can charge via my suburban’s alternator while camping if necessary, and how fast it would charge it (watts/hour). I’m trying to avoid buying a 400-watt alternator and the BLuetti 400 watt charger (honestly you guys should include the 400 watt charger from now on, no point in giving your customers the older, slower chargers).
Right now I have the EB150 with it’s basic 200 watt charger. Thanks for any help.
assuming I would have to do some crazy stuff like this:
I’m not well-versed in electronics/voltage etc. So yeah just wondering if it’s possible to charge my EB150 while driving, or even just parked and idling.
You can charge your EB150 from the car socket and std. car charging at about 100 watts but you will drain your battery if the engine is shut off or idling. Depending on the vehicle and the alternator output you can do the same thing I did but definitely only while driving and parked, idling for a short time.
Read this link especially the last half to get some better ideas of the challenges involved
EB150: Moderator says you can charge EB150 from cig lighter, 12V. BUT, a car charge cable is not included with EB150 at sale. One phone rep told me, yup, can do. Another call yielded the opposite answer. A geek online says the input jack is UNREGULATED, and therefore trying to charge from car can damage the EB150. So, what’s the definitive answer from engineering, before I (and others) blow up a $1200 device. If no, then a mod to make it car-chargeable would be much appreciated.
Nope, you need at least 16 volts so the EB150 won’t do anything with 12 volts which is why a 12v car adapter is not included. A simple option is to use the Bluetti D050s charging enhancer which converts 12v into a higher voltage that the 150 can use. DC Charging Enhancer (D050S) – BluettiPower
Sorry, I was not thinking the EB150 / 240 line. Those indeed require higher voltage than a vehicle will provide. You can work around that by wiring a 12 to 24 volt step up transformer if you are handy and that would provide about 200 watts.
Thank you! There are 12 to 24V cig adapters out there, that should work for that purpose. What are the specs/measurement/description of your barrel connector, so I can get a compatible tip. Other question, since there is good knowledge on this forum - does the fan in the EB150 run all the time, or only when under xxx load? (and what is that threshold?) I ask because we want to use this in our campervan, where we sleep. Iceco fridge draws only 30w from DC output, will the EB150 be silent? If I run a small CPAP off the AC side (3-4 watt draw), will using the AC inverter at that load kick on the fan? Many thanks.
I believe a 300 watt AC converter could be used with a 12 volt auto system, am I correct? I found.oit today that IBM Lenovo uses a 8mm barrel plug on their laptop charging cords. I use an IBM Lenovo charger on my Panasonic Toughbook. I also have a LIND Auto Adapter to charge my Toughbook. Input 12-32 Vdc, 15 Amp Max, Output 15 Vdc 8.0 A. Could this be used to charge the EB150 while driving down the road?
A 12V to 120VAC (pref full sine wave) inverter can be used as long as you connect it directly to your vehicle battery or a source that is capable of outputting 40 amps constant power without significant voltage or amperage drop. Six of inverter needed depends mainly on how many watts of power the charger uses. I would suggest going with an inverter with double the capacity of the charger output so you are not running it at max capacity for extended times which is exactly what charging is.
This is a 240W unit, available in various power ratings - since this is similar to the 200W Ac charger for the EB150, this should be fine, right? Then just wire the output to a 8mm barrel connector?
BTW, I posed a question about the EB150 being silent or fans running when under no/light load. I got different answers from different people at Bluetti, both by phone and email. Well, we have one here now, and we can turn the DC and AC outputs on, under no load, no fans run. Have tester with up to about 200W AC output, no fans running. So, this seems to meet our needs for silent running, inside a van, to power the Iceco fridge overnight at 30w draw.
No, because that would be running at at full capacity all the time and will get very hot (I know because I bought the same one) and won’t last long. I upgraded to the 20 amp model which ran much cooler. I also experimented with a small fan blowing on the unit which dropped them temp significantly
Good advice – can you tell me the make/model/part# of the one you got?
Like this?
The amperage is considered at 24V, not 12V, which led to the confusion on my part earler.
Note for engineering – allowing the EB150 to car charge easily would be a great help! - even if at lower power/wattage, as cig lighters are generally limited to 10A at 12v = 120w if I am not mistaken.
I also have a smaller 5 amp model that does work but gets very hot. The smallest fan added allowed it to run cool though. The 20 amp model above works well with no fan. These types of units run very warm but work well.
Not a rocket scientist so I want to make sure I understand fully before go outside the box. The input is hooked up the the truck’s battery (with a fuse?) And the output to an 8mm barrel plug, that is plug into the charging port on the EB150, correct? What gage wires are you using?
Yes, fuse or circuit breaker on the input and whatever connector matches up to your specific unit on the output side. Good idea to put a switch on the input to turn on and off. I use 10 ga wire on the input and 12 ga on the output
Followup - similar posted to another thread. I got a $60 1000w inverter, wired it to the battery. Now, if the Bluetti needs topping off, I simply use the standard 120V 200w charger while driving, and mission accomplished. The inverter also provides a secondary source of AC. For example, I can run my CPAP all night thru the inverter off the van battery, without draining it, and avoid turning on the EB150 AC side, which has some inefficiency. We just did a 2 week trip, Iceco JP50 fridge with 32 w draw, topping off the EB150 occasionally while driving, and never dropped below 60% on the Bluetti. No need for solar panels, simple.
Mine is a few years old, Green Fuel. No idea if it is still made. There are many, really does not matter. Mine is modified sine wavem not pure sine wave, so may not work for all electronics. FWIW, the Bluetti AC output, running the power supply for my laptop does wierd things - makes the mouse jerky. If charging and using the laptop off the Green Fuel inverter, the mouse is fine.