts solar. I will be getting a 200 watt panel with the bluetti(I think) and I was wondering if that was all I had could I use the 200 watt panel to charge the 100 watt limited ProMax by shading/covering half the 200w panel or just leave it open on a cloudy day and keep an eye on it to make sure it did not reach the 100 watt input level??? We get a lot of cloudy weather here on the west coast of Ireland. Fair sailing, SkipRay, Kerry, Ireland.
Thanks for the sub. Yes. Volts coming in through the DC solar input get treated like a solar panel. The sol gen doesn't know the difference. So if you have LifePO4 batteries available, you can charge them up and when you have an extended power outage, you can plug them into your Sol Gen and extend its capacity.
I was trying to make a setup with a cyrix charger relay to charge the delta pro and then the batteries and when sun goes out i wanted to charge the delta pro from the batteries. using only one input cable in the delta pro.
Go to their website. They explain the science of the battery there. Im no scientist. Long and short. They have put more dense batteries to make it smaller.
Yes. I have used batteries to charge all of my Sol Gens. They all have MPPT controllers for the Solar in. The MPPT just see the Volts coming is as solar and up coverts it to the Volts of the battery in each different Sol Gen.
OK, at the end of the video, the most important part which I was watching extremely closely because if you wire it wrong you can burn your house down... So just before you blew your cigarette lighter fuse you had the Black alligator clip on the front battery and the red alligator clip on the rear battery (on the matching correct color terminals).. then all of a sudden when you came back after fixing the fuse, now you have the alligator clips REVERSED, the red on the front battery black terminal and then the black on the rear battery RED terminal.. Why is it still working and not shorting or catching fire???? thanks in advance...
Id have to go back and look again. I know I have one set of alligator clips that are attached to MC4 connectors and due to the way it connects to the MC4s the red actually has to go on the black and vice versa. Not sure it that is what you saw.
Sorry. All the ones on Amazon look the same. Im sure they are all built at the same Chinese factory. Just look at the reviews and get any of them that are on sale
Thanks for the video very interesting, a question I have a powerstation eb50 bluetti with 200 watts solar panel , on day time , may I use my powerstation to charge lithium 12volt battery to have backup with my 12 volt battery Thanks to answer me back
Hello! Great video… I tried the same thing you did, except I have an Allpowers R3500. I’m only able to pull in 215 watts with my batteries connected in series. My unit is able to input 2000 watts of solar. Just wondering if you might have an idea as to why I can’t pull in as many watts as you are able to on this video. I’ve got the same batteries, just a different brand. Thanks!
Go on Amazon and you will see a ton of battery chargers that all look the same with just different names. They all are probably made in the same place.
Hi, great video! Do you know how the additional battery can be recharged through the solar panels when sunny, so that with no sun we get both internal and external battery available?
Ya, I explain that in a different video. So if you get a sunny day and you have plenty of solar, you will get to the point that your sol gen is fully charged and it will stop accepting any new solar watts coming in. In a case like that you can plug in a battery charger to the AC out on your sol gen and start dumping power into the battery for use later if you have an extended power outage. The battery just acts as a store of unused power that you can use later.
@@salvatoreperlangeli6656 - also, get a solar controller to hook your solar panels to, then wire the appropriate wiring from the solar controller to charge up you battery. Look up "DIY 12v solar system" or 24V system and many on youtube show this wiring for solar charging batteries to store power. There are many 40Amp 12/24V solar controllers that seem very good and some that can even handle 12-48V, I think! It seems to me that 40amp gives more flexibility for a beginner like me, while if you have a bigger system you will need a higher amp controller. Some of the ones I am currently picking from are HQST, Epever and Renogy. The top of the line, but very pricey, seems to be Victron. And while you CAN charge a battery straight from solar, apparently, it seems to me that a solar charge controller is safer for the batteries and can charge them faster, if I am understanding the concepts correctly that I have seen in such videos.
I have a Pecron e1500 pro with a 12 to 18 volt 100 watt max charging port. Is it safe to connect one of the batteries directly without regulating the input current?
Just look at the Volt in allowed on your Sol Gen for your solar input. Most will allow a range that the batteries fall within. The Sol Gen just treats the battery as if it is a solar panel
so i connect the batteries in series if i were to use them with a power station? parallel if i bought an inverter for the batteries? sort of confusing stuff
Sorry but I don't see where you talk about the battery charger that charges the Li Time. Can you please give us the name and where we can get it? TYI JB
I'm looking for a video of how to wire non proprietary batteries into the Bluetti battery port. Their supplemental batteries are overpriced. Your technique is fine but requires an additional step to charge the supplemental battery.
Just got EcoFlow delta pro with a 400 watt panel and had a high of 482 watts that’s 482 watts from a 400 watt panel!!!!!! Is there a E-Mails that we could talk thanks Steven
Just not confident in the pouch technology, I will stick with the regular battery vs the pouch tech, until enough time has elapsed and results come back on fire hazards.
Lots of these batteries have been sold. LifePo4 is not a regular Lithium with the risk of catching fire. It is just a space saving LifePo4. Nothing risky about it.
@@Bowmans-Woods Exactly, so we should be getting data on fails if they start to happen, there are papers expressing pouches could fail if subjected to accidental abuse in shipping prior to installation, so not knowing what happens in the factories etc, I will stick with the more solid construction materials that have a more ridgid structure and are less likely to suffer damage from incidental contact….Now I do hope i am wrong and we see NO pouch expansion problems or ignitions, then I would be happy to say yeah, it meets my standards of reliability and safety….But even the manufacturers after all their selling points ultimately say it is an unknown and that data is still being collected as it is a new form factor being released.
I enjoyed this video I have a growatt Infiniti 1300 and when I'm trying to use the refrigerator I really have to be careful what else I can use at night so being able to buy a battery like you're showing or a couple of them would be great. But I'm having trouble understanding a couple things. At the cabin I have EG4 lifpo4 100ah batteries and these things are over a hundred pounds each. is this 100 amp hour battery the same as far as the amount of power stored? Thank you in advance! I don't have the system (eg4)hooked up yet that's why I ended up buying the growatt. I brought my growatt and four of my 455 watt solar panels back home to cut down on my usage here.(only using 2 of them Mac solar input of growatt is 800) I brought the additional two panels home in case I bought another Power station.
If your battery is over 100 lbs, then it will not be a Lithium battery. It is probably a flooded Led Acid battery. 100ah batties that are LifePO look like the ones in my videos and do not weigh that much
@@Bowmans-Woods you need to look up signature solar eg4 100 amp hour batteries they are a server rack battery and they are 109 lb a piece I have three of them. They are also around $1,500 a piece.
Are you serious that you don't know why you're charging at 500W? It sorta sounded like you knew why later on. 500 \25 is less that 20A...well within the capacity of those batteries.
Usually when I put two 12V 100 Amp hour batteries in series the Sol Gens take in about 200ish Watts. Never seen 500 before. Not complaining though. Faster is better
"Solar Generator Capacity" means the capacity to provide AC power at a specific maximum wattage for a total run time.... All that you are showing is a way of charging a power station when house AC or solar is not available.... In the TRUE sense of the wording, this video does not increase run time as would an external high amp battery pack would.... To extend run time, a DC voltage source equal to the rail or bus voltage that the inverter requires to output AC is required.... Now, if the AC load is LESS than the input wattage of charging with this method, the run time = capacity would be considered expanded....
C’Mon Man… Really?🤦♂️ That is the most nitpicking crap of a paragraph I have seen in a long time… With all the Click Bait BS out there you chose to plant your flag in this video? 🙃😂
Another point to add most vehicles need hundreds of amps to start most 12v batteries are really not designed to pump out that many amps..you might get away with things like Generator,bikes and lawn mowers..
My compressor DC/AC refrigerator use a tiny bit of power. 20 to 35 amps when the compressor is running but It's intermittent. It's off much more than it's on. That's what I checked on DC with my power box, it used about 60 Watts in 7 hours.
Bluetti says I can only charge it from a wet cell battery car accessory Outlet not for my lithium batteries. That's what the manual says from ac-200 Max says. I'd like to run accessory cable from my 2-200 ah 12v lithium batteries over to my Max.. anybody have an answer for that I know I could put the batteries in series and get 24 volts a 200 W I'll wait until I hear from y'all
I have an alligator clip attached to my LifePO batteries going to an XT60 or XT90 going into the solar in of any Sol Gen and it always works perfectly. It doesn't know it is not solar. All it sees is either 12V or 24V coming in depending if you have batteries in parallel or series. The Sol Gen treats it as solar for the MPPT
100Ah of Power Queen is $319 For Regular or $329 or a Mini Battery, Why would you buy this Li Time Thing when you could get a name brand Power Queen for less
Unless you are running your engine s for hours at a time per day, they won't keep up with your power needs.. keep your battery bank full. You need a minimum of 400 watts panel wise and 400 amp hours lifepo4 lithium batteries to keepup with your needs.. this will not include ac.. another400 amp hours of batteries to do that. at least... and another 200 watts panel wise... total 600 watts panels 800 amp hours batteries.
This video is misleading and confusing. The eb3a is not expandable. What he is doing in this video is he is charging one battery with another battery basically. In other words, he is prolonging the Usage of the eb3a, Is the correct terminology.
Yep. Expanding the capacity. If you plug the EB3A into solar and you are maxed out at 100%, instead of having the solar shut off, you could plug in a battery charger into the EB3A and dump power back into the battery to use again later. In essence that is expanding the capacity of the small EB3A.
@@Bowmans-Woods again when you use ports like the DC ports thats called charging. There are other models like the new AC 240 and others that uses a proprietary aviation cable meant to expand batteries but again those models have a special port and cable for that. I could be confusing to people that are starting out and don't know the difference so the terminology is very important if what your doing here is to help.
Technically, it's not a seamless full blown expandability. More like a poor man's version that is very useful, with some limitations. As @bowmans-woods mentioned, you can use the EB3A to charge the external battery with excess solar. However, when using the external battery to supplement the EB3A's capacity through the solar port, you are limited to around 200 watts max input. If you are running a 500 watt load, you will eventually deplete the EB3A and will have to wait for it to recharge. A smaller load of less than 200 watts could keep running continuously until the external battery is depleted, as the input would be greater than the output.
