Efoy battery charging anyone got one ?

mickymoor

Guest
hi
do'es anybody use a Efoy battery charging system as i'm really kean to get one but at around £3,000 fitted i want to make sure they are ok.
I can get the methol local for 30p a litre but can the cartridges be refilled ?.
I use a honda 10i at the moment that is converted to run on gas but want the ease of automatic charging.
regards
mickymoor
 
Need to look at all aspects of ownership.
Is the warranty void unless you use only their super-pure fuel.
Will the additives in common metho poison the fuel cell
Are there any safety considerations in carrying the fuel
What are the service intervals and how much does each service cost.

What is different about your RVing lifestyle that makes this system attractive.
Are you going to get enough use out of it to be worth the expense.
 
Tony Lee said:
Need to look at all aspects of ownership.
Is the warranty void unless you use only their super-pure fuel.
Will the additives in common metho poison the fuel cell
Are there any safety considerations in carrying the fuel
What are the service intervals and how much does each service cost.

What is different about your RVing lifestyle that makes this system attractive.
Are you going to get enough use out of it to be worth the expense.
Click to expand...

I has a long chat with one of their technicians at a show a few years ago. You must only use the pure methanol supplied for the fuel cell, the warranty would be voided if any other methanol is used, impure methanol will damage the cell. My guess is that, as these units get more common, alternative suppliers of pure methanol will appear.
As a fuel, methanol should be treated like petrol.
No regular servicing is required.

AndyC
 
Not many replys to this , do'es that mean nobody has one ?.
 
Have to ask why they claim to be the only offering in the market.
They are tomorrow's replacement for petrol generators and are just not convenient or economical.

When they can make one that is fuelled from the LPG tank or fuel tank (or even hardware-store metho), they will be a proposition but very little has progressed over the several years these units have been available. Great for isolated communications stations above the Arctic circle perhaps, but motorhomes have access to cheaper, more convenient power supplies that do the job better.

One MH manufacturer in Oz was fitting them in on of the high end models but given that the supply chain for their metho is non-existent, I imagine it was not a very popular option.
 
Aha, now they are getting somewhere.

Unless this unit has problems we don't know about, it would be worth waiting another year or two rather than going with the metho-fueled one. We know what each of the fuels cost and they have figures for the energy produced per unit of fuel so it will be easy to work out a cost comparison (LPG will be way ahead in cost/kWh) and then do a cost comparison between the best fuel cell and alternatives such as generator or solar.

With a 250W output you will be able to get away with quite a small leisure battery - or with a bit of care, just use the engine battery to supply short term peak loads. The savings on not having to buy a couple of large solar panels and batteries would cover half the cost of the fuel cell and has the advantage that it will work all over and in any season unlike solar which generally falls in a heap just when you need it most.

I suspect the cost of this unit might be £6000 so would still need to have a long cell life before most of us would want to change. Starting from scratch would be a different matter though
 
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I'll put that top of my shopping list for when I sell the hymer and make my own!:D
 
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