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

buksa said:
The River 3 is currently on sale at Amazon for $159
If I get the River 3, all I need to do is buy a 15V USB-C, and I'll be set?
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buksa said:
or RIVER 2 will be better ?
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Welcome to DCT!

In short, both the River2 and River3 are good options.
However, based on the information available online, I am leaning towards the Ecoflow River3 (R3) for the following:
-The R3 has the setting in the App to keep the 12VDC-Out port On as long as R3 is On, but most importantly, it remembers this settings next time R3 is On after shut-off.
This allows to use 12VDC-Out to be used to power dashcam without the need for a USB-C to 12VDC Cable, like for the R2.
EDIT: Providing the R3 goes into sleep mode with 12VDC port enabled but with no power draw by dashcam

-It has energy capacity of 245Wh or about 4% less than the R2, but it is advertised to be much more efficient, with low power equipment like the dashcam. This is true on the AC side, and I hope is somewhat true for the DC side as well.

-The USB-C port on the R3 is for output only and cannot be used for charging, but I prefer 12VDC charging anyway, because from the App I can adjust charging current to 4A, 6A or 8A, which corresponds to 50W, 75W, or 100W charging rate, respectively, as needed.
 
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Does the R3 go to sleep when the 12v port is turned on? If so, this makes it a winner above the R2, which will not go into sleep mode with the 12v port enabled. Capacity is identical for all practical purposes, so that’s not a decision criteria. All other factors look very similar, it would come down the the 12v behavior (if they are different) or price point (if 12v behavior is identical).

Do watch out for temps, though. I fried the usb-a output on the R2 when summer temps went above 120F in the car (95F outside air temp). They are great units if you are in a cooler climate!
 
GPak said:
It looks like CTECHi's 12V DC output is automatically turned on when the PS is turned on, and it seams like it supports dual charging.
If so, you don’t need to use USB-C to 12V or 15V cable for HK3 (red and black), use 12VDC out instead.
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Unfortunately, the 12V DC output is not enabled when the CTECHi is turned on by USB-C PD input.

So it looks like I'm back to 12V DC charging.

I could use either 12V DC or USB-C to 15V output.
 
EricSan said:
Does the R3 go to sleep when the 12v port is turned on? If so, this makes it a winner above the R2, which will not go into sleep mode with the 12v port enabled. Capacity is identical for all practical purposes, so that’s not a decision criteria. All other factors look very similar, it would come down the the 12v behavior (if they are different) or price point (if 12v behavior is identical).

Do watch out for temps, though. I fried the usb-a output on the R2 when summer temps went above 120F in the car (95F outside air temp). They are great units if you are in a cooler climate!
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Oh yeah, very good point, thank you @EricSan

The benefit of using 12VDC port is only realized if the R3 goes into sleep mode with 12VDC port enabled but with no power draw by dashcam.
We need someone to confirm, otherwise it can be used exactly the same as the R2.

I edited my post above to mention this.
 
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TonyM said:
Unfortunately, the 12V DC output is not enabled when the CTECHi is turned on by USB-C PD input.

So it looks like I'm back to 12V DC charging.

I could use either 12V DC or USB-C to 15V output.
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This is unfortunate, my assumption was based on the lack of a dedicated button for the 12VDC output ports.
 
GPak said:
This is unfortunate, my assumption was based on the lack of a dedicated button for the 12VDC output ports.
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It's not a big deal to use a 5521 socket for 12VDC output. It's more compact than a 12V CLA socket.
 
Alternatively, you can skip the 12v to 5v regulator and use the USB-A output from the power station. This was my configuration for the Ecoflow River2. Given subsequent learning experiences, I would not charge the power station from the car’s 12v utility/ cigarette lighter adapter. The Ecoflow charging plug worked its way loose from the lighter adapter in my son’s car and melted the plastic. It is safer and more reliable to draw from the car’s battery with an inline relay (shown in the next post below), but that’s a more complicated install.
IMG_4380.webp
 
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This is the final implementation of a parking battery in two of our cars. If you are using a commercial power station (instead of a DIY battery pack), you can use a 12v to 5v USB cigarette lighter adapter to provide the 5v signal to the yellow trigger wire to toggle in and out of parking mode. This diagram assumes that your CLA turns on and off with the car's ignition (if it doesn't, you'll need to add another low power relay). Connecting directly to the car's battery is a safer and more reliable connection for charging your parking battery, but it comes at the cost of more work to get heavy wires to your car's main battery. Most engine firewall rubber grommets will have a spare chaseway to run your wires into the engine compartment for a battery connection.

IMG_5021.webp
 
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Thanks for the suggestions. I have a Corolla Hybrid with a small 12V battery, so I was hoping to run a parking mode setup that doesn't interfere with the car's electrics or drain the small battery.

I was happy to bring the PS home for charging once a week. I realise now that I need to charge the PS in the car to get a suitable ground for the ACC trigger. I'll start with a CLA adapter for charge and ACC, and look into alternative connection options as the project progresses.
 
TonyM said:
Unfortunately, the 12V DC output is not enabled when the CTECHi is turned on by USB-C PD input.

So it looks like I'm back to 12V DC charging.

I could use either 12V DC or USB-C to 15V output.
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Further update. Turning on the CTECHi PS by 12V DC charging enables the USB-C PD port, but it does not turn on the 12V DC outputs. Thankfully I do have a viable setup:
- Charging via dedicated 12V DC input
- USB-C PD to 15V output

FYI - This is the CTECHi 320Wh power station I'm testing: https://ctechipower.com/products/ctechi-gt200pro-320wh-200w-portable-power-station

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My next step is to see what happens to the ports when it is turned on after being completely drained. To do that, I need to drain the battery.

I thought I would be smart and run a discharge capacity bench test by leaving my Viofo A139 running in parking mode, but I had 2 issues:
- I forgot I had set a 12 Hr time limit on parking mode, so the A139 turned off overnight 😳 Thankfully I gained some knowledge from the test. I discovered that the PS remained turned on 2 hours later, so I think I have low-current (<100mA) sleep mode disabled. Maybe I should enable it?
- I don't want to leave my A139 running for a few days on the bench. I need it in the car. So I'm looking for an alternative constant discharge device for testing, ideally something I can connect to the USB-C plug on the HK3-C hardwire kit.

I suppose I can shortcut draining the battery by using the AC output with a high-drain device.
 
TonyM said:
Further update. Turning on the CTECHi PS by 12V DC charging enables the USB-C PD port, but it does not turn on the 12V DC outputs. Thankfully I do have a viable setup:
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Since there is no separate on/off button for the 12VDC outputs, I thought they would turn on automatically like the USB ports, however it appears the single on/off button is a multi-function button used for 12VDC.

Here is the DC load tester I use for my tests:
 
TonyM said:
I suppose I can shortcut draining the battery by using the AC output with a high-drain device.
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This is what I did - plug in a table lamp with a 60-100w incandescent bulb. Dies in a few hours instead of a few days with the dashcam.

It is much harder to drain my DIY battery pack. The only other option is using ohm's law to arrange some high-power resistors to approximate the power draw of a device through the USB outlet, but you have to be careful not to over-draw the UBS power rating.

Here is mine, it's much lower tech than the one GPak linked:
DummyLoad.webp
 
EricSan said:
This is what I did - plug in a table lamp with a 60-100w incandescent bulb. Dies in a few hours instead of a few days with the dashcam.
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I replaced my 60W bedside lamp with an LED lamp a few years ago. I did however find a 40W fan that did the trick.
 
I ran a successful test on the CTECHi GT200 this morning. After a full discharge of the power station, I connected the external 12V DC supply. The PS started charging and simultaneously output 15V to the HW kit. The charge rate started at ~10W, ramping up to 45W where it remained.

 
Score! Looks like you've got a great solution for your parking battery!
 
I made one interesting observation during testing. If I drained the power station to 0% by running a dashcam from the USB-C port, the next time the PS was charged it would power up the USB-C PD port and therefore the camera would start recording. After a minute to settle down, the PS charged at a constant 45W. The same happens if I let the PS self-discharge to 0%.

However, when I drained the PS at a faster rate by using the AC socket, it seemed to go into a lower charge state. When I applied a 12V input, the PS only charged at 10W and it did not enable the USB-C port. This continued for at least 15 minutes, even after the PS reached 4% charge.

So in my case, using the AC socket to speed up testing was unhelpful. I'm not sure if I should do any further tests before thinking about moving the setup into the car? I've run the above AC and USB discharge tests 3 times with the same results each time.
 
Using AC, in addition to the higher discharge rate, also means using an inverter, which can have some impact on the PS operations, however, this is not something we do or care about when using PS to power the dashcam.

Since it's officially winter now, the only test I would do is to verify the PS has a sub-freezing temp protection, or you can check the manual to verify, if so, I think you can move it into the car.
 
GPak said:
Since it's officially winter now, the only test I would do is to verify the PS has a sub-freezing temp protection, or you can check the manual to verify, if so, I think you can move it into the car.
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👍

I also intend to measure charge and discharge rates & available capacity so I have a good idea how long the PS will last in my car before I have to bring it inside for a full charge.
 
GPak said:
verify the PS has a sub-freezing temp protection, or you can check the manual to verify
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The manual implies it has <0degC protection

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That’s a nice temp range! The EcoFlow tops out at 45c, your is 55c.
 
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