200w panels are doing a great job

[jonr71]

I recently had 2 x 100w panels fitted to my van (@Roger Donoghue ). I finally got round to testing the additional 12v load terminal that I specified. I have an ecoflow River Max unit which can be charged from mains, 12v, or solar using it's own built in controller.
My leisure batteries were at max when I attached the Ecoflow to the 12v load output. I was seeing 140w+ charge into the ecoflow straight away (midday sun yesterday so almost ideal conditions.)
So I now have a generator with 2 x 240v sockets from which I can then charge my bike. I think a full charge on the ecoflow should add me about 40 miles of range on my bike and it can remain charging from 12v while it charges the bike battery.

 

[myvanrodney]

I recently had 2 x 100w panels fitted to my van (@Roger Donoghue ). I finally got round to testing the additional 12v load terminal that I specified. I have an ecoflow River Max unit which can be charged from mains, 12v, or solar using it's own built in controller.
My leisure batteries were at max when I attached the Ecoflow to the 12v load output. I was seeing 140w+ charge into the ecoflow straight away (midday sun yesterday so almost ideal conditions.)
So I now have a generator with 2 x 240v sockets from which I can then charge my bike. I think a full charge on the ecoflow should add me about 40 miles of range on my bike and it can remain charging from 12v while it charges the bike battery.
View attachment 109980View attachment 109981

I am interested in a similar setup... I thought the ecoflow limited 12v accessory plug charging to 8A (96w)?

 

[Hedley Wright]

You shouldn't need an ecoflow with 2 x solar panels.

(….unless you are running airfryer, electric kettle, hairdryer, tumbledryer etc)

If you have as many gadgets as I do you will. Multiple cameras, laptop, phone, radio scanners, drone, toothbrush, e-bike, nespresso coffee maker, hearing aids. I just wish more campsites would offer a discount for no hookup required.

 

[Webbah_in_Switzerland]

If you have as many gadgets as I do you will. Multiple cameras, laptop, phone, radio scanners, drone, toothbrush, e-bike, nespresso coffee maker, hearing aids. I just wish more campsites would offer a discount for no hookup required.

This is one way to do it, but many overlanders use a DC-DC upconverter instead (can be found cheap) to upconvert from 12v to 36v. Then the output of this is connected to the XT60i input like a solar panel and emulates the solar. With the 36v instead of 12v you can get a much faster charge of 400-800 watts depending on the model of EF you have.

 

[Roger Donoghue]

There are many ways to charge the eco flows but using the load output of the victron has one huge advantage... It manages the output so you can't flatten your leisure batteries, and it makes sure your leisure batteries are fully charged at least once a day, which is good for them apparently.

If you have 800w of solar on your truck it makes sense to create a high volume charging path, but with 100-300w you have to consider the leisure batteries life too.