Charging an EcoFlow Delta

[JTT6]

Evening all, I am looking at 240v power options for the van, and rather than a traditional split charge/leisure battery, I have been looking at removable batteries like the Ecoflow Delta / Goal Zero Yeti 1000x. I'm a photographer so having power I can take out of the van on shoots would be great. The Yeti 1000x has a propper car charger option, but it is £500 and the spec/charge time of the Ecoflow looks much better....

Now wondering what is the best way to create a 240v system to charge the Delta from the van?.
Could I simply run an inverter if so what do you guys suggest? I have space under passenger/driver seats to mount something..
Thanks in advance. Jack.

 

[dj_]

Hi mate, could you charge the Delta using the 12V instead? I have a similar battery and I use the 12V when I’m running the van, or a solar panel when I’m stationary.

 

[JTT6]

Hey, yer you can charge via 12v but it’s slow. The EcoFlow charges in 1.5hrs over 240v which is mad, so want to see if that’s possible without cooking anything in the van…

 

[Pauly]

This is going to come down to simple science, lets look at the worst case scenario and assume your unit is flat/empty

According to the sites specs the mains charger is 1200W, if your unit is flat and needs charging then you need to take that capacity from your van into the unit in the time taken, thats a hefty current

If you want to do it with mains then 1200W @230V is approx 5.2 amps, assuming you want to do this from an invertor then (allowing for a little bit of inefficiency) you can times that by around 20 to get the 12V power draw, so you are looking potentially a bit over 100A current and would need to do this for upto 1.6 hours to get it fully charged !

As said this is worst case, you would find that the charge current will slowly drop as the unit starts to charge and eventually tail off as it approaches its higher capacity but still its a lot of flow and im not sure your van will like that much draw on it for any period of time but you would certainly need the engine running to even begin to cope with that demand, you could even do with a leisure battery to help achieve that kind of energy dump then have time to recover and top back up ready for another charge but then that kind off defeats the point i suppose !

I think the main question here is are you ever realistically going to utilise all the power it has to offer and then are you going to need to get it full again in a hurry to reuse ?

 

[Dellmassive]

As @Pauly mentioned.

You will need a 1000w pure sine inverter setup.

That will need a 100A feed from the starter or from a 12v leisure battery and DC+DC set-up.

Then run the engine for 1.5hrs. or go for a drive.

Charging the ECO at full rate uses some big power!!

Unfortunately it will cost big money for the setup.

The easy cheaper option is just to use the 12v input . . . And accept it will take longer to charge.

Or pay the money and get a sweet 12v 100ah lithium battery & 50A dc-dc charger to run a 1000w inverter.

In my testing the 240v charged at about 550/650w

 

[Dellmassive]

Mor info here....

Portable Power Packs - LifePo4 Battery Boxes -- How I done It --

SOLAR GENERATOR -- How I done It -- OFF The back of these two threads i thought i was time do a dedicated thread. https://www.t6forum.com/threads/awesome-3-in-1-battery-bank-how-i-done-it.18674/ . https://www.t6forum.com/threads/jackery-power-stations.27586/ . The Lithium battery...

www.t6forum.com

.

 

[Dellmassive]

And charge testing here....

Mine was 608w from 240v

Post in thread 'SOLAR GENERATORS -- How I done It --'

SOLAR GENERATORS -- How I done It --


.

 

[Dellmassive]

Fwiw...if you hardwire a fused connection to the XC60 yellow Input, you can charge at 12A....

8A is the max for the 12v socket in the van... Above that I will got hot and overheat...

 

[JTT6]

Thanks so much for such detailed replies @Pauly & @Dellmassive that's really clarified a few things.

I think in the real world I'm am likely to be powering a 100w laptop charger and charging some camera batteries during the day. Then at night driving home / to a hotel. Looking at the spec of the battery and my requirements I don't think it will drain totally in a day, so it will just need topping up before the following shoot day. I just don't fancy having another thing to carry into a hotel room at night. Hopefully, the 12v charger could do that but also very interested in the solar options now too We shoot outside a lot so having it trickle charge during use would be a good way to prevent having the big recharge draws I guess.

 

[dj_]

Hey mate, I’m in the photography industry too.

What I do on location with my unit that’s similar to the Delta is that I usually put my solar panel on the roof/windscreen and it continually tops up the battery.

It’s a 200w panel, and like you I usually run a laptop and some chargers - usually hovering around 60-150w drain depending on the activity. The lappy doesn’t stay at full 100w input all the time.

If the weather is good, the end of the day the battery is still full. Otherwise I just pop it on charge when I get home.

Mine doesn’t have the super fast charging, and takes around 6 hours maybe from flat on AC. I usually just charge it using a 60W USB-C charger and it takes maybe 8 hours or so.

If I need more than that system, I usually just bring a small Honda 1K genny - runs all day with no dramas and I have a spare jerry can of fuel.

 

[JTT6]

@dj_ thanks for the message and sorry for the slow reply! That all makes a lot of sense.
I think looking at solar is probably a good idea.
Cheers, Jack.