Been thinking about fitting an inverter,but.....

Jo662

Jo662

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I have been thinking about having a inverter fitted to my Motorhome for some time, mainly for coffee maker, hairdryer and charging bike batteries. The biggest problem i could see was draining the leisure batteries to much, especially in the spring and autumn when there is not alot of sun for the solar panels.
Then I started looking at solar generator's, strange name to call them. I started researching Poweroak ones which alot of vanlifers have, but they mainly had been given them to promote. They take between 7 and 8 hours to recharge, which put me off. Then I came across the EcoFlow Delta 1300,which you can charge up in under 2 hours by 240 volts. Or you can charge it via 12 volts while you are driving. It won't be for every one as it is expensive, we got one on special offer before Christmas.
I have only tried it on the Motorhome while its in storage and it seems to work very well running everything as if your on EHU.
I attached it to the Motorhome and turned on everything I would use during the winter, lights, heater and TV. The read out tells you how many volts you are using and how many hours it would run everything for. With everything on it said it would last for 14 hours, which I thought was very good. It has many advantages, mainly not depleting the leisure batteries, and if and when I change the Motorhome I can put it in the next one.
I know it won't be for everyone, but as far as I can see it will be perfect for us.
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How much does it cost?

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Are these devices Li-ion or LiFePO4 batteries, I have a feeling these are the former.
 
It's certainly a convenient, easy to fit solution, but my concern would be how long it takes to re-charge on 12 volts. The FAQs (link below) suggest around 10 to 12 hours on a 13.6 volts. This is from fully discharged.

My solution was an inverter and B2B which can recharge the leisure batteries very quickly.

You could fit a B2B but I'm not sure it would do much as this unit won't be able to draw the high 12 volt currents a B2B can produce.

It will be interesting to hear how it performs in real life - when we are able to get out travelling. :)

EcoFlow Product FAQs | EcoFlow US

Have questions about your Portable Power Station, Solar Panels, or any other EcoFlow product? Find answers to our community's most asked questions here.
ecoflow.com ecoflow.com
 
DBK said:
It's certainly a convenient, easy to fit solution, but my concern would be how long it takes to re-charge on 12 volts. The FAQs (link below) suggest around 10 to 12 hours on a 13.6 volts. This is from fully discharged.

My solution was an inverter and B2B which can recharge the leisure batteries very quickly.

You could fit a B2B but I'm not sure it would do much as this unit won't be able to draw the high 12 volt currents a B2B can produce.

It will be interesting to hear how it performs in real life - when we are able to get out travelling. :)

EcoFlow Product FAQs | EcoFlow US

Have questions about your Portable Power Station, Solar Panels, or any other EcoFlow product? Find answers to our community's most asked questions here.
ecoflow.com ecoflow.com
Click to expand...




i will not drain the batteries completely,and the way we use the Motorhome ,moving on everyday or two, we will just top it up on 12v.

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Jo662 said:
I have been thinking about having a inverter fitted to my Motorhome for some time, mainly for coffee maker, hairdryer and charging bike batteries. The biggest problem i could see was draining the leisure batteries to much, especially in the spring and autumn when there is not alot of sun for the solar panels.
Then I started looking at solar generator's, strange name to call them. I started researching Poweroak ones which alot of vanlifers have, but they mainly had been given them to promote. They take between 7 and 8 hours to recharge, which put me off. Then I came across the EcoFlow Delta 1300,which you can charge up in under 2 hours by 240 volts. Or you can charge it via 12 volts while you are driving. It won't be for every one as it is expensive, we got one on special offer before Christmas.
I have only tried it on the Motorhome while its in storage and it seems to work very well running everything as if your on EHU.
I attached it to the Motorhome and turned on everything I would use during the winter, lights, heater and TV. The read out tells you how many volts you are using and how many hours it would run everything for. With everything on it said it would last for 14 hours, which I thought was very good. It has many advantages, mainly not depleting the leisure batteries, and if and when I change the Motorhome I can put it in the next one.
I know it won't be for everyone, but as far as I can see it will be perfect for us.
View attachment 458277View attachment 458278View attachment 458279
Click to expand...
Hi. Really interested in this as a concept. When you say you plugged it in to your Motorhome to try it , did you plug it in as if it were the EHU source ? If so , how long did it actually last using the usual electrical items in the can ? Also , where do you plan on putting it whilst it’s in use on your trips. Is it waterproof to sit outside ? ( not that I’d want to as it could get easily stolen ) as if you are goi g to plug it in the the hook up point it will need to be near to that with a short cable I suppose. ?
cheers. Russ
 
Russ M said:
Hi. Really interested in this as a concept. When you say you plugged it in to your Motorhome to try it , did you plug it in as if it were the EHU source ? If so , how long did it actually last using the usual electrical items in the can ? Also , where do you plan on putting it whilst it’s in use on your trips. Is it waterproof to sit outside ? ( not that I’d want to as it could get easily stolen ) as if you are goi g to plug it in the the hook up point it will need to be near to that with a short cable I suppose. ?
cheers. Russ
Click to expand...


Hi Russ, I only tried it for a short time as Motorhome in storage, but it said on the display how many hours it would run with most things on I would use in winter, which was 14 hours. I left it on for a couple of hours and it worked faultlessly. I have a 10m ehu cable which I put thru a roof light to the ehu socket,as the unit is not waterproof. BTW I ran the heating on gas, which worked fine, when in tried the heater on electric it would of only lasted a couple of hours because that is too power hungry.
While it was plugged in the EHU it obviously kept the leisure batteries topped up, which is a bonus.
I will mainly use it in winter as that is when my leisure batteries struggle with less solar charging.one of the main things that swung it for this unit was the short time it takes to charge when you have access to Ehu, like a aire that offers an hours free electric.
You can also charge it with a solar panel hence the name, but not sure if I would do that, I will see how it goes.
I think it is ideal for me as it can be used any where ,not only in the Motorhome.
 
Jo662 said:
Surely that's alot more money and needs fuel ?
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Yes agreed they are not cheap and yes they require fuel but you wouldn't have to worry about power again...and prices are slowly coming down... we don't have one personally but know people who have....... just something to possibly consider that's all..

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Chris CM said:
According to the site these give only 40w or 75w, not likely to power a coffee maker or hair dryer!
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Which the EcoFlow Delta definitely does, they were other things I tested!👍
 
Efoy has it's place but---- it basically trickle charges, so will charge your batteries overnight for example but will not supply any heavy draw equipment-------- we had one and sold it--- made better use of the space!!
I like the sound of the OP gadget but the price writes it off for us😥
 
Having seen a Li-ion bike battery smoking and spitting flames I would be reluctant to have this type of cell in my motorhome, might just be me of course but I would only want LiFePO4 units but of course the power density is not as great and they might be more money as well.
 
Looks like a cracking device for motorhome folk however its capacity is only 800 cycles which is disappointing considering the cost. I guess this is a result of the fast charging system. Look forward to hearing about users experiences of the product. I expect we will now see a flood of these higher capacity models enter the market, hopefully the next generation will improve again. But definitely this is a step in the right direction especially if you have you Tesla behind you.

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Jo662 said:
I have been thinking about having a inverter fitted to my Motorhome for some time, mainly for coffee maker, hairdryer and charging bike batteries. The biggest problem i could see was draining the leisure batteries to much, especially in the spring and autumn when there is not alot of sun for the solar panels.
Then I started looking at solar generator's, strange name to call them. I started researching Poweroak ones which alot of vanlifers have, but they mainly had been given them to promote. They take between 7 and 8 hours to recharge, which put me off. Then I came across the EcoFlow Delta 1300,which you can charge up in under 2 hours by 240 volts. Or you can charge it via 12 volts while you are driving. It won't be for every one as it is expensive, we got one on special offer before Christmas.
I have only tried it on the Motorhome while its in storage and it seems to work very well running everything as if your on EHU.
I attached it to the Motorhome and turned on everything I would use during the winter, lights, heater and TV. The read out tells you how many volts you are using and how many hours it would run everything for. With everything on it said it would last for 14 hours, which I thought was very good. It has many advantages, mainly not depleting the leisure batteries, and if and when I change the Motorhome I can put it in the next one.
I know it won't be for everyone, but as far as I can see it will be perfect for us.
View attachment 458277View attachment 458278View attachment 458279
Click to expand...
Ive no idea why you would want or need such an expensive and really needless piece of kit.

But Ive just ordered one anyway 😉
 
An Efoy fuel cell generates electricity from fuel. The EcoFlow Delta is a storage battery, that needs to be charged. Its capacity is 1260Wh, which in motorhome terms is 105Ah at 12V. The car charger that comes with it (10A) will take more than 10 hours to fully recharge a flat device.

The mains charger will charge it in 1.6 hours, taking 5A from the 230V mains. It will output up to 1800W total from the mains sockets. Obviously the 1260Wh battery will not keep up 1800W output for very long, but it's long enough to make a coffee or dry your hair.

Let's say you want to fit an 1800W inverter into a motorhome with an average limited 12V system. It makes sense to install a lithium battery, a fast mains charger, a slow 12V charger and a 400W solar controller as well. That's what this unit is, all in one box.

In view of today's weather here in the UK, remember it's Lithium, so don't charge it when below zero degrees C.
 
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