As avid boondockers, we are always looking for ways to improve our capacity to RV off the grid. Recently we had a chance to review a unique product by EcoFlow, their new 3-in-1 800 watt Alternator Charger. We were excited to test it because we could use what they call “wasted energy” from our truck battery and access it with a portable power station for many RV needs, all without being connected.
How the EcoFlow Alternator Charger Worked with Our Ford F-350
The EcoFlow 800W Alternator Charger connects to your vehicle battery. Once connected, each time you drive you charge a power station with the excess energy generated by your vehicle batteries.
How you wire the alternator charger will depend on your vehicle. The primary cable is wired from your battery into the auto inside.
We tested and continue to use the device on our 2019 Ford F-350, but you can use it with any road vehicle battery. There is major power from diesel engines, but having the EcoFlow Alternator Charger in place means any vehicle with any battery type will benefit from the extra energy, from pickups to RVs.
Installing the Alternator Charger is the first step (hint: it’s not very complicated).
Our Ford truck has a rubber grommet (plug) in the firewall which is usually used for installation. We didn’t quite go that route and found it easier to drill a new hole using a new grommet and a bit of silicone to prevent water entry. This created cable access directly from the battery to inside the cab.
Once inside the vehicle, the truck has a decent space to run a heavy gauge cable. We weren’t even aware this pathway existed until we reviewed some YouTube videos. Take advantage of videos for your type of vehicle for adding cable throughout.
The power cable comes in two sections. For a small hole through the firewall, you won’t be able to push the fuse section through, so it comes separately. Once battery connections are complete, you can easily pop the cap on the fuse box and connect the routed wire section.
Our Ford battery terminals are a little weird. For some reason the negative and positive terminals are different. We had to drill a hole in a flat section of the positive, put a bolt through, and connect the wire. This, too, will vary from vehicle to vehicle.
The manufacturer leaves that part for you to solve on your own, which makes complete sense. There are plenty of resources online to assist with your specific auto.
Instead, we allowed the EcoFlow to rest in the compartment underneath the back seat.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t a good place behind the back seats in the F-350 to mount the alternator charging unit. There’s a subwoofer and a lot of electronics back there, surprisingly.
The unit feels very hefty and solid. We aren’t worried about minor placement shifts while driving. Fortunately, however, there is perfect space behind the driver’s seat and the back seat to put our EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max Power Station, so we can plug it into the alternator charger. The unit is 9.5” W x 1” D x 8.5” L. So, this is the amount of space you will use, along with about 3.5 inches of additional space for cords in and out of the unit.
The unit uses the DELTA 2 Max’s additional battery connection port, of which there are two.
This is the fastest, strongest DC-to-DC port available for the units. When the power station is charged, we return it to the RV, where we primarily use it to power our two computers, each with an external monitor. When depleted, it goes back into the truck to recharge on our next drive.
We did not test the charger with other power stations, so it may have a proprietary connection.
After we installed the EcoFlow 800W Alternator Charger, we set up our first test.
We turned on the EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max Power Station and the alternator charger, then started the truck. After a few seconds, the power station showed a charge rate of a full 800 watts! And the truck was idling.
One thing we quickly noticed as a benefit is that the alternator charger appears to have voltage detection. Before we started the truck, no charging power was going through the charger. This demonstrated the unit can detect the difference between an at-rest vehicle battery and a battery being charged via an alternator.
What does this mean for you? The alternator charger won’t drain your vehicle’s battery voltage when the engine isn’t running! This was our biggest concern before installation. It is good to know the EcoFlow engineers had already thought these safety features through. They included undervoltage protection that prevents excessive energy use and damage to your starting battery. Also, the alternator charger automatically goes into a standby mode once the power station has reached 100% charge. This unit won’t shorten the life of your batteries.
There are some bonus features when using the EcoFlow Power Station and 800W Alternator Charger combination.
There are three features we want to point out to future end users:
Both the EcoFLow 800W Alternator Charger and the EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max Power Station are supported with an app. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a good reading of the operation of the alternator charger or access any further information, because we kept getting NaN values in the app. It may be that our charger unit received is not completely integrated yet.
However, because we were using it to charge the DELTA 2 Max, we could see the numbers on the power station’s display screens. If you need to change the mode of the device, the app will be the only way to do that.
Another great feature we liked about charging from the alternator charger is that you can simultaneously charge with solar panels.
You can juice up the power station even faster because there is input for the alternator charger and another power source; solar panels!
One thing to note is charging in cold weather. We couldn’t charge the power station when it was freezing temperatures (we left the unit in the truck overnight) but this is a known issue with all lithium batteries. No lithium battery should be charged when cold. EcoFlow portable power stations have freeze protection built in, which is a good thing.
A feature we would like to see in the next upgrade: a detection feature
The EcoFlow power station doesn’t turn on to charge if it detects input from the alternator charger. Vice versa, the charger doesn’t automatically turn on when you start the vehicle. These may be protection features, but having the option to have them auto-detect would save you accessing them every time. It could save you a lot of time if you use them regularly. Or if you forget to turn them on!
On our test drives, the alternator charger did an excellent job, even if the station was down to the bare minimum.
The charger could charge the power station battery life back to 100% full charge in about 2.5 hours maximum! The heavy gauge of the wire ensures that the power delivery is rapid and does not cause heat or melting issues. We appreciate that the alternator charger gives us another charging option when we are on the road.
Whether you are a full-time RVer, boondocking, or taking small trips, knowing you have the resources to keep everything running is critical. The alternator charger gives us peace of mind that we can work, live, and play in adventures wherever we go – even without electricity.
