Ski RV's, who's sleeping in parking lots?

[toastybroski]

Anyone have experience with a power station like this? Does it give enough power to charge your RV with an extension cord? Seems to be a good deal.

https://www.amazon.com/BLUETTI-Porta...30&sr=8-4&th=1

[evdog]

What do you mean by charge your RV? If you just mean charge the house battery in your RV using this power station, you'd need to know what the capacity of your house battery is. My 100Ah Renogy LiFePO4 is around 1200Wh, so the Bluetti at 716Wh would charge it just over half way.

That thing looks like it would be able to charge/power electronic devices like phone and maybe run lights and a laptop for a few hours before it would be out of juice.

If you want to know whether this power station will meet your needs, make a list of the devices you'd use it with in the RV, how much power they draw and how long you'd run each device or how often you need to recharge the phone etc, and total that all up. Compare to the capacity of the Bluetti. Lets say that comes out to 300Wh per day, so the Bluetti could handle all that stuff for two days worth of use. But if your normal trip is 3 or 4 days....it won't be enough unless you are able to recharge the power station while you're out there.

[Lurch]

Anyone have experience with a power station like this? Does it give enough power to charge your RV with an extension cord? Seems to be a good deal.

https://www.amazon.com/BLUETTI-Porta...30&sr=8-4&th=1

It is a little low on the Wh and output Watts for my taste. I like to be able to run a microwave off of mine.

By charging are you looking for 12V charging?

It is much more efficient to just run the RV off the Bluetti's 12V output then charge the battery from the Bluetti's 120V output through the RV's convertor. I wired a 2 circuit battery switch in between the lead acid battery and the rest of the coach. When I get to camp I connect the 12V output of my Bluetti to the battery switch via a quick connect and turn the circuit over to the Bluetti. Flip the circuit breaker on the convertor and make sure the fridge is in propane mode then connect the 120V system to the Bluetti and only turn on the Bluetti's inverter when I need 120V.

[toastybroski]

Plug into the converter with AC if my battery was to die and I was in a pickle to get the furnace going.

But mostly to have an easy power station to use to charge laptops and phones.

[DanoT]

Anyone have experience with a power station like this? Does it give enough power to charge your RV with an extension cord? Seems to be a good deal.

https://www.amazon.com/BLUETTI-Porta...30&sr=8-4&th=1

Are you considering plugging in an RV to a portable power station? The one above with 800watts WON"T run a microwave or kettle or electric heater. It will probably run a battery charger for a few hours but not long enough to re-charge a drained decent sized RV battery. These things are for operating low power drawing appliances for short periods of time or for charging phones or computers, not entire RVs.

[beaterdit]

Anyone have experience with a power station like this? Does it give enough power to charge your RV with an extension cord? Seems to be a good deal.

https://www.amazon.com/BLUETTI-Porta...30&sr=8-4&th=1

To power a whole RV that won’t be close to enough but today’s the last day of Bluetti’s holiday sale and that unit is $120 less than the Amazon price.

If you just want to use solar to charge your existing batteries you’ll need something different. What’s your setup and what are you trying to do?

I’m a total noob, don’t have an auxiliary power setup in my current van. But I just bought this unit as the cornerstone for my new build. I plan on 400 watts of solar to charge it, as well as the van alternators for a ‘modest’ power setup that may be borderline for my eventual needs. It is expandable if necessary but it’s expensive as hell to do it. At that point I may be better off having built from scratch but…. There are pros and cons to a portable standalone system vs. component build, you’ve prolly seen some discussion upthread. For powering the van, the standalone still isn't truly plug n play but it’s a lot less work and can be good value.

[beaterdit]

Plug into the converter with AC if my battery was to die and I was in a pickle to get the furnace going.

But mostly to have an easy power station to use to charge laptops and phones.

That one will be fine for the latter, for a couple days probably. Without knowing your furnace specs, it might run it for a few hours on a full charge. The one I bought (expensive) has a 30 amp RV plug so *it might* be a plug n play solution for powering your RV but not for charging.

[Trackhead]

That 30a DC output is pretty awesome. Run all DC wiring to panel, then have 30a output to remaining pos/neg post on fuse block. Could plug in DC power bank and unplug easily and take it elsewhere.

[beaterdit]

That 30a DC output is pretty awesome.

Yeah, seems to me. I'm thinking run that to a DC fuse block for my DC appliances; fridge, heater, fan, lights, etc. Looking into electric hot water heater and possibly an induction cooktop. My Van will come with an aux coolant loop I can hook into to possibly do hot water too. Need to study that further but we'd only need hot water once/day max for quick showers so that could *maybe* work. Probably would use hot water in the winter to keep it simple and safe. The AC200MAX supports simultaneous solar/AC or dual AC for fast charging. It doesn't seem to support simultaneous solar and direct DC, not sure why. So I'll get a big inverter (more $$$) and run solar+AC off that from the Van alternators. So 400w solar plus 400w AC when driving. Plenty of charging. The cigarette plug adaptor it comes with for DC charging is basically useless.

Did you buy that AC200P?

[beaterdit]

That 30a DC output is pretty awesome. Run all DC wiring to panel, then have 30a output to remaining pos/neg post on fuse block. Could plug in DC power bank and unplug easily and take it elsewhere.

Yeah I think we're saying the same thing? That's my plan anyway. Run the van appliances of the 30a RV output, be able to unplug and move the main unit easily.

[toastybroski]

I am not sure what my electrical plans are, the bluetti power stations just seem very convenient since my camper is pretty barebones.

Since my converter needs to be replaced I am wondering if I should just get a whole new one that supports LiFePO4. If I have an older PD4045KA converter, can I buy a newer one and just remove the converter (not the panel) and put it in the old one?

https://www.etrailer.com/RV-Converte...roductdetails=

[Lurch]

I am not sure what my electrical plans are, the bluetti power stations just seem very convenient since my camper is pretty barebones.

Since my converter needs to be replaced I am wondering if I should just get a whole new one that supports LiFePO4. If I have an older PD4045KA converter, can I buy a newer one and just remove the converter (not the panel) and put it in the old one?

https://www.etrailer.com/RV-Converte...roductdetails=

You can just replace the convertor and leave the power center in place. https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories...8aAhd0EALw_wcB

[riff]

I’m getting dizzy reading all the electrical talk, Trackhead please put up something with moving parts that I will understand!

I’m happy with the second hand Predator 2000 generator I got for $400, despite my fears it’s easy and chill to add to the overall jangle.


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[Trackhead]

Did you buy that AC200P?

No I’m rockin’ a single two year old lead acid battery and charge it with Renogy 40a from alternator when needed. Ran my diesel heater on low for three days straight (and while driving) to keep pipes warm on our trip last weekend. No issues.

I’m over budget on my camper and sticking with what I got for now. Don’t need much of any power in the summer.

Jealous of your new rig! Someday I might get van…

[m2711c]

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...esel-troopy-8/

[beaterdit]

No I’m rockin’ a single two year old lead acid battery and charge it with Renogy 40a from alternator when needed. Ran my diesel heater on low for three days straight (and while driving) to keep pipes warm on our trip last weekend. No issues.

I’m over budget on my camper and sticking with what I got for now. Don’t need much of any power in the summer.

Jealous of your new rig! Someday I might get van…

Sweet, that's pretty impressive performance form a single 12 volt. I've been envious of your camper and now the mini camper too. If it ain't broke...

That said, I am really excited for the new Van, just no so excited to pay for it all.

[Trackhead]

Sweet, that's pretty impressive performance form a single 12 volt. I've been envious of your camper and now the mini camper too. If it ain't broke...

That said, I am really excited for the new Van, just no so excited to pay for it all.

Well that performance was by using the 40amp Renogy driving to/fro ski hill from hot springs daily.

The layout of a van is just superior. Easy to get in due to low height, driving to living space without exiting, marginally better MPG.

[SchralphMacchio]

Speaking of charging currents, I really need to rig external charging connector (like an SAE/Anderson) for my battery setup. Converter charging with factory 8AWG wiring is hella slow (and I even have an aftermarket Progressive Dynamics converter that is more eager to charge in 14.4V boost mode and can also manually override charge mode) and means excess generator runtime which means more gasoline that I need to carry per day. Hooking an external charger right off the genny will be so much faster!
I could also pull the covers off my batteries but that would mean fucking with the straps when they are caked in snow etc. My plan is to totally overhaul my battery mounting setup after I get a new WDH that increases clearance inside my tongue A frame. New battery box would then be able to handle a 200Ah AGM that I have on hand that I would deep discharge into the ground and then replace with built-in heated lithium - I have room for XLPE foam insulation boards in the enclosure that should work for both battery setups.

[SchralphMacchio]

Speaking of vans, I was looking at specs on the F150 Hybrid PowerBoost yesterday. EV tech isn’t yet where it is to make an all electric Class B RV (Winnebago just unveiled their concept prototype that has like 100mi range?), but plug in hybrid tech totally seems in a place to make an extended range gas van where you can run the DC power center and probably even a healthy sized inverter off the drive battery! I wonder if Ford has looked into this yet for the transit platform. Just seems to me if you can build a hybrid crew cab 4x4 F150 with 1800 lbs payload maybe you can make a hybrid 4x2 Transit van with minimal RV upfitting?

[toastybroski]

Yeah electrical talk gives me headaches. I think my bad converter fucked up my battery too.

I have a agm battery showing 12.8V disconnected at I think fully charged. Connecting the cables and checking overnight has it at 12.3V. Draw is only about .2 amps for the gas sniffer and stereo display which can’t be turned off without pulling the fuse.

About to take it out for the weekend and really hoping the furnace works for more than a few hours. Lights seem to be dimming and brightening randomly. Might bring a little buddy just in case. Battery is new last summer.

Installing a proper battery monitor just has me questioning everything now.

[SchralphMacchio]

That sounds like a bad battery, but it may be worth hooking up an external battery charger to see if anything can be equalized or renewed?

Cell voltage is not supposed to be a great indicator of state of charge, but the charts I find on Google show a fully charged 12V AGM should be 13.0V at rest (charger disconnected and no load for like an hour?), 12.3 with a light load does not sound healthy to me.

[altasnob]

Speaking of charging currents, I really need to rig external charging connector (like an SAE/Anderson) for my battery setup. Converter charging with factory 8AWG wiring is hella slow (and I even have an aftermarket Progressive Dynamics converter that is more eager to charge in 14.4V boost mode and can also manually override charge mode) and means excess generator runtime which means more gasoline that I need to carry per day. Hooking an external charger right off the genny will be so much faster!
I could also pull the covers off my batteries but that would mean fucking with the straps when they are caked in snow etc. My plan is to totally overhaul my battery mounting setup after I get a new WDH that increases clearance inside my tongue A frame. New battery box would then be able to handle a 200Ah AGM that I have on hand that I would deep discharge into the ground and then replace with built-in heated lithium - I have room for XLPE foam insulation boards in the enclosure that should work for both battery setups.

Just another good reason to ditch the generator and install solar and a DC to DC charger. Once it's setup, you never touch it (other than brushing snow off the solar panels). Especially if you are just weekend warrioring in mild climates like Oregon.

[altasnob]

Toasty, your battery is probably still under warranty so you may want to try to get a new one before it is too late. A battery under load will have lower voltage than one without load and rested. But 12.3V does seem low. My AGM sits at 12.7 with the only loads being the CO/LP alarm, the little led lights on the dc outlets, and the battery monitor.

[SchralphMacchio]

Just another good reason to ditch the generator and install solar and a DC to DC charger. Once it's setup, you never touch it (other than brushing snow off the solar panels). Especially if you are just weekend warrioring in mild climates like Oregon.

Even when my 170W panel doesn’t have any snow on it, parked with it facing south, the clouds give me like 0.3A of charging current. It’s the PNW. Furnace is running almost all day mid winter (intermittently of course), some kind of cabin lights run most of the day as well because sun angle is so low and clouds are so thick. Exhaust fan is running 24x7 also to dump moisture because the snow is so wet here (and 4 humans plus dog in the cabin adding vapor on top of melted snow and wet clothing) which increases duty cycle on the furnace blower despite temps near freezing during day and not terribly below it (20F +/- 5) is typical at night. And the DC to DC charger only works in transit, the battery is already full before we even head up the hill to the ski resort. At our local hill I also can’t park the truck next to our trailer on busy weekends, but I would also never use the truck alternator as a generator while stationary anyways.

Unless I size a future Lithium setup for 4 days & nights of furnace, lighting, and device recharging, generator is completely unavoidable for us.

Summertime is a different story, no clouds, no furnace draw, rare need for cabin lighting due to late sunsets, the single panel is more than enough to replenish lighting and recharging draws for phones and BT speaker. I’ll add a second panel at some point but right now it’s pretty pointless for my use case.

[DanoT]

In ski country solar panels for charging are not reliable; more of a bonus if the sun comes out. If doing more than weekend use, say parked at a ski resort parking lot for a week, a generator is the way to go, imo. Charging batteries off the truck engine when parked is really best for backup situations if the generator malfunctions.