Can I use my existing solar panel charging system to charge another lithium battery?

[Outdoor Living]

Hi,

I have an 2022 Imagine 2600RB that comes with a solar panel & deep cycle battery system to support and power the 12 volt items in the trailer with no shore power. To be able to do some boondocking I am looking at purchasing this 120 volt system below:



So that way I can have 120 volts to run the microwave, coffee maker, TV, etc... when we are boondocking.

You can purchase solar panels from EF Ecoflow to re-charge these, which I do not want to do if I can use my existing solar panel that came with the GD purchase of the trailer. My question is - can I charge both the 12 volt and 120 volt systems with the existing solar powering system from GD? And if the it is possible, what would be a good recourse to show me how to do it myself?

Thanks,

Ken

[Country Campers]

Well yes and no.

The factory panel and solar charge controller sizes will be the biggest hurdle to overcome. If you let us know the panel size and controller we can give you much better input.

Even the largest set up from the Factory will only have a 50 amp solar charge controller. On the best day of superior sunshine the output of that controller will only be 50 amps. Depending on how low you run the portable power stations it may take all day or 5 days of super sunshine to get them fully charged again.

The solar set up on the RV is all 12 volt. The Portable Power Station that you show is also a 12 volt DC system that inverts that 12 v dc to 120 v ac.

With the size of the power station's I would think you would need more solar panels, and a larger solar charge controller. A generator may be a better option that you could run every few days depending on your usage.

Brian

[acoleman43]

Hi,

I have an 2022 Imagine 2600RB that comes with a solar panel & deep cycle battery system to support and power the 12 volt items in the trailer with no shore power. To be able to do some boondocking I am looking at purchasing this 120 volt system below:



So that way I can have 120 volts to run the microwave, coffee maker, TV, etc... when we are boondocking.

You can purchase solar panels from EF Ecoflow to re-charge these, which I do not want to do if I can use my existing solar panel that came with the GD purchase of the trailer. My question is - can I charge both the 12 volt and 120 volt systems with the existing solar powering system from GD? And if the it is possible, what would be a good recourse to show me how to do it myself?

Thanks,

Ken

Technically you can charge both systems. Your rv system is already setup to charge the battery.

With the "portable power station" you can add a DC outlet (car stye) to your rv, or a solar panel style connection (from the charge controller or off the RV batteries) and plug the power stations into that. But, like Brian pointed out, it will take a very long time to charge those large batteries. I think it comes with a 165W panel from the factory. You can estimate about 5 hours of sunlight per day and get about 80% of the 165W (assuming sun for 5 hours) to get about 660W of total energy per day. The portable power stations require about 8 times that power to fully charge....in other words it would take 8 days to fully charge that large batteries, and this is assuming you are not consuming any of the energy the solar panel is producing.

So, like Brian pointed out, you are probably better off with more solar for the portable power station...whether on you RV or via portable solar panels.

To give you an idea of solar requirements, I have 1260W of solar panels on my trailer. My battery bank is about 10,200WH. On any given day I can expect (hope) for 5 hours of good sun at about 800W to 900W from the panels will yield about 4500W-5400W per day. Because my system requires about 25W just to run, then add the fridge, lights, microwave, charging phones, laptops, go-pros, TV, heater....It takes about 4 or 5 days to recharge my battery bank to 100% (If I do not consume any power at all it's 2 or 3 days.

I like your idea. I think it will be super helpful with boondocking and allow you to live more comfortably while boondocking. I would add portable solor panels just for the portable power stations, or have a generator you can run when needed.

[KSC_Travels]

or a solar panel style connection (from the charge controller or off the RV batteries) and plug the power stations into that.

Just FYI... the EcoFlow has its own built-in MPPT controller so I would caution against this particular option. You could use the rooftop panel(s) if you wired in a selector switch upstream of the solar controller (where you could switch the incoming solar to either the coach's controller or the EcoFlow). In this case you wouldn't be able to charge both at the same time.

BUT... as noted, you are going to need more solar capacity to charge those EcoFlow's in any reasonable amount of time, so a portable option might work better (if you have the storage room for the portable panels). Added benefit is you can position them as you need - helpful when the coach itself is in the shade. You could use any portable panel - just make sure they don't have a built-in controller like many "suitcase" panels do.

Alternatively, you could add panels to your roof and wire them exclusively for the EcoFlow (thus avoiding the "storage" issue).

Just some ideas I have been pondering as I have an EcoFlow as well. For the time being, I just charge it up on A/C when we are on shore power and it lasts for a couple of days boondocking.