Gasoline generator vs electric generator

[realmcc1]

So, I am thinking of purchasing an all electric powered ECOFLOW Portable Power Station instead of a gasoline powered generator to extend my boondocking capability. Does anyone have any experience with battery powered electric generators? Is it recommended to use such a generator to recharge my AGM coach battery when needed?

[themexicandoctor]

A Battery to recharge a Battery?

Do you have the option of a Second Alternator?

Or have you already ruled that out?

[realmcc1]

Originally Posted by themexicandoctor

A Battery to recharge a Battery?

Do you have the option of a Second Alternator?

Or have you already ruled that out?

I am pretty new to this so I don't know about a second generator option. My thinking was to purchase a gasoline generator in case my coach battery needs charging but I can't fit it in my garage area without laying it on its side where it will leak gasoline. So that option is out. Then I saw this unit, "EF ECOFLOW Portable Power Station DELTA, UPS Power Supply 1260Wh Battery Pack with 6 1800W (3300W Surge) AC Outlets, Solar Battery Generator for Outdoor Camping RV" on Amazon. It will fit upright in my garage area and I figured that I could use it as a generator for my AGM if needed. Of course I would charge it before I left home, then it would be available to me if needed.

[Rlum]

Originally Posted by realmcc1

So, I am thinking of purchasing an all electric powered ECOFLOW Portable Power Station instead of a gasoline powered generator to extend my boondocking capability. Does anyone have any experience with battery powered electric generators? Is it recommended to use such a generator to recharge my AGM coach battery when needed?

I believe they are a battery called a generator. If they can connect to a solar panel, it will receive a modest solar charge. Your best bet is stick with a gasoline generator.

Carry the gas in separate container so it does not spill. When I used to carry my portable generator in the van's garage. I placed a water heater drain pan under it. In case the oil leaked. Well it did and I was glad I placed it. Saved me from a huge mess.

When you complete your camping and no longer need genny gas. Just pour the remained into your van's tank?

[realmcc1]

Originally Posted by Rlum

I believe they are a battery called a generator. If they can connect to a solar panel, it will receive a modest solar charge. Your best bet is stick with a gasoline generator.

Carry the gas in separate container so it does not spill. When I used to carry my portable generator in the van's garage. I placed a water heater drain pan under it. In case the oil leaked. Well it did and I was glad I placed it. Saved me from a huge mess.

When you complete your camping and no longer need genny gas. Just pour the remained into your van's tank?

A gas generator is still an option, but I not sure about the leaking gas/oil situation. I am not in a big hurry to get this resolved so I am at the gathering information stage. Thanks for your suggestion, I'll keep it n mind.

[themexicandoctor]

Originally Posted by realmcc1

I am pretty new to this so I don't know about a second generator option. My thinking was to purchase a gasoline generator in case my coach battery needs charging but I can't fit it in my garage area without laying it on its side where it will leak gasoline. So that option is out. Then I saw this unit, "EF ECOFLOW Portable Power Station DELTA, UPS Power Supply 1260Wh Battery Pack with 6 1800W (3300W Surge) AC Outlets, Solar Battery Generator for Outdoor Camping RV" on Amazon. It will fit upright in my garage area and I figured that I could use it as a generator for my AGM if needed. Of course I would charge it before I left home, then it would be available to me if needed.

There are many threads here that talk about the Second Generator option by some of the Gurus here thst have them on their rigs.

Here is a link to the manufacturer who make high output & dual output units.

http://www.nationsstarteralternator....waAuMSEALw_wcB

[booster]

Originally Posted by realmcc1

A gas generator is still an option, but I not sure about the leaking gas/oil situation. I am not in a big hurry to get this resolved so I am at the gathering information stage. Thanks for your suggestion, I'll keep it n mind.

If you have propane available get the generator switched over to propane. We have heard of several that do that, I have seen a 2000 Honda propane generator that could be put on it's side and not leak oil, so that can be handled. It was in the back of a Chevy Roadtrek 190

[SteveJ]

I just looked at that on Amazon. The specs are abhorrent. I.e. maximum 600 cycles to 60% capacity. Quite a few users report significant shortfalls in available power.

I did not see anything listed about it being a lithium battery, so thinking it's AGM, especially given the short cycle life.

They are really proud of their 160 watt portable solar panel.


Why not just install another battery instead of this conglomeration? Or a portable or roof top solar setup. Portable solar can be set up for half the money. Solar is really the way to go for extended boondocking especially for modest power demands. Dual alternators and a significant lithium battery bank can also work out for larger power consumption scenarios($$$$+).

We had 150 watts of portable solar on the Roadtrek and we could boondock perpetually with decent solar on most days using just one coach battery.

A cheap and easy way to get into solar, though there are better ways to go. Won't get into all that here. Lots of solar info in this forum if you search around.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Renogy-100W...07edd569223b11

Have fun!

[themexicandoctor]

Originally Posted by booster

If you have propane available get the generator switched over to propane. We have heard of several that do that, I have seen a 2000 Honda propane generator that could be put on it's side and not leak oil, so that can be handled. It was in the back of a Chevy Roadtrek 190

Booster are you still Gung Ho about your Nation's Dual Alternator system (plus your Custom.Solar Array)?

[booster]

Originally Posted by themexicandoctor

Booster are you still Gung Ho about your Nation's Dual Alternator system (plus your Custom.Solar Array)?

Absolutely, I suits us very well and having the dual alternators in parallel makes them run much cooler.

[themexicandoctor]

I should have asked the OP what rig he is using. Thank you Booster. I am amazed that there are so many niche companies out there offering batteries to charge batteries & still calling them "solar generators ..."

[HarryN]

Originally Posted by themexicandoctor

I should have asked the OP what rig he is using. Thank you Booster. I am amazed that there are so many niche companies out there offering batteries to charge batteries & still calling them "solar generators ..."

The "solar generator" naming is non ideal, but it is complicated to find an alternative name for product offerings in that general category which make sense to customers.

Normally you might not think that it makes sense to think about using one of these types of units to charge up another - but - I have done it.

One of my "full time in a van" customers ran out of power a few years ago in a February after weeks of little sun shine.

He had a little Ryobi generator but it was so anaemic that it could not run even a 600 watt charger.

I pre-charged my battery pack at home - drove to where he was - and charged up his pack from it.

Made sense at the time.

[avanti]

Another common example of "charging one battery from another" is the "boost" button that many rigs have to use the house battery to assist in starting the van with a low chassis battery.

Although many people press that button hold it while cranking, the wiring is rarely sized for that mode of use. The smarter thing is to press and hold long enough for the house battery to add some charge to the chassis battery, release the button, and turn the key. This usually works after only a minute or two and is much easier on everything involved.

Similarly, this is the best way to use jumper cables on modern vehicles. When jumping, I NEVER try to start the target vehicle until the donor vehicle has been disconnected. This is quite safe (despite internet lore). Doing otherwise is asking for trouble.

[themexicandoctor]

Any opinion on Jackery, etc?

Ryobi anything I stay away from.

[HarryN]

Originally Posted by themexicandoctor

Any opinion on Jackery, etc?

Ryobi anything I stay away from.

Just add another battery to your rig and an extension cord. Much better in really every way.

[JohnnyFry]

Calling it a generator is misleading...it is a battery, with or without an intregal inverter and/or a built in charger to recharge from a normal 120 volt outlet. It is basically no different than adding an additional 12 volt baattery to your RV. It is definitely not a "generator" or a "power station" as they seem to imply in advertisements. The solar panel is something that you can add to your present rig.

[Stinky]

I built my own dc generator using a lawnmower engine and an alternator. I run it on propane. There's lots of videos on Yuotube about how to run a 4 stoke gas engine on propane.

[W9TR]

Originally Posted by realmcc1

So, I am thinking of purchasing an all electric powered ECOFLOW Portable Power Station instead of a gasoline powered generator to extend my boondocking capability. Does anyone have any experience with battery powered electric generators? Is it recommended to use such a generator to recharge my AGM coach battery when needed?

It’s great you are thinking about alternatives to noisy, stinky, and polluting small engine generators. They are another thing that has to be carried and maintained.

You mention extending your boondocking capabilities.

What are your use cases? Will you ever need to run an A/C while boondocking?

If so, then welcome to generator-land or a really large and expensive battery system.

If not, you can consider a range of options for adding additional battery capacity to your van. To a point your engine driven alternator is entirely adequate to charge your house batteries. We have 200 AH of 12V AGM batteries (2400 watt-hours) charged by the existing engine alternator from 80% discharged to fully charged in about 2-3 hours of driving

The same set of batteries charged by the 200 W solar panels would take 12 hours of high noon sun at the equator to charge the batteries. On other words several days.

All solar panel/battery systems from the likes of Jackery, Boulder, Zamora, etc. suffer from the same slow charging problem.

Happy hunting!
Tom

[booster]

Originally Posted by W9TR

charged by the existing engine alternator from 80% discharged to fully charged in about 2-3 hours of driving

The same set of batteries charged by the 200 W solar panels would take 12 hours of high noon sun at the equator to charge the batteries. On other words several days.

Happy hunting!
Tom

I think you may be over estimating the alternator charging capability by quite a bit and probably not getting the batteries totally full, which on lead acid batteries, both wet and AGM, takes a lot more time than 2-3 hours no matter how many charging amps you have available. From a true 20% state of charge 2-3 hours will probably get you to about 80-85% full depending on the acceptance of your particular brand, model, and age of batteries. The last 15% charging to true 100% based on the manufacturers criteria (amps of charging to the batteries at absorption voltage in most cases for AGM not voltage) will normally take 4-6 hours and there is no way to speed that up appreciably.



The long term "topping off" of the batteries is where solar does a great job as the charge current is down far enough that it is within the output of the solar to provide in good sun. Many of us on this forum use that method and it works really well. We have a 440ah AGM bank with lots of engine charging available up to 180 amps continuous and more for short times plus 300 watts of solar. We usually shout off the engine charging after an hour or two, maybe longer if we are down more the usual, and turn it over to solar to finish off. Works wonderful and does the very best of battery care by getting all the way 100%.


How are you determining the state of charge of your batteries?

[Ray B]

Stinky is right, it can be called a "power station" but not a "generator". I have been successfully using a Bluetti EB 240 Power Station 2400wh for a little more than a year (at first as a beta tester) - current cost $1599. Basically, these types of power stations are, oversimply, a lithium battery with MPPT controller and inverter and a bunch of input and output ports. The question is HOW do you input power into the lithium battery in the boonies? The answer is solar panels. But REALMCC1's question is whether a power station of this type is "recommended" to recharge coach batteries? Answer, "no" as implied by MEXICANDOCTOR's "a battery to recharge a battery?" answer. In theory you could, but it would be really inefficient and why would you do it? You could also, in theory, on some power stations, hook them directly up to the RV electrical system.

Let's review: your #1 source of power is coach batteries. when they become depleted, they must be recharged, or another power source like a power station could take its place. If it's daylight and you have "good sun" (plenty of YouTube videos about how to measure solar input) I hook up my solar suitcase first to my coach batteries to top off and then to my Bluetti power station. I want to keep the batteries (coach and power station) topped off as much as possible. What if I don't have enough "good sun" to top off all the batteries? That's where the generator comes in (gas, diesel, LP). This is my last way to have power and replenish batteries.

In the Southwest, I have less need of the solar power station because of the relative lack of rainy/heavily overcast days. In Florida, that is a different story, especially in the rainy season.

For great information on solar power stations check out HOBOTECH on YouTube.

Ray B.
2012 Pleasure Way Plateau TD
Ormond-by-the-Sea, Florida