Blew up my Ecoflow River 2 Pro

[Kenny_]

I inadvertently put too much solar into the input and released the Magic Smoke. Totally dead.

I contacted Ecoflow Support and fessed up to my mistake and asked how much to repair.

They are going to replace it with a reconditioned unit. That's customer service!

Go Ecoflow!

 

[pollenface]

When you say too much solar, did you exceed the max input voltage?

 

[SamDeleted]

When you say too much solar, did you exceed the max input voltage?

Don't put too much power into an Ecoflow River2

Just blew mine up! Damn!! was hooking up my three new Renogy 550 watt panels hooked the first one up and plugged it in to the River 2 and Yes! Working! went back out and connected the other two panels and boom, the magic smoke left the device....totally dead now. Why the hell doesn't it have...

diysolarforum.com

 

[Kenny_]

Don't put too much power into an Ecoflow River2

Just blew mine up! Damn!! was hooking up my three new Renogy 550 watt panels hooked the first one up and plugged it in to the River 2 and Yes! Working! went back out and connected the other two panels and boom, the magic smoke left the device....totally dead now. Why the hell doesn't it have...

diysolarforum.com

Thx @SamG340 !
That's it.

 

[Kenny_]

Don't put too much power into an Ecoflow River2

Just blew mine up! Damn!! was hooking up my three new Renogy 550 watt panels hooked the first one up and plugged it in to the River 2 and Yes! Working! went back out and connected the other two panels and boom, the magic smoke left the device....totally dead now. Why the hell doesn't it have...

diysolarforum.com

Thx @SamG340 !
That's it.

 

[SamDeleted]

Thx @SamG340 !
That's it.

Very good they warrantied it for you, I am pleasantly surprised

 

[Kenny_]

Very good they warrantied it for you, I am pleasantly surprised

I was too since I fully admitted it was because I hooked up too much solar input...

The sales pitch does mention something about protection but it's very vague...may only be output...

 

[SamDeleted]

I was too since I fully admitted it was because I hooked up too much solar input...

The sales pitch does mention something about protection but it's very vague...may only be output...

Was it too many volts or too many amps ?

 

[Kenny_]

Was it too many volts or too many amps ?

I don't know, probably both, does it matter? Just be sure you stay within the specs!

Solar Input 11-50V 13A, 220W Max


but supposedly it has protection:

Smart Battery Protection System

Our state-of-the-art Battery Management System (BMS) constantly monitors the voltage, current, and temperature of RIVER 2 Series with multiple aspects of protection, extending its life to the max.2

but perhaps only for the battery...the other components not so much.

 

[AZ Solar Junkie]

I don't know, probably both, does it matter? Just be sure you stay within the specs!

Solar Input 11-50V 13A, 220W Max


but supposedly it has protection:

Smart Battery Protection System

Our state-of-the-art Battery Management System (BMS) constantly monitors the voltage, current, and temperature of RIVER 2 Series with multiple aspects of protection, extending its life to the max.2

but perhaps only for the battery...the other components not so much.

Yeah all MPPT's have a stated voltage range. This is the only thing that matters as far as damaging the charge controller. Don't worry so much about the amps - they are "pulled" by the charge controller, whereas the voltage is "pushed" by the panels. As long as you are safely within the charge controller's voltage range, it won't pull more amps than it is able to.

 

[ricardosoriano]

HI there, I have a River 2 pro, with two 100w panels in parallel, they reach their top wattage only about 10% of the time, is it possible conect 3 100w panels at 12v without burning the BMS?

 

[Kenny_]

HI there, I have a River 2 pro, with two 100w panels in parallel, they reach their top wattage only about 10% of the time, is it possible conect 3 100w panels at 12v without burning the BMS?

I wouldn't do it given my experience

 

[Deleted member 91418]

I second Kenny_'s advice; I wouldn't either. I had thrown on a 200w panel on my now-former River 2 all spring, and while the BMS had no issue (it only pulled the power it needed) I did notice some other issues arise. The DC output voltage is no longer regulated for some unknown reason, and the inverter occasionally works. After giving it to my boss's wife (she loves dismantling things for tweaking and other frankenstein builds), she noticed the inverter had been damaged some how to where it's no longer producing pure sine wave. I have no explanation for this, or even how its possible for a PSW to become modified from over-sizing solar, but after learning that I told her to keep it.

Who knows if over-panelling was the factor to these problems, but if a manual states to only use a certain amount of solar, follow what that manual says.

 

[eppich8479]

Your probably chained the panels in series. Think pf it like AA batteries. 4x1.5V=6V volts are like pressure in a water hose. But lets say you hookup your panels or batteries in parallel. You make the water hose bigger, but the pressure is still low, 1.5V in our AA example. But more water because of the bigger pipe. Smaller pipe could deliver the same amount at higher pressure. Total volume of water is the Amps.