Has anyone successfully charged an EB55 at 24V using an accessory (cigarette lighter) port via a step-up converter? To charge at 24V would be a real advantage in time saving and although I know the EB55 can do this theoretically, I want to find someone who has actually has experience.
I’ve read on this forum and other places where people have problems, apparently because they don’t have a converter which can handle the amps needed. But I can’t find any converters which can handle more than 15A – I want to have something that can handle at least 20A so it functions well within its limits. If anyone can provides links to a product available in Europe it would be much appreciated.
I have a Sprinter with an alternator rated at 180A and “the 12V outlet on the lower part of the center console to power accessories up to 300W” according to the manual. So, I don’t think this will push my alternator too much.
Looking at this 12V to 24V step up converter, the 15A actually refers to the Max Output current, not input current, which is how they get to 360W (24V x 15A) which is what it is spec’ed for. That means it would be pulling up to 30A on the 12V input side. Either way, your EB55 only accepts 200W of DC input so that would come out to pulling 16.6A @ 12V and outputting 8.3A @ 24V via the converter. If you go with that one keep an eye on the temperature of the cables as it doesn’t look like they’re very thick.
This is really helpful, thank you for the education. Now that I understand better, it seems the first one you mention would be fine for my needs. Since I’m in France, I found this which appears to be the same.
I can’t find a similar one corresponding to the 20A output version, but again, it seems from what you’ve written that I probably wouldn’t need that. Do you agree? Or do you think I should go for it because of the thicker wires?
If I purchase from the US Amazon there’s a 12 shipping charge which I’d rather avoid, but if it’s what’s needed I’ll do it.
Maybe the picture is deceiving. The manufacturer should provide wires that support the specified maximum load of 360W. I think you should be fine with the 15A version as you’d only be using 55% of the maximum 360W load which leaves a lot of overhead space and should be safe. I’d check the temperature after it has been running for 10 minutes to ensure it’s operating fine - it shouldn’t be too hot to touch.
We use a step up converter to charge our multiple EB70 units. I purchased the 480 watt step up as recommended by the moderator of the forum so that it is not always running at max capability. I ran a #6 Stranded Copper cable from my battery positive to a 30 amp breaker by EATON. It then is a #6 from the breaker to a battery disconnect switch inside our camper. (The battery disconnect switch just allows me to turn 12V DC power on or off to the converter from the driver seat). From there the positive is connected to the appropriate wire coming off the Converter. I then ran a #6 cable from a frame ground that our van uses inside to the negative wire coming off the Converter. Since the converter has what I believe is a #10 wire, I used a quality butt splice that accepts #6 on one end and #10 on the other. On the output side of the converter, I ran a #10 red/black cable to a 8mm barrel connector that my Bluetti EB70 accepts. Since we are in the U.S., I didn’t provide a link.
When we are traveling, I use one Bluetti to keep our fridge going and then I charge a depleted Bluetti with the 24V Converter. It doesn’t take long to charge up while we are traveling. My alternator is also 180 amps and so far traveling several thousand miles it has worked awesome. I should add I also fuse the output of the converter before going to the Bluetti.
Update: I took the advice of several users and installed this 12-to-24V step-up converter using the most heavy duty utility plug and connecting wire I could find. I have been very happy with the result: my EB55 consistently reads 192W as I’m charging in this way. If I understand correctly, this corresponds to 24V x 8A. Or is this just a coincidence? I assume that this means the EB55 is limiting the amount of current to 8A since that is its limit. If so, all of my concerns in the original post about getting wires that can handle 15 to 20A were overkill. On the other hand, I’m a little confused because I was anticipating there would be some loss associated with the 12 to 24 V conversion.
The wires do not get hot at all so far nor does the converter. But then again, it’s been pretty cold weather lately. It was surprisingly simple to do: just a matter of soldering some connections. Thanks again to those who helped!
