Vanlife offgrid power solution with solar

updated Article @  https://vanlife.4x4tripping.com/2022/10/vanlife-off-grid-battery-solution-with.html

What do we need for staying offgrid in the nature? We need a battery which we can charge by solar, wallpower and inside of the car by 12v. It have to be possible to use also just one of these power sources over an extended timeframe.

The battery have to be able to let us run a 12v compressor fridge, notebook, drones, tablet, smartphone and some lights without limitations. 

There are many options out there, but here I will show you, how I was able to get everything together without need a lot of money. My complete powersetup is very light weight with 10kg / 5 pounds and saves too the limited space in our vehicles.

I was one of those who did use Crowdfunding to get one of this devices. It did arrive some months ago and I was able to test it deeper. The R600 Pro will not come to the market itself, but with the River Max you can buy a device who is pretty similar - at the important values, as you can see below.

It is a very very nice device for overlanding and vanlife! Everything is embedded you just need cables to connect. From Wallpower, Solarcharger, Inverter - everything is inside of this lightweiht and small box. And I will show you, that it is very capable. It is even portable, good if you want to charge your devices not directly at your vehicle.

At the important values, Ecoflow is out of reach for the competitiors at the market. It can charge up quicker than others by wall power and solar, and it can deliver more power at the 110v/220v inverter and the USB-C 

The Battery monitor shows how much power is currently charging or discharging, what helps to get a feeling about the solarpanel usage during partly shadow, rain or how it helps to direct the panel directly to the sun. Ecoflow delivers too an App for iOS/Android  so you can use your smartphone as battery monitor too

Lets look at the specs:

500W Wallplug Power Quick Charging
200W MTTP Solar Charger
100W USB-C Charging (important for Mac`s)

1200W/600W Power Inverter 110v/220v

My Tests all was very successful. This is a perfect device for staying some days offgrid and fire up compressor fridge, notebook, drones, tablet and smartphones. That we dont have to carry the 110v/220v wallcharger for the mac is very nice, because the 100w USB-C is strong enough. And yes, even was able to fire up an 2400w Waterheater like showed above (for shure not so quick than at a standard wall plug).

Even with just a allpowers 100W Solarpanel I was able to collect enough sun energy also during partly cloudy days. In the Facebook Group Ecoflow R600 Pro you find even poople who was able to connect over 300W of Solarpower, the MTTP charger will just use that juice he can handle. That is nice for winter conditions, that we can add more solar panels. 

Buy it here: ECOFLOW RIVER Max Portable 576Wh  approx. 550$

These Allower Solar Panels with EFTE are very very efficent, even under mixed weather conditions. This EFTE honey - comb structure seems to help a lot to gain solar energy under mixed conditions. The Panels are semi flexible and very light weight, therefore I recommend them here too. They are one of the cheapest 100W Panels - but are perfect for our needs. 

Optimal power [Pmax]: 100W;

Working voltage [Vmp]: 18V;

Working current [Imp]: 5.56A;

Short circuit current [Isc]: 5.8A;

Open circuit voltage [Voc]: 20V;

Dimensions: 129*51*0.25cm/50.8.8*20.1*0.09inch;

Net weight: 2.3kg/5.18lb

Buy it here: Allpower Solarpanel 100W EFTE  approx. 160$

Currently I`m carry the panel under my matress, I dint mount it permanentely to my roof. You can gain at least 20% more with direct the panel to the sun. If you like to mount it above, I suggest to mount two Solarpanels (because you will also look for shadow for your rig, which will lower the amount of  gained power a lot). Here you find MC4 adapters for connect two panels.

There is just one XT60 Plug at the Ecoflow device, where you can plugin the 12v Charger or the Solar Panel. It is more comfortable to buy a cheap XT-60 Parallel Connector, so you can plugin both sources. The embedded Ecolfow Charger will optain max. 200W - it is no problem if there is more load itself.

You may too like to get a two Socket Cigarette Lighter Splitter for connecting two compressor fridges.

You don`t need anything else, any needed cable or adapter will be included. For 710$ you get a self-sufficient off-grid Power Solution who will be able to give you enough energy for vanlife and overlanding over an extended time.

Conclusions

It is a perfect fit in my eyes. All together around 10kg for a powerful energy solution and it dosnt use much space. It delivers what we need by living remotely in our smaller van, bus or suv`s. It is completely plug-n-play - an absolutely easy plug together too for non technicans.

As long you had 2-3hours of sun at day you can stay extended. After approx 4 days of permanent rain you have to support by 12v car plug or wallpower, something what you can extend by using two solar panels. 

There is no dc-dc Booster between car alternator and the 12v plug, but for driving days you will end with a fully recharged unit anyway. The 110v/220v wall charging time is amazing, you get it fully charged under 2hours. So no wiring, no worries.

The Smartphone App is very helpful to get a feeling about power charging and the charged devices, and allows even to do a permanent installation of the Battery-Device. But to stay portable, let you use it too outside.

The Ecoflow device has a built-in fan who fires up automatically during charging by wall power and too when using the 110v/220v Inverter. This explains how ecoflow was able to charge that quick and how they are able to fire up devices till 1800w over the inverter. 

You can adjust the fan-speed over the smartphone App what result in less strong charging. Here is a disassembling Video, if you want to see the inside of a ecoflow R600 Pro.

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