IMPORTANT UPDATE: The solar input voltage/amperage has changed on the Anker SOLIX F3800! support.anker.com/s/article/Anker-SOLIX-F3800-Portable-Power-Station-USER-GUIDE--A1790 Solar Input Changes BELOW: OLD: 11-32V 10A; 32V-60V 25A (1200W Max, firmware 1.7.8 or earlier version) NEW: 11-28V 10A; 28V-60V 27A Max (1200W Max, firmware 2.0.9 or later version) The new changes will make this compatible with more 400w solar panels in parallel! Upgrade your firmware to see the changes.
With the update, going to 27Amps. Looking at say the Q.CELLs 475W in the video, the V@MPP is 45.03. That would be 1215 watts (45.03 x 27). Would that panel still work okay going over the 1200 watt limit? Thank you
Excellent! thank you!! Definitely the most informative and thorough in YT. Thank you for adding the product links! Just another extra detail that makes this more awesome!!
Thanks for the video! Even though I don't plan to get this unit, I learned a bunch with you answering the questions that can be applied to other units/situations. Appreciate the option for paying you for a one on one question. 👍
Great followup on a really interesting product. Despite it's limitations, the Anker F3800 is a good candidate for running a split phase load during a power outage if you want an all-in-one approach that is about the least expensive option. Since you already have the EG4 server rack battery, a good approach for do-it-yourself might be the EG4 6000XP split phase inverter with 8000 watts of solar input for $1499. You could have that and the server rack battery for considerably less than the F3800 with none of the limitations, including solar up to 500 VDC input. Maybe a project for the future. And if you want it to be portable, mount them both on a hand truck! Thanks again for going the extra mile:)
@@Jasonoid Yes. Yes. Yes. Would love to see that EG4 comparison. Especially for each the WiFi Controllable Features shown on their Displays. As Well as What Data actually are shown by each. Jason. Very Excited for that Video.
For people not necessarily interested in solar charging, does diy still make sense? Use case is primarily short term power outages, say 24hrs or less to run fridge and small appliances.
@@dansaunders6761 I was suggesting that it might make a good project for Jason, as he has expressed some interest in the past. I agree that for short term backup where it will not be running all the time and can be charged after use on 120, the F3800 is perfect for that use. I use my AC200MAX for that very purpose as it has no UPS or fast charging capability.
@@johntate5284 Thanks for the reply. Heavily leaning towards the Anker, but I don't mind a diy for the right results. This would strictly be utility for me and not a daily use or hobby. Ease of use in this case carries high value for the household. One of the main reasons I asked is AC charging. I am considering a small gas generator to recharge in the case of needing more than 24hrs of power. At this point, or at least in this house, I have no intention of adding a whole house switch.
The 60 volt limit on some of these systems convinced me to buy a bunch of cheap 51.2v 50 AH batteries and have them hooked up to an MPPT controller with 150 volts. It's not portable, but it's cheaper than buying a spare battery, and I don't ever need to worry about having the right PV input and heavy gauge for high amperage.
Thanks for the update. Sounds like Anker engineers need to just figure out how to charge with AC (from a generator) while keeping the 240v plug alive. The market is waiting for a unit of this size with this capability. As presented, using an external DC supply to charge is an expensive method with too many points of failure. Sorry.
Totally agree! Many people bought this unit without proper knowledge of how it functions (due to other youtube reviews not covering these quirks). This video just shows a way around that if you already have the unit. Hoping for a better more refined V2 model.
Bought the F3800 thru kickstart program. I have learned more about this unit in your 2 videos that all the reading of the manual/tutorials. Both of your videos are now on the home Anker F3800 fb page with lots of good responses. PS, I use my golf carts 6.54kWh battery as backup to the F3800. Easy Peasy. Thanks.
Great videos. I'm looking into an F3800 + batteries. I'm in the Houston area in a small (rented) townhome and can't run a propane generator on my small porch area. not enough room to safely (and legally) without worrying about my neighbors. We get a lot of natural disasters, though. Also not enough room inside to DIY some rack mounted batteries, wall mounted inverters and charge controllers, among other space constraints. Solution is something like the F3800 or Delta Pro Ultra with some solar on my back porch fed inside to the unit. Benefit is when I (finally) buy a home, these units can come with me and go right into a transfer switch where they can be expanded more (with some likely refurbed or used batteries by that point)
It’s true what you say, and it doesn’t happen only with that model but with all the ones they shared. If you check Anker’s support, they state that the total current of the three panels in parallel should not exceed 27 amps. Could you clarify your suggestions? @jasonoid
Power stations are current limited. The amperage will be limited to 27 amps input. I would recommend keeping the total array amperage within a reasonable level. I wouldn't go over 35 amps total while overpaneling the F3800.
So you could get a server rack batter into one input, use the other input from solar, and youd have a contjnuous run system that uses solar when available and ac charging when not?
Thank you for this video, your insights have provided me with the right information to set up my system with solar panels! I only have 1 remaining question- how do I need to charge and discharge this battery to maintain max battery life? I do not intend to use it unless I have a major outage. any battery maintenance advice is appreciated. Thanks Jon
They recommend cycling it at least monthly. I'd recommend using it all the time to power certain loads just so you are familiar with it. It's too much of an investment to let it sit and do nothing all the time, plus you get familiar with how long it will last as you use it daily.
Your videos have been super helpful. I have a question that you or someone in the comments can help. Have 2 48v battery banks hooked up to their respective bus bars. From each pair of bus bars, I have 2 XT60 cables, one for each unit. As soon as the fourth and final cable is connected, I can hear a breaker trip inside and charging stops. As soon as I unplug ANY one of the 4 xt60 cables, charging resumes. I am flummoxed. Any insight will be appreciated.
I walked a guy through this exact process on his dual F3800s for a couple days. After hours of troubleshooting we had to have three batteries total.... Completely unexpected! Basically the 4th connection had to go to its own battery for all units to charge at 2400 watts with both ports 😩
Thanks Jason for the follow video on this unit re: charging options. Just wanted to find out if you have heard whether Anker has updated the Solix f3800 to accept parallel charging (eg using two output cables from the one EG4 unit for 2 inputs into the 2 separate solix solar charging ports) or is it just not possible because of the common ground which you mentioned which means i would have to use two battery sources for each solar input ports on the f3800?
Thanks Jason for the follow up video. Again, very informative. I just think this power station requires too much work-a-rounds. I respect Anker products but I think they could have made better engineering decisions on this one.
Great review! We have the the f2000 and will be ordering the F3800, do you know of any way to pair the two and use the f2000 as an expansion battery or would I be best just to charge it using the f2000? I guess the only way to get pass through charging for the 240v would be to use the DC ports on the f2000. Thanks, Jake
I cant lie, Im sick of 60 volt input limits. haha. I saw a grecell that has a 75 volt limit, its not great either but at least you can do a couple 20v panels in series and not be too worried. Good video to answer some questions Sir.
I wish a company would make a decent step down converter so you could connect in 200v of solar and it would output 58 volts or something.... Then you could plug in any solar panels you would want to these 60v units. I can dream haha
Jason, sorry to get back on the Chargeverter again but assuming I use a busbar off of the Chargeverter, will the two X60 cables you have in your parts list here provide me what I need to connect the the F3800 solar inputs ?
Yes, that should work. Remember that the F3800 won't charge if both xt60 cables come from the same battery. The charging shuts off if you have a common ground / negative between the charging ports. If you have one battery, you'll only be able to connect up one charging cable to the F3800.
@ any suggestion on Chargeverter settings and what brand and type of busbar to use so that those cables, Chargeverter and busbar all work together ? Thanks so much … I wouldn’t know where to start without your insight !
Could you wire directly from the DC output of a small gas inverter generator to the DC input of the F3800?. (The Pulsar 2300 has a 12 volt/ 8 amp DC output "cigarettte lighter" Output ) I understand that the charge rate would only be around 125watts but it could help top off when the sun went down. bypassing the inefficient onboard 120 Inverter / charger built in to each unit .
Thanks for your detailed review! Follow-up quesitons: re: Self-consumption mode with solar, wtd w excess solar generation? Would a 48V DC battery such as EG4LL in video be a better (cheaper? or more efficient?) addition than an Anker extension battery? seems same price, more Watts, any way to automate their use/interactions besides manual swap of plugs? Any specific propane generators that have built-in converter to put either AC or DC and work with this model in a low-sun / long outage scenario? I'm looking to leap at the 2 unit + smart panel deal (currently ~$6400 at 30%off) and then get solar panels you suggested (scale size later after testing 1200W config) or the more recent shade-tolerant diode versions. Primary purpose is a backup unit for ~6hr outage that happen 2x/year. Self-consumption w solar off-grid supplement to routine use is a way to justify it as worth more than a standard generac. Also, any idea if this eventually can be combined with the Solix X1 option? Do they use the same panels? It's a much larger investment, so would wait a few years if ever for the X1.
Hello, I got through a throttling situation where one or more of the batteries were below 59 degrees and discovered charging was limited to 700 amps DC. I got all the components above 59 degrees and ran for several days with up to 2300 amps DC input. All was well! Today. for some reason it is limited to 1100 amps. It will charge at about 1100 amps from either array, but not both at the same time. Charge level was in the lower 80 % when this was observed. I hope there is a simple explanation for this. Thanks
Great in-depth video! Thanks! My question is, since the battery voltage in the Anker is 48, will panels with the voltage specs below be high enough to charge the Anker unit? Rated max power = 380 watts Open circuit voltage = 44.8 Voltage at Pmax = 36.8 Short circuit current = 10.91 Max system voltage = 1000
Yes, the charge controller boosts the input voltage to charge the battery (since the peak voltage is 60v). The panel specs you listed will work properly when wired in parallel.
Thank you, another EXCELLENT vid! Just what I was wondering as I have one of these ordered. If I understand correctly: If my panels exceed the 60 volt PV max the unit will not charge at all, but if I exceed the 25 amp max it will still charge at that max rate? Couldn't I just use a Mc4 to XT60 25 ft extension cable and ditch the Anderson adaptor?
Yep, you can ditch the Anderson adapter. I just found cables that would add flexibility between solar and battery inputs. Your cable needs to be 10 awg to be safe. 8 awg would be better for a longer run of wiring. Going over 60v with solar will damage the power station. Going over 25 amps is just fine. Say you have 30 amps of solar panels, the power station will only ever use 25 amps of that power.
one would hope that if you give too much voltage the power station would refuse to charge rather than become damaged, however some do not feature this function and will burn themselves out instead of protecting themselves. it is best to follow the guideline and not exceed the input voltage to prevent damage. regarding the amperage, the powerstation is limited to being able to draw 25 amps, so even if you supply a maximum of 30 amps, the load will only ever max out at 25 amps. the benefit of supplying a higher peak amps from solar will be that the solar curve will sustain the higher peak for longer, meaning that you will get the 25 amps of power from 30 amps of available solar longer. this is also referred to as over provisioning. when selecting the proper cable wire gauge, consider the length of the run, as the longer the run, the more losses will occur, due to the lower voltage, and i recommend a wire gauge calculator be used to help with this.
Thank you! A video on all of the certifications that are shown on panels might be helpful to many viewers. Ul1741, ETL us, SA us, CSA, etc. it is a bit confusing. I thought that panels had to say UL 1741, but I understand that to not be correct now. Are those certifications only required on grid tied systems? When do panels installations need to be “inspected”? Only when they are installed on the main dwelling roof, or when grid tied. Any of your expertise would be appreciated.
I used 4 12v eco flow lifepo4 in series to top off my F3800. It charges the unit at 1150W consistently. However, after the external battery died, on the 4 batteries dropped down to 6.67V. Other were fine and charged back up to 100 no problem. Did I just get a bad battery or is there a setting I don’t know about
@@Jasonoid Can't thank you enough! It worked. I hooked another fully charged ecoflow 12v battery to basically 'jump start' it like a car battery. after 30 mins, it finally began accepting charge. I wish there was a shunt that also had an integrated shutoff to program my entire pack to shut off if the SoC falls below , say, 20%.
You are brilliant, Jasonoid! Do you know if the F3800 will allow solar charging and grid charging simultaneously when connected to the Anker Smart Home Panel? Great video. Thank you.
According to an email from AsqMe Q&A: "Reminder: You have an answer waiting". I have the f3800 with an extra battery module. I have been watch Netflix, at night, for the past 3 hours and the display still says that I have 100% charge. Question: Since the extra module doesn't have a display, am I drawing power from it rather than the main battery which still displays 100%?
Question, you mentioned fuses on each solar panel. So every positive and negative for each panel needs a fuse before connecting the "branch" style connector Anker provides? Then the solar extension cable, which runs to battery. Then the two cables shown in the video? Thank you!
@@Jasonoid ahh ok so just on every positive for each panel. Thanks for the fast responses. I obviously don't understand electrical and solar stuff so I'm sure this will help others too.
@@fromcitytowild correct. The solar panels usually say what rated fuse they need. Usually it's a 15 amp or 20 amp fuse. Feel free to route other questions you have please route through the ASQME service mentioned in the video.
I don't know if you still have this device and can check but I'm running into an issue with my bluetti and I think I'm out of luck getting any return done with them. So it's super expensive for me, but do you have any idea of this unit has the same grounding issue that bluetti has? If I plug an electric pressure washer, with a gfci plug on it, into my bluetti it instantly trips the gfci. If I use a neutral bond plug it results in the bluetti showing an error code but still trips the gfci. I'm under the impression this is because of the way the portable power station does grounding. I'm not very experienced in electrical, but I can't afford to buy another unit and have it not work for my application. Any chance this unit won't have that issue? My bluetti powers my pressure washer while the station is plugged into my wall, but just trips when I unplug it.
Great video! Do you know of any simple DC power supplies that can provide the full 1200 watt input limit? I would hope to use two of them with a larger generator to be able to recharge uninterrupted.
High powered AC to DC converters are expensive. The BK Precision power supply used in the video cost me over $1500! The best route is to pick up a 48v LFP battery and just charge that with solar and AC power, and then that dumps into the DC Charging ports of the F3800.
Thanks. Doing some more research it looks like people have had success with the EG4 Chargeverter ($500) and the BOSYTRO 60V 25A ($100). I’m tempted to try the BOSYTRO.
@@undisclosed2673 yes, there are cheaper options available. Just remember that power supplies are not meant to run at 100% load for very long. They will fail after a short time if pushed to their limits.
Any chance you would share the make and model of the ac to dc charger. Also i tried looking closely at the wiring in the middle for the 48v battery but couldnt catch how it was connected in the middle. Maybe an oversight on my part. You did answe some concerns i had with how to add additional battery storage to power stations without having to be brand specific.
Great video thank you for it. Just wondering though, according to Anker website if the current at Pmax exceeds the 27amp, F3800 can't handle the excess energy. So these panels you're showing all have Imp > 27 when running 3 panels to get the full 1200 watts. So wouldn't you need to find a panel with lower Imp in addition to the voltage requirements ? I may not be understanding this but just reading off Anker website.
@@Jasonoid I have watched this video or parts of it at least 20 times. I had the same question and came to the message board and saw your reponse. According to the Anker website when connecting 3 panels with 12.99A it said "Because the current from three solar panels exceeds 27A and the F3800 cannot handle the excess energy, it is recommended to connect only two 405W solar panels." My solar buddy said not to exceed the amp max as excess amp could melt the connectors at the panels. I understand he might be concerned but what do you think? Its hard to get the max without going higher on the Amps per panel. FYI, i am hokking my ankers directly into my Grid solar 400 w panels(currently off grid) to see what i can get but the specs on the panels i have are 30 amp panels. is this ok. I am new to all of this and jumped in with both feet. Thanks in advance.
Thank you for the great video. I just installed 2 F3800s with the home power panel and a subpanel. The subpanel basically covers everything except the big 240v things like whole house A/C, electric oven, etc. I'm looking for more cost-effective ways to add battery capacity. Can 48v rack server batteries charge the F3800s through the xt-60 ports while they are in home backup mode connected to the Home Power Panel? If so, what do the 48v batteries do when the F3800s are fully charged?
@@Jasonoid Thank you. I could not tell from the documentation. Some features of the F3800 do not function the same when it is in Backup mode connected to the HPP/ATS. So I couldn't tell if those DC input ports were active.
Another question, so because the common ground issues..... How do you charge separate 48v server rack batteries from a single invertor like the yellow eg4? Will that create a common ground? Seems to me your limited to only using one solar DC port for stacking server rack batteries because to charge them (server rack batteries) via solar.... You would need two separate inverters. Correct?
@Jasonoid so comparing cost of Eg4 yellow inverter $800 and server rack battery being $1,300 (total $2,100) plus the wiring and rack/shelf and effort to hook everything up. Anker's expansion battery is on sale right now for $1,800 seems to be the Better option. Sure, it's less capacity than the server rack battery but it's cheaper and plug and play. Plus, you get both DC ports for maximum solar input (2,400w) which is plenty for someone like me in the California desert. My only complaint is that the expansion batteries can't act as a standalone power station. I really want to be able to unplug just one expansion battery and take it camping while the f3800 sits at home running the cabin. Hope this helps someone else because I was bummed out for days and days thinking I over paid for the f3800 (got it on Labor Day sale for $3,100 ) or something but it came with the transfer switch and a free refrigerator so I think it's a good deal.
Just ordered the F3800 and Renogy 400w portable, folding solar panel (that you reviewed). Please tell me that they are compatible! I see the Open Circuit Voltage is 47.2v so that works. Can I just purchase a MC4 to X60 adaptor to connect the solar panels to the Anker?
Seems kinda weird that you cant ac charge this while outputting 240v. Is there anyway to reasonably charge this with a generator while its acting as a backup for the house? Seems like the Ecoflow Delta 3 can do this but of course it has its own issues.
Hello! I'm trying to figure out if the Anker F3800 will automatically power on (from completely turned off) if solar is connected to the F3800. The scenario is: run the F3800 to 1% discharge and after 12h the unit shuts down completely. Next day with the solar panels connected, when the sun comes back, would it automatically turn the unit on and start charging? Thank you in advance for the answer!
Yes, it will start charging automatically and turn on from solar if it shuts off from being discharged all the way... However, you will have to manually turn on the AC inverter once it dies, the AC inverter doesn't automatically turn back on.
@@Jasonoid Thank you so much. I was more concerned if I leave it unattended for the day, at evening when I would check it would be charged and ready to use. That was the purpose of my question, if it is powered off and connected to solar if it automatically powers on when the sun is up.
That first panel you mentioned had 11.8 ISC and you said 3 in parallel would be good but Wouldnt running 3 in parallel go over the 27A spec on the xta port since the amp would add up in parallel config? Did i miss something?😅
The power station limits the input to 27 amps, even if you have more available in your array 👍 so if you have an array of 35 amps. You'll only get 27 amps input.
@@Jasonoid Thank you for the follow up, I was a little confused too. Great video, and the server battery idea is gonna save me some serious $$$ in the future with my own F3800.
This is what I purchased for the video (they are listed in the video description): Female XT60 to APP: amzn.to/3wDgtmX APP to Ring Terminals (Battery Connection): amzn.to/3T4qtwL I have a new video coming out in a couple weeks to show you a more affordable DC power supply that will work well.
@@Jasonoidwhat would be the affordable dc power supply? I planned to plug the F3800 into the AC of my Anker Solix F2000 than learned after purchase of losing the 240 on the F3800. Would you know a simple solution of connecting my F2000 to the F3800 XT60 and getting as much wattage to the F3800 as possible at a reasonable price? I would not need to get the full 1200w but something respectable would be great. Thanks , Terry
This option should work for about 500 to 600 watts of charging (if you have the newest firmware on your F3800): amzn.to/4h7Kfmf Youd have to connect it to your F2000 AC inverter, it probably won't work off a gas generator.
Thanks for informative video. Regarding alternative charging, I have a Duromax XP1100IH inverter generator with 48v DC charging capability. I haven’t figured out the proper designation of the included connector which has both a red and black lead on the generator end and terminal rings on the other . Do you know if this could work with the proper Cable connector on the Anker side?
Question. I bought two 24 volt lithium batteries to recharge the 3800 when the sun goes down. I simply have ring connectors to the battery and xt-60 ends. No fuses or anything in between. If I’m understanding this correctly I would be better off wiring them together for 48 volts and plugging into just 1 xt-60 correct? Do I need a fuse?
@ so can’t do 48v into each port? I apologize. I was going to buy two more batteries. I wasn’t sure if the limits were for 1 port or both combined. (I bought the prototype off kickstarter) didn’t get much info on it.
@@GARGRUM you can do 48v into each port, but the 48v can't come from the same source. It won't charge if they have a common ground or negative. So you have to use two separate 48v batteries if you want to do that
it would have been nice if the DC input voltage was able to get over 100v input instead of 60 for more solar in series instead, but with 60v more cost will be involved in thicker wire gauge.
@@Jasonoid thanks for the response. That is disappointing i was hoping to get those. The last hurricane in my area (Katy TX) took the power for 3 days and we were lucky, many people lost power for one week. I do not have any panel at home to connect a generation, butvi just got a generator following one of your videos. However, i feel that i need a ower unit with batteries to complement the systems as you suggested in another video. To me the easiest is to buy something from anker however cost ia important but the panels you're recommended in another video needs to be purchase in 10 units and can not just wait for a good offer local in Facebook, i need something i can buy now and get ready for the next power outage . Something simple that my wife can donwithout any problem. Pleae consider other videos for other options for solar pannels for the f3800. I just want to be abke to power a mini split , internet, some fans for at least 3 or 4 days. My stove is gas driven and the driers too, so i jsut need 240v fot the mini split . thanks
so does the Isc and Imp not matter if it totals more than 27amp when you have multiple in parallel? i just want to make sure before i buy it. think its unlikely youll see this though
So we did get Canadian Solar 400w panels. We wired two series of three in parallel and plugged them into our Anker solix F3800 power station. We started this setup a week ago annd since it haas been cloudy we only saw 1100w input. Today the sun came out strong and the dc inlut is throttled at 615w. ??? What went wrong?
@@HeideBraley there could be a number of issues. You just need to test one array at a time to see what power you get. Are any fuses blown? Any shading on the panels will reduce the charging power significantly. Is the polarity correct? Is the battery near 90% state of charge? Near the top end of charging, wattage input slows down. Too many things to try and suggest here in a youtube comment conversation.
I am seeing some comment on FB that ppl are using victron solar charge controller connecting to there 150v array than connect to the DC input on the F3800. That way you are not worry about the 60V limit. Can you test that?
Is there a cutover time when using the time-of-use mode on the automatic home panel? For context, I live in NYC and charged 2 cents per kwh at night and 33 cents per kwh at day. I want to exploit those low overnight prices, but don't want to expose my home to a microgap of electricity twice a day.
@@Jasonoid I just got a reply from Anker via email. Quoting: "If scheduling time-of-use and the grid power is continuously available, there is no switching time for charging and discharging. If connected to Home power panel and the grid power is interrupted, the switching time for the backup port is 30ms."
Can you use a pair of identical 51.2V 50Ah batteries instead of 1 large 100 Ah one? Thanks I was looking at a pair of DC House but have never heard of them.
So I have 15kwh battery bank at 24v for my rv and purchased the Anker F3800. Is it feasible for me to plug my 50amp RV cord into the F3800, connect the 24v battery bank into the DC port of F3800 like you did with the server rack battery and then charge the battery bank with solar?
Would it be possible to charge the solix f3800 with a solix f2000 using the f2000 car port out to the f3800 xt60 port and the f2000 plugged into the wall outlet???
Thank you again for this video. I found some used 545w solar panel near me, and its Voc is 49.98. Can you please guide me with it. 49.98(voc) x25 amp =1249. Does it mean that I cant put 3 of the 545w? is it possible to only use 2? and what will be the expected result if I only use 545w panels? thank you again.
If you reach out to the following link below I will break down the entire setup, including estimated power numbers and required parts needed. asqme.com/@Jasonoid
In colder temps, 40F and below you'll see higher than the VOC number on the panel. I like to give at least 5 volts of leeway under the VOC limit of the power station, so 55v. If you live in an area where temps don't get low, that panel is great!
I purchased this to use for camping, with a secondary use for home backup, do you know if a dc to dc charge controller would work on the xt90 input? To me as long as I’m within the range of specs it seems like it would, just didn’t know if there would be any concerns as I’m not an electrical engineer! 😂. I was thinking something like the renogy 50 amp dc to dc with mppt or maybe a victron dc to dc.
It's all about voltage. A higher voltage will get you a faster charging speed. A 50amp DC to DC charger will put out 50amps for a 12v battery. If the charging voltage is under 32v, the F3800 will limit the input to 10 amps (that 50 amp DC to DC charger will only charge at 10 amps). This video shows how to take a lower battery voltage and to boost it up for faster charging: ua-cam.com/video/I78RxjRXTn4/v-deo.html This video shows how using a higher voltage battery increases the charging speed: ua-cam.com/video/tK4JKmfndh8/v-deo.html
Regarding Voc, when discussing how it goes higher than stated when it's really cold out, what does that mean? What is "really cold", and what kind of "leeway" are you talking about. Like if Voc is stated at 59.6, is that too high? Also, what would happens if you have more panels available than the 1,200w max per port? Like say you had 5x 400w panels in parallel, going into one port, does the Solix just cap out at 1,200, or is there a danger to having too much?
You can see up to 5% higher numbers when it's near freezing and below. The colder it is outside, the higher the voltage...but it does seem to stop around 5% above the VOC on the spec sheet. I would give yourself 5 to 8 volts extra room on the charge controller if you plan to be in extreme cold temps. If you live in a warmer climate it shouldn't be that big of an issue. As for the 1200watts. That is the software limited number. You can have more watts in your array, the power station will just limit automatically to 1200 watts. Having 1500 watts of solar won't damage the charge controller, it will just max out the charging input more frequently. This is called "over-paneling" your power station.
@@Jasonoid thanks for this answer! i came here just to confirm that 'over-paneling' (i.e. max-power-point DC *current* over 25A due to putting, say, 3X panels with ~11A max power current in parallel) is generally okay. given how cheap panels are, and how hard it is to get max-power in the real world (depending on season, mounting, etc), it seems like a good option in lots of cases to do some moderate over-paneling. i had assumed that the MPPT controller in the anker f3800 would hard-limit both the max current to 25A (even if that is less that 1200W at some voltage, say 40-45V in), and also hard-limit the power to ~1200W regardless of voltage input (i.e. if the input voltage was exactly 60V, it would limit to 20A). but it's great to hear my intuition confirmed from someone with more experience with such power stations as well as lots more equipment to do testing! on that note, i'm curious what the max DC current draw of the F3800 actually is (i.e. does it really properly limit to 25A in all cases). this seems relevant for cable sizing, safety, and potentially things like fusing. for example, you recommend fuses on every individual panel in a parallel configuration, but what about having a, say, 30A fuse on the combined input? but, if the F3800 actually draws, say, 31A sometimes (maybe when the input DC voltage is near the low end), then it might makes sense to use a larger fuse and maybe also upsize the cables (or at least make sure they can handle the amperage safely). i'm guessing that, assuming anker did a good job, it will indeed hard-limit to 25A in all cases though. for something so seemingly simply in some ways, there seems to be a fair bit of complexity and corner cases to consider for DC/solar inputs to these power stations! thanks again. (edit: happy to kick you the $15 for answer here or otherwise, not sure if you have a donate button or the like)
Hi Jason. at 3 minutes 20 sec you recommend connnecting 3 panels in parallel that each have ISC of 11.08A . Thats more than 25A(27A with firmware update) states. Is this safe?
Thank you, I was adding up the max amperage for every recommendation and it was over the 27 max input amperage… I did not know it will limit this automatically. This helps out drastically picking panels! Thanks
So if I wire 3 panels in parallel, won't their current go beyond the 25 amps max? will the charger simply reject the excess current and cap itself at 25 amps? will this potentially harm the batteries or other components?
@@Jasonoid THANK YOU! TY!! So i have a F2600 can i buy a device for my CAR TO SPEED IT UP??? Also can i use my CAR INVERTER (uses a normal 3 prong plug) will this speed it up?? ty
This is a plug n play option to charge off your car starter battery: ua-cam.com/video/NqnYaqMwktE/v-deo.html Charging off the built in car inverter is likely not to work. It needs to have a pure sine wave.
Thanks, Jason. I just purchased the F3800 and two 405W Anker Rigid panel VOC 37.29 and VMP 31.18. Would you suggest running in parallel as opposed to series?
After learning a bit more, I realized that the 405W Anker panels I got in the bundle deal aren't that great for the $$$. Appreciate the knowledge and willingness to share with others.
It's really horrible anker matches those panels to this battery. You expect there was some thought to it. But i dont see it. The panels should be more like 55v or like 27v for 2 in series or they should have made the input 70v or so. Its like anker didn't even try.
Cables that came with 3800 for solar 3 to one. What are those used for and do I need 4 of those for 6 panels. I want to buy 6 Hyundai panels. How would I wire them? Thank you much Greatly appreciated
Those are MC4 parallel adapters. They allow you to connect 3 solar panels in parallel. If you need more guidance on the process feel free to reach out to me HERE: asqme.com/@Jasonoid
This is what you'll need: amzn.to/4bVBU1Y Put one fuse on each postive solar wire before combining them into parallel. Make sure to use at least 10awg wire. 8awg wire for a longe run to avoid voltage drop (wasted power).
Me again. It's probably a silly question, but can I discharge the lifepro4 batteries to zero and then fully charge again? I've seen mixed reviews, but I think it's better for the battery to completely discharge and then fully recharge to get closer to the maximum life cycles? Thanks, Jason. I have the anker f3800 running my pool pump, 800+ watts. I'm going to hook up the panels this week so it shouldn't fully discharge but im running it today and making sure I can fully discharge the batteries safely 😅
@@dutchharbour5909 discharging 100% to 0% will give you less cycles over the lifespan versus discharging the battery only partially down. You'll still get plenty of cycles on a LFP battery.
Hey Jasonoid!... What size fuses would you recommend on the Q.Cell 475W panels (using 3 in parallel)? Also, how long would you say the run needs to be to have to bump up from 10AWG to 8AWG?
If the run is over 20 feet, I'd upgrade to 8 awg. You'll lose less power to voltage drop if you upgrade. Using those three panels in parallel I'd put a 15 amp in line fuse on each one: amzn.to/49oUxti
Surprised that the EG4 AC-DC charger wouldn't work. I've been using the EG4 Chargeverter successfully to charge my F3800 through the XT60 solar input. Also used third party AC to DC power supplies (2 different brands). Wondering what make the EG4 charger fault out?
The charge controller wouldn't turn on with the EG4 charger connected. I'm guessing the charger didn't see any voltage from the power station and the power station didn't see any voltage from the charger. Both were waiting for something to happen.
Came across these older comments. About to purchase an Anker F3800. But the concern becomes if I exhaust the battery during an outage how do I recharge the battery. Then I thought OK, just use my Westinghouse generator but it delivers dirty power that the F3800 will not like. Then I came across the EG4 chargeverter. So question - Will this work and if so what wiring do I need to use on both ends and to outlet do I plug into the F3800 ? Please dumb it down for me. Thanks
Awesome video but you forgot question 4: Do those wheels support up to at least 20MPH so I can tow this behind my ebike and drive to Mexico? It may take a while...
For fun I did a calculation, with my internal 15amp 52v 780w battery charged with this thing charging it I would get 345.6 kms range on my ebike which ironically supports pass through charging. I may have to buy an expansion pack or two to make it to Mexico. Now fortunately if you tilt the unit it's long enough I could stick my awesome Powerness 120w panel(it's actually rated at 140w) to it to increase that range a bit. Man I wish I could get those 120w Powerness S120X panels again the 120w has been sold out for like 6 months. It's open circuit voltage is rated for 21.6 but it's more like 24v and it's max amperage power is 7.78amps it blows away my ecoworthy 120w panel which is an excellent panel but this is on a whole new level. I guess people liked them, hopefully they'll have some in time for summer I'd like to give away that ecoworthy panel to a friend as it's a very decent panel still and replace it with 2 S120X's for charging my ebike either in series or parallel with my MPPT-7210A programmable boost converter. In the winter I was getting about 1.3 amps(needs amps to boost to 58.8v to charge ebike battery) in crappy winter sun with just the powerness itself with dubious angling. The onboard LED display was saying around 4.5amps output at 10:30am in the dead of winter in Toronto which is pretty far North we don't get much sun up here in the winter. Can't wait to try it in the summer.@@Jasonoid
@@chrissinclair8705 I love when panels are 'under rated' so you actually get more power in perfect conditions. Those MPPT-7210a units are also interesting to mess with.... Perfect for charging ebike batteries as that's how you use yours. I've seen many videos on that topic.
It's an older unit now but the programmability is hard to beat. Especially when I went from a 48v to a 52v I just changed the settings. It will do up to 90v so a 72v battery it will do no problem.@@Jasonoid
@@chrissinclair8705 I wish I had a connection to some Chinese manufacturer to request they make stuff like that. I've been dreaming of a high powered buck converter for high voltage solar panels. A high powered 150v to 55v drop down converter for all these power stations that have a 60v cutoff.
I'm going to have at least a 25ft run from my panels to the Anker f3800. It makes no sense to me to use a 8AWG cable to go into the 2.2Feet 10AWG Solar Connector to ADS Adapter that you recommended. Won't the 2.2ft of 10AWG be a bottleneck and defeat the purpose of having an 8AWG run connect to it? Am I thinking wrong? I searched for a 8AWG Solar Connector to ADS Adapter and I couldn't find one. Any suggestions?
If you can find an 8 awg option, awesome! I didn't ever find a plug n play option online for that. The 2.2ft 10awg cable is rated for 30 amps continuous, you wouldnt much loose much power through it over 2 ft., however you'd definitely lose power if it was 10awg over 25 feet... You using 8 awg and then going down to 10 awg for a short length should be fine. The only other option would be to make your own cable.
@@Jasonoid One last request (hopefully): I have six 280W panels - Vmp @35.5V - Imp @7.89A - Voc @45V - Isc @8.35A - Maximum System Voltage @600V. I don't know what most of this means and I'm not asking for you to explain it, but what I do need to know is how to hook up my panels via series and/or parallel in order to get the maximum amount of charge without damaging the Anker f3800. What do you suggest?
Yes, but the power station limits the amperage input automatically. Say you had 100 amps of solar panels in parallel, the charge controller would still only pull 25 amps 👍
@lamesadave 0 seconds ago Jason: Assuming your PV array output voltage is over 60v, would it be possible to use a solar charge controller with a 60+v input and a 48v output to charge the Anker Solix 3800 directly into the XT60 port(s)? Thanks
I doubt it would work, just like the 48v AC battery charger didn't work in the video. The MPPT charge controller needs to see a 'really battery voltage' when connected in order to know the state of charge of the battery is to charge properly.
@@Jasonoid Do you think a solar charge controller with a 48V buffer battery would work OK? Basically use the SCC to charge the 48V battery, while having the 48V battery also feeding into the XT60 input of the F3800? The 48V battery would act not just as a buffer between the SCC and the F3800, but also as expansion capacity. One negative I see is that the F3800 if not full, will try to drain the 48V battery completely. But if the 48V is a server rack battery or similar, its built-in protection would shut-off before it gets drained completely. Wondering if with your expensive AC-DC power supply, you could test whether the F3800 input limit is strictly at 60V, or whether there's some tolerance above that. After all, Anker's own portable 200W and 400W panels hav a Voc of 57.6V, which doesn't provide much margin for temp conditions...
@@warrenwu8559 I don't thinkna AC will work since it needs to see a battery voltage to work properly. The battery charger failed to work in the video for the same reason.
I ended up getting an EG4 3000EHV and an EG4 LL4 battery (copying the portable system discussed by Jasonoid and Will Prowse). The inverter charges the EG4 battery via solar or grid and the battery charges the Anker via one DC port. It keeps the Anker at 100% and draws from the EG4 battery first while allowing 220V output from Anker. Still learning but the inverter solved the voltage issue on the Anker solar input and wasn’t significantly more expensive than a good 48V charger.
Hello, I hate to ask again but I am getting mixed information about sizing my solar panels with the Anker F3800. Your link for the REC 370w panels from signature solar would have my total solar input around 47v VOC and 29.4 amps approximately if I used 3 of these panels in parallel per DC input. I spoke to a sales person at signature who said the amps were to high for the Anker and that they would damage the Anker unit. My plan was to put 3 of these panels in parallel (x2) for each of the Anker F3800's DC inputs using a 15 amp fuse and using 50amp x 3-way branch connectors with a 30amp breaker switch between my branch connector and the Anker unit, I also wasn't sure if I needed the extra 30amp fuse after the branch connector. Has anyone successfully tested a solar setup long term and knows which fuse specs/ panels I would need to be successful? My runs are short and I am using 10AWG wire. From the Anker to the home I plan to use the Nema 14-50 cable into a SS250P generator outlet with interlock. The max breaker on my home is 240v and 50amps. Thanks in advance.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: The solar input voltage/amperage has changed on the Anker SOLIX F3800!
support.anker.com/s/article/Anker-SOLIX-F3800-Portable-Power-Station-USER-GUIDE--A1790
Solar Input Changes BELOW:
OLD: 11-32V 10A; 32V-60V 25A (1200W Max, firmware 1.7.8 or earlier version)
NEW: 11-28V 10A; 28V-60V 27A Max (1200W Max, firmware 2.0.9 or later version)
The new changes will make this compatible with more 400w solar panels in parallel! Upgrade your firmware to see the changes.
With the update, going to 27Amps. Looking at say the Q.CELLs 475W in the video, the V@MPP is 45.03. That would be 1215 watts (45.03 x 27). Would that panel still work okay going over the 1200 watt limit? Thank you
@jasontwilliams yes
@@Jasonoid thank you!
@@Jasonoid looks like with firmware 2.1.1 you can use 15-60V to hit the 27A max.
@@jasontwilliams yep, it's a great change!
You could not give a much better explanation than that Jason! Never disappointed. A broad swath of good info for all battery and solar users.
Thank You Jason for All that you are doing for our Planet Earth.... Peace.. Shalom.. Salam.. Namaste 🙏🏻 😊 🌈 ✌ ☮ ❤
Excellent! thank you!! Definitely the most informative and thorough in YT. Thank you for adding the product links! Just another extra detail that makes this more awesome!!
Thanks for the video! Even though I don't plan to get this unit, I learned a bunch with you answering the questions that can be applied to other units/situations. Appreciate the option for paying you for a one on one question. 👍
Home run video. Thanks for ideas. Good to see a consulting option too.
I’ve been using the Anker for diy welding projects and it’s been great. I need to figure out the solar piece so thanks for this.
Great followup on a really interesting product. Despite it's limitations, the Anker F3800 is a good candidate for running a split phase load during a power outage if you want an all-in-one approach that is about the least expensive option. Since you already have the EG4 server rack battery, a good approach for do-it-yourself might be the EG4 6000XP split phase inverter with 8000 watts of solar input for $1499. You could have that and the server rack battery for considerably less than the F3800 with none of the limitations, including solar up to 500 VDC input. Maybe a project for the future. And if you want it to be portable, mount them both on a hand truck! Thanks again for going the extra mile:)
I have been looking at that model. I think it would be a great comparison between DIY and Power Stations.
@@Jasonoid Yes. Yes. Yes. Would love to see that EG4 comparison. Especially for each the WiFi Controllable Features shown on their Displays. As Well as What Data actually are shown by each.
Jason. Very Excited for that Video.
For people not necessarily interested in solar charging, does diy still make sense?
Use case is primarily short term power outages, say 24hrs or less to run fridge and small appliances.
@@dansaunders6761 I was suggesting that it might make a good project for Jason, as he has expressed some interest in the past. I agree that for short term backup where it will not be running all the time and can be charged after use on 120, the F3800 is perfect for that use. I use my AC200MAX for that very purpose as it has no UPS or fast charging capability.
@@johntate5284 Thanks for the reply. Heavily leaning towards the Anker, but I don't mind a diy for the right results. This would strictly be utility for me and not a daily use or hobby. Ease of use in this case carries high value for the household.
One of the main reasons I asked is AC charging. I am considering a small gas generator to recharge in the case of needing more than 24hrs of power. At this point, or at least in this house, I have no intention of adding a whole house switch.
The 60 volt limit on some of these systems convinced me to buy a bunch of cheap 51.2v 50 AH batteries and have them hooked up to an MPPT controller with 150 volts.
It's not portable, but it's cheaper than buying a spare battery, and I don't ever need to worry about having the right PV input and heavy gauge for high amperage.
Thanks for shooting this. I found it very helpful.
Thanks Jason, lots of information. A bit over my knowledge curve. Have been enjoying your 101's.
Thanks Jason I learned a lot and a new website for solar panels 😊👍
Best video on the limitations and gotcha's of the F3800! You helped me make my purchase decision.
Thanks and keep up the great work!
You can definitely make this work, just needs a little help :)
Your videos are so technical and detailed. Thank you.
Thanks for the update. Sounds like Anker engineers need to just figure out how to charge with AC (from a generator) while keeping the 240v plug alive. The market is waiting for a unit of this size with this capability. As presented, using an external DC supply to charge is an expensive method with too many points of failure. Sorry.
Totally agree! Many people bought this unit without proper knowledge of how it functions (due to other youtube reviews not covering these quirks). This video just shows a way around that if you already have the unit. Hoping for a better more refined V2 model.
Thanks!
You bet!
Bought the F3800 thru kickstart program. I have learned more about this unit in your 2 videos that all the reading of the manual/tutorials. Both of your videos are now on the home Anker F3800 fb page with lots of good responses. PS, I use my golf carts 6.54kWh battery as backup to the F3800. Easy Peasy. Thanks.
Sig Solar told me that if you come to them and pick up the panels you can buy one or more without having to buy the minimum 10.
Yep, the 10 solar panel minimum is for shipping only. Most people do not live near their locations.
Great videos. I'm looking into an F3800 + batteries. I'm in the Houston area in a small (rented) townhome and can't run a propane generator on my small porch area. not enough room to safely (and legally) without worrying about my neighbors. We get a lot of natural disasters, though. Also not enough room inside to DIY some rack mounted batteries, wall mounted inverters and charge controllers, among other space constraints.
Solution is something like the F3800 or Delta Pro Ultra with some solar on my back porch fed inside to the unit. Benefit is when I (finally) buy a home, these units can come with me and go right into a transfer switch where they can be expanded more (with some likely refurbed or used batteries by that point)
Your videos are very informative and helpful, thanks a lot.
If you have two of these running together could pass through ac charging work with one of these unites still outputting 220v
When looking at the specs on the Hyundai 395W panel it appears the Amperage would exceed the units max with three panels. Can you clarify
It’s true what you say, and it doesn’t happen only with that model but with all the ones they shared. If you check Anker’s support, they state that the total current of the three panels in parallel should not exceed 27 amps. Could you clarify your suggestions? @jasonoid
Power stations are current limited. The amperage will be limited to 27 amps input. I would recommend keeping the total array amperage within a reasonable level. I wouldn't go over 35 amps total while overpaneling the F3800.
Very useful. Thank you!
You're welcome!
So you could get a server rack batter into one input, use the other input from solar, and youd have a contjnuous run system that uses solar when available and ac charging when not?
Thank you for this video, your insights have provided me with the right information to set up my system with solar panels!
I only have 1 remaining question- how do I need to charge and discharge this battery to maintain max battery life? I do not intend to use it unless I have a major outage. any battery maintenance advice is appreciated.
Thanks
Jon
They recommend cycling it at least monthly. I'd recommend using it all the time to power certain loads just so you are familiar with it. It's too much of an investment to let it sit and do nothing all the time, plus you get familiar with how long it will last as you use it daily.
Freakin' awesome. Thanks!!
Your videos have been super helpful. I have a question that you or someone in the comments can help. Have 2 48v battery banks hooked up to their respective bus bars. From each pair of bus bars, I have 2 XT60 cables, one for each unit. As soon as the fourth and final cable is connected, I can hear a breaker trip inside and charging stops. As soon as I unplug ANY one of the 4 xt60 cables, charging resumes. I am flummoxed. Any insight will be appreciated.
I walked a guy through this exact process on his dual F3800s for a couple days. After hours of troubleshooting we had to have three batteries total.... Completely unexpected!
Basically the 4th connection had to go to its own battery for all units to charge at 2400 watts with both ports 😩
Thanks Jason for the follow video on this unit re: charging options. Just wanted to find out if you have heard whether Anker has updated the Solix f3800 to accept parallel charging (eg using two output cables from the one EG4 unit for 2 inputs into the 2 separate solix solar charging ports) or is it just not possible because of the common ground which you mentioned which means i would have to use two battery sources for each solar input ports on the f3800?
The last time I tested, they still DO NOT accept charging on both ports from the same source. Anytime you have a common ground it stops charging.
@@Jasonoid thanks i appreciate the response I'll look into a 2 x battery setup
Thanks Jason for the follow up video. Again, very informative. I just think this power station requires too much work-a-rounds. I respect Anker products but I think they could have made better engineering decisions on this one.
Great review! We have the the f2000 and will be ordering the F3800, do you know of any way to pair the two and use the f2000 as an expansion battery or would I be best just to charge it using the f2000? I guess the only way to get pass through charging for the 240v would be to use the DC ports on the f2000. Thanks, Jake
I cant lie, Im sick of 60 volt input limits. haha. I saw a grecell that has a 75 volt limit, its not great either but at least you can do a couple 20v panels in series and not be too worried. Good video to answer some questions Sir.
I wish a company would make a decent step down converter so you could connect in 200v of solar and it would output 58 volts or something.... Then you could plug in any solar panels you would want to these 60v units. I can dream haha
@@Jasonoid I think we all have that same dream. ha. Setite has mentioned like that too.
Jason, sorry to get back on the Chargeverter again but assuming I use a busbar off of the Chargeverter, will the two X60 cables you have in your parts list here provide me what I need to connect the the F3800 solar inputs ?
Yes, that should work. Remember that the F3800 won't charge if both xt60 cables come from the same battery. The charging shuts off if you have a common ground / negative between the charging ports. If you have one battery, you'll only be able to connect up one charging cable to the F3800.
@ any suggestion on Chargeverter settings and what brand and type of busbar to use so that those cables, Chargeverter and busbar all work together ? Thanks so much … I wouldn’t know where to start without your insight !
@@wbarkwell I made a video just for you!
ua-cam.com/video/T_zZceBWZHk/v-deo.html
Could you wire directly from the DC output of a small gas inverter generator to the DC input of the F3800?. (The Pulsar 2300 has a 12 volt/ 8 amp DC output "cigarettte lighter" Output ) I understand that the charge rate would only be around 125watts but it could help top off when the sun went down. bypassing the inefficient onboard 120 Inverter / charger built in to each unit .
I'd say watch this video: ua-cam.com/video/T_zZceBWZHk/v-deo.html
Just curious if you can charge auxiliary Anker batteries using the Eg4 chargeverter on the DC input of the fs3800?
I made a full video about using the EG4 Chargeverter HERE:
ua-cam.com/video/T_zZceBWZHk/v-deo.html
Thanks for your detailed review! Follow-up quesitons: re: Self-consumption mode with solar, wtd w excess solar generation? Would a 48V DC battery such as EG4LL in video be a better (cheaper? or more efficient?) addition than an Anker extension battery? seems same price, more Watts, any way to automate their use/interactions besides manual swap of plugs? Any specific propane generators that have built-in converter to put either AC or DC and work with this model in a low-sun / long outage scenario? I'm looking to leap at the 2 unit + smart panel deal (currently ~$6400 at 30%off) and then get solar panels you suggested (scale size later after testing 1200W config) or the more recent shade-tolerant diode versions. Primary purpose is a backup unit for ~6hr outage that happen 2x/year. Self-consumption w solar off-grid supplement to routine use is a way to justify it as worth more than a standard generac. Also, any idea if this eventually can be combined with the Solix X1 option? Do they use the same panels? It's a much larger investment, so would wait a few years if ever for the X1.
Hello,
I got through a throttling situation where one or more of the batteries were below 59 degrees and discovered charging was limited to 700 amps DC. I got all the components above 59 degrees and ran for several days with up to 2300 amps DC input. All was well! Today. for some reason it is limited to 1100 amps. It will charge at about 1100 amps from either array, but not both at the same time. Charge level was in the lower 80 % when this was observed.
I hope there is a simple explanation for this. Thanks
How would one keep this thing charged and ready for an outage as a stand alone backup?
If it's turned off, the battery stays at 100%.
When recharging the unit true a wall outlet. By default, the unit charge at 1800watts. And I'm wondering if at that high
Maybe one more test with the EG4 chargeverter would be nice.
I don't have the EG4 Chargeverter, I would have tested it in the video if I had it :(
Great in-depth video! Thanks!
My question is, since the battery voltage in the Anker is 48, will panels with the voltage specs below be high enough to charge the Anker unit?
Rated max power = 380 watts
Open circuit voltage = 44.8
Voltage at Pmax = 36.8
Short circuit current = 10.91
Max system voltage = 1000
Yes, the charge controller boosts the input voltage to charge the battery (since the peak voltage is 60v). The panel specs you listed will work properly when wired in parallel.
@@Jasonoidthank you😉
Thank you, another EXCELLENT vid! Just what I was wondering as I have one of these ordered. If I understand correctly: If my panels exceed the 60 volt PV max the unit will not charge at all, but if I exceed the 25 amp max it will still charge at that max rate? Couldn't I just use a Mc4 to XT60 25 ft extension cable and ditch the Anderson adaptor?
Yep, you can ditch the Anderson adapter. I just found cables that would add flexibility between solar and battery inputs. Your cable needs to be 10 awg to be safe. 8 awg would be better for a longer run of wiring.
Going over 60v with solar will damage the power station. Going over 25 amps is just fine. Say you have 30 amps of solar panels, the power station will only ever use 25 amps of that power.
one would hope that if you give too much voltage the power station would refuse to charge rather than become damaged, however some do not feature this function and will burn themselves out instead of protecting themselves.
it is best to follow the guideline and not exceed the input voltage to prevent damage.
regarding the amperage, the powerstation is limited to being able to draw 25 amps, so even if you supply a maximum of 30 amps, the load will only ever max out at 25 amps.
the benefit of supplying a higher peak amps from solar will be that the solar curve will sustain the higher peak for longer, meaning that you will get the 25 amps of power from 30 amps of available solar longer. this is also referred to as over provisioning.
when selecting the proper cable wire gauge, consider the length of the run, as the longer the run, the more losses will occur, due to the lower voltage, and i recommend a wire gauge calculator be used to help with this.
Thank you! A video on all of the certifications that are shown on panels might be helpful to many viewers. Ul1741, ETL us, SA us, CSA, etc. it is a bit confusing. I thought that panels had to say UL 1741, but I understand that to not be correct now. Are those certifications only required on grid tied systems? When do panels installations need to be “inspected”? Only when they are installed on the main dwelling roof, or when grid tied. Any of your expertise would be appreciated.
I used 4 12v eco flow lifepo4 in series to top off my F3800. It charges the unit at 1150W consistently. However, after the external battery died, on the 4 batteries dropped down to 6.67V. Other were fine and charged back up to 100 no problem. Did I just get a bad battery or is there a setting I don’t know about
Try charging that one battery directly to see if it goes back up to 14v
@@Jasonoid Can't thank you enough! It worked. I hooked another fully charged ecoflow 12v battery to basically 'jump start' it like a car battery. after 30 mins, it finally began accepting charge. I wish there was a shunt that also had an integrated shutoff to program my entire pack to shut off if the SoC falls below , say, 20%.
What about charging the F3800 using another battery like a goal zero?
what type of small inverter i nee to charge the eg4 with solar?
You are brilliant, Jasonoid! Do you know if the F3800 will allow solar charging and grid charging simultaneously when connected to the Anker Smart Home Panel? Great video. Thank you.
A recent firmware update now allows dual charging. It should be good 👍
Oh, so you can now charge from the AC (grid) and solar together?
@@fromcitytowild yes, but AC charging still shuts off 240v output so it's still not super usable while charging with AC and solar input.
Can i use my house solar panels to recharge these
They have to be wired in a completely different way, but typically you can connect three 400w panels in parallel to each charging port.
According to an email from AsqMe Q&A: "Reminder: You have an answer waiting". I have the f3800 with an extra battery module. I have been watch Netflix, at night, for the past 3 hours and the display still says that I have 100% charge. Question: Since the extra module doesn't have a display, am I drawing power from it rather than the main battery which still displays 100%?
Question, you mentioned fuses on each solar panel. So every positive and negative for each panel needs a fuse before connecting the "branch" style connector Anker provides? Then the solar extension cable, which runs to battery. Then the two cables shown in the video? Thank you!
Just an inline MC4 fuse on each positive pigtail, nothing on the negative needed.
@@Jasonoid ahh ok so just on every positive for each panel. Thanks for the fast responses. I obviously don't understand electrical and solar stuff so I'm sure this will help others too.
@@Jasonoid oh one more question sorry. What amp of fuse?
@@fromcitytowild correct. The solar panels usually say what rated fuse they need. Usually it's a 15 amp or 20 amp fuse. Feel free to route other questions you have please route through the ASQME service mentioned in the video.
@@JasonoidThanks again and I'll look into that!
I don't know if you still have this device and can check but I'm running into an issue with my bluetti and I think I'm out of luck getting any return done with them. So it's super expensive for me, but do you have any idea of this unit has the same grounding issue that bluetti has? If I plug an electric pressure washer, with a gfci plug on it, into my bluetti it instantly trips the gfci.
If I use a neutral bond plug it results in the bluetti showing an error code but still trips the gfci. I'm under the impression this is because of the way the portable power station does grounding. I'm not very experienced in electrical, but I can't afford to buy another unit and have it not work for my application.
Any chance this unit won't have that issue? My bluetti powers my pressure washer while the station is plugged into my wall, but just trips when I unplug it.
Great video! Do you know of any simple DC power supplies that can provide the full 1200 watt input limit? I would hope to use two of them with a larger generator to be able to recharge uninterrupted.
High powered AC to DC converters are expensive. The BK Precision power supply used in the video cost me over $1500! The best route is to pick up a 48v LFP battery and just charge that with solar and AC power, and then that dumps into the DC Charging ports of the F3800.
Thanks. Doing some more research it looks like people have had success with the EG4 Chargeverter ($500) and the BOSYTRO 60V 25A ($100). I’m tempted to try the BOSYTRO.
Wanptek Dc Power Supply Variable 60V 20A 1200W is another one that looks a little more user friendly. $240
@@undisclosed2673 yes, there are cheaper options available. Just remember that power supplies are not meant to run at 100% load for very long. They will fail after a short time if pushed to their limits.
Any chance you would share the make and model of the ac to dc charger. Also i tried looking closely at the wiring in the middle for the 48v battery but couldnt catch how it was connected in the middle. Maybe an oversight on my part. You did answe some concerns i had with how to add additional battery storage to power stations without having to be brand specific.
The adjustable power supply? It's a BK Precision 9116, it cost me about $1500 used on ebay. Some people say the EG4 Chargverter work on this unit.
Thank you sir
You're welcome!
What kind of separate Expansion battery would you recommend that is cheaper and not an Anker.
A DIY 48v battery is a solution, but it's not a true expansion battery. Only Ankers batteries will work for that.
Thanks a lot
Great video thank you for it. Just wondering though, according to Anker website if the current at Pmax exceeds the 27amp, F3800 can't handle the excess energy. So these panels you're showing all have Imp > 27 when running 3 panels to get the full 1200 watts. So wouldn't you need to find a panel with lower Imp in addition to the voltage requirements ? I may not be understanding this but just reading off Anker website.
The power station limits the amperage to 27 amp, you can have an excess available in the array. Just don't go over 60v.
@@Jasonoid Ok, thank you. Yeah I was just confused since Anker's verbiage made it sound like it couldn't handle >27 amp. Thank you again !
@@Jasonoid I have watched this video or parts of it at least 20 times. I had the same question and came to the message board and saw your reponse. According to the Anker website when connecting 3 panels with 12.99A it said "Because the current from three solar panels exceeds 27A and the F3800 cannot handle the excess energy, it is recommended to connect only two 405W solar panels." My solar buddy said not to exceed the amp max as excess amp could melt the connectors at the panels. I understand he might be concerned but what do you think? Its hard to get the max without going higher on the Amps per panel. FYI, i am hokking my ankers directly into my Grid solar 400 w panels(currently off grid) to see what i can get but the specs on the panels i have are 30 amp panels. is this ok. I am new to all of this and jumped in with both feet. Thanks in advance.
Thank you for the great video. I just installed 2 F3800s with the home power panel and a subpanel. The subpanel basically covers everything except the big 240v things like whole house A/C, electric oven, etc. I'm looking for more cost-effective ways to add battery capacity. Can 48v rack server batteries charge the F3800s through the xt-60 ports while they are in home backup mode connected to the Home Power Panel? If so, what do the 48v batteries do when the F3800s are fully charged?
Yes, you can use server rack batteries to extend the runtime. Once the power station is full, it stops charging from the batteries.
@@Jasonoid Thank you. I could not tell from the documentation. Some features of the F3800 do not function the same when it is in Backup mode connected to the HPP/ATS. So I couldn't tell if those DC input ports were active.
Another question, so because the common ground issues..... How do you charge separate 48v server rack batteries from a single invertor like the yellow eg4? Will that create a common ground? Seems to me your limited to only using one solar DC port for stacking server rack batteries because to charge them (server rack batteries) via solar.... You would need two separate inverters. Correct?
Correct, you'd have to alternate charging the batteries with a large charger or you'd have to have two separate chargers.
@Jasonoid so comparing cost of Eg4 yellow inverter $800 and server rack battery being $1,300 (total $2,100) plus the wiring and rack/shelf and effort to hook everything up. Anker's expansion battery is on sale right now for $1,800 seems to be the Better option. Sure, it's less capacity than the server rack battery but it's cheaper and plug and play. Plus, you get both DC ports for maximum solar input (2,400w) which is plenty for someone like me in the California desert.
My only complaint is that the expansion batteries can't act as a standalone power station. I really want to be able to unplug just one expansion battery and take it camping while the f3800 sits at home running the cabin.
Hope this helps someone else because I was bummed out for days and days thinking I over paid for the f3800 (got it on Labor Day sale for $3,100 ) or something but it came with the transfer switch and a free refrigerator so I think it's a good deal.
Just ordered the F3800 and Renogy 400w portable, folding solar panel (that you reviewed). Please tell me that they are compatible! I see the Open Circuit Voltage is 47.2v so that works. Can I just purchase a MC4 to X60 adaptor to connect the solar panels to the Anker?
Of course they are compatible! Feel free to reach out to me HERE if you need more information or guidance on how to wire them up: asqme.com/@Jasonoid
Can I charge my ankor f3800 with my 12000 watt gas generator?
The cable with fuse you used has an ATC fuse that seems rated for 32v and below. Would it be safe with a 48v battery?
I've been using ATC fuses on my server rack battery for over a year, no issues at all. I think you'll be okay.
i have an ecoflow river 2 pro, im wondering if i could try to get a 220 watt bifacial solar panel.
As long as the voltage open circuit of the solar panel doesn't go over the peak voltage input of the power station it will work just fine.
Seems kinda weird that you cant ac charge this while outputting 240v. Is there anyway to reasonably charge this with a generator while its acting as a backup for the house? Seems like the Ecoflow Delta 3 can do this but of course it has its own issues.
I'll have a workaround video to solve this problem with the 240v shutting off in a couple weeks, stay tuned!
Hello! I'm trying to figure out if the Anker F3800 will automatically power on (from completely turned off) if solar is connected to the F3800.
The scenario is: run the F3800 to 1% discharge and after 12h the unit shuts down completely. Next day with the solar panels connected, when the sun comes back, would it automatically turn the unit on and start charging?
Thank you in advance for the answer!
Yes, it will start charging automatically and turn on from solar if it shuts off from being discharged all the way... However, you will have to manually turn on the AC inverter once it dies, the AC inverter doesn't automatically turn back on.
@@Jasonoid Thank you so much. I was more concerned if I leave it unattended for the day, at evening when I would check it would be charged and ready to use. That was the purpose of my question, if it is powered off and connected to solar if it automatically powers on when the sun is up.
That first panel you mentioned had 11.8 ISC and you said 3 in parallel would be good but Wouldnt running 3 in parallel go over the 27A spec on the xta port since the amp would add up in parallel config? Did i miss something?😅
The power station limits the input to 27 amps, even if you have more available in your array 👍 so if you have an array of 35 amps. You'll only get 27 amps input.
@@Jasonoid Thank you for the follow up, I was a little confused too. Great video, and the server battery idea is gonna save me some serious $$$ in the future with my own F3800.
Can you please tell us what specific cable you are using to connect the DC power supply to the F3800 via the XT60 port?
This is what I purchased for the video (they are listed in the video description):
Female XT60 to APP: amzn.to/3wDgtmX
APP to Ring Terminals (Battery Connection): amzn.to/3T4qtwL
I have a new video coming out in a couple weeks to show you a more affordable DC power supply that will work well.
@@Jasonoid Great, Thanks! Looking forward to the next video. That BK Precision power supply is pricey.
@@JFernan488 yeah, I paid $1500 for mine, there's a much better option that will work!
@@Jasonoidwhat would be the affordable dc power supply? I planned to plug the F3800 into the AC of my Anker Solix F2000 than learned after purchase of losing the 240 on the F3800. Would you know a simple solution of connecting my F2000 to the F3800 XT60 and getting as much wattage to the F3800 as possible at a reasonable price? I would not need to get the full 1200w but something respectable would be great. Thanks , Terry
This option should work for about 500 to 600 watts of charging (if you have the newest firmware on your F3800):
amzn.to/4h7Kfmf
Youd have to connect it to your F2000 AC inverter, it probably won't work off a gas generator.
Thanks for informative video. Regarding alternative charging, I have a Duromax XP1100IH inverter generator with 48v DC charging capability. I haven’t figured out the proper designation of the included connector which has both a red and black lead on the generator end and terminal rings on the other . Do you know if this could work with the proper Cable connector on the Anker side?
Yeah, that might be perfect for a system like this. Red would be postive and black would be negative but youd want to confirm with a voltmeter.
Thank for reply!
Question. I bought two 24 volt lithium batteries to recharge the 3800 when the sun goes down. I simply have ring connectors to the battery and xt-60 ends. No fuses or anything in between. If I’m understanding this correctly I would be better off wiring them together for 48 volts and plugging into just 1 xt-60 correct? Do I need a fuse?
You can do it either way, 24v per port, or 48v on one port.
I would recommend using inline fuses for safety.
@ so can’t do 48v into each port? I apologize. I was going to buy two more batteries. I wasn’t sure if the limits were for 1 port or both combined. (I bought the prototype off kickstarter) didn’t get much info on it.
@@GARGRUM you can do 48v into each port, but the 48v can't come from the same source. It won't charge if they have a common ground or negative. So you have to use two separate 48v batteries if you want to do that
@ I’m binge watching your videos. Liked and subscribed. Good stuff sir. !
I have an enphase system. Is the F3800 capable of AC coupling? Does it shift frequency when battery nears full charge?
it would have been nice if the DC input voltage was able to get over 100v input instead of 60 for more solar in series instead, but with 60v more cost will be involved in thicker wire gauge.
I totally agree, PM! I was hoping this video would help those who already purchased this unit to get the best performance.
Great content! Would this unit power a 4 ton air conditioning unit having a soft start device? If it does how long?
No, this is limited to 6000 watts output or 25 amps.
what is the disadvantage of buying the anker solar panels? Just cost? thanks
Way too expensive for the wattage!
@@Jasonoid thanks for the response. That is disappointing i was hoping to get those. The last hurricane in my area (Katy TX) took the power for 3 days and we were lucky, many people lost power for one week.
I do not have any panel at home to connect a generation, butvi just got a generator following one of your videos. However, i feel that i need a ower unit with batteries to complement the systems as you suggested in another video.
To me the easiest is to buy something from anker however cost ia important but the panels you're recommended in another video needs to be purchase in 10 units and can not just wait for a good offer local in Facebook, i need something i can buy now and get ready for the next power outage .
Something simple that my wife can donwithout any problem.
Pleae consider other videos for other options for solar pannels for the f3800. I just want to be abke to power a mini split , internet, some fans for at least 3 or 4 days. My stove is gas driven and the driers too, so i jsut need 240v fot the mini split . thanks
so does the Isc and Imp not matter if it totals more than 27amp when you have multiple in parallel? i just want to make sure before i buy it. think its unlikely youll see this though
Amperage is limited automatically by the power station. Just don't go above 35 amps short circuit and you should be good.
So we did get Canadian Solar 400w panels. We wired two series of three in parallel and plugged them into our Anker solix F3800 power station. We started this setup a week ago annd since it haas been cloudy we only saw 1100w input. Today the sun came out strong and the dc inlut is throttled at 615w. ??? What went wrong?
Those panels can't be wired in series, the voltage is too high and above 60v in series. Parallel only.
@@Jasonoid yes, we have them in parallel..why is their input being throttled to 600w? Do we need to add a charge controller?
@@HeideBraley there could be a number of issues. You just need to test one array at a time to see what power you get. Are any fuses blown? Any shading on the panels will reduce the charging power significantly. Is the polarity correct? Is the battery near 90% state of charge? Near the top end of charging, wattage input slows down. Too many things to try and suggest here in a youtube comment conversation.
I am seeing some comment on FB that ppl are using victron solar charge controller connecting to there 150v array than connect to the DC input on the F3800. That way you are not worry about the 60V limit. Can you test that?
I don't have this unit anymore to test it.
Is there a cutover time when using the time-of-use mode on the automatic home panel? For context, I live in NYC and charged 2 cents per kwh at night and 33 cents per kwh at day. I want to exploit those low overnight prices, but don't want to expose my home to a microgap of electricity twice a day.
It's probably as fast as the UPS cutover, should be plenty fast for most electronics.
@@Jasonoid I just got a reply from Anker via email. Quoting:
"If scheduling time-of-use and the grid power is continuously available, there is no switching time for charging and discharging.
If connected to Home power panel and the grid power is interrupted, the switching time for the backup port is 30ms."
Can you use a pair of identical 51.2V 50Ah batteries instead of 1 large 100 Ah one? Thanks I was looking at a pair of DC House but have never heard of them.
I don't see an issue with that 👍
So I have 15kwh battery bank at 24v for my rv and purchased the Anker F3800. Is it feasible for me to plug my 50amp RV cord into the F3800, connect the 24v battery bank into the DC port of F3800 like you did with the server rack battery and then charge the battery bank with solar?
Would it be possible to charge the solix f3800 with a solix f2000 using the f2000 car port out to the f3800 xt60 port and the f2000 plugged into the wall outlet???
At 100w, it's really slow charging at 12v.
But would it work
@@tjwestcott yep 👍 and it would take about 35 hours to charge at 100 watts. Definitely a workaround to keep the 240v output enabled.
@@Jasonoid awesome thanks. Id put my f2000 on stand by on my 400w panels and cigarette lighter to the f3800 xt-60
Thank you again for this video. I found some used 545w solar panel near me, and its Voc is 49.98. Can you please guide me with it. 49.98(voc) x25 amp =1249. Does it mean that I cant put 3 of the 545w? is it possible to only use 2? and what will be the expected result if I only use 545w panels? thank you again.
If you reach out to the following link below I will break down the entire setup, including estimated power numbers and required parts needed.
asqme.com/@Jasonoid
Would the REC ALFA pure R series work better with ANKER F3800? The open Circuit voltage is 59 V and nominal power voltage is 48 V
In colder temps, 40F and below you'll see higher than the VOC number on the panel. I like to give at least 5 volts of leeway under the VOC limit of the power station, so 55v. If you live in an area where temps don't get low, that panel is great!
I purchased this to use for camping, with a secondary use for home backup, do you know if a dc to dc charge controller would work on the xt90 input? To me as long as I’m within the range of specs it seems like it would, just didn’t know if there would be any concerns as I’m not an electrical engineer! 😂. I was thinking something like the renogy 50 amp dc to dc with mppt or maybe a victron dc to dc.
It's all about voltage. A higher voltage will get you a faster charging speed. A 50amp DC to DC charger will put out 50amps for a 12v battery. If the charging voltage is under 32v, the F3800 will limit the input to 10 amps (that 50 amp DC to DC charger will only charge at 10 amps).
This video shows how to take a lower battery voltage and to boost it up for faster charging: ua-cam.com/video/I78RxjRXTn4/v-deo.html
This video shows how using a higher voltage battery increases the charging speed:
ua-cam.com/video/tK4JKmfndh8/v-deo.html
@@Jasonoid awesome! Thanks for the speedy reply and links! I subbed!
Can the server rack battery be charging from solar, while also charging the f3800?
Yes
Regarding Voc, when discussing how it goes higher than stated when it's really cold out, what does that mean? What is "really cold", and what kind of "leeway" are you talking about. Like if Voc is stated at 59.6, is that too high? Also, what would happens if you have more panels available than the 1,200w max per port? Like say you had 5x 400w panels in parallel, going into one port, does the Solix just cap out at 1,200, or is there a danger to having too much?
You can see up to 5% higher numbers when it's near freezing and below. The colder it is outside, the higher the voltage...but it does seem to stop around 5% above the VOC on the spec sheet. I would give yourself 5 to 8 volts extra room on the charge controller if you plan to be in extreme cold temps. If you live in a warmer climate it shouldn't be that big of an issue.
As for the 1200watts. That is the software limited number. You can have more watts in your array, the power station will just limit automatically to 1200 watts. Having 1500 watts of solar won't damage the charge controller, it will just max out the charging input more frequently. This is called "over-paneling" your power station.
@@Jasonoid thanks for this answer! i came here just to confirm that 'over-paneling' (i.e. max-power-point DC *current* over 25A due to putting, say, 3X panels with ~11A max power current in parallel) is generally okay. given how cheap panels are, and how hard it is to get max-power in the real world (depending on season, mounting, etc), it seems like a good option in lots of cases to do some moderate over-paneling. i had assumed that the MPPT controller in the anker f3800 would hard-limit both the max current to 25A (even if that is less that 1200W at some voltage, say 40-45V in), and also hard-limit the power to ~1200W regardless of voltage input (i.e. if the input voltage was exactly 60V, it would limit to 20A). but it's great to hear my intuition confirmed from someone with more experience with such power stations as well as lots more equipment to do testing!
on that note, i'm curious what the max DC current draw of the F3800 actually is (i.e. does it really properly limit to 25A in all cases). this seems relevant for cable sizing, safety, and potentially things like fusing. for example, you recommend fuses on every individual panel in a parallel configuration, but what about having a, say, 30A fuse on the combined input? but, if the F3800 actually draws, say, 31A sometimes (maybe when the input DC voltage is near the low end), then it might makes sense to use a larger fuse and maybe also upsize the cables (or at least make sure they can handle the amperage safely). i'm guessing that, assuming anker did a good job, it will indeed hard-limit to 25A in all cases though. for something so seemingly simply in some ways, there seems to be a fair bit of complexity and corner cases to consider for DC/solar inputs to these power stations! thanks again.
(edit: happy to kick you the $15 for answer here or otherwise, not sure if you have a donate button or the like)
Hi Jason. at 3 minutes 20 sec you recommend connnecting 3 panels in parallel that each have ISC of 11.08A . Thats more than 25A(27A with firmware update) states. Is this safe?
Yes, you can go over the amperage limit. It gets automatically limited by the power station. No issues.
Thank you, I was adding up the max amperage for every recommendation and it was over the 27 max input amperage… I did not know it will limit this automatically. This helps out drastically picking panels! Thanks
So if I wire 3 panels in parallel, won't their current go beyond the 25 amps max? will the charger simply reject the excess current and cap itself at 25 amps? will this potentially harm the batteries or other components?
It will automatically be limited to 25 amps, the extra amps will not be used. No damage.
@@Jasonoid thank you so much for your super helpful videos!
Sorry I am missing something BUT CAN THIS ANKER OR EVEN F2600 SIMPLY BE CHARGED WITH THE DC CABLE TO CAR ??
Yes, it will charge at 100w from the 12v socket in your car... and take a very very very long time 👍
@@Jasonoid THANK YOU! TY!! So i have a F2600 can i buy a device for my CAR TO SPEED IT UP??? Also can i use my CAR INVERTER (uses a normal 3 prong plug) will this speed it up?? ty
This is a plug n play option to charge off your car starter battery:
ua-cam.com/video/NqnYaqMwktE/v-deo.html
Charging off the built in car inverter is likely not to work. It needs to have a pure sine wave.
Thanks, Jason. I just purchased the F3800 and two 405W Anker Rigid panel VOC 37.29 and VMP 31.18. Would you suggest running in parallel as opposed to series?
Running those solar panels in series will go above the 60v input, you can only run them in parallel.
Thank you for the quick reply. I'm new to all of this but eager to learn. Thanks again.
After learning a bit more, I realized that the 405W Anker panels I got in the bundle deal aren't that great for the $$$. Appreciate the knowledge and willingness to share with others.
It's really horrible anker matches those panels to this battery. You expect there was some thought to it. But i dont see it. The panels should be more like 55v or like 27v for 2 in series or they should have made the input 70v or so. Its like anker didn't even try.
@@user-yj9tj4px5m for the money? Horrible match. Not a great panel
Cables that came with 3800 for solar 3 to one. What are those used for and do I need 4 of those for 6 panels. I want to buy 6 Hyundai panels. How would I wire them? Thank you much Greatly appreciated
Those are MC4 parallel adapters. They allow you to connect 3 solar panels in parallel. If you need more guidance on the process feel free to reach out to me HERE: asqme.com/@Jasonoid
Would an Aolithium 51.2v 100ah Server Rack battery work as well?
Yes
Hello, so if I purchased 3 of the Hyundai 395watt solar panels in parallel, what size fuse would I need and would I only need 3 fuses total?
This is what you'll need: amzn.to/4bVBU1Y
Put one fuse on each postive solar wire before combining them into parallel. Make sure to use at least 10awg wire. 8awg wire for a longe run to avoid voltage drop (wasted power).
@@Jasonoid Awesome thank you. I clicked the link, they are the 15amp fuses? I will use 10awg wire. Thanks again.
@@dutchharbour5909 yep, 15 amp fuses.
Me again. It's probably a silly question, but can I discharge the lifepro4 batteries to zero and then fully charge again? I've seen mixed reviews, but I think it's better for the battery to completely discharge and then fully recharge to get closer to the maximum life cycles? Thanks, Jason. I have the anker f3800 running my pool pump, 800+ watts. I'm going to hook up the panels this week so it shouldn't fully discharge but im running it today and making sure I can fully discharge the batteries safely 😅
@@dutchharbour5909 discharging 100% to 0% will give you less cycles over the lifespan versus discharging the battery only partially down. You'll still get plenty of cycles on a LFP battery.
Hey Jasonoid!... What size fuses would you recommend on the Q.Cell 475W panels (using 3 in parallel)? Also, how long would you say the run needs to be to have to bump up from 10AWG to 8AWG?
If the run is over 20 feet, I'd upgrade to 8 awg. You'll lose less power to voltage drop if you upgrade.
Using those three panels in parallel I'd put a 15 amp in line fuse on each one: amzn.to/49oUxti
@@Jasonoid Thanks so much man!
Surprised that the EG4 AC-DC charger wouldn't work. I've been using the EG4 Chargeverter successfully to charge my F3800 through the XT60 solar input. Also used third party AC to DC power supplies (2 different brands). Wondering what make the EG4 charger fault out?
The charge controller wouldn't turn on with the EG4 charger connected. I'm guessing the charger didn't see any voltage from the power station and the power station didn't see any voltage from the charger. Both were waiting for something to happen.
Hi, are you using the new old old chargeverter? Also, what gauge wire from the unit to the xt-60 inputs? Thanks
@@atsvc43 It’s the original Chargeverter and I’m using 10 gauge Xt60i cables bought on Amazon.
Came across these older comments. About to purchase an Anker F3800. But the concern becomes if I exhaust the battery during an outage how do I recharge the battery. Then I thought OK, just use my Westinghouse generator but it delivers dirty power that the F3800 will not like. Then I came across the EG4 chargeverter.
So question - Will this work and if so what wiring do I need to use on both ends and to outlet do I plug into the F3800 ? Please dumb it down for me. Thanks
@wbarkwell I'm debating about doing a video on that exact topic.
I have Bluetti 200max. Could I use it to charge f3800 through solar port? I want to keep the 240
You could charge the F3800 with the DC Output of your AC200max at 13v and 10 amps, so about 130 watts. Not very fast charging 😕
Awesome video but you forgot question 4: Do those wheels support up to at least 20MPH so I can tow this behind my ebike and drive to Mexico? It may take a while...
They sure do! It even has little booster packs that deploy out of the sides haha
For fun I did a calculation, with my internal 15amp 52v 780w battery charged with this thing charging it I would get 345.6 kms range on my ebike which ironically supports pass through charging. I may have to buy an expansion pack or two to make it to Mexico. Now fortunately if you tilt the unit it's long enough I could stick my awesome Powerness 120w panel(it's actually rated at 140w) to it to increase that range a bit. Man I wish I could get those 120w Powerness S120X panels again the 120w has been sold out for like 6 months. It's open circuit voltage is rated for 21.6 but it's more like 24v and it's max amperage power is 7.78amps it blows away my ecoworthy 120w panel which is an excellent panel but this is on a whole new level. I guess people liked them, hopefully they'll have some in time for summer I'd like to give away that ecoworthy panel to a friend as it's a very decent panel still and replace it with 2 S120X's for charging my ebike either in series or parallel with my MPPT-7210A programmable boost converter. In the winter I was getting about 1.3 amps(needs amps to boost to 58.8v to charge ebike battery) in crappy winter sun with just the powerness itself with dubious angling. The onboard LED display was saying around 4.5amps output at 10:30am in the dead of winter in Toronto which is pretty far North we don't get much sun up here in the winter. Can't wait to try it in the summer.@@Jasonoid
@@chrissinclair8705 I love when panels are 'under rated' so you actually get more power in perfect conditions. Those MPPT-7210a units are also interesting to mess with.... Perfect for charging ebike batteries as that's how you use yours. I've seen many videos on that topic.
It's an older unit now but the programmability is hard to beat. Especially when I went from a 48v to a 52v I just changed the settings. It will do up to 90v so a 72v battery it will do no problem.@@Jasonoid
@@chrissinclair8705 I wish I had a connection to some Chinese manufacturer to request they make stuff like that. I've been dreaming of a high powered buck converter for high voltage solar panels. A high powered 150v to 55v drop down converter for all these power stations that have a 60v cutoff.
I'm going to have at least a 25ft run from my panels to the Anker f3800. It makes no sense to me to use a 8AWG cable to go into the 2.2Feet 10AWG Solar Connector to ADS Adapter that you recommended. Won't the 2.2ft of 10AWG be a bottleneck and defeat the purpose of having an 8AWG run connect to it? Am I thinking wrong? I searched for a 8AWG Solar Connector to ADS Adapter and I couldn't find one. Any suggestions?
If you can find an 8 awg option, awesome! I didn't ever find a plug n play option online for that.
The 2.2ft 10awg cable is rated for 30 amps continuous, you wouldnt much loose much power through it over 2 ft., however you'd definitely lose power if it was 10awg over 25 feet... You using 8 awg and then going down to 10 awg for a short length should be fine. The only other option would be to make your own cable.
@@Jasonoid Thank you for responding. It looks like I'm going to have to make my own cable for 35ft anyway. Unfortunately I could only find it in 10awg
@@Jasonoid One last request (hopefully): I have six 280W panels - Vmp @35.5V - Imp @7.89A - Voc @45V - Isc @8.35A - Maximum System Voltage @600V. I don't know what most of this means and I'm not asking for you to explain it, but what I do need to know is how to hook up my panels via series and/or parallel in order to get the maximum amount of charge without damaging the Anker f3800. What do you suggest?
@@TheWhyGuyChannel reach out to me here for that answer:
asqme.com/@Jasonoid
That response will take time and effort to figure out.
@@Jasonoid Thank you. I did as instructed.
Wouldn't each one of three sets of three panels connected in parallel you referred to exceed 25A?
Yes, but the power station limits the amperage input automatically. Say you had 100 amps of solar panels in parallel, the charge controller would still only pull 25 amps 👍
@@Jasonoid Good to know. Thanks! :D
@lamesadave
0 seconds ago
Jason: Assuming your PV array output voltage is over 60v, would it be possible to use a solar charge controller with a 60+v input and a 48v output to charge the Anker Solix 3800 directly into the XT60 port(s)? Thanks
I doubt it would work, just like the 48v AC battery charger didn't work in the video. The MPPT charge controller needs to see a 'really battery voltage' when connected in order to know the state of charge of the battery is to charge properly.
Thank you. Makes sense.
@@Jasonoid Do you think a solar charge controller with a 48V buffer battery would work OK? Basically use the SCC to charge the 48V battery, while having the 48V battery also feeding into the XT60 input of the F3800? The 48V battery would act not just as a buffer between the SCC and the F3800, but also as expansion capacity. One negative I see is that the F3800 if not full, will try to drain the 48V battery completely. But if the 48V is a server rack battery or similar, its built-in protection would shut-off before it gets drained completely.
Wondering if with your expensive AC-DC power supply, you could test whether the F3800 input limit is strictly at 60V, or whether there's some tolerance above that. After all, Anker's own portable 200W and 400W panels hav a Voc of 57.6V, which doesn't provide much margin for temp conditions...
@@warrenwu8559 I don't thinkna AC will work since it needs to see a battery voltage to work properly. The battery charger failed to work in the video for the same reason.
I ended up getting an EG4 3000EHV and an EG4 LL4 battery (copying the portable system discussed by Jasonoid and Will Prowse). The inverter charges the EG4 battery via solar or grid and the battery charges the Anker via one DC port. It keeps the Anker at 100% and draws from the EG4 battery first while allowing 220V output from Anker. Still learning but the inverter solved the voltage issue on the Anker solar input and wasn’t significantly more expensive than a good 48V charger.
Hello, I hate to ask again but I am getting mixed information about sizing my solar panels with the Anker F3800. Your link for the REC 370w panels from signature solar would have my total solar input around 47v VOC and 29.4 amps approximately if I used 3 of these panels in parallel per DC input. I spoke to a sales person at signature who said the amps were to high for the Anker and that they would damage the Anker unit. My plan was to put 3 of these panels in parallel (x2) for each of the Anker F3800's DC inputs using a 15 amp fuse and using 50amp x 3-way branch connectors with a 30amp breaker switch between my branch connector and the Anker unit, I also wasn't sure if I needed the extra 30amp fuse after the branch connector. Has anyone successfully tested a solar setup long term and knows which fuse specs/ panels I would need to be successful? My runs are short and I am using 10AWG wire. From the Anker to the home I plan to use the Nema 14-50 cable into a SS250P generator outlet with interlock. The max breaker on my home is 240v and 50amps. Thanks in advance.
That's a bit complicated to explain in a single youtube comment. I'm happy to help here: asqme.com/@Jasonoid
@@Jasonoid Thank you for the thorough and detailed response. Great value and great service!
Delta 2 Max review coming?
Delta 2 Max?
ua-cam.com/video/eVytjTLrX5Y/v-deo.html