Inverter to charge Anker C800 power station?

[Scottiec33]

Over the last couple of years I've followed @Dellmassive discuss power stations. I've just upgraded an old Allpowers unit to a newer Anker C800 plus, which i hope will perform better and be safer.
I have a T5.1 with a split charger to a 125ah agm battery, so the Anker supplements this.
However, as well documented, it's the issue of charging. In particular, when not away in the van we use the Allpowers and will use the Anker to power things at home to try and reduce electricity bills, charging them from solar or car DC 12v cigarette lighter socket.
What I want to do is charge the Anker more quickly when using my car for commuting to work. I've seen the other threads on the use of the orion DC-DC to up the voltage and then use the solar input.
However, I only want to use this system when I switch it on and NOT all the time, ie I don't want the alternator under load all the time, only when I want to charge the pack.
The car is stop-start, although I can turn the feature off and the battery is in the boot, which makes it easier to run short leads into the boot area etc.
So I appreciate that DC -AC - DC isn't a particularly efficient process but why can't I install a pure sine inverter straight from the car battery? If so, is there any inverter that is safe and reliable and comes with a remote switch, as I don't want it activated with ignition live and be on whenever the engine is running?
I thought this way I didn't have to worry about changing the voltage. I believe the alternator on the car puts out 220a, so would have thought a sensible inverter won't strain it too much.
I'm probably missing something important!
As plug and play and safe as possible so ideally I'm just bolting things together!
Thank you.

 

[roadtripper]

Looking at the specs the Anker seems to have a relatively low current solar input - it states maximum 10A and 300w which is not a lot.

An Orion DC-DC to do that is likely to be around £200 - but that will have Bluetooth and a remote switch (you can just wire in to an ignition signal and have a manual switch to enable) - it's just not going to be very fast.

For faster charging you could carry the mains adapter with you and use an inverter. If you are doing it just to save money on buying electricity I think you'll not break even, the cost in equipment to do it is going to be reasonably high and I suspect the increased cost of fuel will be more per unit buying it from the grid. Current price cap per unit is 24.5p and your Anker stores at best 0.8 of a unit (a unit is 1000Wh and the Anker is 768Wh) maybe a bit less with inverter losses turning the stored power back into 240v so assume 0.7 units, so a full charge will save you about 18p of grid electricity.

 

[roadtripper]

The mains adapter for the Anker looks to be about 750w so a reasonably popular 1000w inverter is the Renogy one, which I believe comes with a wired remote.

However it does specify cabling and fusing to 150A which is non trivial. Assuming an 80% efficiency that will be drawing around 110A from the car, which if your alternator is 220A may well end up drawing from the battery as well.

This is a situation the Renogy manual specifically warms about, high current inverters are generally better run from auxiliary batteries. I believe the rule of thumb for auxiliary battery charging is to keep it to about 1/4 of the alternator output so this draw is considerably beyond that.

 

[Dellmassive]

What's the Anker c800 like.?

I keep looking at it, thinking I need to add it in to the collection.

 

[roadtripper]

I keep looking at it, thinking I need to add it in to the collection.

It's not Pokémon...

 

[Scottiec33]

Thank you @roadtripper that's exactly what I hadn't factored in! Worth figuring out for the camper when the time comes but it's pretty clear it's just not worth the cost or drain in the alternator and battery for the car commute. Much appreciated .
@Dellmassive only just ordered it but looking forward to using it and the torches in the top seem a good fit for us.

 

[Dellmassive]

So just a recap.

C800 no camp lights.

C800 Plus - with camp lights.

....

Was wondering about the physical size of the c800 Vs the ecoflow D2

....




.....

 

[Scottiec33]

I was originally looking at the c1000 Vs D2. But went for Anker as their customer service has been brilliant and not read great things about Ecoflow's customer service. Then I realised it was £300 more than the C800 for not loads more capacity. Loved the idea of the torches as both have different functions and recharge automatically in the lid.

 

[Dellmassive]

I've got the 757, which is the previous version of the c1000.... A great unit.

I'm sure the c800 is just as well built.

I've got the 521 as well which is brilliant for a small PPP.

 

[Green Giant]

I’m after some advice on how best to charge our river 2 pro when away (off grid) during the colder dark months, (in summer we use the portable solar panel)
We have a Roamer 160 lithium leisure battery and a Renogy 1000w inverter under the passenger seat base, the single outlet socket in 3 meters from inverter.
I’ve reduced the charging input for the river pro from 800 to 400 watts, so roughy 4 hours to charge if it was completely flat, it never goes below 20/
When away we tend to drive about 4 hours +a day and would only charge when moving.
The leisure battery is charged by the Orion xs which is currently set to charge the Roamer 160 at 30a,
So is it ok to charge power bank with mains lead from inverter or should I buy and connect one of the alternator chargers (Bluetti charger 1)to leisure battery and charge though the xc 60 port on river pro
Sorry for long post

 

[Dellmassive]

I’m after some advice on how best to charge our river 2 pro when away (off grid) during the colder dark months, (in summer we use the portable solar panel)
We have a Roamer 160 lithium leisure battery and a Renogy 1000w inverter under the passenger seat base, the single outlet socket in 3 meters from inverter.
I’ve reduced the charging input for the river pro from 800 to 400 watts, so roughy 4 hours to charge if it was completely flat, it never goes below 20/
When away we tend to drive about 4 hours +a day and would only charge when moving.
The leisure battery is charged by the Orion xs which is currently set to charge the Roamer 160 at 30a,
So is it ok to charge power bank with mains lead from inverter or should I buy and connect one of the alternator chargers (Bluetti charger 1)to leisure battery and charge though the xc 60 port on river pro
Sorry for long post

Just plug into the renogy inverter when driving....

 

[roadtripper]

I assume the Renogy inverter is drawing power from the Roamer 160 and they are both being fed from the Orion XS?

Charging the River Pro at 400W and assuming 80% efficiency via the inverter would give around (400/12) / 0.8 = 42A

So even if driving charging at that rate is going to cause a net drain of about 12A on the Roamer, even if the Orion is running at 30A.

Unless you are limiting the Orion to 30A because of the wiring you probably want to set it to the full 50A if charging the River Pro

I agree with Dell massive that you likely don't need the hassle of a dedicated charger for the River Pro, just be aware both the Roamer and River Pro are both effectively charging via the Orion.

 

[Green Giant]

I assume the Renogy inverter is drawing power from the Roamer 160 and they are both being fed from the Orion XS?

Charging the River Pro at 400W and assuming 80% efficiency via the inverter would give around (400/12) / 0.8 = 42A

So even if driving charging at that rate is going to cause a net drain of about 12A on the Roamer, even if the Orion is running at 30A.

Unless you are limiting the Orion to 30A because of the wiring you probably want to set it to the full 50A if charging the River Pro

I agree with Dell massive that you likely don't need the hassle of a dedicated charger for the River Pro, just be aware both the Roamer and River Pro are both effectively charging via the Orion.

Thanks roadtripper and Dell, really appreciate your help,
I was on a road trip abroad and had problems with the XS charger , it stopped working and after searching the forum, I changed the settings to 30a and it has worked ok ever since, I’ll probably need to get all the settings checked by someone who understands these chargers etc
The guy that installed it didn’t set anything up, I got a refund.

 

[roadtripper]

Lots of Victron users around these parts, maybe start a thread with your current settings and symptoms and folks can advise.

My personal view with the higher current chargers is to leave them around 30A if you are using the van regularly as this lets them run cooler and is kinder to the battery in daily driver use, but you have the higher current for those weeks/weekends when you're off grid and working the system hard.