New Delta Pro Ultra and Smart Panel 2

Thanks. Outstanding response and I will look at the review but I chatted with some online distributor from Seattle whose experience with EcoFlow was less than satisfying. Let's leave it at that.

For what it's worth, my stationary system at home is SMA, German engineering. Sunny Island 5048 inverter charger, Sunny Boy 3000 inverter. Customer, tech, sales support is in California. I'm guessing factories, warehouse as well. In 12 YEARS they have never treated me like anything other than a professional installer. ... ... Despite the fact that I always introduce myself as "just a guy."

If anybody else pops on to this thread, particularly anyone with experience on the Hysolis Apollo, let me know. Will did a great review on it, as did Ben (of Powered Portable Solar/Minuteman Prep). Will, Ben approach these things differently. Combined? A lot of information.

My take away from all of this is that these all-in-ones are just now "coming of age" and will shake out in the next 3 to 5 years. ...

Mike,
Given what i've gone through with EcoFlow (as well as Renogy customer service, to a lesser extent), which both seem(ed) at first blush to have good reputations, I would take that kind of customer service every time, even if I would end with with a perhaps less powerful, lower capacity, more cumbersome, less ergonomic, etc. set up that works and I can quickly get working again if it breaks down.

I would agree with you as far as the all-in-ones needing some time to mature so to speak.

Good luck on your quest!

-Scott

EcoFlow still sounds like they are better than average...It takes a little persistence and good documentation of issues. The private facebook groups definitely seem like a good place to post as well, they monitor it and tagging an admin usually gets a very fast response. Last year they had issues while overhauling their email/support system but if you have a case number and post to an admin you'll get a response quick. I even had a custom firmware pushed to my Delta 2 Max to fix a false overloading problem. The next official firmware broke it again but they fixed it in the next release after that. Overall I think they're still a fairly new company and they're still working through some growing pains.

scottwstevenson said:

Mike,
Given what i've gone through with EcoFlow (as well as Renogy customer service, to a lesser extent), which both seem(ed) at first blush to have good reputations, I would take that kind of customer service every time, even if I would end with with a perhaps less powerful, lower capacity, more cumbersome, less ergonomic, etc. set up that works and I can quickly get working again if it breaks down.

I would agree with you as far as the all-in-ones needing some time to mature so to speak.

Good luck on your quest!

-Scott

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If, as we agree, the only ones need time to mature, does that lend itself to the DIY in terms of having 2 LARGR INDIVIDUAL parts which can be isolated should trouble arise? Will P. has done a great job explaining how they go together. ... My flooded lead acid at the house, as much trouble as they are to maintain, never give me trouble as far as my system is concerned. SMA has been very reliable, even if it is less sophisticated. Great customer support.

i bought the Ecoflow Ultra with 2 batteries and a Smart home 2 panel. Had the electrician at the house (free consultation provided by Ecoflow) for an estimate to install and he noted that the sh2 panel is limited to 100amps. After talking with Ecoflow support many times (kept getting conflicting information) trying to understand the the capabilities/limitations of the smart home 2 panel i have concluded that the ultra with sh2 cannot support, nor can it be upgraded to support my "entire home" 200amp panel. Support said i would have to have one ultra & sh2 for 100amps and have another complete system for the remaining 100amps thus doubling my costs to have the advertised "Whole Home Backup". If i return my $9K+ system, they will charge me about $750 in shipping and return fees. Wanted to post in case anyone has anyone ideas or sees something i may be missing.

Looking and the 18KPV with Power pro now with if i proceed with return of Ecoflow.

Summary of my needs:
200amp panel, 120 and 240 circuits
I have an electricity plan that provides free power from 8:00pm to 5:00am everyday. So my plan is to have a Hybrid system and run house off batteries during day and recharge batteries at night, No solar with initial install. Need to replace roof first. Then may add solar and/or additional batteries as needed.
my monthly average Kwh usage over last 51 months is: 1,500

any advise, comments or concerns?

Bill

MikeGoodman59 said:

If, as we agree, the only ones need time to mature, does that lend itself to the DIY in terms of having 2 LARGR INDIVIDUAL parts which can be isolated should trouble arise? Will P. has done a great job explaining how they go together. ... My flooded lead acid at the house, as much trouble as they are to maintain, never give me trouble as far as my system is concerned. SMA has been very reliable, even if it is less sophisticated. Great customer support.

Click to expand...

I think a DIY (e.g., Server rack) option can definitely work well if someone's willing to put in the efforts.

Instead of the Ecoflow DP's had intended to use in my RV, I installed a MPP Solar 6.5kW LV6548 120V/240V SPLIT PHASE inverter with a 4-2 combiner box and 3 x 5kWh SOK 48V Batteries. I didn't feel the need but I could have squeezed in another 4kWH SOK battery and matched the capacity I had with EcoFlow (DP's plus smart batteries) and still saved several thousand dollars. (The portability / versatility of the Delta Pros was what I was hoping for, i.e., to be able to use them in my house when home and in the RV when on the road...)

FYI - I did mount the LV6548 on the same rack with the SOK's which was great. (Will had mentioned that would be a simple operation in one of his videos.)

So, the DIY is pretty easy, really - there'a high cost to the ease of plug n' play - but you can get creative with portable carts etc. and essentially create the same functionality (and have a lot more fun doing so!).

ddeatrich said:

I'm surprised they're already coming out with new versions of these. It was just announced an hour ago. Thoughts?

This is all the info available at the moment:

1. DELTA Pro Ultra is a whole-home backup solution that offers unwavering emergency backup and energy independence. A single unit comes with unrivaled capacity and output that run your entire home, and back up even longer with Smart Home Panel 2. It's ever so flexible that it can expand, stack up, and move to meet ever-changing needs.​

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The Delta Pro Ultra uses the cheapest available, high frequency inverter tech on the market. It offers a ridiculously low surge capacity and high frequency inverters offer a far lower life expectancy that heavy duty low frequency, transformer based inverters. I would never throw my money away on one of these things.

bvlasak said:

the sh2 panel is limited to 100amps. After talking with Ecoflow support many times (kept getting conflicting information) trying to understand the the capabilities/limitations of the smart home 2 panel i have concluded that the ultra with sh2 cannot support, nor can it be upgraded to support my "entire home" 200amp panel. Support said i would have to have one ultra & sh2 for 100amps and have another complete system for the remaining 100amps thus doubling my costs to have the advertised "Whole Home Backup". If i return my $9K+ system, they will charge me about $750 in shipping and return fees. Wanted to post in case anyone has anyone ideas or sees something i may be missing.

Looking and the 18KPV with Power pro now with if i proceed with return of Ecoflow.

Summary of my needs:
200amp panel, 120 and 240 circuits

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I also have 200 amp panel. With a system like the Delta Pro Ultra + Smart Panel 2, I was assuming I would / could have my existing main pane with all my misc. circuits, and then have the 12 circuits in the SP2 for "critical loads".

This unit is definitely not "whole house backup", but I'm thinking my config would work for emergency use, no?

I guess in your situation you'll want to power everything from the battery to make use of the free electricity you get at night?

Thanks for the reply - @nifty-stuff.com - as long as your "critical loads" don't exceed 100amp - then the Smart Home2 will work fine. I just did not like the fact i could not expand the Ecoflow system for more than 100amps. yes, looking to take maximum advantage of 'free' electric at night to charge batteries and run entire house from batteries during day. Already returned the Delta pro ultra and smart panel. Looking at the 18KPV now. Smart panel is a 'nice to have' if all circuits can be run off battery during day. So planning on keeping existing 200amp panel and routing the grid power through the 18KPV, then back to panel. will start with 1 14Kwh battery then add another and/or add solar as needed. Maybe the SPAN smart panel will work if i really want to manage/observe ar the breaker level.

bill

bvlasak said:

Thanks for the reply - @nifty-stuff.com - as long as your "critical loads" don't exceed 100amp - then the Smart Home2 will work fine. I just did not like the fact i could not expand the Ecoflow system for more than 100amps. yes, looking to take maximum advantage of 'free' electric at night to charge batteries and run entire house from batteries during day. Already returned the Delta pro ultra and smart panel. Looking at the 18KPV now. Smart panel is a 'nice to have' if all circuits can be run off battery during day. So planning on keeping existing 200amp panel and routing the grid power through the 18KPV, then back to panel. will start with 1 14Kwh battery then add another and/or add solar as needed. Maybe the SPAN smart panel will work if i really want to manage/observe ar the breaker level.

bill

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If you're really averaging 1500kWhs/mo that's basically 50kWhs a day... that's a ton of power. Have you tried figuring out where all that power is going and find more efficient ways to do it? Or are you charging EVs or something? If you're charging batteries at night and trying to use them during the day you're going to have a round trip efficiency of ~70-80%, and you'll probably need ~4-5 ProPower walls...