VROOOOOOMMM! The sound of the power from the engine. That charges your car battery and also charges the secondary battery for the off-grid power system. Solar panel on the roof and you should be fine. Put the pedal to the floor and charge these machines. I love the sound, I love to live from speed and pure daylight. Just like my personal character, I seem to use a lot of energy. Recently I changed my power supply system for my camper van, is it an improvement? In the WhatsApp & FB-groups for vanlifers I noticed that power supply is one of the most mentioned topics. Let's talk about another experience we all deal with, while enjoying the off-grid / outdoor camping life.
After my last post, I received a little warning not to talk about car trouble too much in this Outdoor & More Community. I will just mention something good about my little garage visit. My outdoor home moving around on ALL-TERRAIN tires ended up at a Portuguese place called 'Nelson Diogo'. I just love these people. Bringing the car there, explaining what I think is the issue and telling them to fix a few other things...not expecting this guy would work overtime with his son to fix it ASAP. The intercooler was torn, that's why I didn't had power in my green offroad buddy Vin Diesel. I gave the guy a hug and he gave me a bottle of wine. This is how you make friends. His wife showed me around the area, and the pizza gave me some power to. So far about the car trouble, don't worry 😉
A new off-grid power supply system: EcoFlow DELTA 2
I used to have a system with a 305Wp solar panel, a Phoenix 12|375 pure sinewave inverter (Victron) and a MPPT 100|20 charge controller (Victron). This all was connected to a secondary 90ah semi-traction battery and connected to a huge spaghetti under the kitchen with a cheap Chinese relay-box. Although I think all the equipment was produced in China. This mess was already making me nervous for a year and I wanted to have it fixed. I am not an electrician, but willing enough to learn. The secondary battery is not preforming that well anymore, after a full year of vanlife. The food in the fridge is experiencing higher temperatures, than it is outside at night sometimes. A 90ah semi-traction battery is way too weak for the stuff that I use every day. I need something powerful...
The thing is, my camper van is full of outdoor stuff and it is the shortest version of a Mercedes Sprinter. Lack of space. I wanted to buy a 100ah LifePo4 battery, because it has the same size as the old one, has a long lifespan and much more power (a semi-traction only uses around 50% of the 90ah). The costs are high. Currently around 1,000 euro's (including a stronger inverter). This summer I met a few people traveling in their camper van and they were all lyric about the portable batteries from the brand EcoFlow. I visited several shops and solar experts, checked the specs and decided to go for the newest model EcoFlow DELTA 2. This one was medium sized and has 1,024Wh of power. It has a continuous output of 1800W, and can handle solar panels up to 500W. The AC-charger can charge with 1200W and get a full 100% charge within an hour. A large number of connection options and a weight of 12kg. You can take it everywhere and use it everywhere. Perfect for off-grid and outdoor life! Even for a little rave in the forest.
The only thing, it's a new model and there are no reviews online. It was expected to be on the market when I was suppose to start a long roadtrip through Europe. In between I tested several other portable batteries, like the GOAL ZERO YETI 1000X (which is a lot slower and not really suitable in my van). I ordered the EcoFLow directly online. They missed the promised delivery time. Contacting the EU-customer service did not help. 6 weeks of no reaction. I tried Facebook and that helped. They couldn't deliver, they were out of stock for the next 6 weeks. One day later they shipped one... These things sound like a red flag right?
But hey, I hear a lot of good experiences and see lyric reviews about EcoFLow products. No problem. In the beginning I had my EcoFLow as a second power source in my van, because I could not connect my electric system and solar panel on 2 different systems. The old system has to be replaced, also because the lack of space.
Installing an insane off-grid solar system & training for the circus
One of my friends invited me to help installing a solar system here in Portugal. I thought it was a good chance to learn more from off-grid systems and solar. I learned a lot these weeks and understand a lot more now. Although this off-grid system is next level. A 3-Fase system that runs on former TESLA-batteries. We installed in total 8 kW of bifacial solar panels on a frame that was designed to be installed on ground level...we did it a bit higher up in the air 🙈 I can also work as an acrobat these days. It was a lot of fun and I like next level thinking :) I am impressed about all the off-grid systems my friends created here.
During one of the evenings I asked my friend to help me with replacing my little mess inside. He didn't knew a psychiatrist unfortunately. But he wanted to help me with rewiring Vin Diesel. It was freezing cold and there was no heater in my camper van. Removing the spaghetti of old wires felt as a relief. There were wires that lead nowhere. The portable EcoFLow is my main power source these days, connected to my old solar panel. The old secondary battery is still there and has a car charger connected to it, as an extra backup. The secondary battery is charged when I drive. The old Victron inverter and MTTP are removed. We tested the EcoFLow on a 500W solar panel first, no issues. The next day, enough direct sunlight....but no solar charging with the EcoFLow. After restarting the device it started charging, but only when there was more than 20W of solar power. The old system always charged on solar, if there was just a bit of daylight.
By the days, the EcoFLow showed more issues. Every day the sun is out for hours, before it starts charging. And it doesn't charge with any of the 3 car chargers. The power constantly drops out, without any overload. You can guess what happened when I tried to contact the EU-CS? YES, no response. The only department that functions properly at EcoFLow is their Marketing/SocialMedia department. They have a warehouse in Czech Republic, but all communication comes from China. Their excuse for the inconvenience? High demand in Europe and most their staff is sick at home because COVID. They offered my a camping light for the inconvenience... Nice, but I want to have the problem fixed. I have enough lights for outdoor life.
Hottub
I was asked to calibrate the device several times. I need to fully discharge and fully charge. And repeat that process 3 times. Fast charging is easy when you have a place where you can charge with AC. Normally I don't have a lot of options off-grid. But since I need to stay in an empty hotel, waiting for my van to get fixed, I should think more efficient. I found a way to quickly discharge the device: using the water boiler in the hotel room. And besides that, the water in this hotel is not warm at all. So the amount of water that I boil to discharge the EcoFLow, I used for the bathtub. Use all options and make the best of it. I enjoyed the hottub with a glass of wine.
Did the calibration solve the issues? NO. I need to find a store in Portugal that has this model on stock, buy it, try it and return the bad one to Czech Republic. Until that moment, I have to be creative and very efficient in planning my demand for energy. I received my van back from the garage, Nelson mentioned Vin Diesel is experiencing a few short circuits sometimes. It seems one of that annoying similarities again between Vin and Vin Diesel. We are mostly out of power, we try hard to fix it, we sometimes experience an unexpected explosion of energy...BUT WE ALWAYS SURVIVE, DIESEL POWER
**Hilarious fact: After finishing this post, a tune played from the speaker with the line "If you don't have power..." what is the universe trying to say all the time? 😂