Ecoflow Delta Pro charging from a switching power supply

[harrymanimus]

I purchased a Jingmaida 1200w 92v 13a switching power supply to charge my Ecoflow Delta Pro. The plan was for extended power outages to use an inverter connected to my truck to send AC to the power supply, take the DC output into the xt60 port of the delta pro. I do this because the inverter on the auto puts out a floating neutral with 60 volts to ground and that seems to be passed through in the Ecoflow and I don’t want that going into my house electrical panel. Seems questionable to do that based on previous posts.

So I did the power supply setup, but I’m only getting around 700w of DC power into the Ecoflow. What it seems like is that the EcoFlow thinks its connected to a cigarette adapter instead of a solar array and seems to be limiting it to 8a when I look in the EF app. Think that is what is happening? If so, ideas on getting the full 13a out of it?

Thanks

 

[DarrylG]

I will be interested to see the responses from others. I have been curious how the Ecoflow knows it is connected to solar panels and not a DC power source. I connected my Ecoflow up to two 12 volt batteries in series and though that charged at more than double having one battery. It was still charging 170-160 watts.

 

[harrymanimus]

I'm waiting to test it again after I use my battery the next time and the charge goes down significantly. In case that has something to do with it. Because on AC charging, I want to say it adjusts the wattage depending on the battery state. When I did my charge test it was at like 97%.

I see the guy on hobotech charging things with this kind of device all the time, but not this same device, so maybe that's it.

 

[harrymanimus]

I did read somewhere that the Delta Pro just passes through the AC when charging from AC. So there is a 1500w output limitation when charging from AC. All the better reason to figure out a good DC charging solution for charging during a power outage situation.

 

[DarrylG]

I did read somewhere that the Delta Pro just passes through the AC when charging from AC. So there is a 1500w output limitation when charging from AC. All the better reason to figure out a good DC charging solution for charging during a power outage situation.

Yes. That is part of its UPS function. I did see a video where a beta tester connect the AC port up to 240 volts and got a massive charge rate, which makes sense since the Delta Pro is also sold in Europe. Which is mostly what the J1776 Electric car charger adapter does. However the video was very brief, made long ago and didn't have a follow up. So I am not certain how it worked out.

 

[harrymanimus]

My central furnace will run just fine with the delta pro, and I considered getting another one for 240 operation of my central ac. But I opted for a window unit that is a 15 ceer with dual inverters that will do double duty at my cabin. I can get by with that at my house in an emergency.

 

[Boo3]

I am using 72v Switching Mode Power Supplies for my Delta Pro units. I get 1200 watts into them. The key is to use the correct connector to do this. The XT60 connector has to be the XTi 60. There is a signal pin on the XTi that tells the DP that it can draw 15 amps. If you are using the XT to do this, it is limited to 8 amps. That is why you are getting only 700 watts. I took a cord with the XTi plug and resoldered the pin from negative to positive to allow my SMPS to provide the higher amps.

 

[harrymanimus]

I am using 72v Switching Mode Power Supplies for my Delta Pro units. I get 1200 watts into them. The key is to use the correct connector to do this. The XT60 connector has to be the XTi 60. There is a signal pin on the XTi that tells the DP that it can draw 15 amps. If you are using the XT to do this, it is limited to 8 amps. That is why you are getting only 700 watts. I took a cord with the XTi plug and resoldered the pin from negative to positive to allow my SMPS to provide the higher amps.

Wow thanks, that is awesome news that I can get around this! A google search seems to not turn up XTi 60 info. Do I just need to buy another EcoFlow solar cable and cannibalize to achieve this? Would I have to do the soldering on such a cable like you did? If modifying the cable via soldering is involved, I'd probably need more info about the changes.

Or maybe I could just buy some short solar MC4 connector cables and hang that off the PS that connects to the solar cable that came with the DP. Anything tricky with that?

I assume you are doing the PS to get around AC input and output limitations?

 

[DarrylG]

Thanks Boo3, that is very good information. I had connected my Delta Pro to 24 volts with two 12 volt batteries in series and it only supplied about 160 - 176 watts. I was wondering how the unit "knew" it was connected to solar. I had noticed the extra spring tang on the side of the factory connectors, but thought this might only hold them in place. On a teardown video, you can see the extra white wire coming from the input solar wires on the Delta Pro:

. Like harrymanimus I had also searched for the connectors but didn't find any information.

 

[DarrylG]

Thanks Boo3, that is very good information. I had connected my Delta Pro to 24 volts with two 12 volt batteries in series and it only supplied about 160 - 176 watts. I was wondering how the unit "knew" it was connected to solar. I had noticed the extra spring tang on the side of the factory connectors, but thought this might only hold them in place. On a teardown video, you can see the extra white wire coming from the input solar wires on the Delta Pro:

. Like harrymanimus I had also searched for the connectors but didn't find any information. S

 

[DarrylG]

Oops sorry about the double post (and three hours apart somehow!)

A bit more testing on my factory cables from Ecoflow: I see the data pin on my Ecoflow car 12v accessory plug is connected to positive or the flat portion of the XT60 while on my Ecoflow MC4 solar cable the data pin is connected to negative or rounded side. I managed to connect a 12 volt battery to MC4 connectors and use the solar cable to connect to the Delta Pro and had it charging at 173 watts. My 12 volts was running through about 50' of 4 gauge cable as well. This could be very handy for others who might charge in their car/RV to know and use as long as the cabling can handle the amperage.

I discovered the proper term to search for is XT60i. I am considering ordering these https://www.ebay.com/itm/265207832202 and making my own cable or a switched jumper to connect to a regular XT60 and be able to choose 8 or 15 amps.

I took a cord with the XTi plug and resoldered the pin from negative to positive to allow my SMPS to provide the higher amps.

Could this be opposite?

 

[Boo3]

Wow thanks, that is awesome news that I can get around this! A google search seems to not turn up XTi 60 info. Do I just need to buy another EcoFlow solar cable and cannibalize to achieve this? Would I have to do the soldering on such a cable like you did? If modifying the cable via soldering is involved, I'd probably need more info about the changes.

Or maybe I could just buy some short solar MC4 connector cables and hang that off the PS that connects to the solar cable that came with the DP. Anything tricky with that?

I assume you are doing the PS to get around AC input and output limitations?

I initially used the cigarette plug charger since I'd never have a need for it and switched the pin connectors to the opposite side. That allows me to charge at night without using the AC input. Since then I bought some XT60i plugs from AliExpress in case I needed to make another one. It takes a few weeks to arrive though.

 

[Boo3]

Oops sorry about the double post (and three hours apart somehow!)

A bit more testing on my factory cables from Ecoflow: I see the data pin on my Ecoflow car 12v accessory plug is connected to positive or the flat portion of the XT60 while on my Ecoflow MC4 solar cable the data pin is connected to negative or rounded side. I managed to connect a 12 volt battery to MC4 connectors and use the solar cable to connect to the Delta Pro and had it charging at 173 watts. My 12 volts was running through about 50' of 4 gauge cable as well. This could be very handy for others who might charge in their car/RV to know and use as long as the cabling can handle the amperage.

I discovered the proper term to search for is XT60i. I am considering ordering these https://www.ebay.com/itm/265207832202 and making my own cable or a switched jumper to connect to a regular XT60 and be able to choose 8 or 15 amps.

Could this be opposite?

It could be. I know that my car plug was never going to be used, so I cut the cigarette lighter off, hooked the wire to a switch box, and moved the jumper to the opposite side.

 

[harrymanimus]

I initially used the cigarette plug charger since I'd never have a need for it and switched the pin connectors to the opposite side. That allows me to charge at night without using the AC input. Since then I bought some XT60i plugs from AliExpress in case I needed to make another one. It takes a few weeks to arrive though.

I’m not quite sure I get what to do with the cigarette cable, I think I need more direction here. Where is the ‘pin connector’? Do you take apart the xt60 connector? It looks solidly made, I’m afraid I’d destroy it. If I cut the cigarette lighter adapter off, is there a third wire or something? Where is the jumper? On the PS? Thanks

 

[DarrylG]

Since you don't have an answer yet, here is how I read Boo3's response:

It could be. I know that my car plug was never going to be used, so I cut the cigarette lighter off, hooked the wire to a switch box, and moved the jumper to the opposite side.

EDITED: This was incorrect! It seems like he cut the cigarette lighter plug off the factory cable and found three wires inside. One of them connects to the little "spring" in the center of the XT60i plug. If you connect this wire to the negative wire it will allow the Ecoflow to accept more amperage. Or alternately just use the Ecoflow factory MC4 connectors adapters.

I have ordered some of the XT60i plugs but it will be a while before they are in. I also have plenty of MC4 connectors if you need some.

 

[harrymanimus]

Well I thought that made pretty good sense. So I decided I would cut the cigarette lighter part off of my cable. I don't see three wires in there. It's a wire within a wire. Without a third wire that connects to that PIN I'm at a loss for this cable.

 

[DarrylG]

Oops. You are right. It is just a two conductor wire. I just took apart the other end of mine to get a look at the XT60i connector and how it was soldered. They literally just used solder to connect the two pins together. In this case the middle pin to the white wire or square end. What you want is to connect to the black wire or the "rounded" end for 15 amps.

I was hoping to have a nice instruction on how to take this connector apart. However as you can see from my picture-it wasn't easy for me. Though it seemed like it would be. I got the rubber boot to slide back okay but couldn't get the solid plastic underneath to budge.

When my order of XT60i plugs come in I owe you a couple. (Supposed to arrive in November!)

 

[harrymanimus]

Ah, a tiny little wire in the connector! Thanks for the pic, I hope you did not go to that trouble on my account!

I got a 3ft MC4 cable to test out this weekend with my power supply. I'm sure that will work fine using the EF solar cable. I was just trying for a cable that was easier to unplug than the MC4. Those plastic MC4 keys are ok, but I left them at another location (with my solar setup).

Hoping my 1200w PS doesn't draw too much more than 1200w AC to do the conversion. My truck inverter outputs 1500w AC as I've heard you really shouldn't push them up to the spec much.

 

[harrymanimus]

Attempting to charge my Delta Pro, I fried my power supply. I hooked it up with solar MC4 cables, and at first it was sending around 1450 watts to the DP. The PS is only rated for 1200w. So I thought that was odd that it was giving/reading more. Then 20 seconds later my power supply started smoking.

Ideas on what happened? Bad quality power supply? Power supplies don’t know their own output limits? Ideas on preventing it? Any recommendations on a power supply I should buy to realize goals here?

The PS is 92v 13a. Was it trying to give 15a and not smart enough to stop at 13?

I see a 72v 16.6a PS on Amazon, if the DP asks for 15a it would not be over what the PS could handle. Would charge at 1080 watts.

Got a cheap 0-48v 10a PS to test with. Using the normal XT60 cable, I can only get the DP to charge when setting the PS to <= 24v output. Anything higher, and the DP will not charge. Hope I didn't muck something up with my delta pro when the other power supply burned out..

 

[DarrylG]

Sorry to hear you trouble. I am no expert, but it sounds like the power supply was trying to keep up with the additional requested output and burned itself out. I think I would purchase one rated for 20 - 25amps, as I have heard unofficially the Delta Pro can accept 16amps and I would not want my converter to be running at 100% all the time. Especially on cheaper units.

I am not sure what to think on not charging above 24volts. Let us know what you discover.