Any suggestions on feeding a pair of Delta Pros from an EG4 6000XP?

[kalisiak]

Howdy.

I have the following gear, and I'm looking to tie it together:
EG4 6000XP with 20 370W panels and 24kWh of LiFePO4 in two parallel groups of 12kWh/ea
Two Delta Pro connected via Infinity cables to a Smart Home Panel (First Gen)

The EG4 6000XP is basically just sitting there not really connected to anything yet
The Smart Home Panel was wired in by an electrician, and feeds about half of the house

The no-brainer option is connect the 48V batteries to the XT60i connectors. But 2*(48V*15A)=1440W is severely limiting the input power. If I've got a bunch of window AC units on all day, this setup will not keep up.

I could use DC-DC boost converters or rewire the SHP to connect it to the 6000XP, but that involves conversions (either DC to AC to DC again, or DC 48V to a DC higher voltage), which are inefficient.

Any other magic tricks anyone has been successful with?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Brucey]

I think someone here managed to figure out the input scheme for the expansion ports so they could connect to the 48V bus to charge, versus being limited by the mppt port. They couldn't get BMS comms going so there were some limits but may be a way forward.

 

[kalisiak]

@Brucey oh, thanks for the tip!

I'm not overly concerned about BMS communications in this case, since the 6000XP will be in charge of that.

Thanks, I'll look around to see if I can find it.

 

[Brucey]

@Brucey oh, thanks for the tip!

I'm not overly concerned about BMS communications in this case, since the 6000XP will be in charge of that.

Thanks, I'll look around to see if I can find it.

Sorry I meant fooling the BMS in the Delta pros so they think they have an extended battery connected.

 

[zanydroid]

Can you use the delta pro as generator or grid for 6000XP, and transfer from 6000XP Delta Pro when 6000XP runs down? And disable charging on 6000XP

That should pass through without extra conversions.

 

[kalisiak]

Sorry I meant fooling the BMS in the Delta pros so they think they have an extended battery connected.

Oh, got it, so the Delta Pros stay up longer but basically just get a little confused about how long they have left?

 

[zanydroid]

If they only do strict SOC calculation (based on interrogating the shunt inside the BMS) for their logic they might go into shutoff earlier. OTOH it’s generally possible that you still get extended runtime since the paralleled battery it doesn’t know about will reduce the draw from the battery it does know about.

You will need to find those threads to see what the programming is with an extended battery.

I believe if the inverter charger uses CC/CV charging it will still be able to get the extended battery filled up.

 

[kalisiak]

Can you use the delta pro as generator or grid for 6000XP, and transfer from 6000XP Delta Pro when 6000XP runs down? And disable charging on 6000XP

That should pass through without extra conversions.

Some of what you are suggesting might be possible, but one of the funny things about using a Smart Home Panel is the AC inputs and outputs on the Delta Pros are basically inoperable.

In practice, the 6000XP has much greater capacity for PV inputs (400somethingV at 15A, vs 100somethingV at 15A), so the only way I can use 20 370W panels is with the 6000XP. That and the 48V battery arrays are not EcoFlow, so the Delta Pros don't want to have anything to do with them.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

Chris

 

[zanydroid]

Some of what you are suggesting might be possible, but one of the funny things about using a Smart Home Panel is the AC inputs and outputs on the Delta Pros are basically inoperable.

Sounds like you can just make the 6000XP do the heavy lifting and leave the delta pro as a backup or a sunk cost for other projects/craigslist

 

[kalisiak]

OTOH it’s generally possible that you still get extended runtime since the paralleled battery it doesn’t know about will reduce the draw from the battery it does know about.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I am hoping for. The 6000XP will know SOC of the 24kWh via JK-BMS, so at least it will know what it needs to do. Hopefully the pair of Delta Pros won't try to be too smart, though.

You will need to find those threads to see what the programming is with an extended battery.

Just started searching, thanks!

Chris

 

[kalisiak]

Sounds like you can just make the 6000XP do the heavy lifting and leave the delta pro as a backup or a sunk cost for other projects/craigslist

Well, sort of, but what the Delta Pros bring to the table is the Smart Home Panel. 7200W of instant failover on 10 circuits to battery on the loss of grid power, automatic switching from battery to grid if the batteries become depleted, smart switching of certain circuits based on rules, that sort of thing. They do serve slightly different purposes.

Chris

 

[zanydroid]

Well, sort of, but what the Delta Pros bring to the table is the Smart Home Panel. 7200W of instant failover on 10 circuits to battery on the loss of grid power, automatic switching from battery to grid if the batteries become depleted, smart switching of certain circuits based on rules, that sort of thing. They do serve slightly different purposes.

Chris

But the 6000XP also has SBU mode which does all of that except the smart switching, and it likely can drop in replace that with the help of a subpanel.

 

[kalisiak]

I think someone here managed to figure out the input scheme for the expansion ports so they could connect to the 48V bus to charge, versus being limited by the mppt port. They couldn't get BMS comms going so there were some limits but may be a way forward.

So I couldn't find anything definitive after searching for a couple hours, but what I did find was...

This adapter for use with an EcoFlow 48V battery unit to connect to rando power-consuming devices:

EcoFlow LFP Battery Polarity Adapter

Use the EcoFlow LFP Battery Polarity Adapter to connect EcoFlow LFP batteries to a third-party power system. It's compatible with most commercially-available 40V~60V third-party power systems, and you can monitor the status of each battery by connecting the EcoFlow Power Kit Console or EcoFlow...

rackupgo.com

And this indication that the EcoFlow 48V battery unit's cables do work with the Delta Pro:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Ecoflow_community/comments/1bi2yqu/48v_lfp_battery_cables_are_compatible_with_delta

But I guess the question is whether the EcoFlow Delta Pro has the same 16s LiFePO4 cell configuration.

Now that I think of it, I think I've seen indications that the Delta Pro is actually a 15s, and, actually, if that's the case, then it would be a not so great idea to try to connect garden variety 48V batteries directly to the guts of a Delta Pro...