Fuel Cell

Yes, we're still happy with the fuel cell. When I bought it for the camper in the TCmag article, the pesky refrigerator drew 70 watts on about an 80-90% duty cycle. Even with 160 watts of solar and DC from the truck we'd still get stuck running the Onan to salvage batteries. The Efoy pretty much eliminated the need for the genset hours.

The current camper has a Norcold compressor refrigerator (no need to level the rig :-) and it's *much* better insulated and vented, so while it's still a Danfoss compressor it generally runs at about a 50% duty cycle. That means that the Efoy runtime hours are about 30% percent less. I've got about 2600 runtime hours left on the stack and that should see us through for a few more years. The M10 fuel is good on the shelf for three years; we go through about one bottle per year. If we start a long trip with a partial bottle I just carry a spare along with usual truck filters and stuff. The Efoy unit itself is maintenance-free apart from 'service fluid,' basically a dilute methanol solution in distilled water used as make-up water for the catalytic stack. If you're in really hot weather the unit's onboard water recovery may not be 100% efficient. It comes with an eight ounce bottle, which I added at 400 hours. Went through a bit of a dance to buy more from the Canadian Efoy service center, but I now have enough to get me to end of unit life.

If you're not dealing with large steady DC electrical loads, e.g. you have a propane refrigerator and two or more decent batteries-- then 150-200 watts of solar, a Honda 2000i and/or maybe wind generator could be a lot more cost effective. If you mostly hang out in campgrounds rather than boondock, you'd be wasting your money.

As another poster noted, another issue other than cost is fuel availability. You can download a locator app for smart phone, iPad, whatever. There are only four dealers in the US, although many times that in Canada and Europe. I get mine in Massachusetts, either pickup when in state visiting or shipped to me, and that dealer sells mostly to boaters and the FBI (they use Efoy to power surveillance vans :-) He tells me he's got enough steady business from government that he'll be supporting the system for a long time to come. In the US I believe most of the sales are to government, not civilians/RV users, but if you plan a week or so ahead you can certainly have fuel ready for a trip.

crawfdp1 wrote:
Been there, done that. See http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/camper-tech/fuel-cells-for-truck-campers

Cost per hour works out to about $1.75 for fuel and cost of the fuel cell itself-- no trade-in, once the stack has had it's hours it's done. Total peace of mind, however, when out in the boonies and solar isn't cutting it. Likely not cost effective unless you have a compressor refrigerator.

duncan

Nice article. Thanks for the reference. Are you still happy with yours?

An Efoy depending on model (mine is a 1600, now discontinued) can run you 4K, good for 3000 operating hours. Newer Comfort models may have 4500 hours in them. For me a 10 liter M-10 container of fuel lasts about 200 hours, clock time. Cost online is $59 plus shipping/Hazmat fee of $30. All that works out for my setup to about $1.75 per clock operating hour for my 60 watt at 12 VDC unit.

Unit is totally silent outside the camper, and less noisy than the refer inside. Genset restrictions don't apply if you're in a national park campground, and if you're on a ferry with propane secured for a couple of days, your beer is still cold when you arrive, batteries still fully charged. Gotta pick your priorities :-)

duncan

I'm missing something here!:h
Between $3500 and $7000 for the fuel cell (depending on rating) plus $80 for the fuel cartridge with 11.1KWH of power.
My math says that's $7.20 per kilowatt/hr PLUS the cost of the unit.
Am I reading it right that the units are capable of 80, 120 or 210 amp hours per day?????

Does not compute in my book!

Been there, done that. See http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/camper-tech/fuel-cells-for-truck-campers

Cost per hour works out to about $1.75 for fuel and cost of the fuel cell itself-- no trade-in, once the stack has had it's hours it's done. Total peace of mind, however, when out in the boonies and solar isn't cutting it. Likely not cost effective unless you have a compressor refrigerator.

duncan

First make sure you can get the special fuel required, and then figure out whether the several thousand dollars plus fuel costs could be better spent in providing power by other methods.