Is it possible to charge the AC200 with solar and vehicle battery at the same time?
I’d also be keen to know if there’s a way to do this.
No. They share the same input port and only one method may be used at a time. You could use an AC inverter connected directly to your vehicle battery to power the provided AC charging brick and charge with it and the Solar at the same time though.
Theoretically, could you add a charger that you could plug both solar and alternator into?
Added cost and expense, but could be a fix if current solutions aren’t meeting the charging requirements. I bit the bullet and ordered the AC200P, but I am a little concerned that I won’t be able to charge enough. I think it will be ok, but…
No. You would need to find approx. a 750 watt AC output capacity 12VDC to 120V AC inverter and connect it directly to your vehicle battery. Your vehicle of choice would have to have excess capacity at least 50 to 60 amps charging capacity in order to run the inverter without draining your vehicle battery or overloading your vehicle alternator. Assuming you have done the above, you plug your AC charging brick that you received with your AC200P and connect that to the AC200 exactly like you would do if you were connected to AC power at home.
You can also connect to solar via the solar input Aviation plug port and charge with solar at the same time. Alternatively you could forgo the solar and connect the car charge cord for 108 watts of additional charging power.
The AC brick will give you about 400 watts and the car charge cord would give you another 100 watts for a total of 500 watts of charging power while driving with using no solar. THIS ALL ASSUMES THAT YOU HAVE SUFFICIENT EXCESS ALTERNATOR CAPACITY TO POWER ALL THESE ITEMS.
If you use solar then you would have 400 watts of AC charging input plus whatever watts you were receiving with solar.
Thank you Scott and Robert. I was hoping for a different answer in order for me to further justify purchase of the AC200P, but I bought it anyway. When I receive the unit and familiarize myself with it, I will revisit your advice. I have much to learn about solar, and am not all that “electrically inclined”. Anything I do will adhere to KISS methods.
I just ordered a 12 volt to 24 volt (10 amp max) converter from Victron. I am going to try it in my vehicle for car charging at 24 volts which should give me approx 200 watts of charging power from the car charge mode. It will still have to be wired direct to the battery since it would be pulling about 25 amps of current and could not be used through a cigarette lighter socket.
Same. There are a couple of things I a ma bit concerned about with the AC200P, but i’ve bought it anyway. I hope that solar will be sufficient for my needs.
The inergy flex products actually seem to be perfect for me, but not available or a few months…
I received the Victron unit tonight https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BF5BT6M?pf_rd_r=9TCNSGPH4CWE58865M1N&pf_rd_p=5ae2c7f8-e0c6-4f35-9071-dc3240e894a8&pd_rd_r=f3f536d1-77d5-4eed-984f-d5031c55120b&pd_rd_w=KnlAU&pd_rd_wg=wV2yA&ref_=pd_gw_unk&th=1
and was able to charge the AC200 at just under 200 watts from my 12 volt source. The output voltage is adjustable and will vary depending on the input voltage. You almost have to set the output voltage with the engine running to keep the output voltage range within the acceptable range of the AC200.
The incoming supply wire I connected to was an exising 10 ga. wire that was coming off an 8 ga trailer battery charging wire that runs to the rear of my SUV. The 10 ga wire terminates in an SAE fairly heavy duty connector. The SAE connector was getting uncomfortably warm after about 15 minutes so I would say it needs to be replaced with an XT90 or XT60 (I also tried charging my Ecoflow R600 Pro and EF1500 with success) to elimante the problem. If I was wiring this from scratch, I would mount the Victron unit close to the engine / battery area and then run a 10 ga. wire to the rear for charging the unit. As is was, the proof of concept appeared to work but my vehicle wiring needs a little work.
So…if you want to get 200 watts from car charging, it is doable with a little work and the Victron unit.
I bought the 10 amp version, but I think if I were doing it again, I would buy this 20 amp version because I like the post electrical connections better and it would be running at less than half capacity. You could also have the option to charge two units at the same time if desired. Now if they would only offer this same unit but in 36 or v8 volt output then you could get the full available wattage just like solar while charging from your vehicle.
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Yep. Those crappy SAE connectors, even when they have a “good” connection, start getting warm at 10 amps and should never be used at 15 amps and higher.
Good info. Bookmarked for future.
It would be interesting if you could get a charger that would take the solar and car input and then you have one charging output into the AC200. Then it’s a system that is good to go with no faffing.