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hey everybody welcome back to a new
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video right here I have the ankor solx
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f3800 and this has been a very popular
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Power Station this year and for good
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reason it's always priced well against
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the competition it has a large inverter
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it puts out split face power good for up
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to 6,000 WTS and it has a large lithium
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iron phosphate battery at almost 4,000
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WS of capacity however in my original
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review I found one big Quirk about this
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whenever you AC charge this power
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station it shuts off the 240 volt output
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the split phase output cannot be used
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now I thought it'd be helpful to
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demonstrate what the actual problem is
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and why it's important to solve so right
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here I have the f3800 with the split
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phase output the 240 volts feeding my
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transfer switch now a lot of people also
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do this with a generator Inlet to back
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feed to their main panel with an
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interlock switch so these are the two
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most common ways to power your home
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during a power outage well the 240 volt
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output needs to be enabled in order to
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do that well let's say there's a big
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storm going on uh I don't have any solar
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available or maybe it's at night and I
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can't charge with solar input you need
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to charge with AC input so let's say I
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have a gas generator and I want to
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charge this so I have the gas generator
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feed right here let's plug it in I'll
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show you what happens shuts off the 240
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well this right here solves that problem
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so what is this thing well this is the
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eg4 charge large verter this is a
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massive AC todc power supply meaning
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that you connect 120 volts ac or 240
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volts ac input here and then on the
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other side it puts out DC power for
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example on this side you have your main
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positive and negative DC output so you
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can connect into the solar charging
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ports so by using the eg4 charge verter
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we can basically trick the power station
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to think it's charging from DC input
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this will allow us to keep the 240 volt
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split phase output enabled while you're
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charging from AC power now guys this is
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not a sponsored video because I didn't
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even know if this was going to work when
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I originally purchased the eg4 charge
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verter but guess what it does work now
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this comes with the cabling required to
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have a 240 volt input and to connect
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directly up to a 48 volt battery so
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there will be a few modifications to
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this wiring to get it to charge off 120
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volts and to connect up to the Anchor
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f3800 but I'll walk you through that
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here in a couple minutes
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but first let's hook it up and show you
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how it works so for my first test what I
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have is the eg4 connected to a 120 Vol
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AC source and I have the anchor f3800
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running about uh 780 W load through the
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inverter so I have the charging cable
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for the DC solar input I'm going to
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connect the charge verter up to it right
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now so now that it's connected you just
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give it a couple seconds and you'll
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start seeing a charging input right here
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on the screen so now we can see that
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it's charging at 1150 W input from the
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charge verter and we are outputting
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about 778 watts and it is estimating a
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recharge in 1.1 hours now on the screen
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of the eg4 you also get a voltage output
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reading the current reading and the S so
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now you'll notice that the S so says
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lost because this does not communicate
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with the anchor f300 now that's fine it
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doesn't need to communicate for the
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voltage output we're seeing
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51.9 to 52 Vols and the current is 22
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amps now if you remember there are two
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charging ports on the f3800 now
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unfortunately they don't support a
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parallel connection between a single
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charging source for example if I connect
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this in it is going to shut off the
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charging completely because both of them
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come from the same charging source for
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example with both connected we are now
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charging at 0 Watts so it stops charging
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completely when there is a common ground
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between both charging ports now if I
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unplug one of those it should start
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charging here in a couple seconds now I
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am in Communications with ankor support
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team and I'm curious if they can make a
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setting change here they've upgraded the
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firmware on this to have a couple
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improvements and if they're able to make
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this support parallel charging it would
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be really cool you'd be able to charge
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this at the full 2 2400 W from the
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charge verter if we had both of these
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ports connected up now I did have to to
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change a few of the settings on the
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charge verter in order to get the full
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charging speed on the f3800 so take a
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look at these settings you'll want to
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mimic these if you want to charge at the
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full speed now guys I apologize for the
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fan noise this has really loud fans
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because it's such a heavyduty charger
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this is able to Output 100 amps slightly
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over 5,000 watts of power to charge up a
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48volt battery bank and luckily it's
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also compatible with the anchor
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f3800 now I have a few viewers that
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probably have two of these and they're
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probably wondering well can I connect
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the eg4 charge verter up to two separate
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anchor f3800 to dual charge them now I
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believe that would be possible if you
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had two pigtails because the anchor F
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3800s charge independently from each
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other so if you connected one pigtail up
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to each one you should be able to charge
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at around 1150 Watts on each unit or
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around 2400 Watts total now I don't have
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a way to test that because I only have
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one of these units but if someone else
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has two units and they pick up a charge
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verter and test that out let me know if
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you can charge two separate units at the
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same time using one charge verter so the
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big question is do I have to purchase
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the eg4 charge verter to accomplish the
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same thing and let me explain why this
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is a better option than others out there
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first off is the actual cost in order to
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put out a continuous 12200 watts into
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this power station you are going to need
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a very large AC todc converter they can
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handle that power continuously for
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example right here I have a 1200 W BK
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precision uh AC todc power supply this
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costs over
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$3,000 new and that is basically more
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money than the actual uh Power Station
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itself if you want to have high amperage
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and high voltage continuously you will
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have to purchase a very large AC to DC
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power supply and they stack up quick if
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you get a cheaper model it won't able to
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handle the continuous output and will
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probably burn up within a few hours and
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then you're going to be out your money
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so you're going to have to purchase
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something that's large and can handle
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the output the charge verter for example
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is rated at 5,000 watts and US charging
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one unit at 1200 WS is not anywhere near
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the maximum output and this is able to
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keep itself cool even if you're charging
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two units at 2400 Watts you're still
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only running this at 50% of its rated
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power output so it should be just fine
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the other thing to consider is most of
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the time you're going to be charging
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from AC input is if you have a power
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outage and you're charging from a gas
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generator a AC to DC converter like this
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will not be able to run off the dirty
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power from a gas generator but the
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charge verter is designed to run off any
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sort of gas generator an inverter
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generator or a traditional sinewave
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generator this is designed to take any
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of that dirty power and convert it to DC
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power that's kind of why this thing was
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created so this is not nearly the cost
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of something like this yet it has more
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functionality so let's go ahead and test
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that out I want to take this outside
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power it up with my gas generator and
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see if we can actually charge the f3800
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okay guys so here is the testing setup
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for running the charge verter off a gas
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generator to charge up the
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f3800 so right here I have the generator
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this is actually a dual fuel generator
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from Pulsar it's their GX 400 BN this is
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a 4,000 Peak dual fuel generator and
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I'll be running it off propane today the
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benefit of having this generator here is
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that it does have an RV 30 amp output
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and that's how I'll be connecting up the
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charge verter now for the charge verter
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setup I will go over this wiring a
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little bit later in the video to show
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you how I did this but basically I have
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the 240 volt cable that comes with the
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charge verter and I've adapted it to the
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30 amp output so I'll show you how that
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works to run it off 120 volts
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I have the DC output going out and
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around the back of the power station
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where I have two XT 60s and of course
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we'll only be connecting one into the
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solar charging port to charge it at
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around 1150 W so first I'm going to
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start up the generator get it warm and
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then we'll plug in the charge verter
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[Music]
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okay guys it's going to be really hard
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to see the screen but we are sitting at
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95% state of charge and 1150 Watts I'll
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throw a screenshot up from the app so
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you guys can see what's happening but we
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have this connected in and it is
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charging from the gas gener
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okay so everything appears to be working
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properly when running the charge verter
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off the propane generator so I'm going
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to let this finish up charging it's
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probably got about 10 to 15 minutes just
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want to make sure everything works
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without any issues and the only thing
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you'd have to do is adjust the cable
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length depending on where you have your
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generator and where you have your power
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station but once this is finished I'll
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take you inside to show you guys the
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wiring setup it is fairly simple you
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just buy a few things off Amazon and you
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can connect everything together now in
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the next section of the video I want to
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talk about powering up the eg4 charge
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verter if you remember it accepts two
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different voltages 2040 volt and 120
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volt now out of the box you get this
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power cable this is meant for 240 volt
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input so if you have a 240 volt
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generator you don't have to worry about
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any modifications this is an
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l1430 plug and you should be familiar
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with this if you have a 240 volt source
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if not that's fine this will still work
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off 120 volts I'll walk through this
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adapter here that I've built and I'll
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link these products down in the video
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description now if you want to power
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this off 120 volts you'll connect up the
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240 volt charging cable and you'll
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notice that this has four conductors so
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you have your ground you have two Hots
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which each provide 120 volts and then
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you have this one up here which is your
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neutral now they do provide the wiring
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diagram in the user manual and that's
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how I set this up so right here we have
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an
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l1430 receptacle with three conductors
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you have your neutral you have your hot
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or your live and then you have your
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ground and this connects right up to
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this adapter here now what this is is
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this is a dog bone style adapter I
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purchased this for an RV Connection
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basically I chopped off the end stripped
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back the insulation and then attached on
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this receptacle so I could be able to
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attach it properly to this I could not
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find any type of adapter that was wired
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in this sort of way online so you have
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to make your own cable now I'll quickly
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take this apart so you guys can see how
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it's put together um these just come
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apart pretty easily with a couple screws
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and then you can rewire them up so uh
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fairly easy if you've ever wired an
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outlet uh you can definitely do
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something like this now once you remove
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those two screws this and this just kind
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of SL slide down on top of this cable
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and then it reveals the three conductors
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so right here you can see the white one
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is your neutral the black is your hot
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and the green is your ground basically
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you just strip back the wire put it up
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into this slot and then screw down this
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screw extremely tight and you have wired
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up your DIY 120 volt power cable for the
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charge verter so with those changes now
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we can power it off 120 volts or 240
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volts so let's focus on the out output
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wiring right here we have the stock
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cabling this is your positive wire this
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red one and the black one is your
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negative wire and this is meant to
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charge a battery if you look right here
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we have ring terminals which these
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aren't compatible with f3800 so we have
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to make a change but I still want to
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make this compatible with a battery just
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in case I want to charge a battery down
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the road so what I want to do is put an
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inline adapter I'm going to use these
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sb50 connections with the six gauge
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terminals we are going to cut off about
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a foot of this wire and we are going to
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put a brake in it using S SP 50s so we
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can change the end off so it's
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compatible with a battery or the f3800
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okay guys there's no going back I have
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cut the wire so now this is what the
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setup looks like we are going to put an
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S sp50 right here and another s sp50
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right here so we can basically attach
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this one when we want to connect to a
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battery and then we'll have another
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adapter that we can make it so it's
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compatible with the f3800 this is really
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easy to put these on basically you just
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cut back the insulation put on the
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terminal and then you crimp it down with
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these crimpers and you're good to go so
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jumping forward a few minutes I have one
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side completed they're all snapped in
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there everything's good to go there and
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I have these two ready to go now these
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have already been crimped so you can see
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the crimp marks on
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there now when you feed these in you do
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have to do it a particular way so you
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can see it's labeled positive and
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negative and there is a spring clip in
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here you can see that Spring right there
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and this bent part of the pin goes over
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this spring so let me get this lined up
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so we have the positive and the spring
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clip and it basically is just going to
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go on you kind of feed it in snap it
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into place you can see it snaps over
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that
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spring do the same thing with the
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negative line it
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up push it
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in sometimes it takes a little
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bit and they are both snapped in and
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then these can now
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connect together and they are a very
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secure connection well now that I have
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this completed I'd make one
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recommendation you can see that these
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are pretty short if you wanted to
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connect up to a server rack battery this
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is probably not going to reach between
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the two terminals so I would definitely
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recommend making these longer in your
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setup um I already have a long set of
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these so I wanted a short one so that's
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why I made these shorter but definitely
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make these longer if you're looking to
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connect up to a 48volt battery in the
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future with the charge verter now what
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is this right here well this is how
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we're going to connect up to the
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f3800 so this is the same sv50
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connection except for inside this I'm
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using 8 gauge terminals they have
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different size terminals available and I
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wanted to use eight gauge because right
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here I actually have two 10 gauge wire
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sets going into each one so they feed in
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there perfectly I basically just strip
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back the insulation crimp those on on
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and then snapped it in now what these
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are is these are xt90 anti-spark
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connections these allow you to connect
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up to a high volage um high power setup
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without getting a spark because these
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have a built-in resistor now the final
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adapter that you'll need to connect up
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to the f3800 is this one right here now
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this is a 10 gauge wire it's
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xt90 male to xt60 female now don't worry
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I'll have all the product links down in
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the video description so there's no
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confusion so you can just purchase these
00:16:01
but basically what you'll want to do is
00:16:03
you connect this to your Power Station
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DC charging port first and then you
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would connect this up right here and
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because there's an xt90 anti-spark you
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will not get a spark now if you happen
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to have a second f3800 you can use this
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second pigtail to charge that one up you
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do the same thing connect it up to the
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second f3800 charging port and then
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connect this up right here and then it
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will start charging both devices now in
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the future if they happen to enable
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parallel charging where you can connect
00:16:33
these up to the same Power Station you
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have the ability to connect both up for
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faster charging remember all these will
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be down in the video description now
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guys before ending the video I quickly
00:16:44
want to talk about a new firmware update
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that upgraded the solar charge
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controllers on the f3800 so you can get
00:16:49
much more power now up on the screen
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you're going to see both the Old and the
00:16:53
new solar parameters just make sure
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you've upgraded the firmware on the unit
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to version 2.11 or newer so you can get
00:17:00
the new changes the biggest change is
00:17:02
the voltage input for example now you
00:17:05
can get Peak amperage anywhere between
00:17:07
15 and 60 volts and they've upped the
00:17:10
amperage a little bit to 27 amps this
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will allow you to use basically any 300
00:17:15
W class or 400 wat class solar panel
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together in parallel to get the 1200 WTS
00:17:21
now if you still need a little bit of
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extra guidance on how to connect those
00:17:24
solar panels together in parallel or
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what other components may be needed to
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keep everything safe feel free to reach
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out to me via my ask me Consulting
00:17:31
service I'd be happy to help now
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hopefully you guys have found the
00:17:34
information in this video helpful
00:17:37
especially if you're wanting to work
00:17:38
around the 240 volt shut off on the
00:17:41
f3800 now another way to get around this
00:17:44
is by just using 48 volt batteries and
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charging the unit and then you can use
00:17:49
any sort of charger on your 48volt
00:17:52
battery but that does take additional
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cost to purchase a 48v battery I have a
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full video on that that I'll include
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down in the video description that kind
00:18:01
of goes through some of the quirks and
00:18:03
how to get around them but in this video
00:18:05
you can see that the eg4 charge verter
00:18:07
is a somewhat affordable way to overcome
00:18:11
the AC charging issue you guys will have
00:18:13
to let me know if you have any other
00:18:15
questions about this throw a comment
00:18:16
down below and if you want some extra
00:18:18
guidance about this I will have the link
00:18:20
to my ask me Consulting service down in
00:18:23
the video description as well where you
00:18:24
can get in direct contact with me and I
00:18:26
can walk you through any wiring setups
00:18:28
or any other complications that you may
00:18:30
have because I'd love to help you get
00:18:32
this working because some people ended
00:18:34
up purchasing these units without even
00:18:36
knowing the 240 volt shuts off and so
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now they're in a bind say you know
00:18:41
basically how do I get this to work well
00:18:43
this is one way to do that make sure you
00:18:45
check out the video description I'll
00:18:47
have all the links down there guys thank
00:18:49
you so much for watching if you like
00:18:50
this video please smash the Thumbs Up
00:18:51
Button I'll recommend a few other videos
00:18:53
that you guys can check out I appreciate
00:18:55
you guys' support on the channel thanks
00:18:57
for watching we'll see see you guys in
00:18:59
the next one
