"Plug and Play Powerstation Integration VW Grand California - Ecoflow, Jackery, Anker, Bluetti etc."

[TTP-75]

Has anyone installed the "Plug and Play Powerstation Integration VW Grand California - Ecoflow, Jackery, Anker, Bluetti etc." installation kit found on the GrandCali website? (https://www.grandcali.com/en/lets-talk-about-electricity/)



Where does it get electricity, at least to some sockets, but does it provide power to all, or only to some of the sockets? And does it provide power to, for example, Truma and the refrigerator? If it doesn't, how much more time does it give in "bush parking", because I think the refrigerator consumes the most battery? And, if I remember correctly, on their website, in the English comments, there was a mention that it would not charge either battery.



So basically the question is, is it worth buying the installation kit, or upgrading the battery directly to lithium batteries? In that case, the price, compared to a "properly done" battery replacement, would be clearly cheaper. And you can easily increase the capacity of the Ecoflow, or a similar power bank, as needed.

 

[GS O'brino]

I considered getting the full set of integrated 220V sockets, but in reality, it's pretty much the same thing if you just run a good extension cord from the EcoFlow to your living/kitchen area. Sure, having proper built-in AC outlets everywhere looks cleaner and is more convenient, but it all comes down to how often you actually plug in 220V devices in your setup. If it's just occasional use (like a kettle, laptop charger, or fan), the extension does the job fine and saves hassle/cost.

 

[mr pg]

We most often plug an extension lead into our Bluetti.

 

[TTP-75]

I received a response from the manufacturer of the device. Thanks to all participants, answer below:

"The integration is only for the 230 volt system. You can power the sockets with a power station like an EcoFlow, but it will never charge the battery of the Grand California. That means the Truma, fridge and other consumers running on the vehicle battery cannot use power from the integration. If you want to charge the battery as well, you will need an alternator charger."

 

[maxtorque]

The GC has a seperate AC wiring harness / network for the interior 240v sockets, which actually makes it really easy todo this integration.

If you look in the rear electrics cupboard (trim removed) you see the OE AC fuse box, it takes in the power from the external Electrical Hook Up (EHU) socket on the rear corner of the van, passes it though a residual current protection device, then splits it through two over current circuit breakers,

One breaker for all the sockets (white 240v plugs / harness / wiring), one breaker for the other stuff (black plugs / harness / wiring that uses 240V -Heater, std fit onboard battery charger, roof AC if you have it

This means if you want to, you can fairly easily break into this point at effectively feed all your interior 240v sockets from another 240v source. The level of complexity you want here is up to you. We have an onboard inverter fed from 5kWH of 24v lithium, so it's arranged that if that inverter is active, a change over relay connects the sockets to the inverter output auto-magically. .Note, as this is downstream of the OE fit RCD and MCB's you must fit your own protection in place to protect users from short circuit (normally limited by the inverter itself) and earth leakage (depends on inverter spec)

Because the other 240v loads on the black network, these can be left to operate as normally from EHU shore power. You could of course also connect those loads to the inverter but those loads can be high (truma is up to a 1.8kW load!) so unless you have BIG energy storage on board i don't think it's worth it!

Any which way you break into the AC system, you must ensure that your introduction of the power cannot back feed to the EHU. This is because it will make the male pins of the EHU extension cable live (default is for power OUTPUTs have shrouded female contacts to reduce the risk of accidental contact to a live terminal) and because if the grid feeding the EHU goes down, or someone is working on that system, the power from your onboard inverter could back feed and electrocute them, depsite them having correctly isolated the FEED to their system,

 

[maxtorque]

BTW, if you wanted to charge the starter and leisure batteries whilst on internal inverter power, you don't need an additional charger, you just need to find the feed to the OE OnBoard Battery Charger (which itself lives under the front LHS seat, and make sure this is one your new 240V power network. That is as simple as pulling the correct black plug off the black 240v network distribution block and plugging it into the white distro block!


The problem with this is you are now charging all the 12v batteries which ime with the OE OBBC means around a 600W draw, which for a small inverter system is going to use a fair bit of your power overhead up.