I still use it all the time and it’s fantastic. No wasted energy converting from DC to AC and back to DC. I can charge it while I drive off the wall outlet in my Tacoma’s truck bed. I haven’t tried charging with solar because I simply haven’t stayed in one place long enough to need to. If I was just using my fridge on it, it would probably last several days (depending on the outside temp). I charge my phone and tablet off it too. I also can unplug the fridge for a little bit to run my Joolca for a quick shower. I don’t have a diesel heater so I can’t speak to that. You could easily wall charge it off a generator. Overall an extremely solid power station for the price if you don’t need AC power. I highly recommend it.
I don’t really stay in one place for more than 1 or 2 days usually without running my truck. So I don’t really have the answers you’re looking for. That said - the how many days can you run the fridge is highly dependent on how hot it is outside.
Diesel heaters don’t take very much power, it is just a few minutes at startup & shutdown when the glow plug is on that it draws ~10 amps. But overall they are not a significant draw in my experience.
I’ve only charged my Dr. Prep battery from the DC to DC charger. I thought I had read something that you should not charge it unless you’re using a charger that specifically supports lithium batteries.
i currently have both kinds of “power station” in my truck right now and here’s what I think of each:
Power Station - EcoFlow Delta 2 (~1000wh cap) + Add-on Battery (~2000wh cap)
This is the combo I put inside the cab. I run my IceCo JP42 off it 24/7/365. In summer days, when the truck is not running, the fridge will drain the Delta 2 (1000wh) in about 24 hours with the fridge set at 32F and trip the notification on my phone to tell me it’s done. With the add-on battery, it can run for another ~48 hours. Unfortunately, you cannot run diesel heater simultaneously when running the fridge due to single ciggy outlet.
However, it does have multiple AC outlets for you to run AC appliances.
Currently, this one is charged by alternator only via a Victron Smart DC-DC Charger through XT-60i cable. At peak, it can push about 370w of power into the Delta 2 when the truck is running.
I use this setup to run the fridge, Starlink (I set this up before Starlink DC conversion kits were a thing), USB charging iPad mini for offroad navi, drone batteries, action camera batteries, mic batteries, headlamps, etc. I can charge up to 5 or 6 things at once, 2 of them being 100w USB-C quick charger.
Power Brick - 100AH LiFEPO4 Deep Cycle Battery
This sits inside the camper inside an All-Top Battery Box. This is the battery that powers everything inside the camper: camper lights, cooking lights, 10 rock lights, 2 Baja Designs S2 I use as camp lights, and 2 circuits with Anderson connectors to run Waterport water pump and diesel heater.
Battery box has voltage readout, as well as USB and ciggy ports in addition to 2 more 50A Anderson connectors.
I’ve ran diesel heater off this battery for over 24H of continuous run and the voltage was still reading 12.8v, so diesel heater shouldn’t be a problem for 2-3 nights.
I use a Renogy 50A DC-DC w/ MPPT for this one, simply because it’s a lot easier to run solar cables for the camper than into the cab. I’ve yet to run solar yet, (that’s project for this weekend and next), but I am running 2 200w Bouge RV Yuma panels on the roof of GFC. I’m setting it so I have options: when truck is running, both panels will charge the camper 100AH battery. But when I’m setting up basecamp mode, I can unplug one panel’s quick disconnect and connect it with XT-60i to charge the Delta 2 if it’s too windy to deploy my portable panels.
The downside of this system is, you can’t run anything AC powered without using an inverter. Running an inverter does make you lose some energy efficiency though.
The other way to charge this on shore power is using a dedicated LiFEPO4 AC-DC charger at home, if you so choose to.
Both systems have their pros and cons. IF you don’t use AC at all, going with the battery and a quality DC-DC charger with MPPT will be cheaper than buying a power station. Hook it up to solar, then you can recharge it in the day time when you go do your activities. But you’ll not get the app control that most quality power station manufacturers have.
On the other hand, if you go with a pre-made power station (like EcoFlow), then you gain AC power, app control and firmware updates, and the ability to wall-charge it at home (fastest is 1500w, charges the whole Delta 2 and add-on in like 2hrs). The downside is the cost.
Both systems can be charged via DC-DC and solar, so there’s no edge here from on to the other.
That helps a lot …I was trying to decide on a backup plan…my power bank broke on a month long trip and only way to get it fixed was mailing it in.
But after looking at the weight a duel battery adds and having to figure out a spot for a dcdc charger…I might end up just getting a 500 to 700wh small power bank for infield emergency…
I saw Craft Auto works had a a power system with a dcdc charger built in and plenty of 12v cigarette plugs but idk kinda on the expensive side…
To free up the 12v cigarette lighter port on my River Pro, I swapped my Iceco VL45ProS cable to this and just use the DC5521 ports. I’m pretty sure your Ecoflow also has these ports. But not sure that your Iceco has the same plug as mine. Hope this helps!
same plug for the fridge. but im not so sure if the barrel plug can be securely connected when doing high speed offroading lol
i’ve gone through so many 12v ciggy plugs to find the one that stays connected even when the truck’s eating up the whoops.
I’m 99% sure its the same as my VL45ProS and Ecoflow River Pro, but I haven’t had any issues. If I am going to run a diesel heater or my GFC Pro lights, I just switch the fridge over to Eco mode so it pulls less wattage. Might be worth a try, and if not just return it to amazon lol also, the barrel connectors will hold when you’re offroad, they take some force to pull in and out