The "usual heavy duty battery setup" many of us did use may be arround 35 kg, if we use a small battery with 95 AH (most use 100ah or 200ah Batterys in the rear)

26,40 Kg Battery (if using a small 95ah AGM Battery)
3 Kg Inverter 110/220
5 kg Cables
1.5 kg DC / DC charger, booster
1 kg 220v/110 Battery charger
1 kg Solarcharger with cables

Because of the weight and also the space my built-in Power-Setup need, I look a long time after a better solution arround.

At June 2020 I did see a very good solution at a crowdfunding plattform:



After a comparison of different Datasheets I did decide to give the Ecoflow R600pro a try:

https://www.4x4tripping.com/2020/06/...rbatterie.html

It did arrive yesterday - too bad that we have winter and snow here in switzerland, not the best time for overlanding ;D

Can these small 8kg unit really replace my aged, but well designed Power Setup?



First Impressions:

- Android/iOS App allows to see charging / Power drain
- It allows to charge a MacBook Pro over USB-C and without the 220v Adapter

I will hopefully find some time soon, for a detailed test / review

Surfy

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Trans-Africa over the west coast

Charging my current setup in wintertime - was one of the first steps. Did use the embedded Inverter - with 220v it dont need much time :-)



Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

The first view tests did run very well.

The embedded 220v Inverter even fire up my Water heater who is rated for 1800W.

And the embedded USB-C Port with 100W is able to charge any modern notebook like the Lenovo Yoga X1 (Gen5) or MacBook Pro (2020).

Here you find some more impressions:
https://www.4x4tripping.com/2020/12/...-eindruck.html

Surfy

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Trans-Africa over the west coast

That dont sound after a real usecase - who will use a water heating device abroad - but I will do the test :-)

I did it already - but didnt count the time or water temperature.

In the review of the weaker small brother, the R600max at youtube:

https://youtu.be/5WPs1hKtvKI

You can see at Minute 20:10 how the Inverter is able to do that job, he just undervolt the device.

Its amazing how many different gear he is able to fire up!

Any Idea how I can masure, how strong the battery really is?

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

Test done.

1L Water at Room temperature (20degres celsius)

79% charged at beginning
53% charged at the end

Difference 26%

The time wasnt same impressive 12 min for 1 Liter.

If I compare the ammount of effort to boil water, this way it is more relaxed compared to a jetboil (gas) or Coleman Dual fuel (gasoline)

My temporary solution we bought in Congo - is also easyer and a lot quicker ^^ Just because of that, I dont carry them with me ;-)



Final words: I would never ever would take a water heater with me, when travelling the world by a Land Cruiser. That is fancy shit for motorhomes...

At the end we want to be able to drive offroad - that is the reason why we try to save weight. Why we buy these energy boxes. We dont buy them to carry an additional water heater..

In my Article you find informations how the Inverter is able to handle that load. These Energy box is in my focus, because we dont need the inverter anymore.

Even any modern notebook can be charged by usb-c directly (12v). In my personal usecase I would just use the inverter rarely to charge my drone... And just for that. So I`m wondering, how we can test these box with the 12v ability??

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

I was so lucky to be able to work on my rig! And to test my new power setup at severall trips

I did went the way with crowdfunding to get one of the Ecoflow R600 Pro. Lucky me, because it will not hit the market with lifepo4. But the Ecoflow River Pro is near the same with Lithium batterys. The shipping did arrive late, at december 2020.

I did remove my 95 AH Battery, a 25a DC DC Booster, a 600w Sine-Inverter, a Wall Charger and cables - it was 35kg - 77 lbs. And I just add this small and lightweigt Ecoflow device with 8.5kg / 18.7lbs.



Here is my detailed review and new setup:
https://vanlife.4x4tripping.com/2021...olar.html.html

It is a perfect fit for overlanding purpose! Did was able to stay a week self-sufficent offgrid just with solar (and still full batterys afterwards). Would work too in a boat, a tiny house or similar.

There are severall competitor products - but no one was able to fulfil our need that well.

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

Pardon me if I'm stating the obvious, but...the reason to run tests using water heaters is that all variables can be easily controlled (volume of water, ambient air temperature, energy input in watts, therms, BTUs or whatever, results in degrees of temperature rise, even energy costs where applicable, etc.). Conveniently, temperature scales, units of energy, and even heat-loss calculations are defined in terms of raising or lowering temperatures of defined volumes of water, facilitating comparisons. This will tell me, for example, how long I can run my lights, fan, fridge or laptop before running low on juice--without relying on manufacturer's data, which won't describe how they control all the same variables to make their product shine.

Without these measurements, how are you going to compare products and systems with any degree of reliability? I may never take a water heater with me on a trip, but the data shown can inform my decisions about space heating, about how to power what sort of lighting, about refrigeration, about insulating more or less thoroughly against heat or cold, about degrees of redundancy in power supplies....I could go on, but you get the picture.

As usual, please pardon me if I'm repeating what's already been said or making points which are so blindingly obvious that they don't need to be spoken at all.

Mark

You can find a lot of those values for the R600max already!

My R600p isnt now embedded in my travelling car, is keep the fridge running by solar and 12v. I can test again at starting winter. But guess it dosnt make sense to test that deeper, as the R600m is different.



Differences between R600m and R600p are visible on that grafic above

Surfy

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Trans-Africa over the west coast

I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how to fit one of these in my 4x4.
No doubt Surfy will shortly come along and enlighten me. (muchas gracias!)
p.s TheWarden will probably like this :0)

Toyark, for shure you can get too a hot water shower while overlanding on 4wheels. If you did read my travel blog, you probably know that I love my car engine "heat exchanger" and my hot shower abroad.



Today are there severall options from heat exchanger, 12v, 110/220v, gas, diesel and severall solutions on the market offers a combination out of thoses sources.



And yes, there is a german article there, about exatly that topic:
https://www.4x4tripping.com/2021/06/...life.html#more

I hope you find that kind of gear, what you like! But guess we should probably not discuss that in a topic around electric solutions for 4x4. But we can note - that there are many solutions around - to get hot water and a shower in your 4x4 rig.

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

I have been enjoying my hot shower (albeit outside!) from my engines' heat since 2007 as well as my mini-but does-the job portable desalinator for days on the beach. Maybe the pic will help you make one. Life's a

BTW, the picture below was taken after my making it- it is now rather blacker having interacted with my wood gasification stove.

Blogs? nein danke

and re-reading the posts, it seems a slight language 'coq-of-vin' meant the water heater you refer to is actually a kettle; my bad!
(Still useless though due to massive power needs)
Happy trails

Some sort of bracket might be on order, or a trailer.

I sure someone will be along with a blog post of links to various brackets but no opinion on which will work

I was able to test my new setup a while. To challenge it even with 2 fridges (what isnt my current setup in europe) - I had the time for, because I had an heavy addicent (not with a car).

I am needing power for two 12v compressor fridges (Freezer / Fridge), my Notebook, Camera, Smartphone, Tablet, Drone, some LED Lights at night.

I did it 9 years ago as a DYI Project for beeing able to staying self sufficent some days offgrid with my travelling car.

At 2011 $1500 not a cheapie, very capable, 95 AH AGM Battery, B2B Booster, Inverter, Solarcharger, Batterymonitor: Writeup classic powersetup (35kg AGM)

Did serve my well during my transafrica and further international journeys.

Then I did try the same at 2021, with LiFePO4 and new components. I wasnt able to beat this ecoflow device in weight, size or price. Here is my updated Setup from 2021:

At 2021 710$ LiFePO4/Lithium 576Wh Battery solution with 8.5kg: Writeup mobile offgrid solar solution with LiFePO4 It is still strong enough, and I did save a lot of weight and get new space inside of my car.

- It allows to charge with 500W(!!) at campsites, 200W with Solar, 120W during driving with 12v. Just sun let my consuments running extended (weeks) during summer with one 100W EFTE Solar Panel (!!).

- You can charge most devices directly with 12v, even a Mac Book pro - because there is a 100W USB-C Socket.

- 1200W/600W Power Inverter 110v/220v. As you can see, he can run (with undervolting) many devices like a water kettle witch use power way about specs.

- You have an App to use as remote control and have a good Battery Computer.,

- it is small, lightweigt with 8.5kg.

You cant get it smaller and more lightweigt even with using double of the cash as a DYI Project, without dropping some requirements. It is perfect for my Power consuments named above.

I`m currently on a detailed writeup about a DYI Project for a bigger LiFePO4 project, still struggeling to get a USB-C 100W Port for 12v as example.

Those Battery boxes bring a great value! And Ecoflow has the best specs, if you look at the details. And the buildquality is great, I have add a dismantle disassembly and teardown video in my link above.

You can still find LiFePO4 based new/used devices in the FB Group if you ask -and are willing to pay shipping/import. Otherwise you have to optain with lithium specs ;-)

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast