Parking Battery-Power Station, 3X capacity and 3X cheaper than dedicated options + extra functionality

[Nigel]

Also, subzero discharge is not that critical up to really low temps, and that +5°C cutoff seams too conservative.
I guess they want to be ‘safe than sorry’, and it was easier/chipper for them to implement simple on/off protection switch based on thermocouple input.

The +5 is correct for a very high speed charge, but given the size of your battery, you are actually charging it fairly slowly, so yes, +3 is probably a better cutoff. I guess they designed it for room temperature charging, so weren't too worried about freezing temperatures, but having cut charging off, +5 is not conservative for resuming charging, since when your sensor reaches +5, the centres of the cells will still be around +3.

I think you can discharge safely at -30 given the low power consumption of a dashcam, and if you go much lower the cells will stop producing power anyway, they won't get damaged.

 

[forcefed]

Thinking of doing something similar, currently settled on the ecoflow river 2 power station, high quality and 5 year warranty. Looked at the anker 521, bluetti eb3a and allpowers r600, prices are somewhat similar but only costco carries the ecoflow, and ya'll know costcos great return policy lol.
Anker would be my second choise, bluetti has some reliability issues if you look at their forum and the allpowers screams junk if you read the reviews.
The 12v cig charger trick sounds great for those that don't want to touch the fusebox, unfortunately i don't have a 12v socket in the trunk and have to wire it in plus the ecoflow will charge at 100w from there, and that extra charging speed will come in handy since my work is only 15 minutes away.
Btw how did you terminate the black wire coming out of the usb a cable thats connected to the yellow acc wire? Did you just tape it up or ground it?

 

[DigitalCorpus]

For most people, there is no point in an internal heater; by the time the cells have warmed through to their centre and charging is safe, a normal commute into work is complete!


Charging slowly is safe well below 5C, which helps warm the cells, but for full speed charging, 5C is correct, which is an issue in the North since we can spend weeks below 5C.


If the palms are turning brown, the insides of the lithium battery cells are suffering similar damage if you charge them, unfortunately the battery cells don't repair themselves!

The degree symbol ‘°’, on Windows, can be accessed by the alt code 248, i.e. Alt key + 248 and then release the Alt key.

When talking batteries there is a unit ‘C’, which is in reference to capacity as a measure of charge current. You can charge batteries at 1C, 2C… 5C, even fractional C et al. Your post threw me for a loop, because that’s how I read it and not your intended usage of Celsius. Temperature does dictate how quickly you can charge a battery too, such as you can provide a 5C charge rate when the cell(s) are anywhere from 20 °C to 40 °C warm, adding a layer of confusion.

 

[GPak]

Thinking of doing something similar, currently settled on the ecoflow river 2 power station, high quality and 5 year warranty. Looked at the anker 521, bluetti eb3a and allpowers r600, prices are somewhat similar but only costco carries the ecoflow, and ya'll know costcos great return policy lol.
Anker would be my second choise, bluetti has some reliability issues if you look at their forum and the allpowers screams junk if you read the reviews.
The 12v cig charger trick sounds great for those that don't want to touch the fusebox, unfortunately i don't have a 12v socket in the trunk and have to wire it in plus the ecoflow will charge at 100w from there, and that extra charging speed will come in handy since my work is only 15 minutes away.
Btw how did you terminate the black wire coming out of the usb a cable thats connected to the yellow acc wire? Did you just tape it up or ground it?

I would not recommend Bluetti EB3A, not because of reliability (I personally had no issues with it) but because of certain functionality.
First when DC/USB ports are ON it has a very high, about 1.3% per hour idling self-discharge rate! (I suspect because of wireless phone charger).
Second, when EB3A turns ON by turning ON ignition it will not automatically turn DC/USB ports ON, and requires pushing physical button on Power Station which is usually not accessible in trunk. Workaround for that is, start the car, it will turn ON EB3A, that will activate Bluetooth, and then using App you can turn on DC/USB ports on Phone from the drivers seat.

I also tested and rejected Energizer Power Stations, both 240Wh and 320Wh version. After unit is turned ON, any cables previously plugged into USB ports will not work, requiring port re-cycling, i.e. physically unplugging and plugging cable back.

Ecoflow River 2 is high quality and established brand, it looks good, just make sure USB ports are automatically ON when it powers up from ignition, than you can wire it as a 5V system.
I see 12V DC port has a dedicated button meaning it is most likely will not automatically turn on, only thru App, like EB3A, inconvenient in my opinion if you want to run 12V system.

 

[Nigel]

°

The degree symbol ‘°’, on Windows, can be accessed by the alt code 248, i.e. Alt key + 248 and then release the Alt key.

Ok, I looked it up, on IPhone it is on a long press of the zero button… how sensible!

Pity they haven’t put a long press on the two button for squared.

 

[forcefed]

I would not recommend Bluetti EB3A, not because of reliability (I personally had no issues with it) but because of certain functionality.
First when DC/USB ports are ON it has a very high, about 1.3% idling self-discharge rate (I suspect because of wireless phone charger).
Second, when EB3A turns ON by turning ON ignition it will not automatically turn DC/USB ports ON, and requires pushing physical button on Power Station which is usually not accessible in trunk. Workaround for that is, start the car, it will turn ON EB3A, that will activate Bluetooth, and then using App you can turn on DC/USB outlets on Phone from the drivers seat.

I also tested and rejected Energizer Power Stations 240Wh and 320Wh version. After unit is turned ON, any cables plugged into USB ports will not work, requiring port re-cycling, i.e. physically unplugging and plugging cable back.

Ecoflow River 2 is high quality and established brand, it looks good, just make sure USB ports are automatically ON when it powers up from ignition, than you can wire it as a 5V system.
I see 12V DC port has a dedicated button meaning it most likely will not automatically turn on, only thru App, like EB3A, inconvenient in my opinion if you want to run 12V system.

When the ecoflow is on the usb ports have power, the 12v port and ac ports need to be turned on so it looks like i'll have to do the 5v trick like you did. Not sure if it gets turned on when charged, will have to ask some users first.
Turns out the ecoflow doesn't turn on when you charge it, have to press the power button... doh.
The Necespow is out of stock, can't find anyone who carries it.
Btw it seems you can charge the necespow even quicker if you connect a 12v car adapter to the barrel input, you'll need a dual 12v socket in this case.

 

[GPak]

“Btw how did you terminate the black wire coming out of the usb a cable thats connected to the yellow acc wire? Did you just tape it up or ground it?”
Just tape it up.

“Turns out the ecoflow doesn't turn on when you charge it, have to press the power button... doh”
I am surprised Ecoflow doesn't turn on when you charge it.
Looking on River 2, the USBs are outside of DC ON/OFF button outline, also UCB-C is by-directional, also from reviews it should have pass-through charging discharging ???

“Btw it seems you can charge the necespow even quicker if you connect a 12v car adapter to the barrel input, you'll need a dual 12v socket in this case”
Correct, with specific Power Station limitations on charge rate, check my post #5

One more note,
Power station 12V DC charging rates are usually based on voltage input from wall DC brick or Solar input, usually 16-21V+.
If charging from 12-14V DC car battery-alternator, charge rate is usually less, despite PS internal charger controllers are all MPPT now days.
For example Necespow 161Wh version charges at around 32-36W from the included 16V-2A rated wall charger and only about 20-25W from 12V car barrel.

 

[forcefed]

“Turns out the ecoflow doesn't turn on when you charge it, have to press the power button... doh”
I am surprised Ecoflow doesn't turn on when you charge it.
Looking on River 2, the USBs are outside of DC ON/OFF button outline, also UCB-C is by-directional, also from reviews it should have pass-through charging discharging ???

Someone on youtube said you had to press the button, maybe i'll just get it from costco and check, doesn't make sense it wouldn't power on when you start charging it.
Any suggestions on where to get the Necespow? Its not available at amazon anymore.

 

[GPak]

With Costco or Amazon return policy you can try and return if it does not work as expected

Here is the link for Necespow on Amazon, Smaller version is on sale for $69.88, it is good for single chanel DashCam, however I would recommend 322Wh version currently for $129, for extra piece of mind.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B08CZK95NJ
I see you are from Canada, please be aware of low temperature limitations for LFP chemistry battery.

 

[forcefed]

Here is the link for Necespow on Amazon, Smaller version is on sale for $69.88, it is good for single chanel DashCam, however I would recommend 322Wh version currently for $129, for extra piece of mind.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B08CZK95NJ

Doh out of stock

 

[GPak]

Doh out of stock

It is in stock on Amazon USA, I guess Amazon stock is not the same in Canada, sorry.

 

[forcefed]

It is in stock on Amazon USA, I guess Amazon stock is not the same in Canada, sorry.

Ah ok i see it now, just have to use a US address.

 

[ly-70mai]

Sure enough, the dash cam battery pack looks like it is a modified power station rather than a power bank.

 

[GPak]

Sure enough, the dash cam battery pack looks like it is a modified power station rather than a power bank.

Exactly!
And what is the modification? - remove tons of functionality from comparable Power Station, change case to metal and bump up the price 5X fold!
I guess they are using premium components, but so do the established and reputable PS builders and still offer 2X+ the capacity for 2X+ less money!
Maybe the price of dedicated DashCam batteries is so high because they are mostly made by the same manufacturer?, monopoly?
This is why I started this project in the first place.

 

[DigitalCorpus]

Supply vs Demand for the prospective markets. When things, especially technology, become tailored to a niche market, the price, or possible price, usually goes up. Our market is smaller than wanting a power station so to make up for volumes of units sold, they make to money with higher profit margins.

 

[GPak]

But, I wanted “Set and Forget” system for my 16h parking schedule........ to be continued

Since Baseus 288Wh PS is reserved for my wife’s car.
So, recently I simply added second “Necespow 161Wh” - one per DVR, (got it on sale for $60), and both Power Stations are powered by 12V single car cigarette outlet, using dual socket adapter.
(Better solution would be one Necespow 322Wh PS running both DVRs but I already had one 161Wh version and wanted to use it)

Note that combined, two Power Stations are charging at close to 65+65=130W rate, verify your car cigarette socket is rated at 10A min and its fuse is 15A min (most cars should have that), my car cigar socket is rated to 13A.
Make sure you have quality 12V cigar socket adapter and Car Chargers and also good connections (they may get quite hot if bad quality, and/or if connections are loose)

Driving/Testing this setup in a 2012 Jeep GC for a couple of weeks now, so far works flawlessly, truly “Plug and Play” and “Set and Forget”.

Next I will try to post pictures and videos of in car installation and functionality

 

[forcefed]

@GPak Which car charger is that? Haven't seen many with a screen like that

 

[GPak]

@GPak Which car charger is that? Haven't seen many with a screen like that

The one with full display was from Amazon but is not available now, the link I had points to the same brand but different model with no display
It has 65W USB-C PD port, good for testing, but has some issues, like it is hard to keep in socket - constantly pushes itself out, and gets really hot

I like this better, 100W (extra margin is always good)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B09Y39K17Z

 

[GPak]

Images of in-car installation, two VIOFO Mini DashCams powered by one Power Station

Videos with one and two PS option setup next.........

 

[GPak]

Part 1, One Power Station powering two VIOFO Mini/2 DashCams
Power Station is Necespow 161Wh version, charging at approximately 60W rate from 12V DC car cigarette lighter using Baseus Charger rated at 100W USB-C PD

Sorry for the quality, I am not good at this

Next I will show two Power Station setup and how easy it is to add second one