Solved! Tacoma Feeds Power Station Despite poor Modified Sine Wave Inverter!

[@dave_in_az]

Most everyone wants to be able to charge their Power Station, or 2nd Battery System, from their alternator while driving. Normally that involves a DC to DC charger from the alternator to keep the batteries separate so you don't drain your starter battery by mistake, and supply a steady 14.5v or so current, which most all of today's "smart alternators" no longer do. They raise and lower the charge voltage depending on driving conditions, which is no good for Lithium batteries. You'd then have to run about 30ft of thick 6 AWG cable back to the pickup bed. Rather than spending $215 for a dc to dc charger, and $66 for 20ft of 2x 6awg, this video shows how to make use of the Tacoma Inverter and 120v truckbed socket. This is despite it being a poor Modified Sine Wave inverter whose malformed power isn't recognized by newer and larger power stations, that don'tcome with an external "charge brick". In the video I reference the "400 Watt Anytime Mod", a common Tacoma mod to allow 400W while driving, not just while parked. Look in the description after watching, for two KZbin videos that show how to do the mod.

[@Step-n-Wolf]

For efficiency and money savings, the DC to DC should be installed by the alternator/ battery, then a thinner gauge to where power is needed. A Victron converter can be had for $150.

[@dave_in_az]

@Step-n-Wolf This isn't a video about installing a dc dc converter. It's about NOT doing that by using the existing stock inverter. Also, most converter and dcdc charger manufacturers recommend not installing their unit in the hot engine bay, but at least running the larger cable to allow unit installation outside engine bay. This actually increases efficiency because they perform more efficiently the cooler they are. Victron and some others publish the efficiency at different temperatures. If I was using a converter, I WOULD try to run as much small gauge cable as I could, once I got the unit installed outside of engine bay. Thanks!

[@Step-n-Wolf]

@dave_in_az I understand, but you were quoting excessively high numbers for the alternative. Also, close to the battery and alt doesn't mean strapping it to the exhaust header. There are a lot of options forward of the firewall we had to use when racing. Converting DC to AC then back to DC is inefficient.

[@dave_in_az]

Ok. Like I said, several ways to solve the power problem. I'm using the supplied inverter here. Might do different in future. Thanks for your comments!

[@brianpatrickyoutube]

@dave_in_az Thanks for the video. I am probably going with the Pecron E1500LFP for my 2024 4Runner. I like the idea of using the Pecron 300W Charger, as I would only need to do the 400W Watt Anytime Mod and not have to run wiring.

[@dave_in_az]

Good plan. 300W is a pretty decent charge rate for an alternator anyways. 4Runner only has 95A normally, maaaaybe some are 130A if a towing package. So 25A pull for 300W is the sweet spot to not mess with your alternator anyways ;)

[@32dreed]

Of the power bricks available from pecron on they’re website which would be best suited for the Tacoma inverter with the anytime 400w installed?

[@dave_in_az]

It needs to be under 400W, so you don't force the inverter to turn off or blow it's fuse. I looked at them, the one for e600 power station, 300w, is only one. It has a 5 pin g16 aviation output plug, which works with e1500LFP also. On sale for $99 right now. However, they also have their new direct to alternator charging, dc to dc, for $149. It is 500W, wire it to you alternator/start battery. But then you have to run cable from that to your power station. It also puts out 42v for feeding into solar g16 5 pin input, but you need to use their mc4 to g16-5 adapter. I won't be using it, as I want to use the already supplied inverter and wiring to pickup bed.

[@martinmiller7623]

Solar has no sine wave that’s dirty conversion.❤

[@dave_in_az]

Indeed. When I plug a killawatt meter in and see how much inverter is delivering vs power station is getting to battery, I get 85% efficiency. That's about the same efficiency as every dc dc charger, or dc converter, from the alternator. Only one better is the new 50A Victron really. So at the cost of a few watts of power wasted, I don't have to buy a $200 or more alternator charger/converter, nor 4Awg cables, nor run cables, nor void my truck electrical warranty. Thx for commenting, made me think about it for a bit :) Decided I'm still happy with this setup... though I did order one of those new Pecron 500W alternator chargers, to play with.

[@gofastdan]

This is great but I'm a bit confused by why you're limited to the 278 watts in your install. Your power supply is capable of 8 amps, which would easily give you 400 watts at the voltage you're using. Did you find some other limiting factor? I agree to push it to exactly 400 watts probably isn't wise but I would think ~350 would be well within a margin of error. For reference I have an Ecoflow Delta 2 that will DC charge at 60 volts up to 500 watts so the power supply you reference is perfect for me as well. This in a '24 Tacoma TRD OR. I haven't tested the AC charging yet but am assuming they haven't updated the inverter so I'm guessing all the old restrictions and associated mods still apply. My only other consideration is that it would be great to also have some sort of shunt that automatically switches from solar charging to car charging based on available power from the vehicle. The Ecoflow only has one DC input charging port so if I use your method I either have to manually plug in the charging source or figure out some sort of relay to toggle back and forth based on whether or not the truck is running.

[@dave_in_az]

Thx for the thoughtful comment! I agree with your thoughts, and am not completely sure why my power station read 280W or so input. The power supply goes to 8A supposedly... but I popped it's fuse at 7.8A or so, had to go buy one and replace, so I don't really trust it at that high amperage. However, running on my "400W" Tacoma inverter, that is the most I could get at 55 to 57V, around 5A. I conjecture it is a combo of Tacoma inverter real limitations, Tacoma wire resistance losses, MSW inverter losses in the power supply conversion, and maybe port connection limits. Lastly, the power station input is actually an MPPT solar charge controller, so I am unsure of it's efficiency in accepting this power signal. All those combined maybe? Was hoping to get 400W! Still a decent input without having to add anything to truck wiring.

[@gofastdan]

@@dave_in_az That makes sense. I may buy a bit larger power supply to give a bit more cushion and see if I can get closer to that 400w number. Also, I enjoyed your video about camper prep. I've had that tailgate seal in my saved list for awhile now and have been looking at the rails on the Tacoma and wondering if I should pop them off and seal under them. Your video gives me the little push to make it happen. I should have my camper in the next couple of weeks so need to get those things taken care of.

[@dave_in_az]

Thx! Check out this thread I wrote on best powerstations for truck camping, looked at size, 12v dc amps output so you can run 1 plug to a fusebox, and inverter to let you do elec kettle, etc. Might keep you from some house designs that don't work too well for trucks... forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/good-solar-gen-power-stations-for-dc-and-light-ac-truck-campers.242227/ Also, if I did it over I would replace plastic bedrails with a metal one, though not sure which. But those plastic are super thin and camper kind of crushes them.

[@D0praise]

I am guessing here but believe it was limiting input because his battery was already close to capacity. As these things reach full charge some limit input to protect the battery chemistry.

[@dave_in_az]

You could very well be right... Jasonoid did a pecron e1500LFP test with their new 500W car charger, and instead of giving 500W, it ALSO, went between 278 and 283W. I do now think that at mostly full battery, the Pecron throttles back charging and it's 1st throttle back is to 280W. I will retest this with half full battery. Thanks for your good comment!