Issues and Solutions to the Modified Sine Wave Inverter

[swanneemtb]

We recently went on our first overlanding trip in our Taco. Its a 2024 TRD Off Road. I have a Jackery E 1000 V2 power station and a ICECO 60 e-cooler. The problem we immediately ran into was charging the Jackery from the 120V outlet in the rear of the truck bed. What we found out is that the Jackery doesn't like the modified sine wave of the Taco inverter. My question is this if...or if anyone has tried it and/or has a better solution: for a quick fix, we read that the Jackery does pretty well with a 12 volt DC input to charge it, so I bought a $30 adapter to try vs buying a $200 + pure sine wave inverter to wire to the battery. Has anyone out their run into this issue and if so, what was your solution? Thanks. (also, if you did use a pure sine wave inverter, what type and size did you choose...I'm just wondering as I can't see the need for much more wattage than that needed to charge the Jackery)

Sponsored

 

[Reconsnake]

If you dont need a large inverter, I keep one of these in each vehicle, only $40.
Amazon.com: BESTEK Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter - 300W Car Plug in Charger Outlet DC 12V to 110V AC - Cigarette Lighter Adapter 4.8A Dual USB Fast Charging Ports for Phone, Laptop, CPAP - Black : Automotive

 

[myhikingboots]

Is your truck a hybrid? The inverter on my hybrid had no problem charging my EcoFlow battery.

 

[Wife bought my 24 TRD]

Ran into the exact issue trying to charge my Jackery 3000 and the same solution 12v.
As you mentioned the need for more wattage while overlanding comes down to a few solutions that I know of.
Larger solar panel, i use a 500 W.
Or like you mentioned, get a pier sign wave inverter with charger controller and wire in a second battery to create an independent system.

 

[gofastdan]

The problem with the (non-hybrid) inverter is that even if you get a pure sign wave it only puts out 400w when it's in park. As soon as you take the vehicle out of park the output drops to 100w. The attached Bestek solution might be fine but most stock 12v outlets are limited to 120w and if you try to pull more than that you'll blow the fuse. 120w takes hours to charge a decent size battery. Plus, personally, I don't trust a $40 solution to convert 12v to 120v. One short and the whole vehicle goes up in smoke.

Like Wife Bought... says, IMHO the best solutions are ones that completely bypass Toyotas hardware. There are many, many ways to set it up and the first thing you need to do is clearly define your needs. The jackery might be fine now but how long before you add a diesel heater, induction cooktop, etc and want a more robust solution...?

Personally, I have solar on the top of my camper and an ETaker F1000 charger, which connects to both the battery and the solar panel. It prioritizes solar charging but also charges via the alternator when the truck is running. I limit the alternator input to 400w just to make sure I don't damage it but most of the time when I'm driving it's combining solar and alternator and charges at 500w (a limit I set in the app and the most power a single port on my EcoFlow Delta 2 pro can handle). There are far more robust (and expensive) solutions but this works for me.

 

[swanneemtb]

Is your truck a hybrid? The inverter on my hybrid had no problem charging my EcoFlow battery.

No, standard 4 cylinder - I've read similar reports about the 120v outlet on the hybrid.

 

[swanneemtb]

The problem with the (non-hybrid) inverter is that even if you get a pure sign wave it only puts out 400w when it's in park. As soon as you take the vehicle out of park the output drops to 100w. The attached Bestek solution might be fine but most stock 12v outlets are limited to 120w and if you try to pull more than that you'll blow the fuse. 120w takes hours to charge a decent size battery. Plus, personally, I don't trust a $40 solution to convert 12v to 120v. One short and the whole vehicle goes up in smoke.

Like Wife Bought... says, IMHO the best solutions are ones that completely bypass Toyotas hardware. There are many, many ways to set it up and the first thing you need to do is clearly define your needs. The jackery might be fine now but how long before you add a diesel heater, induction cooktop, etc and want a more robust solution...?

Personally, I have solar on the top of my camper and an ETaker F1000 charger, which connects to both the battery and the solar panel. It prioritizes solar charging but also charges via the alternator when the truck is running. I limit the alternator input to 400w just to make sure I don't damage it but most of the time when I'm driving it's combining solar and alternator and charges at 500w (a limit I set in the app and the most power a single port on my EcoFlow Delta 2 pro can handle). There are far more robust (and expensive) solutions but this works for me.

All this makes sense and I'll definitely keep this as point of reference moving forward - thanks!

 

[swanneemtb]

H

The problem with the (non-hybrid) inverter is that even if you get a pure sign wave it only puts out 400w when it's in park. As soon as you take the vehicle out of park the output drops to 100w. The attached Bestek solution might be fine but most stock 12v outlets are limited to 120w and if you try to pull more than that you'll blow the fuse. 120w takes hours to charge a decent size battery. Plus, personally, I don't trust a $40 solution to convert 12v to 120v. One short and the whole vehicle goes up in smoke.

Like Wife Bought... says, IMHO the best solutions are ones that completely bypass Toyotas hardware. There are many, many ways to set it up and the first thing you need to do is clearly define your needs. The jackery might be fine now but how long before you add a diesel heater, induction cooktop, etc and want a more robust solution...?

Personally, I have solar on the top of my camper and an ETaker F1000 charger, which connects to both the battery and the solar panel. It prioritizes solar charging but also charges via the alternator when the truck is running. I limit the alternator input to 400w just to make sure I don't damage it but most of the time when I'm driving it's combining solar and alternator and charges at 500w (a limit I set in the app and the most power a single port on my EcoFlow Delta 2 pro can handle). There are far more robust (and expensive) solutions but this works for me.

The problem with the (non-hybrid) inverter is that even if you get a pure sign wave it only puts out 400w when it's in park. As soon as you take the vehicle out of park the output drops to 100w. The attached Bestek solution might be fine but most stock 12v outlets are limited to 120w and if you try to pull more than that you'll blow the fuse. 120w takes hours to charge a decent size battery. Plus, personally, I don't trust a $40 solution to convert 12v to 120v. One short and the whole vehicle goes up in smoke.

Like Wife Bought... says, IMHO the best solutions are ones that completely bypass Toyotas hardware. There are many, many ways to set it up and the first thing you need to do is clearly define your needs. The jackery might be fine now but how long before you add a diesel heater, induction cooktop, etc and want a more robust solution...?

Personally, I have solar on the top of my camper and an ETaker F1000 charger, which connects to both the battery and the solar panel. It prioritizes solar charging but also charges via the alternator when the truck is running. I limit the alternator input to 400w just to make sure I don't damage it but most of the time when I'm driving it's combining solar and alternator and charges at 500w (a limit I set in the app and the most power a single port on my EcoFlow Delta 2 pro can handle). There are far more robust (and expensive) solutions but this works for me.

Hey Dan,
I did some research on the ETaker F1000 and am very interested. The website doesn't show the ports and I'm mainly looking for a 120v outlet...is there one on this unit or does it have to be directly wired and terminated?

 

[gofastdan]

H



Hey Dan,
I did some research on the ETaker F1000 and am very interested. The website doesn't show the ports and I'm mainly looking for a 120v outlet...is there one on this unit or does it have to be directly wired and terminated?

The F1000 does not have an inverter in it. It's simply an MPPT controller that also combines DC power from two sources. So, you can put solar into one port (ring terminals) and DC from the alternator into the other port and then the output can be configured for either batteries or solar chargers such as a Ecoflow or Bluetti. Bottom line, It's a convenient and cost effective controller but it won't do any DC to AC conversion.

 

[myhikingboots]

The F1000 does not have an inverter in it. It's simply an MPPT controller that also combines DC power from two sources. So, you can put solar into one port (ring terminals) and DC from the alternator into the other port and then the output can be configured for either batteries or solar chargers such as a Ecoflow or Bluetti. Bottom line, It's a convenient and cost effective controller but it won't do any DC to AC conversion.

Hey Dan, I have been looking at the Etaker F1000 and the F2000 to do exactly what you are doing with yours. I want to charge a 48v battery that I can hookup to my Ecoflow Delta 2 max to extend it's capacity and also manage a solar array on my camper. I've been reluctant to pull the trigger on it though because I've read some negative reviews about the app not connecting. Have you had any negative experiences with your unit? Thanks

 

[gofastdan]

Hey Dan, I have been looking at the Etaker F1000 and the F2000 to do exactly what you are doing with yours. I want to charge a 48v battery that I can hookup to my Ecoflow Delta 2 max to extend it's capacity and also manage a solar array on my camper. I've been reluctant to pull the trigger on it though because I've read some negative reviews about the app not connecting. Have you had any negative experiences with your unit? Thanks

The short answer is, yes, I've had issues. I also went back through my emails and found I'm using the F2000, not the F1000... It's been a couple of years since I got it.

The shortened version of the much longer story is that I actually have two pre-production F2000's, both of which no longer connect to the app.

I originally purchased a F1000 (which I don't believe they sell any longer, it's been replaced by the F1000 Pro which has far more capacity). It had no app connectivity and no way to configure it (by design). It worked well enough but got uncomfortably hot and wouldn't always turn on. I filled out a survey voicing some concerns I had (and things I liked) and next thing I knew Etaker asked me if I wanted to test an F2000, so I said yes.

They sent me the F2000. I used it for awhile and then it stopped connecting to the app. They sent me another one and that's what I have in the truck today. The app worked for maybe six months and then again wouldn't connect. At this point I decided to just let it go. Since I got pre-production units and there was a known issue I would have hoped they would have solved that by now, but I guess maybe not? My theory is that the wifi module is located too close to something hot and that burns the module out over time.

Here's the thing though. Once you've configured it and have all the parameters you want set up the app is kind of irrelevant. It's nice to view it in operation and see that everything is working, but I can tell that by looking at my EcoFlow and seeing how it's charging. I've been using it now for at least a year without the app and it works just fine w/o it and I frankly don't miss it (although I admit it kind of bugs me that it won't connect, but that's only because I like things to work like they are advertised to work).

Bottom line, I haven't found anything that does what this does. The EcoFlow unit is close, but totally proprietary and it takes up the extra port on the solar charger so that made it a no-go for me.

 

[latoya]

No, standard 4 cylinder - I've read similar reports about the 120v outlet on the hybrid.

Can confirm that the hybrid inverter in my 2025 has no problem charging my Jackery 3000 explorer at 1500w for an hour straight.

Sponsored