power options for our camping setup.

[Autism Family Travels]

I am getting ready to install some 12v power for our sylvansport. I am wondering can I charge my battery with our Honda 1000w generator? I am looking at a 400ah LiPo battery, an inverter and some direct 12v as well, as the direct 12v is way more efficient. We will be charging some communication devices like the laptop, ipad and our phones, running some camp lights, and keeping our fridge running off it. If the generator would charge the house battery in a couple of hours we could get a few days from it being careful with our usage.

thanks for the information.

 

[grubworm]

i have a 280ah lifepo4 battery and i use a smart charger made for the lifepo batteries and it is rated as 7 amps max input...so 7 amps and 120v from your generator is 840w, so i would say that yes, 1000w generator should handle your situation.

look at your charger rating and see if the max amp draw will put you over the 1000w of the generator.

you might could use the 12v output of the generator to charge the battery via a charge controller. not sure if a MPPT controller will operate off of a generator. i dont think the dc output of a generator will be high enough voltage for the MPPT controller to work properly, but might be worth looking into.

the smart charger i use is 14.6v and up to 20 amp output, so on a huge battery like the 400ah, i would definitely go with a good charger that will jam those electrons into the battery.

 

[Flipper]

I am getting ready to install some 12v power for our sylvansport. I am wondering can I charge my battery with our Honda 1000w generator? I am looking at a 400ah LiPo battery, an inverter and some direct 12v as well, as the direct 12v is way more efficient. We will be charging some communication devices like the laptop, ipad and our phones, running some camp lights, and keeping our fridge running off it. If the generator would charge the house battery in a couple of hours we could get a few days from it being careful with our usage.

thanks for the information.

If you are using a stand alone LiPo charger not over 5-6Amps.should be no problem. I’m not sure if the Honda has a 12v DC port for charging but its probably unregulated.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

No, it's only 120v outputs on my generator and its inverter/buffered so I can plug in my computers etc. Have any idea how long it would take to charge the battery? THanks for the information. I could not find any around on the net giving a yes or no. Just a "this is a generator, and this is a battery" articles.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

Next up, again since I cannot find any information...How many days will my 48qt arb style 12v chest fridge run on 400ah battery? give or take.

 

[Dave in AZ]

Next up, again since I cannot find any information...How many days will my 48qt arb style 12v chest fridge run on 400ah battery? give or take.

In general, plan on 30-65W usage for a fridge. Depending on size, insulation, ambient temp, etc. The compressor won't run full time, or as often in cold weather as hot, or if insulated, or if all items inside are loaded up cold/frozen, etc. Also the temp you cool to, 34F vs 38F fridge, 0F freezer, etc.

So it is VERY VERY HARD to give an exact answer!
My 30L BougeRV uses 35W when it's running, set 34F and Eco mode, in my 76F house. So in 24hrs it calcs to 840 Watt-hrs... but it really only uses 400 or less due to compressor mostly sitting off. HOWEVER, in only 12 hrs in my truckbed when it was 115F, it used 500 Watt-hrs. Overnight, temps dropped to 55F, used 100 Wh only. Next day in truck cab, 75F, used much less, but I was plugged into car charger while driving so 120W charge, who knows.

So, PLAN on 1000-1200 Watt-hrs use per 24hrs for a 48qt ARB, then get better use by insulation, keeping it inside cooler part of car vs bed, loading up frozen items like water, running in fridge mode at 34F.

 

[LostWoods]

Next up, again since I cannot find any information...How many days will my 48qt arb style 12v chest fridge run on 400ah battery? give or take.

2-3 weeks without any additional charging depending on conditions. I can get 3-4 days on 100Ah in AZ heat pre-cooled and full.

Be aware that LiFePo does not have voltage falloff and will drink as much power as you can feed it so you need a dedicated charger to ensure you aren't overdoing it. It's easy to overcharge and damage them and it's just as easy to damage your power source because on something that large, it will likely take north of 1kW if you can give it.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

2-3 weeks without any additional charging depending on conditions. I can get 3-4 days on 100Ah in AZ heat pre-cooled and full.

Be aware that LiFePo does not have voltage falloff and will drink as much power as you can feed it so you need a dedicated charger to ensure you aren't overdoing it. It's easy to overcharge and damage them and it's just as easy to damage your power source because on something that large, it will likely take north of 1kW if you can give it.

If I use the correct charger for the battery with the generator, I should have no issues charging it however. We have Newfoundland heat and it has been HOT here. 36-40deg C for the past 2 .5 weeks. Nuts hot. It's finally "chilled" a bit to 25deg. ha ha. I should be ok for all house power with the 400ah battery for a week I guess without charging? give or take.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

Oh, also. Any idea on charging times (approx.) with the 1000w generator?

 

[Autism Family Travels]

Just plugged in my cooler into the jackery 220. It draws 33 to 45w while cooling down from 13c to 6c.

 

[LostWoods]

If I use the correct charger for the battery with the generator, I should have no issues charging it however. We have Newfoundland heat and it has been HOT here. 36-40deg C for the past 2 .5 weeks. Nuts hot. It's finally "chilled" a bit to 25deg. ha ha. I should be ok for all house power with the 400ah battery for a week I guess without charging? give or take.

Without a doubt. At 25C in my house I got 4 days set at 0C and at 45C days in my garage (still >30C at night) I got 3 days with 100Ah. Assuming you don't put things in warm and keep it full of thermal mass you'll see weeks.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

Without a doubt. At 25C in my house I got 4 days set at 0C and at 45C days in my garage (still >30C at night) I got 3 days with 100Ah. Assuming you don't put things in warm and keep it full of thermal mass you'll see weeks.

So basically, I would have enough power for everything for at least a week with the 400ah liPo battery. Now, I need to find how long it will take for my honda 1000i generator to charge it back up. approx. of course. I am just looking for an idea.

 

[LostWoods]

So basically, I would have enough power for everything for at least a week with the 400ah liPo battery. Now, I need to find how long it will take for my honda 1000i generator to charge it back up. approx. of course. I am just looking for an idea.

Find the charger for that answer. It's rough with LiFePo because you need a charger designed for it and I doubt you'll find one that'll do north of 60A at anything reasonable. 30-40A is way more common and that'll take you a solid 12+ hours or so from zero.

 

[K12]

Without a doubt. At 25C in my house I got 4 days set at 0C and at 45C days in my garage (still >30C at night) I got 3 days with 100Ah. Assuming you don't put things in warm and keep it full of thermal mass you'll see weeks.

So basically, I would have enough power for everything for at least a week with the 400ah liPo battery. Now, I need to find how long it will take for my honda 1000i generator to charge it back up. approx. of course. I am just looking for an idea.

If you are running an inverter/charger tbis gets lretty easy depening on the in/output. I have a 2000w inverter and can do up to 80ah to the battery (only about 8a pulling off the generator). quick easy math if you are using a 1000w inverter and constant run is likely around 750w, that would max at 62.5a if you are charging at full with a charger that supports it. If you run down to 50ah left in the battery and doing about 60ah charging that will be around 6 hours to full charge. Honestly I would recommend a 30a dc-dc charger run from the vehicle alternator. either way you are using gas, but the vehicle will likely be more efficient. Youll be filling the generator every hourish since you will be close to maxing the output. And you would need to ad a ac-dc charger or an inverter/charger.

 

[rgallant]

@Autism Family Travels I can get 2 days out of Jackery 240 and a 37 Quart FC40TMP, with the temp set to 34 Deg F. I paired that with a 100 W Aimtom foldable solar panel, and it can keep ahead of the fridge draw in most cases, even light to medium overcast

 

[grubworm]

there are way too many variables to get accurate data without having some hard numbers to go off of...and that is going to be specific to your personal setup. i have 3 power stations i built and all of them have a battery monitor with a shunt. with the shunt wired in, you can get exact data on all the electrons going into the battery and going out. you can get a monitor as low as $30 or so on amazon. wire in the monitor and then run your fridge and monitor the data. you will get a live readout of watts used as they are being used. you can hear the compressor kick on and then look and see what the watt draw is during the cycle and so on and so on. the monitor will give you a constant readout of battery power remaining in percentage.
buy a monitor and you will always know what is going on with your battery. personally, i think a monitor is a great investment for such an expensive battery. a 400ah battery is between $600-900 depending on brand and a monitor is maybe 5% the cost of the battery

 

[Outdoordog]

I have an ecoflow delta 2, and going to mount a 120w panel on my roofrack.
It powers my 37 quart alpicool. It's enough to power my fridge/freezer constantly.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

there are way too many variables to get accurate data without having some hard numbers to go off of...and that is going to be specific to your personal setup. i have 3 power stations i built and all of them have a battery monitor with a shunt. with the shunt wired in, you can get exact data on all the electrons going into the battery and going out. you can get a monitor as low as $30 or so on amazon. wire in the monitor and then run your fridge and monitor the data. you will get a live readout of watts used as they are being used. you can hear the compressor kick on and then look and see what the watt draw is during the cycle and so on and so on. the monitor will give you a constant readout of battery power remaining in percentage.
buy a monitor and you will always know what is going on with your battery. personally, i think a monitor is a great investment for such an expensive battery. a 400ah battery is between $600-900 depending on brand and a monitor is maybe 5% the cost of the battery

View attachment 282380

100 percent. I will be having a monitor installed in the frunk as well. I want a system where if we are off grid for 5-7 days our gear is all charged and the food is cold and fresh! I think the 400ah battery with inverter for our computer/phone charging will do it.

I will have 2 12v plugs and 2 120v plugs off the inverter to plug our things into.

 

[K12]

there are way too many variables to get accurate data without having some hard numbers to go off of...and that is going to be specific to your personal setup. i have 3 power stations i built and all of them have a battery monitor with a shunt. with the shunt wired in, you can get exact data on all the electrons going into the battery and going out. you can get a monitor as low as $30 or so on amazon. wire in the monitor and then run your fridge and monitor the data. you will get a live readout of watts used as they are being used. you can hear the compressor kick on and then look and see what the watt draw is during the cycle and so on and so on. the monitor will give you a constant readout of battery power remaining in percentage.
buy a monitor and you will always know what is going on with your battery. personally, i think a monitor is a great investment for such an expensive battery. a 400ah battery is between $600-900 depending on brand and a monitor is maybe 5% the cost of the battery

View attachment 282380

100 percent. I will be having a monitor installed in the frunk as well. I want a system where if we are off grid for 5-7 days our gear is all charged and the food is cold and fresh! I think the 400ah battery with inverter for our computer/phone charging will do it.

I will have 2 12v plugs and 2 120v plugs off the inverter to plug our things into.

Charging up the laptops takes ALOT of power off the batteries. I domt know what type you have but will usually be a few AH draw each. My surface pro is about 120w (10ah off 12v) which becomes more running off the inverter due to inefficiency. 5-7 days can be possible dependant on useage. you could very well extend the time (almost indefinitely) with a foldable solar panel.

 

[LostWoods]

100 percent. I will be having a monitor installed in the frunk as well. I want a system where if we are off grid for 5-7 days our gear is all charged and the food is cold and fresh! I think the 400ah battery with inverter for our computer/phone charging will do it.

I will have 2 12v plugs and 2 120v plugs off the inverter to plug our things into.

Minimize inverter use if you can, going DC-AC-DC is wasteful and they basically cut 10-15% off the top even with a good one. Blue Sea makes a 4.8A dual USB port which is the equivalent of a 60W wall charger with minimal conversion loss if you can charge by USB. If you can power it by USB or a 12 cigarette outlet you should.

Most laptops will draw about 1-2Ah in use with reasonable brightness. The screen is generally the highest draw these days but figure 1Ah to recharge 10Wh of battery capacity.