Installation of the powerbastards high output 220amp alternator, upgraded wiring kit, and bluetti charger1! Won't be needing my solar panels anymore!!
Unlimited Self Sustained power!!! 2013 Tacoma High Output Alternator & Bluetti Charger1 install
- Thread starter Thetimelesstaco
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Trail Blazer III
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I'm a big solar fan, I read the diysolarforum.com vehicle mounted forum daily, I've got all that goodness on my truck camper...
... but solar is far from free! The panels are expensive, and the glass ones you should use are very heavy. Flexible ones don't seem to last long. They all create airdrag and extra weight I have to cart around on my truck 24/7. Not gonna do the calcs, but I'm pretty sure they waste waaaaaay more gas carting them around 365 days a year, vs the extra gas I burn the few days a year I use my alternator charger! Pretty sure the solar costs more than alternator if we look at the true total picture.
I have 450W solar, and I stopped carrying it in truck. My use case makes them pretty worthless to me. While sun is up producing, 10am to 3pm maybe, I am driving around, and 95% of time that will be in shade in forests. All the overlandlanding folks I know have similar usage patterns. Solar is great for 3 days or more parked in the sun.
Trail Blazer III
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there are many ways to get qround this "cost", flexible/foldable panels for example. and a single one time cost eventually will pay for itself. where as an alternator will always incure a cost, and never will pay for itself. I have 1.4kw of solar on my rig and the fuel mileage difference is nowhere near enough even while towing to change that. I didnt say dont use the alternator, if you are already driving and using the vehicle its not going to incure much additional cost. The few seconds it takes to put out a foldable panel or having a permanent mounted does not cost anything while sitting still. Yes glas is prefered and fare more efficient. at 120w foldable will do for most.
@Thetimelesstaco
Very nice!
I have a 21 Tacoma, with a Tune popup topper, so pretty similar to you. I have the Pecron 500W car-charger, and Pecron e1500LFP. As you know, the Tacoma has very low payload, and I can't afford to cart around 60 lbs of panels I dont need or can't make use of, so I leave all my solar at home now. Unless I foresee 3 days sitting still.
The Bluetti charger One is great, I love its app ability to turn on and off and modify amperage draw in the fly.
But the real news here is this 220A alternator!!!! I have several threads at Tacomaworld.com, looking for a larger alternator option for Tacoma, and there is ZERO info there! I have the 130A larger one that comes with OffRoad or Tow Package, but 220A would rock! I will probably link your vids to those alternator threads.
I recently tested my max or worst use case for car amps usage. So at night with bad weather: with highbeams, turn signal, braking to stop, wipers on high, air-conditioning on high, radio. I peak out at 45A usage, with 5 second spikes to 60A on full braking. In those conditions I'd not use alternator charging, or limit it to 20A... which you can do from your phone with the Bluetti.
During day good weather, I max out at 22A really, so can go the full 40A my charger allows then and be safely below 50% alternator load. You won't have that issue!
Very nice!
I have a 21 Tacoma, with a Tune popup topper, so pretty similar to you. I have the Pecron 500W car-charger, and Pecron e1500LFP. As you know, the Tacoma has very low payload, and I can't afford to cart around 60 lbs of panels I dont need or can't make use of, so I leave all my solar at home now. Unless I foresee 3 days sitting still.
The Bluetti charger One is great, I love its app ability to turn on and off and modify amperage draw in the fly.
But the real news here is this 220A alternator!!!! I have several threads at Tacomaworld.com, looking for a larger alternator option for Tacoma, and there is ZERO info there! I have the 130A larger one that comes with OffRoad or Tow Package, but 220A would rock! I will probably link your vids to those alternator threads.
I recently tested my max or worst use case for car amps usage. So at night with bad weather: with highbeams, turn signal, braking to stop, wipers on high, air-conditioning on high, radio. I peak out at 45A usage, with 5 second spikes to 60A on full braking. In those conditions I'd not use alternator charging, or limit it to 20A... which you can do from your phone with the Bluetti.
During day good weather, I max out at 22A really, so can go the full 40A my charger allows then and be safely below 50% alternator load. You won't have that issue!
That was the big thing for me that I needed to address. I'm out traveling to hike, offroad, see beautiful places. I don't want to be worried about positioning myself for adequate sun during prime daylight
Fortunately I didn't see this one originally listed for my year tacoma, I reached out to the owner Mike at powerBastards to see if it would work. I was hoping it would since all that changed was the body style slightly on the front of the vehicles. So he updated that info on the website, and he just came out with that new wiring and fuse kit when I reached out to him! I'd love to see some pictures of your setup! and post the videos up wherever you'd like! Looking back I had concern tackling this and made it up to be more complicated than it really was in my head. So I'd love to help as many people as possible make this an easy process!
Enthusiast III
I did the same thing with the EcoFlow 800w Alternator Charger and their Delta 2 Max. Upgraded my Jeep JK's alternator to a 240watt version from a JL Gladiator with the max tow package.
I can recharge 2000Wh in just over 2 hours but realistically I'll never need to charge the full 2000Wh at once because it never gets that low..
I gave away all the portable solar panels because I'm confident with the rate of charging and how often I drive, that I will never slow charge this device off of solar ever again.
I can recharge 2000Wh in just over 2 hours but realistically I'll never need to charge the full 2000Wh at once because it never gets that low..
I gave away all the portable solar panels because I'm confident with the rate of charging and how often I drive, that I will never slow charge this device off of solar ever again.
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Hellllll yeahhhh, nice! Ecoflow somehow manages to make things even more crazy hahah. I love that you can reverse it and use your solar generator to jump your vehicle. Would have been cool for bluetti to incorporate that as well. And nice! I want to set mine up so I still get a little charge from my 400w of flexible panels on the roof. Kind of crazy how I need to get more adapters and all to be able to run that at the same time. I just don't want to be crawling back there everyday to switch plugs and all. Of course bluetti makes an adapter to direct the solar input to the AC plug so they can all be left alone, but it has to be a few hundred bucks for some wiring and adapters pshhhhhhhh
You want the ETaker F1000 then. It has an input from alternator, and another one from solar. 500w alternator, 500W solar, 1000w total. Here it is:
Fast Charger Fleet 1000 Compatible with M2000 Portable Power Station
【Supports Fast Charging of Car Battery and Solar Energy up to 1000W】During car travel, ETAKER F1000 car fast charger directly connects to the car battery to charge the M2000 generator. Additionally, F1000 supports rooftop solar charging, allowing for combined rapid charging of 1KW using driving...
www.etakerpower.com
And lastly, the current champion, ETaker F2000. Has CONNECTIONS that can be made to flow either way, for: alternator/Start battery, powerstation 11 to 60v, 2nd battery 11 to 60v, and solar. Yes... all 4 can be tweaked in app to flow as you desire!! Can recharger starter from any of other 3. Can flow from LHP to powerstation, can also use solar same time. All voltages can be set individually too!!!! Can recharge powerstation at 42v from solar, say, while also charging LHP at 14.2v.
This is why my ranking is:
ETaker F2000
ETaker F1000
Bluetti
Pecron
Ecoflow only if you are ecoflow station.
Appreciate it, but I'm committed to this setup at this point hahah. I'm looking at adapters to run the solar to my ac input. Thinking I'm going to do theseYou want the ETaker F1000 then. It has an input from alternator, and another one from solar. 500w alternator, 500W solar, 1000w total. Here it is:
Fast Charger Fleet 1000 Compatible with M2000 Portable Power Station
【Supports Fast Charging of Car Battery and Solar Energy up to 1000W】During car travel, ETAKER F1000 car fast charger directly connects to the car battery to charge the M2000 generator. Additionally, F1000 supports rooftop solar charging, allowing for combined rapid charging of 1KW using driving...
And lastly, the current champion, ETaker F2000. Has CONNECTIONS that can be made to flow either way, for: alternator/Start battery, powerstation 11 to 60v, 2nd battery 11 to 60v, and solar. Yes... all 4 can be tweaked in app to flow as you desire!! Can recharger starter from any of other 3. Can flow from LHP to powerstation, can also use solar same time. All voltages can be set individually too!!!! Can recharge powerstation at 42v from solar, say, while also charging LHP at 14.2v.
This is why my ranking is:
ETaker F2000
ETaker F1000
Bluetti
Pecron
Ecoflow only if you are ecoflow station.
xt90 to DC7909 then DC7909 female to DC8020. I sent Bluetti an email to inquire about what their setup includes. I was told by customer service it is not on the website and that I can only find out through support. I think I will need a DC to AC adapter though. I've seen things online about it being a DC input in reality, but I'm not sure about that. And I'm not taking any chances
Enthusiast III
I would probably go the simple route and do a 50watt breaker in line with the solar and put it somewhere convenient.
and run the solar to what? The alternator charger is plugged into the solar input. I also did think about potentially running it in parallel with the solar panels. But then it would be limited running it at the voltage of the panels, which is more than half of the 56 volts it does for the AC200p
Enthusiast III
I'm not sure how yours is setup but on my Delta 2 Max, the solar input is separate from the EcoFlow alternator input. There's 2x solar input on the rear and 2x input/outlet on the side for the alternator charger or expansion batteries.
With this configuration, you could have both the alternator charger and solar panels plugged in at the same time and use a breaker to disable solar input.
**
edit: I think I misunderstood, and thought you also had the EcoFlow. After re-reading, it sounds like you have the bluetti. My mistake, sorry about that.
ahhhhhh ok, and no worries! Unfortunately, bluetti's setup with all of that is pretty poorly thought out
Enthusiast III
Seems like it was sort of rushed to market to compete. The next version will probably be better so hang in there! Maybe for now, no drastic changes with the system until they refine the V2.
