Using power station as primary battery

[jcwilde1]

Bluetti 200 is the unit. The power consumption and keeping it connected when in motion is not as much of a concern as is the challenge of "connecting it to the trailer" part of it.

A normal battery charges and discharges from the same cables where as a power station has battery IN locations (for charging) and battery OUT locations (to power everything).

So I may be answering my own question and this may not be possible or at least not worth the hassle of trying to integrate into the existing wiring.

I have read that post and a host of others on various sites and it sounds like I really need to upgrade my converter to support Lifepo4 batteries or stick with Lead Acid and use my power station to extend that through its AC ports. The later is much much cheaper

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by jcwilde1

Bluetti 200 is the unit. The power consumption and keeping it connected when in motion is not as much of a concern as is the challenge of "connecting it to the trailer" part of it.

A normal battery charges and discharges from the same cables where as a power station has battery IN locations (for charging) and battery OUT locations (to power everything).

So I may be answering my own question and this may not be possible or at least not worth the hassle of trying to integrate into the existing wiring.

I have read that post and a host of others on various sites and it sounds like I really need to upgrade my converter to support Lifepo4 batteries or stick with Lead Acid and use my power station to extend that through its AC ports. The later is much much cheaper

You could literally just plug your TMs 30A cord into the Bluetti while camping and everything would work. You would need to do 2, things. 1, have a cut-off switch on your camper's L/A battery. 2, be SURE to turn off the breaker that controls your TM converter so that the converter is not trying to recharge your Bluetti and cause a weird looping situation.

As far as changing your converter charger, that wouldn't be necessary. You wouldn't be charging your Bluetti from that anyway. You would simply plug the Bluetti into a 110V power source or solar array.

I have been doing some research on running 12V L/A batteries in parallel with LiFeP04 batteries. Some people are already doing it successfully but there is some science behind it and should not be tried without doing your due diligence. You can't just hook a lithium into a L/A without doing some careful balancing.

[jagizzi]

Originally Posted by Wavery

I have been doing some research on running 12V L/A batteries in parallel with LiFeP04 batteries. Some people are already doing it successfully but there is some science behind it and should not be tried without doing your due diligence. You can't just hook a lithium into a L/A without doing some careful balancing.

I run a modified version of what you describe with both a FLA battery string on the tongue, and 2 206AH LiFePo4 batteries in the rear compartment. They are both charged by the converter/charger but do not exist in parallel with each other.

I placed a battery selector switch between the two strings so that I can charge, or operate, from one or the other, but not both. Progressive Dynamics chargers have a Boost function which manually, temporarily, outputs 14.4V for 4 hours and then reverts to 13.6V. I use the boost function to charge the LFP's and the normal function to charge the FLA.

Note that the solar charger is only connected in to the LFP batteries as that charger is not selectable. I will also only connect the inverter into the LFP's as well.

I set it up this way for 3 reasons: 1) I had just bought the trailer and it had dead batteries. The easiest, quickest thing to do was to replace the existing GC2's so I did. Two new GC2's sitting on the tongue that I didn't want to throw away. 2) Tongue weight is a factor as well. The GC2s weigh about 120# and sit way up on the tongue. My tongue weight is 350#. If I remove those batteries I am concerned that the tongue would be too light. 3) The GC2s give me an additional 2 days boondocking beyond the LFPs.

I am still trying to figure out how to integrate an inverter physically. The cables are heavy and don't bend easily in limited space, but I'll get there ;-)