I powered part of my home with 2 Eco Flow Delta pros for 2 months. Final Review. The Good and Bad

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#solar #ecoflow

[kevinlauzon]

Great review Evan.

Most EcoFlow (EF) users that require 2 Delta Pros (DPs) are users that have a 240 volt well or septic pump which does not use a lot of power overall but still requires 240 volts to function.

Here are some additional “quirks” your You Tube followers may want to know.

With respect to AC charging when a user is NOT using a Double Voltage Hub (DVH), it is important keep in mind that each DP’s output capacity will be limited to a max of 1, 800 watts instead of the typical 3, 600 watts as the DP goes in "pass through mode" when AC is plugged in to a wall outlet or generator outlet.

This means if your house was using 1, 000 to power loads in your house, only 800 watts would be going towards the DP’s battery and EB (if you had a EB connected).

The charge rate is dynamically reduced to stay under 1, 800W. So if you have it set to 800W with 1, 100W of loads the charge rate will be reduced to 700W to stay under 1, 800W. If the loads for the house exceed 1, 800 the DP will trip.

EF users that have 2 DPs either have to purchase 2 EcoFlow Smart Generators which will charge the DPs via DC current through the rear battery ports and turns on and off automatically as required depending on the DPs state of charge (SOC)

Examples here



Alternatively, EF users can also charge both of their DPs while they are still fully powering the user’s house if a Switch Mode Power Supply (SMPS) is used with any gasoline or propane generator a user may already have but it is a third party solution a user would have to purchase which is not sold by EF.


With respect to the solar panels, yes, EF dropped the ball slightly because the original Delta Pro beta test model originally came with 1, 200 watts of solar input.

Subsequently, EF increased the solar input to 1, 600 watts.

Consequently EF users must find solar panels with VOC of 40 volts and configure the arrays in 3S2P or 3S3P which easily exceeds the maximum the DPs can take in but helps immensely on overcast days.

For your particular use case, I believe you would have been better served with one DP + 1 Extra Battery (EB) however you would have been limited to a max off 1, 600 watts of solar input which may have made it difficult for you to replenish the DP + EB before dark unless you had an over panelled solar array such as the ones I have for my arrays.

Or another alternative would have been to use 2 DPs but NOT connected them with DVH. Each DP would be connected to its own 120 volt 4 or 6 circuit transfer switch.

[jeffmarken]

Folks, you can and SHOULD exceed watts. In fact, Ecoflow recommends that 125% over watts is ideal. You can exceed amp, you just can't exceed volts. Ideally you'd supply ~2000 watts to each Delta Pro with 6 panels in a 3S2P configuration. This will keep volts under 150. If the sun is bright and the panels are outputting over 2000 watts total, the Delta Pro only uses 1600 watts (as long as you remain under max volts). The benefit is you get more power for more hours of the day and on cloudy days. Panels are the least expensive part of solar, so if you have room, use more panels.

[lastoeck]

Just wanted to say I so appreciate all the work you and Rebekah do for the channel. Your content is always fantastic and you are one of my top 3 go-to channels every time you post a new video. Thank you both!

[crows]

I have ecoflows setup for my garage. I never run out of power unless I use my AC/Heat Inverter and that takes a couple days to drain in that solar can't keep up. Something I did was was to have a 240 plug and disconnect switch to the box. I can plug my eco hub into that and it's good and powers all the outlets in garage. If it gets too low, I unplug the eco plug from the wall and plug generator into the wall, then the ecoflows into normal ac plug. What blew my mind is that the units took what they could from solar and added what they could from the AC meaning if I was getting 1000 watts from solar and 1800 from AC they were charging 2800 watts which meant my generator when needed only needed to run for a limited time.

[EC]

Evan! You are a BEAST! I am so very proud of your accomplishments., your plans, Your goal settings, strategy, diligence and persistence. It is encouraging to watch it unfold. Continue in the blessings.👏👏

[TKCL]

I like the 240v mainly for short runs of my well pump. That's a low and short draw of a critical piece of equipment.

[-]

I think when using the double voltage hub for higher current items is when the additional smart power supplies need to be added, otherwise you can't really run high power items for any length of time. You can add four smart batteries for a total of almost 22kw. You can also run your house ac if you install the Micro-Air easy start module on the ac. Reduces the current surge by almost 70%.

[PtHough]

You did a great job reviewing the product. Keep up the good work.

[TKCL]

One of my big requests is that they turn back on power output once recharging solar happens. That should be the case since being promoted as a whole home backup solution. Minor gripe, but people that are leaving these unattended would appreciate that feature. I think a firmware update could solve that.

[TheColinputer]

I know this video is few months old. and you may already know this by now. But the reason you cant charge off AC while in the 240v mode is because these units use the inverter circuit in reverse as a charger when connected to AC. They go into a sort of AC bypass mode and simply pass the AC through to the outputs while then also taking what they can to charge the battery aswell. But this means the ecoflo has no control over the phase of the AC. Not a problem when you just have a single unit but when you have the two of them in 240v they have to keep the phases 180 degree apart.
Ecoflo would need to make a reverse of the voltage hub to allow you to split a 240v outlet into 2 120v ones to go into each unit respectively. While also telling the units what is going on.

One thing you could do to get around this issue is, a high powered DC power supply and go into the solar input on the ecoflos. I have a couple of Bluetti units myself. And have often plugged a 48v 10 amp LiPoFe4 charger into the solar input. to get faster charge rates.

[isovideo]

If you don't have any 240V loads, just don't use 240V mode. The two 120V feeds won't be 180 degrees out of phase, but who cares?
I have a 240V well pump, so that's not an option. 240V is used for well pumps in order to halve the current, giving 1/4 the resistive losses, which is needed if the well is hundreds of feet away.

[bobhoss]

Thanks for the review. I have the eco pro and a smart battery. Powers my whole house with no problems. I have my own well so will be adding another pro to get 240v. Great info for the cons. But for me it will be no problem. Thanks again for your great review. Stay safe and God bless.

[olddawgdreaming]

Thanks for sharing with us Evan and Rebecca. I am not very techie and I get lost dealing with solar very easy. I live where my neighbors grow trees close to the property lines and totally block me out and I wouldn't feel comfortable about depending on solar power where I live right now. You are doing a great job with your solar so enjoy it and stay safe. Fred.

[floridagarye]

Thanks for doing this video. You answered a couple of my questions that many other content providers never address, like real world usage as a whole home backup system. Where I live in Florida, hurricanes have caused power outages for no more than 3 days in a row. The EcoFlow Delta Pro unit with a battery backup seems to meet the need for powering the refrigerator, lights as needed, Modem and Router for working at home. What I need to know is will an electric water heater drain the power too quickly? We can live without AC for 3 days, but no warm water is a deal breaker for us.

[ssfoste]

Thanks for the review, Evan, the information was real time and your extensive build provided a huge amount of information. I had looked at the Evo flow extensively and like you decided it was not worth all the extras but to use it mainly as a backup system in and emergency. Thank you for your well-presented information.

[joeenna]

I am not in the market, but I greatly appreciate your honesty. Not much of that now days.

[davidkraft]

Great (and needed) Review of your Solar experience.

[MrMike]

I have one Delta Pro and they sent me a free panel on special. I like your idea of getting an extra battery instead of 2 Pros

[glennkoster]

Awesome video. Great to hear your thoughts on them. Love the honest review. Keep up the good work. Thanks for sharing.

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Reply

[CountryViewAcres]

This test was to simulate how long I could power the critical loads in my house during an extended power outage before the batteries was drained. Sometimes it was as short as 36 hours, sometimes as long as 7 days. Of course it all depended on the weather.