Product Spotlight
Actually, this will be 4 related product spotlights. These will be of interest to anyone thinking of putting together their own backup power system for camping or emergency use.
Earlier this year I picked up an UBCO 2x2 Adventure electric moped (perhaps the subject of a future product spotlight) -
https://www.ubcobikes.com/us/
I wanted a way to keep it charged on extended off grid camping trips as well as having power for ham radios, lights, and even an induction cooktop. There was also another, perhaps more important, motive to have additional power backup capability during our infamous California Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS).
WARNING - Do not leave battery connections exposed. These batteries can provide potentially lethal levels of electrical current and a fire hazard!
Dakota Lithium 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 Batteries
https://dakotalithium.com/product/dakot ... r-battery/
When I was piecing together my system Dakota Lithium had the best prices on Lithium Ion 12V batteries in this capacity range. They offered a bulk discount as well. Currently, they are available for as low as $679 if you order a minimum of 10 batteries so the price gets more reasonable if you can combine an order with a few friends.
I've just been trying them out in my den for now. My original plan was to mount them in the Pinzgauer but I decided that is too big of an investment to leave them in the truck all the time and it would be difficult to use them for backup power in the house. I'm working on solutions so I can keep them in the house most of the time and put them in the Pinzgauer and Tacoma as needed.
So far, they have functioned fine. Using the Renogy 2000W inverter (below) I've charged the UBCO battery a couple of times using it's supplied 120V AC charger, run a test with the refrigerator in the kitchen and boiled water with an induction cooktop. The batteries will easily power the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.
Each battery is rated at 1280Wh and comes with a 10A charger. Together the 4 batteries provide 5.1kWh of stored power. The 10A charger is very slow to charge the 4 batteries in parallel. Doing quick math it will take about 40 hours to completely charge the batteries. After charging the 3.1kWh UBCO battery it took a couple of days to fully recharge the Dakota batteries. Due to my time of use electric rate plan I don't charge between 4:00PM and 9:00PM. This works for now but eventually I want to use solar charging on the batteries at home and for camping. I have 4 800W solar panels and a 60A charge controllerI have yet to try out (another potential product spotlight).
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Battery Cables USA
I was deciding between getting the equipment to make my own battery cables or get custom made battery cables on-line. After some Internet searching I found Battery Cables USA -
https://www.batterycablesusa.com
They make up custom battery cables at reasonable prices. They provided the cables between the batteries and the negative cable leading to the current monitoring shunt. They also provided some additional cables that will be used to connect up the solar charge controller.
There isn't too much to say about these other than they appear to be high quality cables and came exactly as ordered in about a week.
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Renogy 2000W Full Sign Wave Inverter
Looking at my potential uses for this system I decided that a 2000W inverter would be sufficient for my purposes and it physically fits in the location where I planned to mount it in the Pinzgauer. The UBCO charger takes 6A at 120V (720W), the kitchen refrigerator is 240W (plus startup current), and the induction cooktop is 1800W at full power.
https://www.renogy.com/2000w-12v-pure-s ... -inverter/
So far the inverter has worked fine with everything I've plugged into it with no audible AC hum or other signs on the electronic devices or flicker with incandescent or LED lights.
The only negative thing I've noticed is that the cooling fans are rather loud when drawing a heavy load such as the induction cooktop but that is not uncommon for any high power electronic device.
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Renogy 500A Battery Monitor
https://www.renogy.com/500a-battery-monitor/
To keep track of the battery level and power consumption or charge level I included a Renogy 500A battery monitor with a 500A shunt. The unit is programmable to match the capacity of your batteries. The basic functionality is show below -
The shunt is a low ohm resistor that enables the electronic circuit to determine the amount of current going into or out of the battery. All of the current passes through the shunt and Ohm's law is used to determine the level (I=V/R).
Bruce Berger
KD6GCO
'72 Pinzgauer 710M 2.6i
'91 Honda ST1100 199,000miles and counting
(I hope to make it to at least half the places this bike has been)
'04 Tacoma (soon to be for sale)
'07 Moto Guzzi Norge - Corsa Red - The faster color
'21 UBCO 2x2 Electric Adventure Bike
'22 Energica Eva Ribelle Electric Motorcycle
'23 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon with Skinny Guy Camper
