Does anyone have experience with the EFOY Methanol Fuel Cell as fitted to the Kimberley Trailers, Karavans and Kruisers?? Cell is a 12-24v charging source to supplement solar. By-product is Carbon Dioxide (small quantities) and water. Kimberley route the water created to a water tank.
I have read about them, but would really like some feedback from someone that has heard or seen them in operation.
And yes, I know they are very expensive at $6-8,000!!
Cheers, Brownie2
Nomad_Nev said
01:18 PM Dec 26, 2015
Read up on them, they are really good, quiet, steady and continuous power when you need to recharge and their is no solar, however they are expensive up front and the fuel to amps is a fair bit more expensive than petrol for a generator, getting the fuel for them is from agents only.
Basically if money is no object they make a great backup, but if it is you are waaaaay better off with a generator as backup.
As a primary source of power they are really not great at all
Peter_n_Margaret said
02:51 PM Dec 26, 2015
I own one in Europe. We used it in a motorhome there for 2 years. It is an EFOY 2200 and has a charging output of 90W (7.5A at 12V). I think that model is about $13,000 new here.
Fantastic bit of kit.
We used it several times when the sun did not shine and also kept things running when the batteries died and before we could get them replaced.
It was installed under a seat inside the motorhome and made about the same noise as a compressor fridge, so no problem to run at night. It is also a fraction of the weight of a generator.
They are fully automatic. They start when the battery is down to 12.3V and would turn off when it was fully charged.
10L of fuel lasted for a long time. They produce 1kWh (about 80Ah at 12V) from 900ml.
As a primary source of power they are fantastic, actually, but the fuel is quite expensive here. It could be connected to a quite small battery and simply keep it topped up as power is used. More commonly used as a supplement to solar.
It is for sale, but it is still in Europe.
Cheers,
Peter
Brownie2 said
03:30 PM Dec 26, 2015
Thank you both for your messages.
Kimberley have a data sheet that quotes the EFOY Comfort 210 model with an output of 105W and 8.8A, with a max price of $8k. Can you give me an idea of what we would pay for a 10L cell of fuel in Australia??
Nomad_Nev said
04:42 PM Dec 26, 2015
On the kimberly campers site it shows $151 for 10L of Fuel
It produces 130 Amp Hours in a day, and consumes 0.07L per hour, so to produce the 130 Amp Hours takes about 1.7L
So if you have 2x 100Amp batteries and need to recharge them from around 20-30% using the fuel cell, you can expect to take a day and a half and use about 2L of fuel to do it if the cells are your backup.
If the cells are your primary source of power you will use about 1.3L per 100 Amps
Hope my maths is all correct :P
Tomcat said
04:44 PM Dec 27, 2015
Elite caravans also have these as an option.
Peter_n_Margaret said
04:48 PM Dec 27, 2015
Looks like the prices have been seriously reduced which is a great thing....
Kimberley are the Australian importers.
Does anyone have experience with the EFOY Methanol Fuel Cell as fitted to the Kimberley Trailers, Karavans and Kruisers?? Cell is a 12-24v charging source to supplement solar. By-product is Carbon Dioxide (small quantities) and water. Kimberley route the water created to a water tank.
I have read about them, but would really like some feedback from someone that has heard or seen them in operation.
And yes, I know they are very expensive at $6-8,000!!
Cheers, Brownie2
Basically if money is no object they make a great backup, but if it is you are waaaaay better off with a generator as backup.
As a primary source of power they are really not great at all
Fantastic bit of kit.
We used it several times when the sun did not shine and also kept things running when the batteries died and before we could get them replaced.
It was installed under a seat inside the motorhome and made about the same noise as a compressor fridge, so no problem to run at night. It is also a fraction of the weight of a generator.
They are fully automatic. They start when the battery is down to 12.3V and would turn off when it was fully charged.
10L of fuel lasted for a long time. They produce 1kWh (about 80Ah at 12V) from 900ml.
As a primary source of power they are fantastic, actually, but the fuel is quite expensive here. It could be connected to a quite small battery and simply keep it topped up as power is used. More commonly used as a supplement to solar.
It is for sale, but it is still in Europe.
Cheers,
Peter
Kimberley have a data sheet that quotes the EFOY Comfort 210 model with an output of 105W and 8.8A, with a max price of $8k. Can you give me an idea of what we would pay for a 10L cell of fuel in Australia??
It produces 130 Amp Hours in a day, and consumes 0.07L per hour, so to produce the 130 Amp Hours takes about 1.7L
So if you have 2x 100Amp batteries and need to recharge them from around 20-30% using the fuel cell, you can expect to take a day and a half and use about 2L of fuel to do it if the cells are your backup.
If the cells are your primary source of power you will use about 1.3L per 100 Amps
Hope my maths is all correct :P
Elite caravans also have these as an option.
Kimberley are the Australian importers.
Cheers,
Peter