Charging the UK Ecoflow Delta Pro with Solar Panels
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- Опубліковано 15 бер 2022
- Following on from my Unboxing of the UK Ecoflow Delta Pro I have been experementing with charging it using 235W solar panels.
Buy the Ecoflow Delta Pro on Amazon UK amzn.to/3LcKGuF (Affiliate link) - Розваги
*I love the Input/Output wattage function along with the % of charge remaining. solar **Generater.Systems** Well done.*
Keep up the solar videos! This is great
Thank you :)
Very useful video. Thank you.
Seems like your solar setup is going to be more than adequate once you have it properly positioned 👍
You say that but I would like 2 more panels so I can make it 3 series 2 parallel for the poor sun in winter xD
Hello, I've noticed the best results from charging the Delta Pro with (3) 400 watt
Solar Panels, for a full charge in about 5
Hours time.
That is about 1200W which is sufficient to fully charge the battery in about 3 to 4 hours on a good solar day. I am at 8 panels total, 4 230W and 4 270W so even on a not so nice day i can get more than enough power to do what I want with it and on a good day I can turn on other loads to burn off excess energy. I really enjoy the flexibility that it gives me.
@@MattWells0 you know you can power up that Delta Pro at a Tesla Supercharger you
Need an adapter (which you can get from
Amazon) (Sold by Ecoflow) and although it
Is not free it will charge your Delta Pro in
About 2 hours! It works well if you need a
Quick charge for camping or an outage.
@@RonHutchCraft2 I don't know about a tesla supercharge specifically but I do know that it has an adapter that lets you plug in a Mennekes Type 2 car charge into the Infinity port on the Delta Pro which can then charge at 3400W which is enough to charge it in a little over an hour. It does seem like a really handy accessory but at £90 I would ever use it other than to make a quick video on UA-cam so I can't justidy that cost.
Great video, like seeing the effectiveness of solar in the very sunny UK. Considering picking up a Delta 2 Max for wifi / computer back up and camping. How have you found the capacity of the unit? Has it lasted all day running your PC?
I'm quite happy with it. I used to run my computer direclty from the Delta Pro's inverter and it would generally last between say 5:30 and 11pm depending on the games I was playing. Problem is if you forget the power will suddently shut down without warning.
I now use a PowerStream to feed power into the house mains which a Ecoflow Smart Switch telling it how much power the computer is using so when the battery runs out the house power will continue un-interupted.
Just be aware that this is a full gaming computer not optimised for power usage. Can use between 250w to 500w depending on the game. At 250W it could play into the early hours, at 500W it it will be about 3 hours. If you have a power monitor use it to see how much power your computer use while playing games you like. A Delta 2 is 1kwh which would run my computer at 250W for 4 hours and 500W for 2 hours.
Hi Matt, this is really helpful. Have you find your experience using the ecoflow to be cost effective considering the recent hike in electricity cost?
I think it can be but it does depend on how you use it. I use mine to power my work and gaming computers mostly and at the time of purchase I worked out that it would take 4-5 years to pay itself back.
To find out if it can work out for you is find how much power the devices you intend to use takes (in watts) and how many hours a day you expect to use it for and multiply them by eachother to find out how many watt hours you will need and device that by 1000 for kilawatt hours which is what electric company normally charge in.
For example my computer uses 250 watts and I may would likely have it on for 16 hours most days would give me 4000 watt hours so 4 kilawatt hours (kwh) or about £1.20 a day. You can take the cost of the solar generator and dviide by that number to work out how many days (roughly) it will take to pay it off.
It does get a little more complicated in the winter for example, in the UK there isn't really enough sun, especially with bad weather, to generate enough power to quite charge it and use it at the same time.
I have the delta max,l charge at the lowse setting,for long life. The reason I bought is backup for my home battery and camping trips(which it brillant at,there nothing better then being in a freezing tent with a electric banket on) I am going to experiment with it running my whole.house. If Iswitch off the main then plug the max into the house Ishould be able to run the fridge and other small stuff. Not sure about heater and kitchen stuff. another thing I will be copying your idea and getting cheapo panels and just leave to recharge 24/7..what do you think.....oh i live in Lincs cheers
Hi lipsee, I have just been looking up the specs of the Delta Max and it uses a different battery technology than the Delta Pro. This means that the Delta Max is only rated to do 80% after 800 cycles, which would be a little over 2 years if you cycle it every day, compared to the Delta Pro which is rated for 80% capacity after 3,500 cycles. Although it will continue to work just fine it wont be able to power your divices for as long, just something to be aware of if you choose to do that.
I doubt you could power a normal house entirely using the invert of either the Delta Max (2400W) or Pro (3000W) but I would expect you could comfortably power a fridge freezer for a serveral hours in case of power failier for example. I am currently working on a video where I am testing the AC output of the Delta Pro on a washing machine and tumble drier, I never realised that the laundry could be interesting xD
As for the solar panels I can never say that is a bad idea given how cheaply you can pick up second hand ones. I'm up in Lancs so you are further south than me which should give you a slight advantage with sunlight after all. Just remember to check what the solar input is on the Delta Max and rate the panels accordingly, going over the voltage could damage the charge controller. It could be a really help on camping trips to have solar panels out during the day :)
Please let me know how you get on!
Matt
Good info, with no upstairs heating, i am using a butane burner, exspensive, would a unit power an electric fire, thanks.
Short answer is yes, but depending on how much power the heater uses it is likely to only last an hour or so without having to charge it again. For example 3kw space heater (which many are) on full would discharge the Delta Pro in a hour, with an additional hour for each of the expantion batteries. If it was at half power it would last 2 hours, etc.
I recently tested it with a Dyson Bladeless Fan Heater set to 38°C (1500W) and it ran for 124 minutes from completely full to completely empty which I intend to release a video about soon.
Got the max yesterday love it but on does about 1000 charges
Sadly that is the case for the NCM batteries. I do feel that the original Delta Max was designed for use while camping, picknicks and camping which 1000 cycles would last a very long time but not for daily use.
After somewhere around 16 months my Delta Pro has done 360 cycles while has lost some capacity (5% I think I tested it out as, I do have a video on that) is still more than capable of doing what I want with it. If you were to use it like I use my DP it would be at 80% capacity in 3.5 years.
How do you intend to use it?
Can you advise more details on your solar panels, what brand was used? (30v - pls give a few brands) I am looking to avoid the EcoFlow panels. Thanks
Hi Tom, thanks for the question. I'm afraid I can't give you recommendations on brands of solar panels as I don't know what brand the ones I have are as I got them second hand with their labels removed and they are the only ones I have ever had.
You do not need to get the official Ecoflow solar panels. The Ecoflow Delta Pro comes with adapters for mc4 connectors which are standard connectors for solar panels. The solar charge controller can handle a maximum of 150 volts at 15 amps so long as the solar panels you obtain are outputting less than that they should work.
Matt
Hi Matt , I'm looking at buying the delta pro. May I please ask can you power something via ac at the same time it is charging from solar ? And if you added one of the extra expandable batteries would that increase the solar input or only increase the storage ? Thank you.
Troy
Hi Troy, thanks for the questions.
Yes it can charge from solar while being used for AC loads at the same time. Today I have had it pulling in up to around 600W from solar while at the same time having a load of about 300W.
I think that the additional battery would only increase the amount of storage as it is a limitation of the solar charge controller, not the battery. If I understand the documentation correctly, even without an additional battery it is possible to charge faster than just solar by plugging it into the mains and it will charge using combined solar and mains.
Matt
What you could do to expand both the power and solar input capabilities is buy a second delta pro (Not extra battery) and this will double the solar , double the battery and also give 7200 watts inverter capability. Then just add extra batteries to both pro s when you can afford it
@@intheyear2510 I believe that combining 2 delta pros for 7kw is only available for the 120v ac versions of the delta pro as the 2 delta pros are connected with a device called ecoflow double voltage adapter. I am guessing that each delta pro will produce one of the half waves of the centre tapped NA mains for a combined 240v ac. So I believe your comment is correct for regions such as North America with 120v mains.
The UK and EU versions output at 230v ac I don't think this feature is available in these regions. At least I'm not aware of 460v ac being used in a consumer environment. I may be completely wrong on this though so please check for yourself.
I think I will have to get on touch with ecoflow as I have a lot of questions about this myself and I would like to know xD
@@MattWells0 oh I thought the two units would combine the inverter at 3600 watt max to make 7200 watt in total with two pros, I've got mine all set up now 720 watts solar, next step extra battery, have you discovered an easy way to connect it to you home power to run the house, the smart panel seems expensive and a pain to install?
@@intheyear2510 I believe that is what happens with the Ecoflow Double Voltage Adaptor on the NA split phase 120v version. When the 2 are combined like that it would be the 7200W at 240v single phase like you said.
However, since the EU and UK versions already output single phase 230v I don't think they can be combined in that way which would mean it is limited to the 3600W.
Inverters, such as the Victron Quatro, can be combined in parallel so it may be possible the the Delta Pro EU/UK can do this as well but I am unsure. The website and documentation that I have seen doesn't really talk about it and there isn't an equivalent product to the Double Voltage Adaptor which leads me to believe it can't.
As for the smart panel I absolutely agree it is expensive, and another problem I have is I do not own the house that I live in so replacing the consumer unit is not an option for me sadly. I have mine under my desk with my computers plugged in directly, it is a little loud but I have good headphones :)
Good video - any issues with the delta pro? I am thinking of getting one.
I haven't had issues with it at all, it has just worked for me and still happy after 10 months and 250 battery cycles. Generally the usage had been at around 250-300w powering computers.
Would it be better to not charge it to 100% or even 80% to make it last longer?
Hi Andrew, thanks for the question. I personally don't charge the battery on my phone above 90% for that very reason and it has lasted me 4 years now and still holds a good charge.
As for the Delta Pro I think I will take it up to 95% and not let it go below 10% normally although I am less worried about a battery of this size. I don't know what difference it will make in the grand scheme of things, but according to their website the Ecoflow Delta Pro is rated to be at 80% capacity at 3,500 cycles which is 9 and a half years if you do 1 cycle every day as I expect I will do. I think by this point I may be looking for a replacement, however, they then estimate it will be at 50% at 6,500 cycles which is over 17 years.
Other things I intend to keep an eye on is to charge it slower and not discharge it to quick either. I expect normally I would be (dis)charging at less than 800W which given it is rated to do both at 3000W is less than a 3rd of what it can do safely and I expect that to extend it's maxmimum capacity even longer.
Besides If the capacity does start to become an issue for me I could always obtain the additional batteries to boost it back up again.
If one watches water boiling, eventually the water gets REALLY hot.
Stuff like that?
One could use all kinds of strange and detailed electrical gizmos, or pop one's finger into the water to detect this.
Just cut the trees down and game on!
@@mrpad0 Funny you should mention boiling water, I have plans :) as for the trees I have no chance, the property is in a concervation area so unless they are in danger of falling or risk damaging listed structures they aren't coming down.
I have a Pro coming this week and I have done some investigation. You need to remember the limitations of 1600W, 150v and 12 AMPS. (These last two are VoC and SCC on label on rear of panel) Been a nightmare finding large panels that get close and ended up with 3 x 375 panels from BimbleSolar. Any advice would be appreciated i.e Can you over panel the Pro?
You can absolutely over panel the Delta Pro, my solar array is now about 3kw take a look at my other video Breeding Solar Panels on Ecoflow Delta Pro ua-cam.com/video/gGxwt0R0KFc/v-deo.html
So long as the volts remains below the 150v that the solar charge control can handle, you can have as many amps as you like and the Delta Pro will only take what it can handle. The Delta Pro spec says it can handle 15 amps (I think it was 12 amps before it was released?) I have actually see it draw 17 amps for very short amounts of time with a clamp meter.
I am assuming that your plan is to wire those panels into a series string to get the votlage up to 120v and keep to 10amps? If so you could actually get 6 of those panels and have 2 string of 3 panels in parallel and have the volts remain at 120v but up to about 20 amps which would be great on cloudy days as it is the amps that changes.
@@MattWells0 Thanks Matt. Will have a play. Each panel is spec’s at 41 VoC and 14 amps so yes, 3 in series should be okay. May add 4th for winter. Great videos buddy
@@marshyman66 From what you have said I am going to assume the 375W Canadian Solar Mono Half Cell Panels from that website that have the spec:
Open Circuit (OC) 41.0v 11.61a
Maxiumum Power (MP) 34.3v 10.94a
3 Panels is Open Circuit (OC) 1428W, but we will never see this power as it is theoretical maximum. So if we use the Maxiumum Power (MP) which again ideal conditions you will only see this on really sunny days 1125W. This is also what I would expect based on my own setup.
When I asked Ecoflow Support (very helpful) recommend that the calculation is based on the Open Circuit Voltage. With this in mind the safer option with 4 panels is to have 2 series 2 parrallel for 68v at 20a but since the Delta Pro is rated for 15a the power you would get is more like 1020W. 4 panels setup like this maybe a downgrade for you.
With my monitoring with 3 in series I have never seen the voltage go above 90.5v, usually sat at around 75-80v (noting this is peak summer). I have switch to 4 in series, the highest voltage I have seen in the last 15 days is 120.8v which is below the 150v the charge controller can handle. However as the solar panels are cooler (like in the winter) they can output a higher voltage, I don't know how much but I will be keeping a close eye on it. There is a risk that with this setup that it could damage the Delta Pro.
Something else to consider, I got my panels second hand from Facebook Marketplace from a guy called Jason in Blackburn (no connection, just happy customer), there may be other options closer to you. Each of my panels cost £65 and my most recent ones are 260W so for £390 to get 6 panels you could have 2160W of solar and save yourself about £100.
@@MattWells0 Blackburn not close so and I claim Vat back as a business so new is better. I was thinking with 4 panels one could put a buck converter in place to limit the voltage . I will have a try and let you know if it works...before I plug it in to the pro
@@marshyman66 I don't know how well a buck converter will work, please do let me know how it goes.
I see many tens of videos of people showing that solar panels do indeed charge up their power stations as they should. But none seem to show the next important step.I, like the majority of people, would like to keep the power station indoors and not have to drag it outside for each use. But one does not want the cable coming through an open window (especially in Winter). So the solution would be an EcoFlow compatible weather resistant plug box on the outside of the house, and another (not necessarily weather resistant) on the inside wall (and of course drilling a hole through the wall to connect them). Where on earth does one find such boxes ? I don't find anything online - which is weird, seeing I think the requirement would be really common.
I don't actually have an inside box, I drilled a hole through the window frame and crimped on MC4 connectors inside which I connect the delta pro solar cable to. If you wanted to you could have a standard mains junction box on the inside but I didn't feel it was needed.
Only like 10kg battery isn't it? Lol
@@BroadHobbyProjects no it is 44kg. I can pick it up on my own and put it in a car but I wouldn't be able to carry it more than a few paces on my own.
@@MattWells0 Oh wow. Wasn't expecting that. Tbf I train often so it's not that heavy for me personally but I can see it not being as light as 10kg making it more of a pain to move about.
@@BroadHobbyProjects it isn't too bad to move as it has a handle and wheels similar to luggage although is still heavy enough that you need to take care
How is it holding on after one year?
I'm just over 1.5 years at this piont, its going strong and I'm still happy with it. Capacity still seems good you just need to do fully cycle it from time to time to ensure the battery % remains accurate. I have a video here checking the capacity at the 12 month marks ua-cam.com/video/f6kJkuEPy_A/v-deo.html
In UK Nov/Dec/Jan almost no solar even with 9 250w panels (3s3p) but that isn't an Delta Pro specific issue
An "upgrade" I have made is the Ecoflow Power Stream (their microinverter) and the last update finally fixed a problem I have been upset with where you can't charge with excess solar from the PowerStream and the Delta Pro's own solar panels at the same time. I was going to make a video about the PowerStream but I didn't like it until now, maybe next year when we start getting more sun again.
Hi if you had a guess how long would you say it would take to charge from 0 to 100 % on a cloudy day with No sun ? 🤔
Hard to say, if it is overcast but light you can actually get better solar as the clouds bounce the light more. If it is a dark overcast day you can get practically nothing. On the January 12th I got a total of 300wh from an array of 2500w panels. Winter is absolutely brustal, for example in total in December I got 36kwh, April was 110kwh, this month (today is May 5th) I'm already at 20kwh. I don't have accurate data from last year but I believe in August I got closer to 180kwh.
@@MattWells0 thankyou , basicly I'm going full-time Vanlife and wanted something simple to power everything like a ecoflow and solar but just wondering if it's doable 🤔
@@Billy88London to run off solar in summer I would expect you could. I don't have exact numbers but I suspect you could probably get 800w (I'm guessing) on the roof of your van and I would expect that from spring until automn that would be enough. There is also an accessory that Ecoflow sell called EV X-Stream Adapter which will allow you to charge the battery from an EV charger which would take about an hour which could be helpful. Failing that there is also the option of charging using the 12v accessory socket while your engine is running but that would be slow at about 100w (36 hours for a full charge).
It depends on your loads, if your trying to run a full desktop computer for 8 hours every day probably not. If you have a laptop and phone along with boiling a kettle every few hours probably last a few days of bad weather.
@@MattWells0 thankyou so much mate your the only one that has helped me , yea basicly IL be running everyday stuff like a Tv fridge freezer charging mobiles toaster. Cooker and kettle I may try gas , is it loud when charging through the mains ? as I could try doing that in a library gym McDonald's etc but if it's very loud I think I'd get asked to leave 🤣
@@Billy88London it isn't quite when charging at full speed, but you can reduce the charge rate to make it quiter. 800w charge rate is where it becomes very audible but it would then take 4 hours to charge. I have been considering changing the fans out for some quiter ones but I haven't done so yet.
If you are using a portable fridge you would probably be okay so long as it is powered by the 12v accessory socket. TV is probably fine, if you can convert it to run off DC rather than AC as well, even better.
Best advice I can give you is to look at how much power the equipment you need uses. Decide how long you want to be able to run that equipment for, assuming you have no way to charge your battery and size your battery accordingly.
You may find a Delta Max 2 may be enough, or an extra battery is needed and me lower than the Delta Pro. If you know the weather is going to be bad, avoid using your toaster for a couple of days.
What happens when it rains?
Hi Angela, thanks for your question!
I think you would like to see my latest video where I run a cable from the solar panels outside the house the the ecoflow inside. As for when this video was being made I tuck the ecoflow under the solar panels so it wouldn't get rain on directly and run out very quickly and pull the battery back inside. :) Matt
I will never buy anything again from ecoflow.
During black friday I made the mistake of trusting what I read on their website. The ad read "ecoflow deltamax 2000 + 220w solar panel, black friday 2022 $2199." I clicked on buy and purchased it. A few days later I received the unit without a solar panel. I immediately called their 1800 number and informed them I had not received the solar panel. The man on the phone told me I had not ordered the solar panel. Wait...what? The ad said " deltamax 2000 +220w solar panel black friday 2022, $2199."
Be very very careful buying anything from this company.
I'm really sorry you have had a bad experience with them. I bought my Delta Pro from a third party receller and not Ecoflow so I have no experience with purchasing from them directly. However, when sending questions to Ecoflow's support they have always been helpful and quick to get back to me.
Just a quick look on their website it does seem as though you overpaid for an Ecoflow Delta Max 2000 which is $1599 on sale, with a regular price of $2099. Please do check your invoice to see exactly what you paid for. My advice would be to return the device for a refund if you are unhappy with it.
@@MattWells0 hey Matt. I purchased mine from the Canadian website. My receipt that was emailed to me also says " deltamax 2000 + 220w solar panel black friday -2022. $2199." When I called the company and spoke to a rep, he told me I'm not the only one to call to complain about not receiving the solar panel. I emailed them to find out about returning the item I was emailed back from the company and informed I would have to pay $70 for shipping and another 3.6% of the purchase price of $2199 because I paid using PayPal as a penalty. This info is also on their website.
My experience so far with this company has not been good.
@@DaveC-sx3gl From what you have said it does sound like Ecoflow have royally screwed up. In the UK we have laws to protect consumers of this (Trade Act 2021 for a start), but I am unfamiliar with Canadian law but I would imagine that you would have something similar.
@@MattWells0 yes I have sent out a few emails to those government agencies charged with protecting the public from these sorts of issues. Hopefully it helps.
@@DaveC-sx3gl I really hope that you get it sorted out, I can see why you wouldn't want to do any more business with them. I would like to know what happens when you get a resolution if you happen to think of me at the time.
This has been my problem for a while now. Too much freaking clouds keeps the sun blocked and the solar panels aren't able to give much of a charge. It has been a crazy year without a doubt.
My solution was to add more solar panels, I'm now up to 9 in 3 strings of 3 panels which has a peak of just over 2kw. It has to be a really dark cloud day for me to now have enough power to run my work computer.