I’ve got 52kWh available in the traction battery, but only a 12v cigarette lighter socket to connect to the Bluetti. There must be a better (faster) way of DC-DC charging. FAQ for Charger 1 says it can’t be used in EVs. Is that true? And if so, is there any alternative?
Hello, Charger 1 cannot be used with EVs as it is specifically designed to connect to a starting battery.
Yes. But all EVs are equipped with a 12v starting battery, so I’m not sure what to make of that.
Sorry, electric vehicles cannot be charged using Charger 1. There is currently no better way to fast charge.
You do have a 12V battery. In an engine vehicle this is maintained by the alternator, and in an EV by the DC-DC charger from your main battery. In an EV things like the power steering pump, blower motors pull, brake booster, all pull off the 12V battery in addition to your 12V cigarette socket phone chargers etc… The DC-DC inverter charger has been sized by the car manufacture to handle the mechanical loads, plus the convience loads (150W in a tesla) to keep the 12V battery maintained. If you pull a larger load from the 12V battery faster than the DC-DC charger can replenish the 12V battery, your state of charge (SOC) will drop. If your SOC drops far enough, your EV will turn off for saftey reasons, wont be able to turn tires or power brakes etc…
You CAN have this same problem in an engine vehicle if you exceed the output rating of the alternator, but there is usually far more overhead capacity availible, or people add additional/larger alternators.
You could figure the car loads, and what capacity the charger is, and walk the fine line for how much power you could pull from the inverter before exceeding the capacity… but thats asking for trouble unless you really know what youre doing.
Safe bet is to use the cigarette lighter, or afix solar panels for external mobile charge, or 120V plugin and quick charge from a wall socket.
Hope that helps
Forgive me, I’m struggling to understand you. You say:
But I don’t want to charge the electric vehicle.
Do you mean “Charger 1 cannot be used in an EV to charge the Bluetti” ??? In which case do you know of any other way (ie not using Charger 1) to charge the Bluetti in an electric vehicle, or is it just impossible?
BTW forgive me error - my machine is a Elite200, not Elite100, in case that makes a difference.
Thank you for your time on this.
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Really helpful post. Thank you.
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