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Delta Pro solar panels in series or parallel?

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GoEasyonMe

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I'm brand new to this forum and solar in general. I have the Delta Pro with a Delta pro battery. I have 3 solar panels with the specs in a picture below. I just don't want to damage my Delta Pro. Currently I have my panels run in series. Should I run them in parallel instead? Thanks in advance for your help. Also, Eco Flow says you should not leave your panels connected to your Delta pro at night, how critical is this? It's kind of a pain to go plug them in every day and unplug them every night.
Thanks for your help smart people of the forum.
 

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Based on the specs for that Delta Pro Portable Power Station, seen in their manual:
manuals.plus

ECOFLOW DELTA Pro Portable Power Station User Manual

Learn everything you need to know about the EcoFlow DELTA Pro portable power station with this comprehensive user manual. This powerful device boasts 3600Wh capacity, 48V, and multiple output and input ports, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Keep your EcoFlow device functioning at its best with...
manuals.plus

...They indicate PV input max voltage at 150v Voc, and 15a max current.

So with your 3 panels in series, that boosts the Voc to 144.63v (@ 48.21v per panel, with 3 panels in series).

This should be fine if running at normal rated operating temperatures. At colder temperatures, the Voc on the circuit will rise.

You should use this calculator (below link) to make sure that at the coldest temperature you will operate the system at, that the PV input Voc stays below 150v, or you could risk damage to your equipment.

Your amperage is fine, as a single series string (not paralleled), will keep the max amps under 10.10a max. Don't wire any of your panels is parallel or that figure will double, and go over the 15a maximum rating for the Delta Pro Portable Power Station.

This page has the calculator to make it easy to figure out coldest temperature Voc compensation (good article too for your learning):
gold-coast-solar-power-solutions.com.au

Solar panel maximum voltage calculator - How to work out the max voltage

To get the maximum solar panel voltage you should expect from your solar panel, use our solar panel maximum voltage calculator.
gold-coast-solar-power-solutions.com.au gold-coast-solar-power-solutions.com.au
 
Samsonite801 said:
Based on the specs for that Delta Pro Portable Power Station, seen in their manual:
manuals.plus

ECOFLOW DELTA Pro Portable Power Station User Manual

Learn everything you need to know about the EcoFlow DELTA Pro portable power station with this comprehensive user manual. This powerful device boasts 3600Wh capacity, 48V, and multiple output and input ports, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Keep your EcoFlow device functioning at its best with...
manuals.plus

...They indicate PV input max voltage at 150v Voc, and 15a max current.

So with your 3 panels in series, that boosts the Voc to 144.63v (@ 48.21v per panel, with 3 panels in series).

This should be fine if running at normal rated operating temperatures. At colder temperatures, the Voc on the circuit will rise.

You should use this calculator (below link) to make sure that at the coldest temperature you will operate the system at, that the PV input Voc stays below 150v, or you could risk damage to your equipment.

Your amperage is fine, as a single series string (not paralleled), will keep the max amps under 10.10a max. Don't wire any of your panels is parallel or that figure will double, and go over the 15a maximum rating for the Delta Pro Portable Power Station.

This page has the calculator to make it easy to figure out coldest temperature Voc compensation (good article too for your learning):
gold-coast-solar-power-solutions.com.au

Solar panel maximum voltage calculator - How to work out the max voltage

To get the maximum solar panel voltage you should expect from your solar panel, use our solar panel maximum voltage calculator.
gold-coast-solar-power-solutions.com.au gold-coast-solar-power-solutions.com.au
Click to expand...

I thought for MPPT, 15A max isn’t the max input that the charge controller can handle but the max it will output so putting panels in parallel will certainly double the current to roughly 20A but the charge controller will only take 15A reducing the amount of wattage of the panels? Not sure where the other 5A goes though.
 
The charge controller will PULL the current from the panels it needs up to the max charging current the charger can provide to the batteries, panels do not push current, think about your AC outlet at home, you can draw up to 15A from the out but if you only plug in the lamp that only draw 1A then it will be just 1A of current draw, the outlet is not going to push 15A into the lamp. The MPPT is basically a smart buck converter that converts low current and high panel Voltage that is higher than the battery Voltage into lower Voltage and high current for charging the batteries.
 
DJRYAN13 said:
I thought for MPPT, 15A max isn’t the max input that the charge controller can handle but the max it will output so putting panels in parallel will certainly double the current to roughly 20A but the charge controller will only take 15A reducing the amount of wattage of the panels? Not sure where the other 5A goes though.
Click to expand...

Well, there is a max amp output rating for the battery charging, and there is also an Isc (short-circuit current) spec provided for the PV solar input. When I read the manual it states like this:

"Users can connect solar panels in series as shown in the figure to recharge the product. The product supports 11-150V DC input, 15A max current, and 1600W max charging power."

Does that seem a little fuzzy in that sentence, where they indicate max volts, with a comma, then shows: 15a max current ?

Do they mean 15a Isc, or 15a charger, after they just got done explaining what type of solar panel layout you can have.

And also, sometimes you can over-panel a bit on amperage for certain brands of charge controllers, but it is hit/miss to know if yours can tolerate over-amping on the Isc, and by how much, if it even can... (whether the unit can limit itself from over-amping if your Isc is too high for the mosfets to handle)

You could always email their support team and ask them if the 15a refers to the PV input Isc spec, or the charger's max current...
 
Last edited:
You could also ping their support team, or check documentation to see if they have any recommended panels to use (model number / layout), where you can max out on the 1600w in panels without going too high on Voc or Isc, and if so, buy those ones (provided your good on your cold temperature adjusted Voc value).
 
It will clip the input current at 15A, this is typical for the solar generator, my Bluetti EB70 is clipped at PV input current 8A.
The max PV input Voltage is the one you need to watch out for.
diysolarforum.com

Overpanel a EcoFlow Delta Pro?

I just watched Will's video review of the Bluetti AC200Max. I was looking at that system and while I do like it, the EcoFlow Delta Pro was much lower W/$ with the initial discount. Will overpanel'd his AC200Max considerably. I was initially planning to run about 3x 370W panels in series for...
diysolarforum.com diysolarforum.com
 
Hi Bud Martin.

In response to your last post. Can I just confirm 100% that if I connect 4 solar panels (40V 8.8amps) in a series/parallel into my Eco Flow Delta Pro I won't damage it. I believe I am correct in saying that the V would become 80V and the amps would become 17.6A?

The Eco Flow says its maximum 15A. So am I correct in thinking that the efficiency I would get would be 80V x 15A = 1200W

IF I was to run it series I would be hitting the Eco Flow with 160V which is over the 150V limit, and as you and everyone else has stated, this is a big no no. So the best way to run these 4 panels is in this series/parallel setup?

Many thanks to all in this thread, it was a life saver finding it in a google search.

Thanks
 
Last edited:
Richard-Richard said:
Hi Bud Martin.

In response to your last post. Can I just confirm 100% that if I connect 4 solar panels (40V 8.8amps) in a series/parallel into my Eco Flow Delta Pro I won't damage it. I believe I am correct in saying that the V would become 80V and the amps would become 17.6A?

The Eco Flow says its maximum 15A. So am I correct in thinking that the efficiency I would get would be 80V x 15A = 1200W

IF I was to run it series I would be hitting the Eco Flow with 160V which is over the 150V limit, and as you and everyone else has stated, this is a big no no. So the best way to run these 4 panels is in this series/parallel setup?

Many thanks to all in this thread, it was a life saver finding it in a google search.

Thanks
Click to expand...
I am in the same boat. I have 6 350W 10A 40V panels. I did a bit of research on the Delta pro Facebook page. Many folks are over paneling by going over the Amps. So, in your case put two pairs of panels on series and then put the pairs in parallel. In my case, I did 2 sets of 3 panels in series combined in parallel which gives me under 120V and due to shading and under optimized positioning, under 20A output. The Ecoflow will use 15A of that max. So I get 15Ax120V max wattage but Voltage tends to be around 111V total.

Basically, ignore the max Amps. What the 15Amp limit really means is anything above that isn’t used so you are wasting panels.

You may want to check wattage for two setups:
1. Use 2 sets of 2 in series then connected in parallel.
2. 3 panels in series

You might find the total wattage is higher for #2 due to significant higher voltage (up to 120v) which means you wasted money on 4th panel. Reason I am using 6 is due to shading and I may buy a second DP and more panels soon.
 
Thanks for the reply DJRYAN13

I haven't actually brought the forth panel yet; and I may not bother now. I was lucky as I am only now learning about the max volts/amps in the delta pro and if I bought 4 panels to start with I would have just thrown the lot at it in series!

Where my panels are it isn't always in the direct sunlight, but on a good sunny day I get 750-800W to the deltaPro, which isn't bad but I was hoping I'd be able to get more panels attached. It's been overcast the last few days and I've only been pulling 100-150W from the 3 panels which is annoying.
 
Ecoflo pulls current it needs from the panel up to its the maximum of the Ecoflo needs, panels do not push current into the Ecoflo.
I.E. your car battery can easily supplies 600 ~ 700 cranking Amp as the car needs, so if you turn on your car radio, the battery is not going to push 600A into the radio, correct? Same when you charge these solar generator from car, the battery in your car in not going to push 600A into your solar generator, right.
 
Great thanks Bud. I did suspect that was the case, but in the case of electricity its always wise to get confirmation

Thanks again
 
One interesting thing to keep in mind is that EF is working on an accessory that increases the solar input. It would attach to one of the extra battery inputs which is not great but at least you get more solar. My hope is to turn the unit into a proper EV charger where I can use the 30A RV plug to charge my Tesla for 5+ hrs in day with at least 3K watts of solar. That would get me enough for most of my weekly commute if I charge on weekends.
 
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